According to a study which the firm Function: recently conducted, looking at the habits of more thab 600 architects, 35 percent of those surveyed are on LinkedIn, 28 percent use Amazon’s social features, 10 percent of those architects are active on Facebook, and 5 percent use Twitter. Less popular social networking sites like Myspace, Flickr and StumbleUpon account for another 9 percent of those surveyed.

For me, different social media sites are useful for different situations.

For example, I interact with my business colleagues on LinkedIn. That is where most of them are and there are great groups which pertain to subjects we are most interested in, such as energy efficiency and architectural glass. For my family and personal friends, we socialize on Facebook. It’s nice to stay in touch with people who are so far away, and I know my business colleagues are not interested in what is happening in my family.

We’re increasingly participating in an electronic social world. And the results of the Function: survey show that architects are active participants.

According to Jody Porowski, content manager at the firm, Function: the firm has recently done a great deal of research on social media in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry.

“We believe the results of this study indicate that architects continue to focus social media usage on sites that are targeted on generating professional connections, with LinkedIn holding the most participation; but the upward trends of architects with accounts on Twitter and Facebook shows an active interest in larger community engagement and the increasing appeal of sites with multiple social professional and business-related functions.”

Another piece of research available at the firm’s website is a recent webinar it conducted on social media several weeks ago.

“Our panel consisted of an architect, members of the media in the AEC industry, a marketing professional from AIA, and myself,” explains Porowski. “Our discussion included who is using social media in this industry, what has been the most effective approach to social media in this industry, etc.”

CLICK HERE to visit their website.

According to the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast, a survey of the nation’s leading construction forecasters, despite signs that the overall U.S. economy is beginning to improve, nonresidential construction spending is expected to decrease by 13.4 percent this year with a marginal increase of 1.8 percent in 2011 in inflation adjusted terms while commercial and industrial projects will continue to see the most significant decrease in activity.

The commercial and industrial sectors are projected to have declines in the 20 percent range for 2010 in most building categories. Led by the healthcare market, the institutional sector will see far less dramatic declines and should help lead the construction industry into recovery in 2011. More information on the forecast is available at on the AIA’s website (CLICK HERE to visit that site).

Also ushering in the new decade, the New Jersey Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ) recently announced the winners of its Annual Design Awards program, which brings public and professional recognition to architectural projects that exhibit design excellence.

The awards were announced during a recent AIA-NJ Design Conference at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton. A formal awards gala to recognize the winners will be held this month at Thomas Edison State College in Trenton.

The entries were divided into built, un-built and design-build categories, which all included honor and merit awards. In addition, a merit award was presented in the historic preservation category. Here are some of the winners in which architectural glass and metal played a key role.

Built Category

Honor Award

Architect: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Engineering Department, Design Division, Donald T. Fram, AIA, and Robert I Davidson, FAIA

Project: The Port Authority Ferry Terminal at The World Financial Center, New York City.

The terminal was designed as a floating pavilion with horizontal and vertical weather protection provided by 13-foot glass windscreens enclosed under an iconic fabric roof structure. The terminal, with six slips, can accommodate vessels with capacities of 450 passengers, thereby offering a mass-transit option for commuters to lower Manhattan.

What the judges said: Durable urban architecture, earthily sturdy, and playful roofscape.

Honor Award

Architect: ikon.5 Architects, based in Princeton.

Project: Hockessin Public Library, Hockessin, Del.

The challenges at the Hockessin library were to create a 10,000-square-foot addition that melded with the existing 15,000-square-foot library and to deal creatively with a site that had the advantage of overlooking a lushly vegetated county park that was restricted by a 100-year flood plain in close proximity to the existing structure. The architects solved the problems by creating a floating glass pavilion overlooking the park that cantilevers over the floodplain. The views of the park envelop the interior space, which is devoted to a children’s library, creating an exciting learning environment, as well as supplying an abundance of daylighting, which helps save on energy costs.

What the judges said: Elegant attachment without insulting the original, capitalized on complex site, and overall warm without being cluttered.

Un-Built Category

Merit Award

Architects: HDR CUH2A, based in Princeton.

Project: Headquarters for Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority tower is designed with a sleek and modern luminescent “skin” made of a silica nano-material that wraps the building, insulating it from the harsh sun. Each façade is equipped to respond to its specific microclimate and orientation. The large open interior is penetrated by a glass atrium that allows daylight to reach deep into the building as well as enhancing air circulation. Modern technologies are woven into the facility, including under-floor air and electrical systems that provide a flexible work environment that easily accommodates expanding and contracting project teams.

What the judges said: Inventive, handsome, rich diagrams, nice massing, and notable moves in envelope.

Merit Award

Architects: HDR CUH2A, based in Princeton.

Project: Georgia Institute of Technology, Carbon Neutral Energy Solution Laboratory, Atlanta.

The Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology is designed as a 35,000-square-foot facility that will house a variety of energy research programs requiring large-scale and intermediate-scale capabilities.

The building is aligned on an east-west axis, providing long north and south facades. Windows on the upper and lower northern facade, along with translucent panels, provide light deep into the facility. On the southern façade, the window is shaded with an awning clad with thin-film photovoltaic (PV) panels — arrays of cells containing a material that converts solar radiation into direct current electricity. In addition, PV panels are located on the roof and on the site to reduce the use of energy for lighting, heating and cooling.

What the judges said: Rigorous, austere, complete and thoughtful, creative concept, and thorough integration of façade to building.

CLICK HERE to read more about the awards program.

Is this a sign that the global architectural glass and metal industry is starting to come out of its doldrums? I am sure everyone is hoping that the answer is yes.

The GlassBuild show in Atlanta the month before got more mixed reviews. Expectations before the show were low. But many exhibitors reported that the show had exceeded their expectations. Others cited the lack of attendance, and accompanying lack of business, as another sign that the industry has not bounced back yet.

In my own opinion, I don’t think the industry is out of the woods yet. We may have hit the bottom, but I still see a long ways to go before the industry is back in a good, healthy position. The overall economy has to become healthier before the commercial market can bounce back.

So congratulations to Vitrum on its success. And let’s hope that it is, indeed, an omen.

If the glass had been tempered, it would have fallen out in tiny fragments. If it has been laminated, it would have remained intact even when broken because of the interlayer.

What does this tell us about the effort being made by Western countries and the future of Afghanistan? Well, it’s clear to me that we hear a lot about the importance of security in this war-torn country, but we can’t be bothered to provide security glass for the headquarters building of the United Nations.

That’s a disgrace. I know the government has made a lot of plans and spent a lot of money to upgrade embassies and other U.S. facilities around the globe, which they should given the current climate. And certainly the UN should do the same.

While the country’s economy may not be what it was in the boom days of high natural resources prices, things still look pretty good. It certainly looks better than when I was last there in 2003. And I saw a lot of construction still going on.

In Moscow, cranes and unfinished buildings were a common sight. It was a little difficult to tell for sure whether the buildings have been started but construction simply halted or if the construction is still underway. As pretty much everything else seemed to be in good shape, I made the assumption that the buildings, or most of them, were in the process of being constructed and would be finished.

While a lot of socialist-style buildings are still prevalent in Moscow, there is also a very prominent glass tower business center in the middle of the city, not un-similar to the Wall Street area in lower Manhattan or the City area in London. The design of these buildings may not be terribly distinctive, but taken as a while the attractiveness of the glass facades gives the city a modern appearance which is otherwise missing.

Our guide was eager to tell us that prominent architects such as Sir Norman Foster are doing or have done work in Russia, and natives are proud that their buildings can be designed by famous names like any other world-class city.

The big architectural news in St. Petersburg, which was founded by Peter the Great as the first step toward “westernizing” Russia, is that GazProm, the world’s largest oil and gas company whose origins are Russian, is going to build a high-rise structure in the downtown area. Traditionally, structures have not been built higher than the Winter Palace, the former home of the czars. This structure, too, will feature a glass façade and a modern look.

For someone involved in the architectural field like me, it was interesting to see the traditional Russian style of architecture, onion domes and all, alongside of new structures, which are meeting today’s needs. And, of course, the prominent role that architectural glass plays in them.

The center is in the midst of a renovation project, and with the newly opened Alice Tully Hall, at last there is an architecturally interesting structure in the complex. And glass is the key to the structure’s successful design.

The re-imagined hall, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with FXFowle Architects, is the first completed public component of the redevelopment of Lincoln Center’s 16-acre campus. The building features a striking new three-story-high glass-enclosed grand foyer, framed by the canopy of the adjacent Juilliard School’s cantilevered extension above, which assures the hall a highly visible new identity at Broadway and West 65th Street. The glass foyer and creation of a new sunken entrance plaza has transformed the structure into the liveliest and most visible public space at Lincoln Center.

As the press release from AP puts it, “At the world’s largest arts center, the word transparency has taken on a special meaning. A three-story high glass facade that looks on Broadway is the new face of Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, which opened after a $159 million, 22-month renovation.”

AP goes on to report, “Lincoln Center was built like a fortress, “with alienating blank walls, very much divorced from the fabric of the city,” said Elizabeth Diller of the Diller Scofidio + Renfro firm, which worked on the project with Sylvia Smith of FXFowle Architects. The see-through entrance sums up the feeling Lincoln Center is aiming for in the current transformation: a popular destination open to the neighborhood, hoping to draw visitors who may or may not be art lovers. They can sit in a cafe with a view of the lively urban landscape of people and cars passing by.”

The cafe, which seats 55, is wrapped by a multi-story glass curtainwall offering patrons expansive views and pedestrians a view into the cafe. According to officials at W&W Glass, Spring Valley, N.Y., the glazing contractor for the project, there are actually five different curtainwall types on the job with lots of custom glass and system types. Standing inside the façade, it is easy to see the complexity of the construction yet its clean lines give it a sophisticated appearance.

Turner Construction provided construction management services for the renovation including the 5,000 square foot, three-story glass lobby expansion.

If you find yourself in the area, stop by and take a look at the new Alice Tully Hall. Sit in the café and have a drink and look at an outstanding design and the glass that made it happen.

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The architectural and architectural glass and metal communities are intertwined. You design buildings to be built and our materials are used in that construction. But if no one is building buildings then there is no use of glass and metal for construction.
That’s why I wanted to let you know what I heard in Milan.

Dino Fenzi, president of Vitrum and head of the family owned company that supplies materials to manufacturers, said that the actions taken at the G20 meeting were good for emerging markets. “It’s important to get people working and not have social issues,” he said, referring to the street demonstrations in France and Germany.

“For 50 years, I’ve always believed that my success was part of the industry’s success,” he explained. “But now I realize it may depend on the U.S. Congress or the G20. Business is directly related to what is happening in the rooms where the world economy is being decided.”

Fenzi, who is also a past president of GIMAV, said that none of the group’s members have lost customers, “but the order books are empty. We have not lost market share, but the market has become smaller. The cake is smaller than it has been for 50 years. We hope recovery will be soon.”

He said his company has had only two years when sales declined from the previous year. “That was in 1990 and 1998, and those were single digit drops,” he said. “For the first time in 50 years, we don’t know what is going to happen.”

Commenting on the current global market, Cinzia Schiatti, who heads up foreign sales for her family owned company and is the current president of GIMAV, said, “Always before if it was slow in the U.S., we could find prosperity some place else. But not now.”

Fenzi added, “Some large, international companies have frozen their acquisition decisions because of board policy, and that has made a problem, but still that will come back. Solutions will be found and the economy will run again.”

We all share that hope.

The Glass Association of North America (GANA) has launched its Virtual Tradeshow (www.glasswebsite.com/tradeshow), which coincides with annual meetings it is holding in Las Vegas this month. The feature will be online through this month and next.

The Tradeshow features product information, videos and presentations as well as downloadable brochures.

News and updates from trade fairs in the Messe Düsseldorf worldwide program are now available on the Messe Düsseldorf North America (MDNA) blog at www.mdna.com/blog/  and can also be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mdnachicago.  In addition, photos from selected trade fairs will be posted by MDNA on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/mdnachicago.

Messe Dusseldorf North America is the U.S. subsidiary of Messe Dusseldorf, the German company which organizes glasstec, the world’s largest international event for the architectural glass and metal industry. It is held every other year in that German city.

If you get a spare moment, take a look.

However, one thing that caught my attention in this article was that part of the suggestion on why you should visit two of the destinations was glass-clad buildings.

I am old enough to remember in the 1980s when the first energy crisis hit and glass was blamed as being an energy waster and frowned upon as a construction material. Going even further back was the criticism by architectural critics that glass boxes were a blight on design. How far we have come.

Chicago, where I actually do hope to go this year, was on the list. Here is the quote from the article on why you should visit the Windy City. “They’re already calling it the “Building of the Century.” No, not the new Trump hotel and tower, though the 92-story skyscraper does command attention as Chicago’s (and the United States’) second-tallest building. The real buzz is the long-awaited Modern Wing (www.modernwing.org) of the Art Institute of Chicago. Designed by Renzo Piano, the immense limestone-and-glass addition opens May 16, and will house some of the 20^th century’s greatest art….” The architect’s website also provides information about the project (http://www.rpbw.com/).

The building’s exterior limestone walls on the east and west sides, complemented by a double-glass and steel curtainwall on the north and south sides, is designed to create a transparency of the northern elevation, integrating the interior of the building with the dramatic setting provided by the adjacent Millennium Park. Josef Gartner USA, a division of Permasteelisa North America, in Chicago, provided the glass for the structure.

Stockholm, which is not on my to-visit list this year although I would like to make it there eventually, made the list and architectural design with glass was at the top of the recommendation reason. The article said, “The biggest splash comes from the 558-room Clarion Hotel Sign, which opened last February. The glassy and angular building is stocked with iconic Scandinavian furniture….”

The Swedish architect Gert Wingårdh created the spectacular building, which is dominated by granite and glass. It leans over a square, reflecting a green park. His description of the project is found at http://www.wingardhs.se/php/flash.html. He used a combination of black granite, either polished, hammered or cracked, glass and mirror to give the structure its distinct look. The dominant architectural feature is two towers that resemble scissor blades. Interestingly, in an earlier model, the hotel was dominated by two bottle-green towers.

I contacted the architect who referred me to the company most involved with the glazing, Fasadglas, for details about the project. I emailed the gentleman they suggested at the company, Lars Bengtsson, who provided this information: The largest component for us in the project was delivery and installation of a specially made unitized prefabricated system (developed with Schüco) that features set-back glass and 30 mm granite in the same “level” of depth, roughly 3000 square meters of façade. The glass combination was mainly: 8 mm Stop Ray Safir with a light transmission of 61 percent and solar factor of 32 percent. Interior glass was laminated annealed float with a special sound-protective foil. AGC supplied the glass.

Good design can make a recommendation for travel. But in addition to Gothic cathedrals today’s list can include structures made of architectural glass and metal.

In talking with architects about the program, I was very encouraged to see their interest in and enthusiasm for the subjects covered in the presentations given by the sponsors. Design issues, warm-edge technology and other energy efficient topics involving architectural glass and metal formed the core of the seminars.

Lively discussions and pinpoint questions enhanced the educational experience. We received much positive feedback from attendees.

I would like to thank again all the attendees and the sponsors for making this experience possible.