CEI Architecture is open for business in Alberta

The firm I work for is now registered with the Alberta Association of Architects and have opened an office in Edmonton. This represents the firm’s first office presence outside of British Columbia.

“Over the past ten years we’ve enjoyed steady growth,” said William Locking, managing partner of CEI Architecture. “We’ve primarily worked in B.C., though we’ve partnered with firms on projects in other provinces, including Alberta, Ontario, Newfoundland and New Brunswick.” “We’re looking forward to leading projects in Alberta, making a difference in communities by bringing our strong focus on client service and collaboration.”

CEI Architecture is a leading architecture and design firm in Western Canada, with over 60 staff at offices in Vancouver, Victoria and Edmonton. The firm was named Designers of the Year in the Eco category by Western Living Magazine in 2013. 

So... expect to start seeing me in the Edmonton and possibly Calgary area as things start to develop for us in Alberta. 

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CEI's 40 Storey Wood Tower Model

We have back in our Vancouver office a weary traveler.... a 6' (180cm) tall wooden model of a 40 Storey Wood Office Tower that was built "in house" back in 2012. 

The instigator for exploring the possibility of tall wood frame construction has been the increase in the use of wood in the built environment. Combined with strong government support through the WoodFirst Act and the many environmental benefits of use of this material, such as its ability to sequester carbon dioxide and the fact that building with wood requires less overall energy than other materials led to the construction of this model.

The model has been traveling in a large and heavy crate to numerous events including Architectural conventions.

Our objectives included a design that would incorporate advanced sustainable strategies, would be visually iconic, would be attractive to tenants for its functionality and warmth, and would respond to the climate and environment of the Pacific Northwest.

Floors are built from engineered CREE panels, spanning 30 feet from the core to perimeter truss. An east-west axis helps maximize solar gain and control east-west exposure. Exterior sunshades are oriented vertically on the east-west elevations, with horizontal shades on the south that incorporate photovoltaic solar panels.

The resulting design addresses these issues through highly flexible, column-free spaces and a myriad of other highly sustainable and functional features. The scheme proposes a building footprint of 150 feet by 90 feet, with a central concrete core. Floor decks are made of wood-concrete composite elements that take advantage of the superior tension capacity of wood and the compression capacity of concrete.

Wood trusses with depths matching the 12-inch floor-to-floor heights are efficient structural elements and placed at the perimeter of the building at every alternate floor. The top and bottom chords of the trusses support the floor decks that span from core elements to the perimeter. The ability to support two floors with one trussed level allows the building to have clear span sky garden or sky lobby at chosen levels. The wood trusses are engineered using locally harvested wood; their visual presence contributes to a warm, inspiring work environment and also becomes the primary architectural expression for the building.

Four concrete piers, 30 feet from the end, are strategically positioned at building perimeters to support the wood trusses with cantilevers to achieve further structural efficiency by minimizing internal forces. Reinforced concrete is used for its structural properties of strength, rigidity, ductility and continuity, to resist lateral forces such as earthquakes and wind.

CEI Architecture’s preliminary costing has shown this scheme can be constructed with a five percent savings over traditionally constructed office buildings, an indication that innovative building approaches featuring substantial, sustainable and smart use of wood is an approach worth considering.

Engineering Team

Architect: CEI Architecure - Nick Bevanda partner in charge

Structural: Read Jones Christoffersen Consulting Engineers

Mechanical: Rocky Point Engineering

Civil: 2020 Engineering

QS: SSA Quantity Surveyors Ltd.

Area: 730,000 sq ft (67 820 sm)

Here are links for further information.
http://bim4scottc.blogspot.ca/2013/07/wooden-skyscrapers.html
http://www.ceiarchitecture.com/project/naiop-design-competition-2012/

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Presentation Series on Improving Project Delivery

If you are in the Vancouver (BC) area next week I would like to invite you to a series of sessions dedicated to improving how you deliver projects.

The “Improving the Process of Delivering Projects” series is designed to stimulate discussion on improving the project delivery process. Sessions are designed for members of the AEC industry who would like to see a more integrated approach to project delivery. These sessions will provide you with tools and skills to enhance your project delivery and collaborate with consultants, your client and the contractor.

These quarterly sessions will be facilitated by Scott Chatterton, BIM and QC Manager for CEI Architecture. The first will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 12 at CEI Architecture’s office at 500-1500 West Georgia Street, Vancouver. 

Click here for more details and to reserve your seat.

The goals of these sessions are to educate, communicate and cooperate.

These sessions are not:

·         …Another user group. These are a limited series of presentations directed towards improving how we deliver projects in the design and construction industry.

·         …Focussed on Revit. They are high level overviews of the processes for delivering projects.

·         …A sales pitch. We’re not selling anything, promoting any products or any specific company. We’re discussing how to improve project delivery.

These sessions are:

Designed for Decision Makers. They’re for project managers, partners, associates, architects, engineers and contractors. Decision makers who need information to be able to make educated decisions and keep up with industry trends.

Free… What more can I say?

The first session will feature two presentations, guaranteed to stimulate thought and discussion.

Collaboration in the Design Process

Rodrigo Freig; WSP Group

This presentation looks at three different case scenarios of BIM collaboration and how the process impacted the project delivery. We will look at the level of involvement of consultants, contractors and owners, and the benefits gained and/or lost.

Rodrigo Freig is the technical manager for the engineering departments at WSP Group’s Vancouver office. He has 14 years’ experience in the structural engineering field and he also teaches Revit Structures at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He has been involved with BIM processes since 2006 and is an enthusiast of working in 3D.  

Building an Integrated Team to Deliver a Project

Owen Pawson; Miller Thomson

This session covers the following aspects of collaborative project delivery:

• Who should be on the team
• The importance of trust within the team
• The importance of BIM in enhancing collaboration
• Tying rewards (and risk) to project success
• Decision making within the team
• Dispute resolution (if really necessary)

Owen Pawson is the Managing Partner of Miller Thomson's Vancouver office. He practices as a solicitor with the firm in construction law. He assists governments, crown corporations and a variety of construction companies, architects, engineers and interior designers to identify issues and resolve conflicts in construction law, develop commercial arrangements for traditional design-tender-build projects through to major design-build and engineer, procure and construct facilities, as well as public private partnerships projects. In this regard, Owen has been involved in the preparation of procurement processes and complex contracts necessary to implement design-build school projects and major transportation infrastructure projects by way of design-build, P3 and EPC contracts. He also advises clients with respect to professional liability of design consultants and has prepared professional consulting agreements for a variety of projects.

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Going to the CANBIM Conference on Prefabrication & Modularization?

Thursday (5th June) I'll be attending the CANBIM Conference on Prefabrication & Modularization.

I'm really interested in this topic ad looking forward to this conference as I think Prefab and modularization is going to have an impact on the BIM design industry and construction. I'm already seeing construction companies prefabricating and modularizing building components such as typical bathrooms in health care facilities to prefabricating HVAC ducting.

If your in Vancouver and interested in attending I believe registration is still open.

If your already attending... and you read this blog... and I haven't met you before... (I know, it's a perfect storm right!) please introduce yourself to me. 

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7 Quick BIM Management Tips: by BIM Bicycle

Luke Johnson assisted in writing these 7 tips on BIM Management for BIM Bicycle.
A great article on "improving collaboration and productivity of your team". I've been writing up process here at CEI on starting up a project so the first few tips really resonate with me. Not sure I agree with the last point (7), I've experienced mid afternoon crashes due to this tip.... :-)
BIM Bicycle is a Collaborative Cloud-Based BIM Management System, that write a blog. Sounds great, love the look of their blog and web site, very clean!
Worth reading....and subscribing too.

Check out some of my earlier postings for similar BIM Manager tips.

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Interview of Damon Ranieri - BIM Integration Manager

Here is a link to a great interview of Damon Ranieri by Hard Hat Hub.
Damon Ranieri is currently the BIM Integration Manager at Lend Lease, and was previously working to implement Revit at Hewlett Packard.

Check it out.

Interview of Damon Ranieri

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Email Protocols: A BIM Communication Tool

·     We all use email to communicate but few of us have protocols on how to use this communication tool. Often we have to recall emails to prove a point or to validate a line of communication. Below are some basic guidelines for using email to communicate on your BIM project. 

Displaying your identity and contact details

It is good email practise to make clear who the email is coming from and to include contact details in any signature so that people can get in contact with you or your section easily.

Common subject title followed by descriptive email content title

Eg: SD23 Here are the requested email protocols

Use the project initials or the project number at the beginning of the Subject title. 
Use a clear title in the subject box when composing an email. Make the words of a headline meaningful to the recipient to set the scene for the content and to help both you and them to file the email appropriately.

If an email conversation develops into a discussion about other areas as well as the original topic, consider changing the subject heading when you reply. This makes it easier to recognise the purpose of the email at a later date, without having to open it, and keeps the subject heading relevant.

Filing or relevant emails such as only those email relevant to the project that contain pertinent information

For example there is no need to file emailed “thank you” reply’s.

Only one email of the conversation, not subsequent multiple emails.

File emails daily or weekly

In accordance to your companies practise and procedures.

Attachment etiquette

Attachments should be kept to a minimum and should not exceed 10Mb.

Response

Emails should be responded to within 24 hours. If you cannot respond within 24 hours please set up an automated email response.

If your email is urgent and requires immediate attention please follow up with a phone call.

High Importance/Low Importance

Tag your email using the High Importance/Low Importance icons to help the recipients prioritise their emails.

General Email Practises

People are more likely to read and respond to your emails if you make an effort to be clear about the subject of your email when sending to recipient(s) for any call-to-action and summarise any other need-to-know information early in the email. CC recipient who’s For Your Information is intended who do not need to act immediately to your email. CC only when you wish to inform others and do not expect them to respond.

Make it clear if and what action is needed, by whom and set deadlines. If necessary set the actions out as separate items with a named person next to each.

In a long email exchange, it can be helpful to delete all but the most recent message when you reply, provided the context is not needed.

If someone sends you a legitimate request, answer it right away, even if you don’t plan to take action immediately. Then they know you received it, and they won’t keep trying to get your attention.

Hope this helps!

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