My journey through the inner sanctum of the USG Research & Technology Innovation center continued through one testing laboratory after another, each with its own specialty… With over 100 years of innovation and leadership in the walls and ceilings industry, there is no aspect of the business that has escaped the purview of the USG scientists.

Created in the 1960s by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration as part of the “War on Poverty,” 40 years later, Job Corps continues to enjoy strong bi-partisan support in Congress. It continues its mission to help young men and women fulfill their life’s potential, and it may just be part of your solution to meeting the demand for skilled labor in today’s transitional labor market

Sometimes the limits of what EIFS can do get pushed too far, and problems ensue. Usually these misguided uses of EIFS are well intentioned, and are due to a lack of understanding of the properties of EIFS.

Since the early 1980s the percentage of the construction industry that has been dominated by unionized companies has decreased, that is until the last few years. Something has changed. Unions offer training programs, a ready supply of skilled labor, and a level playing field of wages and established fringe benefits.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are approximately 6 million citizens or legal residents of the United States between the ages of 18 and 64 who are actively seeking work, but who are unemployed. What happened?

It is estimated that there are over 24 million U.S. Military Veterans. More than 2 million of them are under 35 years of age, and many of those are in need of good paying jobs.

I recently had the opportunity to revisit Chicago, the home of one of my personal heroes, Byron Dalton. To most in the industry today, the name Dalton has little or no significance. But to some of us older die-hard plastering fanatics, Dalton could be considered the American patriarch of the plastering trade.

I was 14 years old and the tool I held uncomfortably in my hand had long ago been relegated to the bottom of a pick-up truck tool box; the dark and dusty graveyard where old trowels with rusted blades and popped rivets go to die. You see plasterers very rarely throw away their old trowels; they just put them out to pasture. A quality built trowel will serve its purpose for many years, even decades if cared for properly.

Online Blogs, Chat Rooms, and Community Forums; these cyber communities have become the modern version of the neighborhood bar, the office water cooler, and the campus coffee shop...

Have you ever been to an industry trade show? I usually attend several each year; the INTEX Expo, World of Concrete, and this year I had the opportunity to attend the Remodeling Show sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders at the Convention Center in Baltimore. You can always tell when a trade show is in town. Local restaurants and hotels are filled with small groups wearing matching shirts.

Plastering being one of the oldest of occupations, or as I am fond of calling it, the second “oldest profession” is represented in the United States and Canada by the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association, which was chartered in 1864 and is the oldest of all the active building trades unions in North America.

“Some men must follow, and some command, though all are made of clay” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I stood along the rail of an upper tier at the Nashville Convention Center, home of the 2009 AWCI Convention and Intex Expo trade show. I watched two middle-aged men approaching each other on opposing escalators, one going up, the other going down.

I know that it has been a while since I was a small remodeling contractor, but has the state of the art really fallen this far?

When I first began to learn how to plaster, if someone would have told me then that it would one day become necessary for me to learn to speak Italian, I would have chuckled and turned away.

As the director of a national training program for plasterers, I help develop and implement training criteria and curriculum materials for young people just entering the trade. So, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to witness young men and women, who’ve got a few years under their belt, excelling at the craft-especially in a down economy! 

Are contractors who pay their employees cash or who misclassify their workers as “subcontractors” for the purpose of avoiding taxes, worker compensation insurance cutting into your business?

Dimitris Spiliadis’ great-grandfather once owned a hotel in Constantinople, which was lost when the Turks invaded the magnificent and historic city (now known as Istanbul).

We’ve all watched and enjoyed the Discovery Channel television show “How It’s Made” and maybe even had a passing thought about how great it would be to have such a program showcase and explain to the general public what it is we do.

The plastering trade has, for thousands of years, passed down the knowledge and skill of the trade from one generation to the next. Except for the inclusion of modern machinery, the way and manner plaster is applied to a wall really hasn’t changed much since before the time of Christ.

Back in the 1980s, the term “Trickle Down Economics” was coined to describe a theory that if we gave incentives to business owners, they will in turn invest and expand their operations, thereby creating new jobs and greater opportunity for all. Economists and politicians are still debating if the policies of the ’80s helped or hurt the country.

He was born in a dusty little town in nowhere New Mexico, coming of age during the height of the Great Depression.

Transparent, fire-rated glass walls are an aesthetic and functional way to provide structure and safety while preserving the view.

Seattle-based Soltner Group Architects is a long established and well-respected firm.

Monterey Bay Aquarium improves the illusion of its largest tank utilizing FRP panels, EPS foam and construction software.

No doubt readers will recognize this month’s W&C Architect Profile of the Month Chris Dixon. He has been one of the magazine’s contributing editor’s now for several years with his column Straight Green.

Advances in chemistry make more sustainable building envelopes.

For 73 years, KHS Architects has encouraged a culture “that reveres both invention and customer focus.”

 Over the past 15 years, building information modeling has developed into the undeniable future of the architecture and design industry.  

 If you have not heard about continuous insulation, then you must have been on the moon the last year.  

Right in the center of New York’s historic theatre district, lies Foxwoods Theatre, home of the popular Broadway production Spider-Man. 

 The Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, La., strives to maintain a first-class medical facility, both in terms of patient case and overall appearance.  

This year’s Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau’s Annual Convention and Trade Show named the 2012 Outstanding Projects of the Year. The event, held May 10-12 in Scottsdale, Ariz., named several of its members from Canada and the U.S. The following are the winners:

Acoustical panels are a basic necessity in many architectural applications, but St. Louis-based G&S Acoustics has elevated the simple panel to an art form, using cutting edge technology and design creativity.

Armourcoat’s new modular decorative panel system, ArmourFX, has been specified as a welcome wall backdrop as part of the ‘Your First Impression’ brand program for Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites.

Many are applauding the new and improved LEED v4 (v4) as raising the sustainable building bar and continuing to drive market transformation.

Tougher-than-concrete exterior coating over foam-based substrates protects both property owners and contractors.

The Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau announced the winners of its annual Outstanding Project of the Year Awards.

When the oldest public housing development in the U.S. took a turn for the worst, a project team put it back on its feet and then some.

With a track record of 40-plus years in national multifamily leadership, the architecture firm, The Architectural Team, Inc., recently announced three key milestones for the firm's projects.

Founded in 1965, LPA Inc., is known as one of the largest integrated design firms in California. With extensive experience in public and private architecture, LPA designs a diversity of facilities that span from K-12 schools, colleges and universities, to civic, corporate, religious and retail establishments.

With six decades under its belt, RTKL Associates has transitioned from being founded in a small basement office in Annapolis, Maryland to opening 12 offices worldwide including places such as London, Beijing and Dubai. 

Sixthriver Architects is a full service architecture firm and the largest corporate interiors firm in Austin, TX. 

Working on an elaborate ceiling structure of the world’s tallest building in Dubai is no easy task, but get an insider’s personal experience on how it was accomplished in the upcoming Walls & Ceilings January feature “The Burj Khalifa Ceiling.”

As the Principal-in-Charge for Cuningham Group developments in the United States and abroad, including numerous Urban Entertainment Centers in the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea..

Principal Matthew J. Bell was elected to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows, and is W&C's Architect of the Month for February.

Meet Travis Lucy, an Associate at McKinney York Architects.

Architect, Dan Wells, builds children's home in Cambodia.

Vision, innovation, and dedication, are all hallmarks of Detroit, Michigan-based firm BEI Architect & Engineers.