Round up: SOM, Bulley & Andrews, CannonDesign, BuildPay

What’s happening this week in our industry? Here’s our Friday round up of news and announcements from members of the BuiltWorlds network. Want to be included? Send your press releases or story ideas to news@builtworlds.com.

 

1. SOM Directors to speak at 2017 Academy of Architecture for Justice Conference

Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM) Design Director Javier Arizmendi and Managing Director Steven Sobel will speak at the Academy of Architecture for Justice (AAJ) Conference in Cincinnati, OH, on October 31. The AAJ promotes human centered design in courts and jails. Arizmendi and Sobel will detail their experience creating the San Diego Central Courthouse for the Superior Court of California.

Source: Press release

 

2. Bulley & Andrews’ Shakespeare Theater “The Yard” opens at Navy Pier

Bulley & Andrews partnered with CST and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture  to create the innovative Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier. The Yard opened on September 12, 2017, after a year and a half of construction. The project was particularly complex because it preserved the iconic white tent; the Yard is enclosed beneath the tent with fewer than six inches of clearance between the steel beams and the canopy. Bulley & Andrews also had to reinforce Navy Pier to support the structure, pushing eighteen 95-foot-long micropiles into Lake Michigan’s bedrock.

BuiltWorlds had the chance to film this project when it was still under construction. Check out the episode of Project Innovation below.

https://youtu.be/tC3VKGfIgOE

Source: Press release

 

3. CannonDesign and FKP work towards merger

CannonDesign will be merging with Houston based FKP, a healthcare, science and education design firm. The merger will allow Cannon to provide its clients with increased expertise on health-focused building. It also expands Cannon’s reach into the Ohio and Texas markets.

Sources: Press release and Architect Magazine

 

4. BuildPay CEO Steve Wightman featured in Rochester Builder’s Exchange fall 2017 issue

Wightman compares payment issues in the construction industry to bad weather — everyone expects it and no one believes there is a solution. Slow payments damage business prospects by hurting relationships between contractors and subcontractors and by making credit more expensive and difficult to obtain. BuildPay uses the power of financial technology specifically for the construction industry, ensuring that all the members of the project delivery chain are paid promptly.

For more on BuildPay, see this article we wrote, featuring Wightman.

Source: Steven Wightman, “Bad Weather,” The Rochester Builder’s Exchange, Fall 2017