When I was a kid I was always curious on how life would be
in the year 2000. Would there be flying
cars? Would we all be living like the
Jetsons? Obviously that did not happen…
but this week my futurist tendencies were tweaked again with a great article on
what the construction industry could look like in 30 years. It’s a great piece featuring several
excellent ideas that could be in place long before 2045. In fact many of the concepts listed are
being developed right now so it’s nice to see that there’s a finish line out
there for it. I for one love the robot
and lifting technologies. But I also
think the reconfigurable rooms has potential.
I would be scared to death of the driverless trucks and heavy equipment…
as I am not comfortable with anything “driverless” at this point. So check out the piece and dream…
Elsewhere…
-- Ok my technical experts out there… I have one for you to
look at. Comes from one of my loyal
readers and I just don’t have the knowledge for the insight needed. Here’s the deal:
I have a question that
may be nothing but with the weather patterns this year water/leaks have become
more of an issue than years past. I know the national weather service has
changed the criteria for severe thunderstorms but according to the small amount
of research I have done wind speeds did NOT change. According to the ASTM E1105
water tests store fronts fail at 60 mph sustained and the weather service
criteria for thunderstorms is 58 mph but more and more store fronts are
beginning to fail or at least more water is showing up on the interior of
buildings and the installs are correct. Has this become an issue everywhere? I
am reading that some people within the weather service are wanting to change
wind speeds for thunderstorms to 74 mph. My question is… if this does happen how long will it take the
industry to react and change their criteria for store front water testing or
will the industry go to curtain wall (or pre-glazed/unitized systems) standard
to offset what will become a catastrophic failure for our industry with every
store front installed?
If you have some thoughts on this drop me a note or leave it
in the comments. Thank you!
-- A lot of forecasting reports over the last 2 weeks. The Architectural Billings Index continues to
be solid. The Dodge Momentum Index
continues to be mixed. And this week CMD
did a 2016 projections webinar with the main takeaway being commercial
construction growing in an average range of 5 to 10%. So positive trends are continuing, though I
think we all are looking at the geopolitical landscape with some concern. At least I am.
-- Latest update on the growth of the North American Contractor Certification (NACC) program. A bunch of
companies have completed the certification and many are now in the queue. This is an extremely important process for
our industry and if you are glazing contractor, it is absolutely something you
should budget for in 2016. Especially
with the certification need showing up in more and more specifications…
-- Watched a pretty cool documentary this week. “Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead” The Story of
National Lampoon. Really interesting
work and all I could think of is our current society is so over the top “PC” that
a magazine like that would last about 2 seconds before being bludgeoned by
social media mobs and so on.
-- Last this week… No
blog post next week. (Unless breaking
news happens of course) Next post will be week of 12/6. In the US it’s Thanksgiving week…. And
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Not
even close. We all have a ton to be
thankful for each and every day, and I cherish this opportunity to focus on it. Have a great holiday week everyone!
LINKS of the WEEK
-- This is awesome. And
needed. And I’d love to see it grow- a
college degree in “Building Arts”
-- This is outrageous.
How people can be so dense is beyond me.
VIDEO of the WEEK
Fun video of folks from Ireland trying American cereals and
breakfast foods. They just don’t get the
joy of Pop Tarts!
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