DESIGN 2008 Best in Show Announced at EFA

From left to right: SAGE President John Pace, SAGE Vice-President Amy Carpenter, Perkins Eastman designer Daniel Cinelli, DESIGN Publisher Jennifer Werba, and DESIGN Editor-in-Chief Richard Peck

From left to right: SAGE President John Pace, SAGE Vice-President Amy Carpenter, Perkins Eastman designer Daniel Cinelli, DESIGN Publisher Jennifer Werba, and DESIGN Editor-in-Chief Richard Peck

Childers Place, designed by Perkins Eastman, won the

DESIGN Best in Show at the Environments for Aging conference in Tucson, Arizona, March 17-19. The

DESIGN jurors expressed that, out of the 37 projects accepted for review, Childers Place (Amarillo, Texas) was the best embodiment of principals promoted by the Society for the Advancement of Gerontological Environments (SAGE). SAGE President John Pace, AIA, of Pace Hart Design, Architects, and SAGE Vice-President Amy Carpenter, AIA, LEED, of Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC, presented the award plus three other Citations of Merit.

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Construction Costs Outrun Overall PPI; Steel Hikes Proliferate

The producer price index (PPI) for fi nished goods rose 0.2% in February, not seasonally adjusted (0.3% adjusted), and 6.4% over 12 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The unadjusted PPI for inputs to construction industries climbed 0.6% and 5.5%. Inputs to nonresidential building construction rose 0.6% and 5.6%

John Cross, vice-president of marketing for the American Institute of Steel Construction, discovered a spike in the number of respondents seeing construction jobs put on hold—26% this quarter (in his latest survey of members) versus just under 15% in the fourth quarter. Cross views the commercial construction downturn as ‘spotty,’ seeing offsetting strength in energy- related and industrial projects, healthcare, and hotels and resorts. http://healthcaredesi.wpengine.com/ConstructionReport

Construction Market Forecast: Healthcare Segment Growth Expected to Stay Positive

According to FMI’s quarterly Construction Outlook, nonresidential construction will see declines in 2008 and 2009, except some publicly funded segments, including healthcare. The nonresidential segments that are the most cyclical, or tied to the economy, will see the declines. Publicly funded nonresidential segments will fare much better, such as healthcare, educational, public safety, and homeland security construction. Healthcare construction will remain positive partly because of facility upgrades across the country and seismic retrofi ts in California.

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