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At the seminar "Business Models for Integrated Practice," Barbara M. Price, FAIA, of the Jacobs Engineering Group architecture practice, said the firm had completed its first "BIM-enabled" integrated project in April 2006, and has now done 22 such projects totaling 1.4 million square feet (130,000 square meters). She added that they "all work within the 3D model, all disciplines, all the time." They can generate shop drawings at the same time as construction drawings, as they did on the FAA Phoenix Tower.

One major benefit is in time savings from start to finish. Jacobs has found that with BIM-savvy project teams working on facility types they are familiar with, they can now do two jobs in the same time that it used to take to do one, so the firm's commitment to the process has paid off handsomely.

The other major benefit is improved coordination among all parties. One primary tool facilitating this process is what Jacobs calls a "Viz Lab," a theater setting that surrounds its occupants (wearing 3D glasses) with a 3D virtual image of the building, which they can "walk" through for design purposes, coordination, and interference management.

Jacobs has three levels of Viz Labs: a theater type in St. Louis, Missouri; a conference room type in Arlington, Virginia; and a mobile lab that can be used either in the office or transported for work on site with clients. The cost of a Viz Lab varies with the fit up of the space: a mobile lab costs about $30,000, while the fixed ones run about $100,000 each.

The labs allow all the parties to congregate "in" a virtual building model with all systems in place, and literally see what needs to be done in terms of design improvements or conflict resolutions between systems. This virtual walkthrough process starts in the early design stage and continues through construction, and then continues even after project completion, for facility management purposes. Price reported that the owners are much happier with the overall quality of the final project as a result.

At the same seminar, James Timberlake, FAIA, of KieranTimberlake Associates, said that the model for the integrated practice can work equally well for the small firm as well as for the large, multidiscipline firm. In some ways, it is not a new model at all but an old one — that of the "master builder" who is in charge of all aspects of the design and construction process.

KieranTimberlake used an integrated practice approach for the Loblolly House in Taylors Island, Maryland. The tolerances are so close in that structure, an assembly of factory-built modules, “that not even a credit card can be slipped through the seams," he reported. Yet the feeling on the job site was reminiscent of a Shaker barn-raising, with all hands on deck collaborating.

In another seminar on integrated practice, James M. Suehiro, AIA, of NBBJ in Seattle in Seattle, mentioned the experience of airplane giant Boeing, which reduced assembly time for the Boeing 737 from 27 days per plane to 11 days using an integrated practice.

Suehiro reported that NBBJ has taken these lessons to heart in creating new multiparty contracts, as well as helping to create a cultural shift such that the interests of all parties are aligned to a mutually agreed-upon definition of project success. He cited one hospital project in which the owner actually expressed happiness about a particular change even though it caused a significant increase in project cost, because all parties had bought into the proposed change. The change then "paid" for itself through patient benefits even before the next phase of the project had begun.

Joshua Prince-Ramus of REX (formerly the New York City office of OMA) noted that for the Seattle Public Library, an integrated practice allowed the architects to collaborate in novel ways with the builder, subcontractors, and suppliers to brainstorm about developing a special X-Y-Z bolt that would allow them to directly connect the glass facade and the structural steel — two systems with strikingly different tolerances that would normally prevent such connections.

Prince-Ramus added that the architectural profession should realize, "The integrated practice will go forward with us or without us."

Other important shifts in mainstream practice are occurring in the areas of sustainable design and universal design. In "The Synergies of Historic Preservation and Sustainable Design," historic preservation architect Jill Gotthelf, AIA, of Walter Sedovic Architects, made the point that the "greenest" building is the "one already built." Sustainable practices were a way of life in past building traditions, when materials were selected to be maintained indefinitely.

In her research to restore the Block Island North Lighthouse on the Rhode Island coast, Gotthelf found that the embodied energy of a single brick was equal to one kilowatt-hour. She calculated that it would have taken 64 years of building energy savings to offset the energy costs of replacing the walls of the lighthouse.

Gotthelf expressed hope that if more architects and building owners realized the true energy cost of tearing down and building anew compared to an enlightened renovation, they would naturally practice historic preservation as sustainable design.

Likewise, if more architects were to consider designing for a person's full life span, they would practice universal design, which looks for solutions that work for people of all ages and abilities going through the activities of daily life, work, and recreation. As architect Ramesh Gulatee, AIA, of LifeCare Design Studio, said, this attitude goes beyond fulfilling accessibility codes, the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and even the idea of barrier-free design. It challenges practitioners thinking creatively about all situations.   >>>

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The integrated practice concept, together with BIM design tools, allows for a quick start and a compressed project schedule. Image: Courtesy Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. The "Viz Lab" at Jacobs Engineering Group surrounds its occupants with a 3D virtual building model that can be explored for design and coordination. Image: Courtesy Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. The integrated project approach was used for the Loblolly House on Taylors Island, Maryland, designed by KieranTimberlake Associates. Photo: Courtesy KieranTimberlake Associates Extra Large Image NBBJ uses virtual building models to do collision coordination among building systems. Image: Courtesy NBBJ NBBJ has taken lessons on integrated practice from airplane manufacturer Boeing. Image: Courtesy NBBJ The Seattle Public Library features a unique melding of structural steel and glass facade made possible by a special X-Y-Z bolt. Photo: Courtesy REX Extra Large Image The X-Y-Z bolt used in the Seattle Public Library was designed to address conflicting expansion tolerances in the building's structural steel and its glass facade. Photo: Courtesy REX Extra Large Image The Block Island North Lighthouse in Rhode Island was restored by Walter Sedovic Architects. Image: Courtesy Walter Sedovic Architects   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.