Sustainable Building and BIM: Massive Government Office One of Best in Nation

By Zach Mortice

Commissioned in the depths of the Great Recession, Federal Center South, the Army Corp of Engineers’ regional headquarters in Seattle, was funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. But stimulus money came with big strings attached—namely strenuous requirements that it had to be built very, very quickly and very, very sustainably.

Net-Zero U.S. Cities and Communities are Here Already

By Jonathan Rowe

Today, more than half of the world’s population calls a city home. And over the next few decades, that number is projected to rise.

From an environmental perspective, cities are already responsible for the majority of the planet’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. To meaningfully battle climate change and stay within our carbon budget, getting things right at the urban scale is critical.

Which CAD Training Makes Sense for Your Agency?

Written by Shaun Bryant

It’s 1988. I have received my joining instructions for my first AutoCAD Basic course, and off I go to sit in a classroom with 21-inch CRT monitors, a projector, a screen (if I am lucky), and a flipchart/whiteboard (with pens!), plus the all-knowledgeable AutoCAD instructor. In my case, my instructor was a lovely guy named Andy Corden, who later in my career became my applications engineer when I worked in CAD sales. Small world, huh?

7 Tips and Tricks for Using Dynamic AutoCAD UCS

Prior to 2007, drawing in 3D forced the drafter to constantly change the XY plane to draft on a particular face or plane of an object. You had to create a new user coordinate system every time you changed views. This AutoCAD tips and tricks roundup focuses on the Dynamic User Coordinate System (UCS), a feature that automatically creates a temporary XY plane to draw on. Check out these seven videos on AutoCAD UCS.