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The AIA Corporate Architects and Facility Management (CAFM) Knowledge Community consist of architects working within and for businesses and corporations. Our mission is to share expertise in the strategic, tactical, and operational activities of real property and facilities management in order to deliver value to the owners we represent. 

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What are you interested in?

  • 1.  What are you interested in?

    Posted 06-28-2017 11:03 AM
    We are wrapping up the AIA KLA (Knowledge Leadership Assembly) meetings in St. Louis today. A main topic has been to find out what our Corporate Architects and Facility Management members are interested in seeing - what is important to all of you. Please respond to this discussion with success stories or topics of interest

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    Mark Handy AIA
    Indianapolis IN
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  • 2.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 06-29-2017 07:27 PM
    Hi Mark, I am interested in what amount of time and effort corporate architects have devoted to working on disaster and emergency preparedness. The World is a much different place than it used to be. The buildings that we create and manage must be designed to deal with new types of "Life Safety" issues and become shelters if needed.

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    Ralph Goldbeck AIA
    Fresno CA
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  • 3.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 06-30-2017 06:24 PM

    In these economically challenging times, I'd be interested in any life cycle cost analysis or other methodologies & results others have done to create performance or other value-based specification standards.  I'm looking for optimization.  Most of us can't afford to use the best of everything, so every choice made tends to limit other options.

     

    Kim Otten AIA

    Sioux Falls, SD


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  • 4.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-03-2017 10:35 AM
    That may be what you're interested in but it's NOT what we "must' do.  We are to provide a design the client wants, within the parameters of the building code.  Codes are a minimum but If the client wishes to address additional life safety measures, that's great but we should not dictate social activism with client's money.

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    James Spinola AIA
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  • 5.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-04-2017 05:35 PM
    James,
    If you truly believe that is what the client wants then why has he engaged an architect? A builder or engineer would happily provide the minimal design that you are proposing. Also, why would an architect accept a commission such as the one you are proposing? 

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    Alan Burks, AIA, LEED® BD+C
    President :: Director of Architecture
       ENVIRON 
    ARCHITECTURE | INTERIOR DESIGN | URBAN DESIGN | LANDSCAPE | BRANDING


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  • 6.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-05-2017 08:18 AM
    Your question must be rhetorical.  As I'm sure you know, architects bring many things to the table.  My comments are in response to the social commentary above where clients are expected to expend their resources for the public good.  While noble, it is hardly a "must" to be portrayed by the commissioned architect.

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    James Spinola AIA

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  • 7.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-06-2017 08:34 AM

    Shelter for whom, from what, for how long?

     

    Whom: community, members, neighbors, employees, family?  Who decides?

    What:  nuclear attack, hurricane, flood, blizzard, riot, epidemic?

    How long:  overnight, a couple of days, a week, two weeks, a month?

     

    Shelter includes needed equipment, supplies to last the design duration, utilities, security and environment.  Don't even suggest creation of a shelter and leave these out of the equation - to do so is irresponsible and definitely unprofessional.  If it is not ready to instantly respond to its intended function it is worse than a waste of the Client's money - it is a lie.

     

    Half a century ago the scare was nuclear war and fallout shelters were a hot topic.  I know of one instance where such a shelter was built for a couple of hundred.  Nobody committed to furnish it with cots, blankets, linens, toilet tissue, food, etc.  Water was considered and perhaps 30 or 40 drums of water were provided and stored in the 'warehouse', a room perhaps 80' x 200' more or less.  What a pitiful showing they made as the only items in that huge room.   After a few years of such neglect, the client repurposed the space - goodby shelter that never really was.



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    Samuel Pool
    Department of General Services
    Enola PA
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  • 8.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-21-2017 04:37 PM

    Hi Ralph,

     

    In response to the topic of time and effort corporate architects have devoted to working on disaster and emergency preparedness, I can share my experience.  I work in a Midwest healthcare environment (we have about 1000 employees at numerous sites).  As a corporate architect, I participate in our safety committee, which is made up of about 10 members, including HR, Risk Management, clinical staff, and facility staff.  We meet quarterly, and annually we are each responsible to review and update all company safety policies, which includes things like violence in the workplace, creating weapon free facilities, emergency preparedness for threats such as bomb, tornado, and fire.  We have a committee chairperson, but safety related needs and assignments are evenly distributed among committee members rather than placed upon one individual.

     

    You are correct as it relates to a changing world.  Facility related things that we have added in recent years include badge access at non-public entrances, panic buttons at reception desks, and facility lock-down switches.  We have engaged with local law enforcement as it relates to creating safe rooms throughout our facilities and security/safety walkthroughs at some of our facilities that may have a higher exposure to risk or threat.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Regards,

    Bob Hartig AIA

     

     

     

     



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  • 9.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-24-2017 05:33 PM
    This might be helpful to organizations looking to put together continuity of operations plans.
    https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/72598

    Pamela D Leonard, AIA





  • 10.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 06-30-2017 01:16 PM
    How to determine and balance construction project manager (owner representative) workloads

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    Elizabeth Blackner AIA
    Director, Design and Construction
    University of Utah, Facilities
    Salt Lake City UT
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  • 11.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-25-2017 03:03 PM

    Hello Elizabeth,

     

    Cracking the code of how to determine and balance construction project manager (owner representative) workloads is a biggie, and often learned by trial and error.  I doubt there is a "one method fits all! "  In my experience, this is about managing resources, cost, schedule, and customer expectations; and most importantly about reliable communication. 

     

    Here is a very brief overview of our approach:  Upon completion of our annual project/budget process, a core group of company operational leaders/stakeholders/internal project owners meet and mutually consider, discuss, debate, agree, and charge ourselves with assigning a priority to every budgeted and approved project (regardless of size).  This discussion can often involve factors such as resources, safety, service levels, business operations and potential disruptions, company priorities, cost, schedule, etc.  We assign a Priority 1 through 4, which equates to Quarters 1 through 4.  For larger or ongoing projects, we may assign several quarters or more.  I also keep a project specific schedule updated and available with shared access for these larger jobs .  This same leadership group meets quarterly to discuss and review project progress and activities.

     

    One of my responsibilities is to manage and update our "project activity" work sheet (which includes all projects) on a weekly basis, and all internal stakeholders have read-only access to this shared file.  They can view their own project as well as all other company projects at any time.  For us, this has proven to be an extremely helpful communication tool that is shared with and available to every internal project customer/owner.  As projects progress, we move projects from a "requested/approved project", to "on deck", to "active", to "completed" status.  Brief project updates and progress notes are entered/updated for all projects weekly.  At times when emergency or unbudgeted projects come into play, our leadership group can review and reassess project priorities, and agree on how we can accomplish the work.  We can typically anticipate such projects in time to add to our quarterly meeting agenda.  If necessary, our leadership group can then initiate and implement any needed schedule, cost, or resource adjustments.

     

    The benefit of this process is that company leaders/stakeholders/internal project owners are kept informed, and they are also the ones who are deciding and agreeing on project priorities up front.  We all "share" in understanding and owning what has to be juggled or balanced.  If too many projects have a priority 1, we are all engaged in "early on" conversations about resources, balance, cost, and how to successfully accomplish the work.

     

    Hope this is helpful,  Bob Hartig AIA

      

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  • 12.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 06-30-2017 07:36 PM
    I would really like to know what you people are doing these days.... I became a member of this committee way back when it was called "Architects In Industry" ... probably about in 1977 or 1978, the first meeting I attended was in Florida.

    At one time we were meeting in Washington, DC several times a year..., but then decided that since we came from all over the country and sometimes the weather in Washington, DC was not all that wonderful, we decided that we could meet almost anywhere, but would have one meeting in Washington, DC.

    We had a wonderful group.. Xerox, IBM, Westinghouse, 3M, Corning Glass, Northwest Bell, Exon, EI Lilly At&T, and on and on... one of the biggest consequences of my retirement was realizing that I would not be seeing the good friends I had made thru those years.

    Back then one had to be employed by a not private practice group in order to be a member... We had money, and with the money the power to do things, sometimes ignoring the AIA's thoughts. The AIA staff member might say that we needed "approval" from AIA, but several times we said, "Well, we are going to do this with or without AIA "acceptance". AIA usually accepted and were glad to be a part of any of the actions or projects we initiated... we did, creating scholarships, doing publications, and transferring best practice methods. It was a wonderful group.

    I am AIA Emeritus now, and would really like to have your news letters or other things describing the activities of your group now.

    Leland D. Blackledge




  • 13.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-19-2017 03:35 PM

    Leland / All:

    Thank you for your continued interest and support of what these days is the Corporate Architects and Facility Managers (CAFM) KC.  I also appreciate the historical context and insight of your experience with both AIA and this KC over the years.  I have been part of the Advisory Group (AG) for 4 years now and out band of 5 members are making attempts to re-invigorate our KC through discussion and content development for all of our over 6000 CAFM members to enjoy and share - we need everyone's support in this effort.

    Things have changed in the more recent years and KC's are not annually funded / budgeted by AIA any longer so one of our more recent challenges was having funding to support CAFM endeavors.  It was very interesting to hear that you / CAFM members of old used to have an annual meeting.  That sounds like a great idea and one that our AG will give more consideration.

    That all said, we did host a 1/2 day workshop this year at the AIA Conference in Orlando are are preparing to submit for a 1/2 day workshop for 2018 conference in New York.  This has been our only available funding / budget raising opportunity.  Perhaps we can look at hosting a get together in June in NYC - that sounds fun and would be a great venue for further engagement / interaction among our member constituency.

    As you can see, a number of us (AG) attended the recent Knowledge Leadership Assembly KLA) meeting in St. Louis where we were with all the AIA KC's and able to discuss other Objectives.  That has quickly led to the recent enhanced discussion initiation and participation which is fantastic as well.

    We intend to upload much more content to our Knowledge.Net website in the coming months as well as look to partner with other KC's on awards programs.

    Thank you for answering our question and I / we look forward to more discussion in the future. 



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    Robert Dazel AIA
    Marketing Manager - Strategic Accounts
    Dryvit Systems, Inc.
    Monroe MI
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  • 14.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-03-2017 02:04 PM
    ​We have been encouraging architects and engineers to use BIM for our County government projects. Expected outcomes include better constructability, coordination of elements and COBie output for Facility Management, besides the obvious 3D explanations of designs for non-industry stakeholders. Have others been trying to do this? We have found some real value and some unexpected support in construction firms and resistance in the A/E community.  What experiences have others had and would you change the software, methods or ways of implementation?

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    Jeffrey Thompson AIA
    Architect
    Broward County Construction Management
    Fort Lauderdale FL
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  • 15.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-04-2017 05:30 PM
    You should do more than simply encourage the use of BIM. You should insist. BIM is better for you, the taxpayers, the construction team, building maintenance and yes even for the design team. You would be doing the design team a favor by insisting that they use BIM.

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    Alan Burks AIA
    President
    Environ Architecture, Inc.
    Long Beach CA
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  • 16.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-05-2017 05:52 PM
    ​Hi Alan,

    I guess I was using a euphemism and here words have meaning.  We do insist on the use of BIM and make it an evaluation criteria for the selection of firms.  But we do have firms that espouse their past use of BIM but when push comes to shove, the operators moved on or the tools are still new and they have not used 10% of the capability and learn as they go.  Therefore, we are "encouraging" them to fully use the tool that offers so much, not just plug it in to meet a deliverable requirement.  I could not agree with you more. We began using architectural and structural BIM models for our work in 2006 but still feel like we are pulling teeth with A/E firms today.  It could all lead to so much more value for my County and other clients.

    Thanks,
    Jeff Thompson, AIA

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    Jeff Thompson AIA
    Assistant Director
    Broward County Construction Management
    Fort Lauderdale FL
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  • 17.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-04-2017 05:54 AM
    I would be interested in Corporate and Non-Federal Government 
      - Attitudes towards proactive accessibility,
    as well as
      - Tools and Resources to identify issues with and improve accessibility in a large portfolio of pre ADA although not many historic facilities, that have over the years been addressed via accommodations.

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    Steven R. Jones - AIA
    Senior ADA Architect
    Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission
    Forsyth GA
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  • 18.  RE: What are you interested in?

    Posted 07-27-2017 05:08 PM
    I am an architect working in the facility and infrastructure department for Port of Seattle. I am interested in learning more about how other airports perform design review, asset management, what technology they are currently using - BIM,etc., how they are structured relative to other departments.

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    Heather Karch AIA
    Architect
    Port of Seattle
    Seattle WA
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