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Who We Are: Nathan Yost
Who We Are: Peter Yost
Who We Are: Steven Baczek, AIA
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What We Do: Architectural Design Review/Building Technology
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Architectural Design Review - Building Technology

McStain Wall MockupWe think the old adage, “Beauty is more than skin deep,” certainly applies to buildings. Award-winning aesthetics don’t necessarily mean a successful building. Any building should be as pleasing to be in and use as it is to admire in approach.

Every building is a complex system of parts working together as a whole to provide comfort, health, and building durability. Even the simplest of buildings can fail drastically when a single key detail is overlooked or ignored. The building industry of today is moving exceptionally fast, with constant pressure to save money and time. Many of the building failures we investigate are value engineering mishaps; small and seemingly harmless substitutions done to save time and money. An intelligent and informed design review can separate the value-engineering “wheat” from the value-engineering “chaff,” providing you with real value.

Successful buildings are not constructed by chance, they are the result of thoughtful and informed design. High performance buildings are the highest expression of architecture AND engineering AND materials science. The 3-D approach to building design and technology has two main components:

  • Integrate, rather than superimpose, building systems (such as mechanical systems) with building design;
  • Design and specify (based on risk and exposure) all building assemblies for continuous protection from the five major damage functions that challenge every building.

An understanding and application of integrated design and continuous damage function management can mean the difference between a safe, comfortable and durable building and a premature and costly repair plan to a completed and occupied building.

Building Solutions understands that good design goes beyond a great architectural plan or elevation. Including the 3-D Approach on your design team or in a design review means that:

  • Details critical to occupant comfort, occupant health, and building durability are purposefully designed and specified to manage the major damage functions;
  • Mechanical contractor work with the architect to fit, not force, their systems into your building;
  • Issues directly related to the success of the building are worked out and detailed prior to construction, not left to ad hoc, on-site “engineering.”
  • An efficient type and amount of material is used to construct your building, not age-old rules of thumb employed that almost guarantee waste and dysfunction;
  • Your construction documents and specifications embody the inherent connections among durability, risk management, and quality.

There is a strong empirical tradition in the building industry—do things the way we always have, and if a building fails, make enhancements as it seems necessary or logical, on the same trial and error basis. While we would like to think that this approach is archaic and strictly historical, it is still the standard approach for many in the industry, from professionals to field laborers. A 3-D Building Solutions design review asks the right questions and provides the right answers to ensure that your building design is no accident.

3-D Building Solutions can provide Design Review services on a variety of levels—from the review of a single building assembly to being a member of your design team. Contact us to determine how we can design profit and performance into your building project.
 

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