Top honors in the design category went to the Nasher Sculpture Garden, one of three Metroplex-area recipients of the American Society of Landscape Architects awards.

ASLA Awards go to Three Metroplex Projects

The American Society of Landscape Architects recently announced the recipients of its 2004 Professional Awards representing the best in landscape architecture from around the world. The 33 award winners were chosen from more than 550 entries by a nine-member jury. Three of the winners are Texas projects.

Receiving one of two top awards was the Nasher Sculpture Garden in Dallas. Peter Walker & Partners of Berkeley, Calif., won an award of honor for the project. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects of Charlottesville, Va., was the other winner.

The other winning project in Texas was the Dallas garden, Feral Geometry: A Narrative of Modern Materials on the Bank of Turtle Creek, which won an award of merit in the design category.

An analysis and planning award of merit went to Fort Worth's Parks and Community Services department for Preserving Native Texas: A Plan for the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.

"The best projects displayed great understanding of natural processes, considerable sensitivity to people and a high level of design acumen," said Frederick R. Steiner, jury chair and dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin.

CURT Establishes Alliance with Construction Industry Institute

The Construction Industry Institute and the Construction Users Roundtable recently signed a memorandum of understanding at the CII offices in Austin designed to capitalize on the strengths of both organizations and to facilitate efforts between the two to achieve their collective mission: to improve the engineering and construction industry.

CII director Hans VanWinkle said that the signing represents a step in the rightdirection for both CII and CURT. "We believe that CURT, as the voice of the owner inthe construction industry, can help CII in many ways and this agreement between us shows the resolve that we have to work together to improve the industry," he added.

Tom Weise, CURT president, pointed to collaborative opportunities already undertaken by the two groups. "This formalizes what we've been doing for some time now," he said. "CII and CURT joined with FIATECH in sponsoring the Globalization Challenge Forum in February in Houston. I think we'll be able to organize even more jointly sponsored activities now."

AGC Enters Partnership with U.S. Department Of Labor

The Associated General Contractors of America recently announced that it has entered into a formal partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor. The historic partnership is the product of the department's new Partnerships for Compliance Assistance Program and the first to address the construction industry.

The partnership will enable the Labor Department to reach the broad mainstream of the construction industry through the AGC, while the association has promised to publicize the department's compliance-assistance tools and continue to invite department representatives to participate in AGC conferences, seminars and other events.

DBIA Announces Designated Professionals

The Design-Build Institute of America's Designated Design-Build Professional program announced individuals who recently completed the requirements of the program.

The DBIA designation is intended to create a standard for experienced, professional and knowledgeable practitioners who possess a qualified and quantified level of expertise in design-build project delivery.

Adding to the list of DBIA professionals in Texas are Mark T. Baugh, Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Dallas; Dave Strode, also of Hensel Phelps; and Randy Landers, Carter & Burgess Inc., Fort Worth.

Other Texas-based DBIA designated professionals are James A. Broaddus, Broaddus & Associates, Austin; Steven H. Clay, TDIndustries, Dallas; Brice E. Hill, Sundt Construction Inc., Dallas; William Darrel McGehee, The Beck Group, Dallas; Raymond F. Messer, Walter P. Moore and Associates Inc., Houston; and Drew Yaggy, TDIndustries, Dallas.

Kirksey Accepts Official LEED Silver Certification for SpawGlass H.Q.

Kirksey Architecture of Houston recently accepted the official certification of the SpawGlass Construction Corp. Office Building as the first nonresidential green building in Houston and the fifth in Texas. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver Certification was awarded by the United States Green Building Council.

Kirksey earned the certification by developing an energy model, a life-cycle cost analysis of the project and providing the owner with tangible benefits of building green. Green features of the building include the use of local materials, native landscaping and efficient irrigation and a white roof for reflectivity and energy conservation.