Expertise

Lighting Control Basics:
Occupancy and Vacancy Sensors Explained

In a high-performance office building, lighting can account for 20% of energy use. Properly applied, lighting controls can easily reduce that portion by 25%. But, as with any high-performance strategy, there are subtleties to the technology and application. In this article, we’ll explain the basics of occupancy sensors and their important counterpart, the vacancy sensor. […]

Concepts

Green Building: Beyond LEED

The USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) was founded in 1993 with the mission “To transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.” This is a lofty mission to be sure. Their vision statement goes even further, […]

Great Projects

Commissioning University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena:
From Good to Great

Two years ago, we wrote about Glumac’s Commissioning work at the University of Oregon Duck’s new 12,541-seat Matthew Knight Sports Arena in Eugene, Oregon. The project was designed by a world-class architectural and engineering team. While most sports facilities are just designed to code, this facility was shooting for LEED® Silver and Glumac encouraged the […]
Sokol Blosser - Glumac MEP Engineering

Great Projects

Sokol Blosser’s New Tasting Room Targets Living Building Challenge
and Net-Zero Energy

Over 40 years ago, the Sokol Blosser winery began its journey to becoming a world-class vineyard and an industry leader in sustainability. They had a passion for growing Pinot Noir grapes and creating fine wine which helped shape Oregon’s now-prominent wine industry. They also had a commitment “being good to the earth” and striving for […]

Concepts

StraightTalk Experts Discuss:
The Future of the Medical Office Building

“Medical offices are at the front line of healthcare delivery, with the emphasis on primary care and medical homes. Going forward there will be  much more care and prevention done in medical offices than in past.” ~ Karl Sonnenberg, architect, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP On May 22nd, a panel of five healthcare experts and […]

Concepts

Biomimicry and Engineering:
Doing it Nature’s Way

To Design to Nature, Understand Function First What is the function that you are designing for? That is the first question every engineer should ask when beginning a new project. The function of a ventilation, electrical, or plumbing system for example, must be understood up front or the resulting design will not truly serve the […]

Great Projects

Glumac Portland Office Achieves LEED Platinum

The Green Building Certification Institute announced this week that the Glumac Portland office has been awarded Platinum certification under LEED CI.  Since last year, Glumac Portland has been happily inhabiting a 15,150 sf, office space in the Standard Insurance Center in the heart of downtown Portland. The office is the result of a deep energy retrofit of […]
Resilient Design - Manhattan without Power

Concepts

Disaster Proofing: Designing for Resiliency

Among the difficulties in New York during Hurricane Sandy, the most striking may have been the failure of emergency generators that prompted the evacuation of two hospitals. When even backup systems are exposed as unexpectedly fragile, it is clearly time to adjust our design thinking. Extreme weather events, rising seas, volatile energy prices, and all […]