International Code Council Renews Top Sponsorship
for Building Innovation 2017

For the second year, the International Code Council (ICC) renews its commitment as the Conference Sponsor for Building Innovation 2017: The National Institute of Building Sciences Fifth Annual Conference and Expo. As a membership association of building safety professionals dedicated to protecting the property, health and safety of people worldwide, ICC’s sponsorship of the Conference helps to support the Institute’s mission to bring together representatives from the entire building community to collaborate on industry issues. Building Innovation 2017, to be held January 9-12, 2017, at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C., will focus on Collaborating for a High-Performing Future.

As top sponsor, ICC will be featured throughout the Conference venue and on the Exhibit Hall floor. There are many other opportunities for sponsorships and exhibit spaces during Building Innovation 2017. Companies interested in showing their support for the Institute and the building community can reserve a sponsorship and/or exhibitor space online. Read the full story. Download the Prospectus. Sign up to receive the latest Conference announcements.

Nominations Wanted for Institute Board

The National Institute of Building Sciences Board Nominations Committee is currently seeking candidates to serve on the Institute’s Board of Directors. The Institute Board is comprised of 21 members. Six members are appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to represent the public interest. The remaining 15 members are elected and can represent either public interest or industry voices. The Board representation includes architects, builders, building owners, building standards developers, consumers, contractors, educators, fire safety professionals, local agency officials, product manufacturers, professional engineers, state agency officials and others. However, the majority of board members are required to come from the public interest category.

Call for Honor, Member Award Nominees

The National Institute of Building Sciences Awards Committee is currently accepting nominations for the 2016 Institute Honor and Member Awards. Each year, the Institute recognizes individuals or organizations that have made an exceptional contribution to the nation and the building community. Members of the building community will honor the recipients of this year’s awards during the 2017 Annual Awards Banquet on Wednesday, January 11. The ceremony will take place as part of Building Innovation 2017: The National Institute of Building Sciences Conference and Expo, to be held January 9-12, 2017, in Washington, D.C. Download the nomination forms: Member Award or Honor Award. Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. ET, July 15.

Annual Paper Competition Puts the Focus on Standards

Write a paper for a chance to win $2,500! The U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day Planning Committee and the SES – Society for Standards Professionals invite paper submissions for the 2016 World Standards Day Paper Competition. This year’s theme is “Standards Build Trust.” Cash prizes are awarded for the three best papers submitted. Winners will be announced and given their awards during the U.S. World Standards Day Dinner, to be held October 27 in Washington, D.C. The National Institute of Building Sciences is a member of the Planning Committee that hosts the U.S. World Standards Day Dinner and Reception. View the competition rules.

Institute Submits Outcome-Based Pathway for the 2018 IECC
Approach Will Help Communities Achieve Expected Energy Performance

Building on a multi-year, industry-wide effort to include an outcome-based pathway for energy compliance into the 2015 International Green Construction Code (IgCC), the National Institute of Building Sciences introduced a similar proposal to be considered for inclusion in the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) (CE37-16). The proposed change was reviewed at the International Code Council (ICC) Committee Action Hearings  in Louisville, Kentucky and will be considered for assembly action in cdpAccess in May.

The outcome-based provision in the 2015 IgCC and the Institute’s proposal for the IECC both focus on overcoming the gap between design and operations (in both new construction and retrofits) and seek to institutionalize the importance of measurable results. The proposal also includes a new method to regulate building department requirements post-occupancy—the Post Occupancy Verification Permit. Read the release. Learn more about outcome-based pathways.

SmartMarket Report Looks at Safety and Health in the Construction Industry

Presentations from the First BSSC Webinar Now Available

Missed the first webinar in the 2016 Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC) webinar series? No worries. The March 22 webinar, “Site Factors and Updates to Maps,” by Nicolas Luco, PhD, Research Structural Engineer, USGS, and CB Crouse, PhD, PE, Principal Engineer/Vice President, AECOM, is now available online. The presenters addressed site factors in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program’s (NEHRP) 2015 NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions and ASCE/SEI 7-16, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, updates to maps for the 2015 NEHRP and the reasons behind those changes. View their presentations.

Congratulations to 2016 Race to Zero Winners

Congratulations to the 2016 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Race to Zero Student Design Competition (Race to Zero) winners, including Grand Winner Prairie View A&M University’s Green Future Team for its Double Barrel Project. Thirty-four teams presented their projects during the 2016 DOE Race to Zero Student Design Competition, April 16-17, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. View the results.

The DOE Race to Zero inspires collegiate students to become the next generation of building science professionals through a design challenge for zero energy ready homes. Collegiate institutions can start planning now for the 2017 Race to Zero, which will be held at NREL in April 2017. View the key dates for the 2017 competition.

Lining Up to Take a Virtual Tour of Mars City

Students queue up at the Institute’s booth to take a virtual tour of Mars City during the 4th USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. (left). A young student wearing 3-D goggles navigates the tunnels that connect the Mars City modules (right).

“Cool!” “I want to try on the goggles.” “Mom, can we go here?” Those were just some of the exclamations the Mars City Team heard as thousands of people walked by and then stopped at the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) Booth over the course of the three-day USA Science & Engineering Festival, held in Washington, D.C., April 15-17.

Boys and girls, young and old, beginners and expert gamers stopped by to try out the newly unveiled Mars City virtual tour. Of the more than 365,000 people to attend the festival, at least 400 put on the three-dimensional (3D) Oculus Rift goggles to take a virtual walk through and check out the Mars Rover garage, Mission Control, sleeping rooms, cafeteria, gym and more. The Mars City tour, which is geared toward introducing middle school and high school students to the building sciences, serves as the basis of the Mars City Facility Operations (Ops) Challenge — the joint science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program developed by NIBS, the Total Learning Research Institute (TLRI) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Members from Kieran Timberlake, who built the Mars City building information model (BIM), and staff from NIBS and TLRI manned the booth, one of more than a dozen booths in the Festival’s Building Science Pavilion highlighting career opportunities in the building sciences and among eight participating in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) U.S. Standardization System Passport to encourage students to learn about the standards. Learn more about the Mars Facility Ops Challenge.

May Webinar to Highlight Version 6 of the NCS

Industry professionals interested in learning about the latest version of the nation’s leading computer-aided design (CAD) standard should mark their calendars for May 5, from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET. That’s when the developers of the United States National CAD Standard® (NCS) Version 6—The American Institute of Architects (AIA), Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS)—will hold a new webinar entitled “Introduction to the NCS V6.” Don’t miss this free, informational webinar developed by the NCS Steering Committee, a committee within the NIBS buildingSMART alliance®. Read the release. Sign up for the webinar.

The buildingSMART alliance® Today and Beyond

The buildingSMART alliance® Membership recently received an open letter from the Alliance’s Board of Direction, providing an update on the council’s activities. The topics covered include the new 2015 Strategic Plan, which provides “clarity and focus to the purpose, organization and benefits the bSa brings to members;” leadership changes that will bring the Alliance into alignment with the Institute’s guidelines, streamline business decisions and create greater accountability to the Board of Direction (BOD); product updates about the National BIM Standard-United States® and the United States National CAD Standard®; updates to various subcommittees and task groups; and an update about the Alliance’s buildingSMART International Chapter status. Read the letter.