Kirksey ARCHITECTURE
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Kirksey Annual Construction Cost Update 2012 | 04/26/2012
Kirksey's 2012 annual construction cost update on office buildings and parking structures. As a service to our clients, we annually poll leading general contractors to give an update on current conditions. Recent Trends: Though still in the midst of a depressed building market, we are seeing increased activit... more
Corporate Headquarters & Commercial Office Buildings | 12/06/2011
Over the past 10 years, Kirksey has designed 60 office buildings totaling more than 10 million square feet of office space. Buildings are the largest single contributor to our landfills and are also the largest consumers of electricity and potable water. As architects, we can have a huge impact in reducing co... more
Kirksey Annual Construction Cost Update 2011 | 05/02/2011
Kirksey's 2011 annual construction cost update on office buildings and parking structures. Recent findings: In general, construction costs have stabilized at a low point over the past year. While a few material costs and transportation costs are beginning to rise, competition has kept prices low.
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Health Facilities Management | by Debra Phillips, AIA, ACHA, Kirksey
Unlike owners of speculative facilities, the owners of health care buildings keep their properties for longer periods of time. Health facility professionals also spend more effort on the upkeep of their buildings than managers of other ty... more
Major Findings of the ‘Hot and Humid’ Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) Study:
1. Designing buildings for zero energy use in hot and humid climates like that of the Gulf Coast of Texas can be a good investment in the context of a 25-year lifetime of the building.
2. Investing in energy-efficiency ... more
Benchmarking Data Centers through LEED 2009 | 02/01/2011
The value of benchmarking lies in its ability to set goals like investment, operation costs and carbon savings. However, benchmarking complex processes is often a challenging exercise. For one, it’s difficult to separate these processes into components due to interdependencies; secondly, there can be la... more
Kirksey preK-12 | 01/31/2011
What inspires students to learn?
What helps educators deliver their lessons most effectively?
How can architecture positively influence these factors?
These are a few of the considerations that we, as architects, research when designing schools — long before addressing the details of program and scop... more
Green is the New Luxury | 10/28/2010
Kirksey has assembled some of the most recent data and conducted a study of our own to demonstrate the cost and payback of sustainability measures for hotels. In this article we have highlighted those that are most easily achieved, have the best payback, and will have the greatest marketability to your guests... more
The Kirksey Guide to a Green School | 09/24/2010
The Kirksey Guide to a Green School is a working guidebook for operating your school more efficiently. It includes straightforward recommendations that almost any school can employ, along with lesson plans for the classroom.
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Making Room: Student Housing for a New Generation | 06/10/2010
Kirksey's update on Collegiate Student Housing Trends for 2010. As the number of students entering college continues to rise, so too does the demand for on-campus housing and the list of amenities residence halls must offer to compete for prospective students.
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We’re Kirksey Hospitality | 05/06/2010
We’re Kirksey Hospitality.
In Hospitality, image is key and the experience is everything. Your facility largely creates this experience — rich, meaningful, and powerful enough to leave a lasting impression — and is perhaps the greatest promoter of your image, so every detail is important ... more
Kirksey Annual Construction Cost Update 2010 | 03/09/2010
Kirksey's 2010 Annual Construction Cost Update on office buildings and parking structures. Recent Trends: Despite the hesitation nationwide to undertake new building projects, now may be the best time to build. Interest rates are low and construction costs are down, so owners and developers are able to get mo... more
Transform Your Parking Lot...From Eyesore to Amenity | 02/01/2010
by Julie Hendricks, Jeff Chapman, and Jennifer Walker --
If Houston is perceived as ugly by many, acres and acres of parking certainly play a key role in that perception. Beauty is important, but in this case it’s only one small aspect of Hou... more
We're Kirksey EcoServices | 09/03/2009
We're Kirksey EcoServices, a team of LEED® Accredited Professionals focused on green building solutions - integrated into an architecture firm of 105.
We consult on projects in-house and provide green building services for outside project teams. We help create spaces that are more efficient, less expen... more
We're Kirksey Science & Technology | 04/30/2009
We're Kirksey Science & Technology - architects, interior designers, and environmental professionals committed to healthy, high-performance architecture for laboratory, technical, and mission critical spaces. more
Kirksey Annual Construction Cost Update 2009 | 02/17/2009
Kirksey's 2009 Annual Construction Cost Update on office buildings and parking structures. Recent Trends: Office building costs peaked and began to fall in the last half of 2008. We think construction costs will continue to fall through the first half to three quarters of 2009, then level off.
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In just a few short years, the USGBC's LEED for New Construction program has become the accepted standard, as evidenced by many of these cities now requiring LEED Certification for new buildings. However, LEED for Existing Buildings has been slower to catch on.
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Greening Houston's Energy Corridor | 10/10/2008
Green building is being taken very seriously by the energy industry, but why? Aside from its recent surge in popularity, green building not only makes environmental sense, but business sense as well. “In the future, you will not find Shell in a non-green building” said Jeri Ballard, manager of cor... more
The Kirksey Guide to a Green Facility, 2nd Edition | 09/01/2008
Adopting green does require commitment, a willingness to look critically at the way your facility is run, and a willingness to change. That may not be easy, but it is an effort that will pay for itself bountifully in better health, greater productivity, lower maintenance, lower energy costs, and increased goo... more
What is the value of test-fitting a tenant into several prospective buildings? What variation can be expected in the amount of space needed for a given set of requirements in spaces of several different geometric shapes? How can these variations make a difference in the lease terms negotiated? All of these qu... more