Construction Equipment Owner

My idea of excitement includes a canoe and a slow river, or cross-country skiing on flat terrain. Pretty much the exact opposite of excitement for people who partake in BASE jumping, a sport where people parachute off fixed objects. But just in case you’re looking for inspiration to create a little excitement of your own, read this article about this Bridge Day celebration in West Virginia and how ALL Crane Equipment & Rental Corp. helped a group of adrenaline junkies get their fix. There’s even a You Tube video!

Each year, Concrete Contractor magazine chooses its list of Top Products for the concrete industry. Results are tabulated by reader interest generated by products that run in each issue. Have you seen the list of products this year? Lots of people have been interested in the results, including the folks at HGTVpro.com. Check out the article they posted on their website about the Top Products winners.

Today marks the first ever World Green Building Day. The declaration was made by the World Green Building Council in an effort to bring together green building councils from around the world. In honor of the day, I put together a list of a few “building green with concrete” links for you to peruse:

• The U.S. Green Building Council
• The Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) ConcreteThinker.com
• Green buildings case studies from the Portland Cement Association (PCA)
• The Sustainability page from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA)

And here are some articles from the pages of Concrete Contractor that look at building green with concrete:

• “Pervious Concrete: How to Place and Cure”
• “The Cincinnati Zoo Focuses on Improving Its Environmental Impact”
• “Go White to Go Green”
• “Going Green in the Residential Market”
• “Taking a ‘LEED’ in Wisconsin”
• “Making Greener Choices”

The term “industrial design” is something I never thought much about until the summer of 2009. That’s when I attended the graduation ceremonies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and listened to a few highly influential commencement speakers including Renzo Piano — the Italian architect who designed the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago. The speaker who captured my interest the most, however, was industrial designer Charles A. Harrison II. Mr. Harrison designed lawn mowers, sewing machines and garbage cans during his career at Sears, Roebuck and Company. He also redesigned the View-Master – the childhood toy EVERYONE has fond memories of.

Having a hand in the View-Master is pretty cool. But it’s easy to skim over the importance of lawn mowers and garbage cans and how Mr. Harrison’s visions touch people’s lives. One image from a slideshow of Mr. Harrison’s designs that really stuck out for me was a photo of a Sears-brand riding lawnmower. I could instantly see my grandpa riding that mower on a cool summer evening. And maybe my sewing machine and garbage can were designed by Mr. Harrison, or derived from one of his designs. It’s fascinating to think about an industrial designer’s ability to make everyday, utilitarian tools look good.

All these thoughts I had after hearing Mr. Harrison speak in May came rushing back to me when I saw the press release announcing Doosan Infracore’s Best of the Best Award at the 2009 RedDot Design Award Show for the futuristic concept excavator “CX.” Looking at the image gives you a sneak peek at the future — an idea of what your construction site might look like in 10 or 20 years. And it feels good to know there are talented people out there designing our everyday tools with a little inspiration and style.

Working in the construction industry, I see projects of all sizes — from backyard patios to multi-story buildings. Recently I’ve been keeping an eye on a particular project that is just huge, and the imagery is out of this world (the image here is from The Hoover Dam Bypass Project Web site). It’s the Hoover Dam bypass bridge, formally known as the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. The bridge will shuffle traffic over the Arizona-Nevada border, 890 feet above the Colorado River. When complete, it will be the largest concrete arch in North America. If you’re a concrete nut, the project is worth checking out.

The Las Vegas Sun covers the bridge construction closely, with great imagery. And with another concrete marvel  — the Hoover Dam – less than a half-mile upstream, the area is a true concrete mecca.

On July 16, 1867, F. Joseph Monier patented reinforced concrete. The idea came to him while trying to design a concrete flower pot. Read the whole story at Wired magazine.

 Concrete’s contributions to sustainable construction are many — pervious concrete, insulated walls, low-albedo values, supplementary cementicious materials (SMCs), recycling opportunities, and more – but many people continue to focus on concrete’s negative affects on the environment, namely carbon dioxide emissions from cement production. The industry has been working on sustainable manufacturing and increasing the use of cement substitutes like fly ash and slag, which lessen the amount of cement needed in concrete production. And scientists have recently found another cement substitute that’s carbon neutral — rice husks. The Discover Channel reports that rice husk ash could replace up to 20 percent of the cement in a concrete mix.

The New York Times ran a story today on the Obama administration’s decision to require businesses that work on federal projects to verify the legal work status of their employees through the E-Verify system. The rule will affect contractors who gain new contracts after Sept. 8, 2009.

In today’s economy, business owners face tough challenges in the lending arena. Doug Staebler, CFO with Custom Concrete, will talk about some of these challenges and how contractors can overcome them at the 2009 CFA Summer Meeting. I talked with Doug about his upcoming seminar. Listen here!

 Doug Staebler to give talk on business financing at CFA Summer Meeting: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (166)

I ran across an article at The Architects’ Journal web page on the architecture of Star Wars. Good stuff. Who wouldn’t want to live in the Ewok Village!?

I think the Sci-Fi world is a great place to look for futuristic design ideas and inspiration. I’ve always been intrigued and humored by the past’s vision of the future. (Do you remember that silly “war room/president’s office” in the original Dead Zone?) One of my favorite futurist illustrators is Arthur Radebaugh, a commercial artist and cartoonist from the mid-1900s. His stuff can be hard to find, but believe me, he had a great futurist mind and was a talented artist. His “Closer Than We Think” was comic strip Sci-Fi. I found this link on another blog, Paleo-Future, that shows a few frames from “Closer Than We Think.” Take a look at the bottom one, showing pre-fab, gravity-free homes. Looks like a design that could easily be made from concrete! And if Radebaugh would have imagined the benefits of insulated concrete homes, he wouldn’t have had to dream up the anti-gravity device that helps homeowners beat the heat. Save money on energy costs AND stay cool? That’s the Sci-Fi vision of concrete housing that is slowly but surely becoming a reality.