Masonry Magazine January 1974 Page.32
Bergen Cty. Masonry Council
Develops Computer Service
A free computer program service for masonry construction which can produce preliminary costs on multi-storied buildings in minutes rather than weeks was recently introduced in Paramus, N.J. Funded by the Bergen County (N.J.) Masonry Council an eight-month computer study has led to a system by which architects can submit data to the Council to be reduced to computer input sheets and run through a programmed computer. The results will give the architect preliminary cost figures on constructing one-to-12-story structures.
Well-known designer-engineer Andrew F. Andersen, A.I.A., P.E., of Wayne, N.J., who worked closely with Matthew J. Cerritelli, chairman of the Masonry Council, and John Hires of Halsey Computer Systems, Jersey City, N.J., outlined the program to more than 100 members of the Architects League of Northern New Jersey at a meeting in Paramus.
The architect provides the question. He gets back the preliminary cost figures on the walls and thus can determine the cost of a masonry multi-story building.
What are some of the factors which are fed into the computer? Andersen says experts from varied fields worked out the costs of materials, labor, and the like. These are programmed into the machine. As conditions change, the figures are raised or lowered.
"What we've done," Andersen explained, "is to take the requirements for loadbearing masonry construction as described in the various codes in use today from the Brick Institute of America and the National Concrete Masonry Association and adapt them to computerization. In addition to the dimensions, materials and labor factors, we've
Architect Andrew F. Andersen shows diagram of a typical wall for a project in Little Falls, N.J., to Frank Adler of Paramus, president of the Architects League of Northern New Jersey, and Peter H. Holley of Holley & Johnson of Wyckoff, former president of the New Jersey Society of Architects. The occasion was the first public presentation of a computer analysis service for conceptual design to architects.
added load variables, strength of materials, the New Jersey Code requirements for apartment house construction and a whole series of other factors.
"With the computer we can come up with the types of walls to be used in construction, the changes in the different walls as they go up, and so forth. The computer starts with the lightest wall and goes through a series of calculations to determine if the wall is strong enough. If it isn't, it will tell you so and order the next strongest wall."
Andersen said the Masonry Council and the computer company can handle anything the architect wants programmed on a preliminary basis.
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OMG Hosts Architects and Engineers
Members of the Oregon Masonry Guild, architects and engineers joined with their wives for a dinner meeting in September to enjoy a program in Vancouver, Wash., featuring the proposed $6.7 million Mountain Park Towne Center to be situated eight miles from downtown Portland, Ore.
More than just a shopping mall, the development will be comprised of a unique cluster of hillside villas, apartments, offices, church and theater facilities, unusual restau-
Oregon Masonry Guild members and their wives started the fall promotion season with a dinner in Vancouver, Wash., at the Inn of the Quay on the Columbia River. A color slide presentation by the designing architects revealed the proposed $6.7 million Mountain Park Towne Center for the Portland area that will require more than one million face and paving brick.