Again this year, Marx Okubo has adopted a family through Families Forward and is making the season brighter for a group of individuals who are facing challenges over the holiday season. Families Forward is a non-profit organization helping homeless and low-income families in Orange County, California, develop self-sufficiency through a variety of services, from food and ho...

Gary Cohn, AIA, and Christy Kim, AIA, CASp, from Marx Okubo's Irvine office spoke recently at the 2013 Pacific Oil Conference in Los Angeles. The presentation, called "Protect, Abide, and Provide" outlined the responsibilities that gas station operators face related to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Knowing the regulations, typical complaints, and cos...

As part of a strategic plan to better serve our clients in the Northeast region, Marx Okubo has consolidated the Connecticut and New York offices. The transition will improve operational efficiency and provide a stronger foundation in the region. Located near the heart of New York City in White Plains, the New York office is prepared for growth. "Combining our resources into on...

Demonstrating Marx Okubo's growth across the country, we are pleased to announce the addition of five new staff members: Philip Ragland, AIA, LEED AP, in the New York office; Shane Christian, AIA, NCARB, in the Dallas office; Carmen McCafferty, AIA, in the Seattle office; and Sean Paradine, AIA, and Joel Ochs, Associate AIA, Licensed GC, LEED GA, in the Southern California offi...

Marx Okubo is pleased to announce the addition of two new staff members: Keith Moore, PE, SE, in the Seattle office, and Mark Hulme, AIA, LEED AP, in the Pasadena office. Keith Moore, Senior Associate, has nearly 20 years experience in structural design for new construction, seismic retrofits, and water infiltration, including over 700 Tier 1 and Tier 2 facility surveys for the...

Marx Okubo welcomes Jeff Benham, AIA, LEED AP, to its headquarters in Denver. Jeff Benham, Associate, brings to Marx Okubo over 25 years of full-service architectural design experience, including programming, conceptual design, design development, construction documents, bidding administration, construction administration, and project close-out. Mr. Benham's responsibilities in...

Marx Okubo is pleased to announce the addition of three new staff members to the San Francisco office: Paul Reginato, PE; Ronald Brown, PE, CEM; and Theo Thanopoulos. Paul Reginato, Senior Associate, will use his numerous years of experience as an engineer for construction defect litigation support and forensic investigation services to provide property condition assessments, d...

BUILDER, the software system used by Marx Okubo's Atlanta office for the evaluation of over 500 buildings for the landmark Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) project, has been profiled in the September issue of Engineering News Record (ENR). The asset management software developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will now be required for all military facilities of th...

The City of San Francisco took a big step in addressing the danger posed by the poor earthquake performance of "soft-story" buildings by approving a landmark ordinance earlier this year requiring seismic evaluation and retrofit of approximately 3,000 buildings as early as 2017. The legislation would affect some of the most susceptible structures to damage because soft-story bui...

Marx Okubo recently played a key role in two significant buildings in San Diego– the LPL Financial Building, and the DiamondView Tower. At the LPL Financial building, which is the nation's largest "net zero" energy efficient building, Marx Okubo performed a Pre Project Review as well as monthly construction monitoring. The 13-story, 415,000 square-foot building achieves carbon...

PowerCAD SiteMaster Building is an architectural surveying application that accepts distance measurements directly on a tablet from a laser measuring device, and creates AutoCAD-compatible drawings in the field. Marx Okubo has used SiteMaster Building as an efficient and accurate way to provide quality building measurements, quantity take-offs, dimensions for as-built drawings,...

Stephen R. D'Arcy, P.E., Vice President and Regional Manager of Marx Okubo's New York office, was recently named a "Rising Star" by the Business Council of Westchester. Modeled after the national business recognition program "Forty under Forty," Westchester's "2013 Rising Stars - 40 under 40" pays tribute to individuals in Westchester County who are making their mark in their p...

Sustainability measures are quickly becoming the rule rather than the exception. This is evident in California's most recent revision to its statewide building code. In the 2010 update, California has introduced CALGreen, the nation's first statewide green building code. This code, found in Chapter 11 of Title 24, contains measures for site selection, storm water control during...

The California Energy Commission has issued revised draft regulations for implementing the disclosure requirements of Assembly Bill 1103. Implementation will now begin January 1, 2013, for buildings larger than 50,000 square feet, July 1, 2013, for buildings larger than 10,000 square feet, and January 1, 2014, for buildings larger than 5,000 square feet. This applies to nonresi...

A number of states and cities have adopted requirements for commercial building owners to provide benchmarking information on their buildings. These requirements generally make use of the Portfolio Manager benchmarking tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency. For some jurisdictions, this information is to be provided to the jurisdiction that will make the informat...

The corporate office of Marx Okubo has updated and expanded its offices in Denver, Colorado. The expansion will allow Marx Okubo to continue to capitalize on the growth and continuing success of the region and the company as a whole, as well as provide staff with a spacious and collaborative work environment. The office remains in the same building, which is conveniently locate...