BEC 2020 is HERE

It is BEC week!  Each year there are two events for me that are above all others.  BEC in the Spring and GlassBuild in the Fall.  I live for these events because of the ability to grow business and myself. Network and learn.  BEC has a very special part of my heart.  I have been involved with it for so long, I do truly feel like it’s my “baby” in a way.  I was there years and years ago when we were under 200 people cramped into a long skinny ballroom at the Monte Carlo and I was there when we had it in the massive theater at The Palms Hotel.  I got to host it 4 times (and will readily admit I wish I could host again, though I believe that ship has sailed) including the largest gathering ever in 2008 when we had more than 800 people in attendance.  This year BEC takes a fresh approach.  New city (Nashville!), huge crowd (Close to 700 making it 2^nd biggest ever) and a new schedule.  The one thing that stays the same is the education and networking and those are the items that make all the difference.  The ability to gain knowledge in crucial areas (this year for me its delegated design, design assist and advanced technologies) and meet new people while catching up with others is just huge.  Anyway it is time and it’s going to be a great event.  Next week in this space I’ll have the recap including the standard review of who I was honored enough to run into and meet!

Elsewhere…

--  By the way… BEC means its time celebrate the great Jerry Moser’s birthday!  So if you see him there, wish a happy one!

--  Really good update from the NGA Advocacy and Technical Services Department… big one here that I’ll share direct from the news:

The next ASHRAE version, ASHRAE 90.1-2022 is currently in working draft form. This version will update the requirements for opaque walls first before revisiting fenestration. This revision will include a new prescriptive requirement for the minimum amount of onsite renewable energy on all new buildings or building sites. Thermal bridging requirements will affect detailing at window/wall intersections and attachment of sunshades. Also under review is an envelope backstop proposal. Stay tuned for an in-depth analysis of the impact of envelope backstops on glazing from Tom Culp in the April issue of Glass Magazine. 

Obviously this group is working hard to keep us up to speed with everything out there and anywhere you can support them, please consider doing so!

--  The all-new GlassBuild.com has launched!  Please check it out.  More details and info to come there on the show… along with adding more content.  GlassBuild is back in Vegas this Fall!

--  Rough run on the markets with the Coronavirus fears/spread etc.  I had a feeling we were in for a bumpy ride, but honestly I am shocked at the economic reaction – especially mid last week.  That was much more severe than I expected. 

--  I caught an episode of “Hometown” on HGTV and they were using glass & mirror in one of their designs.  They went to a local glass shop and cut some mirror and no one used any PPE.  NOT. EVEN. GLOVES.  That includes the people from the glass shop.  C’mon folks… cutting and handling mirror (joking that you get bad luck if you break it) and not wearing any gear is just careless.  HGTV needs to get my guy Dustin Anderson out there educating these folks or make all the shows use Dustin only….

--  Last this week… not “our” style of glass but this is still interesting to me.  The latest flip phone with the glass face that bends and folds.  They say in this article that they have done the impossible by making glass this way… Makes me chuckle back to the days of learning about glass in the old PDC warehouse and being told to “go get the glass stretcher” and stretch that 12 x 12 sample to 13 x 13.  (Classic hazing for every newbie to our world)  So to me THAT will always be the greatest fit... making glass stretch!  Still interesting article and product.

LINKS of the WEEK

I posted this on my LinkedIn… my son runs a Disney news website and he went deep into the new CEO there.  Very proud of the boy.  Only 19 years old and he’s already waaay beyond me.

This doesn’t seem real… wild that they all piled up the way they did.

Believe me this is a story you will NOT read often…

PROJECT of the WEEK

Since we are in Nashville for BEC and two of our speakers are from one of the best firms in the region-Hastings Architecture, let’s give the project of the week to 225 Polk Avenue which was a big time remodel.  Architectural Record (another participant at BEC this year) had a good rundown on it- HERE.

Congrats to Tubelite, Assa Abloy, Rockwood, Guardian Glass, and Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope on the work.  Whomever the glazier is was not noted- so if that’s you let me know!

The Virus

There’s a saying out there that goes “When China sneezes the whole world catches a cold” so what happens if China has a runaway virus?  Heck of a lot worse than a sneeze, right?  It is time to talk about the Coronavirus and what could be next for all of us.  This obviously is very frightening situation on many levels and one that many of us in North America have not felt yet but probably will… soon.  Slowly but surely sourcing lanes (in all walks of life, not just the glass industry) are being affected and this will probably only get worse before it gets better.  ITR Economics is a presence at many industry events and last week they weighed in on what the Coronavirus is doing now and had a relatively positive outlook though they did hedge their bets by saying they’ll re-examine at the end of the month. We’ll see what comes next from them- but for all of us now it’s really about preparation and organization industry wise.  Making sure your sourcing path is open or has proper options so you are not delayed (this is more than glass- it can hardware, components, machinery etc.) so once again communication is paramount.  Hopefully this virus can start to be more contained soon but judging from recent news including the spread in South Korea, we may be in for more rough roads.   

Want a deeper dive on this issue?  Check out this piece from Ducker.

Elsewhere…

--  Some seriously incredible usage of glass and glazing products in this report on Adaptive Reuse designs.  If you were involved in any of these projects ping me and tell me which one… you deserve some props.  And once again I think our products steal the show here.  Good stuff.

--  Also good? The NGA just produced 6 new Glass Technical Papers.  Urmilla Sowell and the Task Groups did some SERIOUS work here!!  Here they are and absolute kudos should go out to everyone who took the time to work on these…. 

Bird-Friendly Glass Design Strategies

Marking and Labeling of Architectural Laminated Glass

Safety Guidelines for Deglazing Structural Silicone

Protecting Against Weld Splatter

Top 10 Items Commonly Missing from Fenestration System Shop Drawings

Approximate Weight of Architectural Flat Glass

--   The Architectural Billings Index had a good month coming in with a solid rating of 52.2.  Design Contracts checked in at 56 which shows that work is actually trending upward!  That’s been a theme here and one that is actually even surprising the analysts who expected flat to even a little bit of a drawback in this world.  Obviously, things can and do change quickly but this is positive.  The only downside of the report had the Northeast really dragging, way behind all other regions. That is not welcome news to folks there who have seen some serious inconsistencies over the last 6-9 months.  So rocky roads are still on tap for you all…

--  Last this week... a goodbye to the industry for a good friend of mine and an industry stalwart. Mike Gainey is hanging ‘em up officially here at the end of the month.  Mike has been around our world for quite some time and for me he was always one of the most positive and upbeat guys out there.  Always sold with a great enthusiasm and you could always count on him to be a friendly face at a show or conference.  And Mike knew/knows his stuff, so him retiring and taking that deep technological knowledge with him is yet another blow to our world. But in the end, I am thrilled for Mike to go off into retirement, enjoy his family and new found free time and love it all!  Thank you for all you have done for us!

LINKS of the WEEK

Speaking of retiring… this guy called it quits at age 102!

First time seeing a story like this- flat fee doctor- and I expect similar to come- including more membership based ones.  

Comical story on what children are thinking about in class.

PROJECT of the WEEK

We go to Oklahoma this week for our Project spotlight… Not a monster project but a cool one.  This is the Ricky Bryan Field House in Coweta, Oklahoma fabricated by the fine folks at Tristar Glass.  Not sure If that image is digitally printed on there or not but regardless it’s a very eye-catching look and the glass is sharp!  The primary glass manufacturer here was Vitro and it was installed by Architectural Glazing Concepts off the design from BWA. Congrats to all involved!

American Factory

I start with something this week that I was never going to blog about.  Several months ago, the documentary “American Factory” was released. It was focused on a glass manufacturing and fabricating operation in Ohio.  Obviously you all know me- I live for glass and something like this- well I am there.  I immediately watched this documentary and when it was over, I said to myself there is no way I will ever blog about this.  Why?  Because this documentary for however interesting as it was to watch (more on that in a moment) was an absolutely awful look for the glass industry.  While most people watched it for the culture aspects- Chinese company and the US worker- I was struck by how our “world” looked. I cringed when workers complained about the heat, the danger, the weight, the struggles and so on with handling glass.  I was bummed when a worker during the doc said he worked 30 years at a GM car plant with no injuries and in a few months in the glass world he’s been injured a couple of times.  I just hated that despite some awesome beauty shots of our product being made in the beginning of the doc, the rest of it really made glass look ugly and pedestrian. So in the end I didn’t want to draw any extra attention to it.  I was hoping this would just fade away.  Then last month I saw that this documentary was garnering Oscar attention.  Then it got nominated.  And then this past week it won.  I will say once you take the glass industry aspect out of it that it was a fascinating documentary.  (I thought there were some very biased angles though- but that is in most documentaries anymore) But in the end I just couldn’t stand that it made the glass world look like a terrible place to work.  We have great companies, people and operations.  So I didn’t blog it because quite frankly I didn’t want anyone who hadn’t watched to do so.  Now though it surely doesn’t matter- my blog is popular (LOL) but slightly less popular than the Oscars….  That said, if you haven’t seen it- go watch- let me know what you think.  Maybe I am too hyper-sensitive to the glass industry? By the way anyone who didn’t know anything about this movie but watched the awards will probably remember this win for the film-maker quoting Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto in her acceptance speech than anything else though… so there’s that.  End of the day I want our world thought of fairly and in as good of light as possible and in my opinion this doc did not do us justice.

Elsewhere…

--  Sad news to report with the passing of Richard Danek of Anchor-Ventana.  Richard was a very good man who cared greatly about his company and his industry.  I only had the honor of being around him a few times, but I always enjoyed the interaction and always had a ton of respect on the way he carried himself and represented his company.  My condolences to his family as well as Felix Munson and the folks at Anchor Ventana on this huge loss.

--  Another Top 10 list recently out… this time Top 10 states for LEED projects in the US…

10- California- I thought this would be 1 or 2.

9- Oregon- Again thought it would be higher given the emphasis on green building in that region

8- Minnesota- Love my friends from this great state

7- Virginia- I assume that the government connections help here and also…#6

6- Maryland… 

5- Hawaii- OK I surely didn’t see this- I have to admit I know Hawaii is paradise but 5^thbiggest LEED state in US?  Shocker

4- Massachusetts- Makes sense to me actually

3- New York- I expected this too- 

2- Illinois- Color me stunned here- much higher than I thought

And 1- COLORADO- I truly expected this to be Washington State… so seeing Colorado threw me.  No doubt Colorado very active in sustainability, has some excellent Net Zero projects, so this makes some sense.  But if you asked me going in, I would’ve guessed Washington, California, NY, Oregon as my top 4.  

--  Thank you to Garret Henson of Viracon for this excellent link continuing on some of the dialogues on airports… and this story is a super read talking about the importance of design and its effect on stress & travel.  In addition, the author of this article, Matthew Needham of HOK gives some insights on to specific structures.  I’ll agree on Long Beach (cool airport!) but I’m still not giving Salt Lake anything- place is misery.  In any case very good read and thank you Garret for sharing

--  Negative econ news from the Dodge Momentum Index with the numbers coming in at a 2.7 point loss from the month before and its down year over year.  For some it probably makes them feel a little better because there are several soft spots in the industry right now.  (More for fabricators than anyone- glaziers are busy- pockets of fabs are not).  In any case we have the next ABI coming out this Wednesday the 19^thand will see if that takes a dip vs. the past ratings. 

--  Last this week…  Interesting approach by retail chain “The Body Shop” as they are just going to immediately hire people without interviews or any other research.  What does that say about the challenge of finding people out there??  The Body Shop is saying this process works but I am in no way believing that.  No way…

LINKS of the WEEK

Interesting experiment with students giving up their phones for 9 days.  I’ll tell you this- I am so addicted I couldn’t do it… 

Plain and simple- this is awesome and I hope it continues and makes a difference!

I read this and my head hurts- something has to be missing but if not there’s some serious issues with this school.

PROJECT of the WEEK

Going to my old stomping grounds of Binswanger Glass for this week’s focus… I saw this one on LinkedIn thanks to a post from one of my all-time favorite past co-workers April Oakley of Trulite.  This project is “One Glenwood” in Raleigh, NC and was glazed by Binswanger’s contract division out of Charlotte, NC.  10-story beauty here and great use of glass!  Congrats to Binswanger on an excellent install and Trulite on the glass fab! 

Looking at 2040

Lots of think pieces out there asking where the world will be and what it will look like in 2040.  I guess a 20-year look forward is a thing?  Anyway I decided to do the same thing briefly with our industry in mind.  I think we are headed into an incredible run because glass is about to grow dramatically on the interior of a building while still being a dominant product on the exterior.  On the interior the demand as I have noted a ton lately, is natural light.  Glass is the product for this and we are just scratching the surface here.  There are tremendous amounts of interesting interior glass products that are going to become more common on the inside and as more designers and architects learn about it, the more we will see utilized.  On the exterior, I think thanks to some excellent framing manufacturers we have a long runway ahead of great glass usage.  Glass is able to go bigger than ever before and more and more focus towards high performance is a big step.  So 2040?  I see serious levels of glass on the interior- a lot less drywall and the end of fabric clad cubicles.  On the outside, all glass structures and incredible unitized systems will be leading the way giving the designer and the occupant what they demand.  (Check out my project of the week for a great looking example) But that’s me… curious what your thoughts are so please feel free to share… 

Elsewhere…

--  A couple of years ago the process of bringing two powerhouses of our industry began.  It was the merger of the Glass Association of North America and the National Glass Association.  This process took a ton of people to work together and develop a smooth transition to maximize the strengths of both organizations.  There were a lot of questions, concerns, worry etc.  I had an interesting view of the process as I was one of the rare people who had done significant work at both organizations, my love for GlassBuild and BEC being the driver there.  I got to see the care taken and sweat expended to get this over the finish line.  Now we celebrate the 2^nd anniversary of the merge.  The one unified voice is alive and well and the best thing for me is seeing how the strengths of each side have grown stronger inside this sole organization.  Specifically the technical side – has been absolutely amazing.  I know that there is a ton going on, but when I saw this post by Andrew Haring it really hit home.  The amount of unbelievable technical support and content put out here is something to see and appreciate.  So to all involved with this merge, congratulations- the trend continues to move positive and your efforts to get this done were a success.  And right now to all of the folks working on our behalf- both staff and volunteers… Thank you for all you are doing to advance our industry- we need and value the resources you continue to provide.  Happy 2nd anniversary and here’s to many many more!

--  And while we are on the topic of good things for the industry… the news on NGA having an alliance with ASA is tremendous.  This is an excellent arrangement that allows NGA Member companies to have access to certain ASA benefits and resources.  It will also bring ASA into some of the NGA conferences, lending additional expertise and resources to attendees of those events.  Very exciting!

--  Last week was the Super Bowl and thus the super commercials… some good ones and a few groaners.  My winner?  MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This” for Cheetos barely beating out the remake of GroundHog Day for Jeep (featuring Bill Murray).  I went back and forth on it, and in the end went with Hammer… obviously both of those commercials appeal to my age group given the themes and stars.  On the flip side not sure why Turkish Airlines spends 5.6 million for an ad and same with Heinz Ketchup.  To me that is a serious misuse of budget…

--  Last this week, wrapping up the Airport rankings with covering the medium sized ones…  Its funny some on this list I truly would consider “large” but this is not my poll.  (And yes I really should do one myself right?)

10- Houston Hobby- No major issue, but also not a ton of experience here

9- San Jose- Same as Hobby experience wise

8- Oakland- Solid airport- would rather fly here vs. San Fran.

7- Salt Lake City- Nope.  Scary cramped.  Hard to get around, awful layout.

6- San Diego- This needs to be higher just because how chill it is and its also one of my favorite cities in the world.

5- Sacramento- Amazingly I have never flown in or out of here.

4- Nashville- Will have an experience with it in March for BEC- It’s a decent airport, not better than San Diego though.

3- Austin- I think this could be higher.  Nice airport- GREAT GLASS doors and walls.  The weirdness of Austin is there too. 

2- Portland- My pal Lyle and I will argue on this- but still too high.  I just don’t see it

And at #1 Tampa- It’s decent.  But #1?  No way.  Austin and San Diego should be ahead of it. 

So this one has several misses- Dallas Love should be in top 10.  Washington Dulles (not sure how its “medium”) should be top 5.  And Raleigh-Durham is a great one as is Northern Kentucky, and Madison- though those last 2 may be considered too small for these rankings.

Anyway there ya go… always fun to opine… and thanks to all who have weighed in on this fun debate!

LINKS of the WEEK

Great piece on speaking Yiddish with a Harry Potter twist

When Direct Mail goes very very wrong!

Some legitimate hope for those of us who have peanut/treenut allergy folks in our lives.

PROJECT of the WEEK

So I was inspired by a LinkedIn post from United Architectural Metals featuring a bunch of their jobs in a video reel.  One job jumped out and I had to go in search of.  It’s in my old hometown of Pittsburgh, PA and it’s the Scott Hall job at Carnegie Mellon University.  United Architectural was the metal supplier with a custom system that looks awesome.  Glass from Viracon and Schott and great install from my friends at DM Products.  This is a building that stops you in your tracks- creative and stunning and our industry absolutely delivered at every step.  Congrats to all involved!

The Consensus Says...

We begin this week with another economic focus with the release of the AIA Consensus Forecast. AIA does this twice a year where they gather several forecasts and combine them and report out.  It’s a very helpful tool to see where everyone is and where the predictions land.  So now with the data in, AIA’s consensus for 2020 is showing the non-residential world slightly up for the year.  That solidifies what we have been watching over the last few months and continues to press on everyone that we are still positive but not exactly gangbusters. Here is the LINK and if you look deeper at the categories and initial 2021 looks there are pain points.  Keys now?  Continue to be proactive in your business and work.  Look at diversification.  Push the communication up and down the supply base to improve efficiencies and make as much now as you can. 

Elsewhere...

--  Along with AIA coming out this week I ran into a forecast that I had not seen before.  This is the Marcum Commercial Construction Index. Interesting read and some good data to take in.  Check it out.

--  One item leftover from the previous NGA Annual Conference was the news that Sylvain Denis of Walker Glass was named Volunteer of the Year.  This really makes me happy and proud as I have always appreciated the commitment to the industry that Walker Glass has made over the years and Sylvain’s individual efforts are always so strong.  Everyone is busy in certain ways out there and it can be tough to commit to volunteering your time but it is very valuable and it does make a difference! Thank you, Sylvain and Walker, and please if you out there want to be involved or can make some time- please consider doing so- the industry will appreciate it!

--  You know me I watch the Super Bowl more for the commercials now… so next week I’ll have my favorites here… feel free to let me know what ones you liked!

--  I found this article on natural light and carefully designed high end rest rooms to be fascinating.  I love the thought that went into this project and yet another example that natural light is so prominent in the design mind right now.  (As it should be!)

--  Last this week… fun one for me…. I teased it previously but the latest airport rankings have me really going.  I know many of you who read me weekly are road warriors- so you’ve been in and out of more airports than you care to count.  So I think I am at least appealing to you with these thoughts.  This week will be the review on the Top Big Airports and next week I’ll look at the medium ones.  

The Wall Street Journal had the following as their top 10 Large Airports and I am NOT in agreement with many.  And my fellow road warriors please let me know what you think…

10 – Houston (Bush) – Not bad- no issues with it

9-  LAX- Really?  Seriously? I was there last year it was a mess and I hear so many nightmare stories. I’ll probably be back there in March so maybe it’s gotten better?

8- DFW- Its nutty to get around driving wise but it’s pretty simple inside.  I do like Love Field better though

7-  Atlanta- It takes a ton of heat but ATL is a very good airport and should be higher.

6- Las Vegas- Not bad and has gotten better over the years, but still too high here

5- Orlando- No way it’s the 5^thbest.  No way. I fly in and out here a ton.  Tiny bathrooms, limited seating, no outlets, limited food.  

4- Detroit- Yes! Finally some respect for one of the best airports around.  Yes it’s my home airport so there is bias but it’s very good

3- Fort Lauderdale- Again what?? No way.  Weather is nice, but hot, cramped and usually frustrating.  Not better than Detroit, ATL, DFW or Houston.

2- Denver- Its solid- too many food options on wrong side of security (the result of building before 9/11) but not bad… also not 2^nd.

And number 1…. Phoenix- no way.  Older, not bright or clean.  I mean I just don’t get these rankings at all…

Not in Top 10 of large – Seattle – which is a super airport, easy top 5.  Minneapolis should be in top 10.  

So there you go… at least the rankings did not have NY or Chicago on there, so that means at least there is some semblance of legitimacy.  

LINKS of the WEEK

Great way to keep your hubby awake in many settings- but this one is a classic!

This story has a good part but the over-riding levels of scams in our world right now is awful and depressing.

Was not aware of this doc- will have to check it out when it goes mainstream.

PROJECT of the WEEK

I realized that the last few weeks were heavy on fabricator focused projects as well as a few I have in the queue, so this week I went glazing contractor focus and our Project of the Week comes from the team at Denison Glass & Mirror in Texas.   This is the Scheels store in The Colony, Texas and its pretty awesome.  Huge store, and using dynamic glass to allow maximum natural light (see natural light again) are keys.  These pictures come via my pal Tyler “Keepin it Glassy” Hall and it’s an awesome job for him and everyone at Denison to proud of!  Makes our industry look good.  Congrats to the suppliers as well.  Sage and CRL.  If you have a project you want spotlighted here feel free to drop me a line!