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Posts from the ‘Small Firm Forum’ Category

May 8

Sea Level Rise, Adaption Planning and Cimate Change

June 6th, 2013
Noon-1:30pm

Cost: Free AIA members; $3 non-members; drinks provided.

1.5 CES LUs

Join the Small Firm Forum in June to learn more about the areas impacted and design strategies to protect and adapt to the impacts of sea level rise throughout the Bay Area.

The San Francisco Bay is rising; today’s flood will be tomorrow’s high tide. Areas that are currently home to over 160,000 residents, critical infrastructure, diverse habitats and valuable community resources will flood regularly or be permanently inundated.

Moving beyond sustainability, adaption planning is focused on responding to the impacts of climate change, both proactively and reactively. Adaptation planning can include preventative measures to slow down the progression of climate change and mitigation measures to reduce the effects (US DOT).

Within the context of the Bay, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development has lead an proactive effort to integrate Adaptive Planning into the permitting and design of all shore communities. On the local and residential level it will necessitate the careful and thoughtful design of all critical infrastructure, public spaces and private dwelling spaces sometimes well beyond the areas that will be directly impacted.

Over the course of this lunch time seminar we will review the impact of sea level rise, adaptation strategies and local precedents. Utilizing an interactive format we look forward to a vibrant discussion regarding strategies, local impacts and local policy initiatives focused on adaption strategies.

About the Presenter: Mattthew S. Gaber is a licensed landscape architect and urban designer known for creating bold, thoughtful, pragmatic approaches to complex sites for a varied clientele. Over his 20 year career, Mr. Gaber has developed a wide perspective on traditional and emerging areas of practice, working on projects across the United States and the world. A lifelong commitment to environmental responsibility, public service and inclusive design is demonstrated by Mr. Gaber’s built work, his participation on public commissions and a reputation for productive relationships with diverse groups. Currently, Mr. Gaber is working on multiple waterfront projects that have required a thoughtful and careful design responses to the impacts of Sea Level Rise.

Learning Objectives

Attendees will learn:
1. The extent and impacts of Sea Level Rise within the East Bay
2. About Adaption Planning Efforts within the San Francisco Bay Area and East Bay
3. Site specific adaption strategies for projects within the East Bay
4. Local governmental requirements and strategies

Apr 22

Manage Difficult Client Insurance Requirements

a Small Firm Forum presentation

Thursday, May 2, 2013
Noon-1:30pm
1.5 CES Lus
Free AIA Members; $3 Guests (cash only please)
Bring your own lunch; drinks provided

John Feeney will present typical insurance issues faced by architectural offices to the Small Firm Forum in May.

About the presenter: John Feeney, Assistant Vice President, Heffernan Professional Practice Insurance Brokers, has designed, sold and underwritten insurance on a senior level basis for 30+ years including; professional liability, director’s and officer’s liability for a variety of specialized industry groups on a regional and national basis.

Learning Objectives:

1.  Learn how to avoid uninsurable professional liability requirements by your clients.

2. Learn how to avoid uninsurable business office package requirements by your clients.

3.  Learn how to avoid uninsurable workers’ compensation and employers’ liability requirements by your clients.

4.  Learn how to avoid uninsurable related “tag along” requirements by your clients.

Mar 1

Passive House & Performance: overkill or appropriate?

Thursday, March 7, 2013
12 noon to 1:30pm
1.5 CES LUs

Location:
Wooden Window
849 29th Street
Oakland, CA 94608

Free. Click here to register.

Lunch provided by Wooden Window.

Reservations required by noon on March 5, 2013

Many people believe that Passive House construction is overkill for our mild Californian climate.  This presentation will look at the specific details for a few local Passive House projects and compare them to conventional Title-24 compliant homes.  We’ll parse through the details to see which one’s really make a difference to home performance and which are simply a requirement for good comfort and great indoor air quality.  The presentation will include a special focus on high performance windows.

About the speakers:
Bronwyn Barry, Assoc. AIA works as a Director for One Sky Homes, a Silicon Valley Passive House and Net Zero Energy homebuilder. She is an internationally Certified Passive House Designer and serves as the President and a founding Board member of Passive House California.

Mark Christiansen is a principal at Wooden Window who manages product technology, engineering and manufacturing. Before coming to Wooden Window in 2007, he held a number of roles in the high-tech industries. He has spoken at conferences around the world on information technology, business processes, efficiency and construction technology. He received a degree in EECS from UC Berkeley.

Learning Objectives:

1.  Participants will learn about the effective and nominal R-values of high performance walls.
2.  They will be able to identify high performance building assemblies for the Bay Area Climate
3.  They will understand why windows influence the building performance and comfort of the occupants.
4.  Attendees will be able to define a thermal bridge and start to understand how these can be improved to eliminate mold growth potential.

Jan 28

Small Firm Forum February: Living Large in Small Spaces

SFF Discussion

Thursday, February 7, 2013
12 noon to 1:30pm
1.5 CES LUs

Free for AIA members / $3 for non-members. Brown bag lunch (BYO lunch)

SFF Host:  Juliana Brodsky, Assoc. AIA

For the first decade since before WWII, Americans are moving out of the suburbs and into cities.  As the population returns to urban spaces, designers are faced with new challenges: achieving the same lifestyle and quality of life in smaller spaces, reintroducing families to smaller living, and creating small work spaces.  How can good design facilitate these smaller spaces?  Can older archetypes set a useful example for new spaces?  How can conflicts with building codes be resolved?  We’ll look at examples from the Bay Area and abroad, and discuss the potential for smaller spaces in the East Bay.

Learning Objectives:

1.      Learn how modern technology can facilitate smaller office and work spaces
2.      Gain an understanding for how European space-saving techniques can be applied harmoniously with the CBC
3.      See three examples of pre-WWII techniques adapted by modern designers
4.      Gain an understanding of small multi-function space planning.

Dec 14

The Exhibition Room in Maybeck's Chick House

Tour: Maybeck’s Guy Hyde Chick House

SOLD OUT The Small Firm Forum kicks off 2013 with a very special tour of Bernard Maybeck’s Guy Hyde Chick House. The price of $13.75 includes lunch. Guests and cameras are allowed! Reservations must be made and paid by noon on New Year’s Eve! 

FIELD TRIP + LUNCH at Bernard Maybeck’s Guy Hyde Chick House
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Noon-1:30pm
A Small Firm Forum program
Guests & cameras are welcome
1.5 CES LUs

Cost:  $13  (+0.75 processing) includes buffet lunch (with substantial sandwiches, salads & sides from the Berkeley Bowl)

SOLD OUT

Foster Goldstrom, art dealer and long-time owner of a uniquely beautiful 1914 Bernard Maybeck designed house, invites us to pause for a while and experience the richly elaborate interior features, balanced progression of spaces, playfully shaped stairway components, and oak-enhanced vistas from the well-positioned doors and windows.  Michael Engel, a wood restoration specialist, will provide insights on the care of fine old structures, mouldings and ornamentation.
Kenneth Cardwell:  “…the ultimate statement of the chalet in its most sophisticated form….[Maybeck's] personal interpretation of details obscures prototypical forms….the rooms are finely proportioned and confidently accented with solids and voids to give a sense of unity and flowing volume….” in Bernard Maybeck: Artisan, Architect, Artist.

Sally Woodbridge:  “Accents of bright colors were added to specific parts of the rosy brown building, not to create patterns but to highlight elements of the composition, as in a painting.  The specifications call for yellow on the roof soffits; red for the rafters and for the balcony and kitchen-gate tracery as well as the doors; green for the heavy timbers and the upper-story bays; and Prussian blue for the front door.” in Bernard Maybeck: Visionary Architect.

Learning Objectives:
1.  Participants will experience the 3-dimensionality of highly-regarded private residence seen primarily in books and magazines.
2.  Participants can examine close-up architectural details by a grandmaster of wood construction artistry.
3.  Participants will be able to discuss living in an important historic structure and see how the kitchen and baths of a 99-year old house have been carefully renovated to suit current needs.
4.  Participants will learn about wood preservation and restoration.

Oct 15

Better Construction Documents

Thursday, November 1
Noon – 1:30pm

Cost
Free to AIA members; $3 Non-members. Bring your lunch; sodas provided
1.5 CES  LUs

Join the Small Firm Forum for a group discussion of how to produce better construction documents. This is a roundtable discussion—prepare to share tips and opinions while learning from your colleagues.

It is easy to get into a routine when working on construction documents for your projects. While this is generally efficient, we might benefit from revisiting our methods.

What is the best way to organize sheets, notes, schedules, etc? How much detail is appropriate for any given project and client? What level of specifications makes sense?

Is there a way for small firms to arrange a peer review of their drawings for a set of fresh eyes?

And, since the person we are trying to communicate with is the general contractor, are there new ways of doing CD’s that would make their life easier?

Learning Objectives

  1. Participants will gain information on the level other architects detail their drawings.
  2. Attendees will learn how other architects write specifications.
  3. Participants will gain an understanding of how to make CD’s more helpful to contractors.
  4. Attendees will learn how to do peer reviews of CD’s with their colleagues.

1.5 CES  LUs

Sep 18

Envelope Energy

The October Small Firm Forum
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Noon to 1:30pm
Cost: Free for AIA members; $3 non-members
Open to all, bring your own lunch.

1.5 CES LUs

SFF Host: Juliana Brodsky, Assoc. AIA

We will discuss the energy-generating potential of building envelopes, and how new technology makes this possible.  We’ll look at types of solar panels and what’s being developed, the paradigm shift in applications of solar panels, and new competitive products for American markets.  We’ll get an in-depth look at the types of options available today, including photovoltaic vision glass, electrochromic tunable glass, heat mirror films, and even living wall applications.  We will cover potential new products for other systems that can lead to net-zero energy buildings, including wind power, prototype off-grid solar chargers, water heaters, and “smart” technologies.

Net-zero energy buildings have highly interconnected systems, and we’ll learn about how different trades have to work together to create a system that’s appropriate for each project.  Possible tax credits and incentives will be discussed, and the importance of a quick pay-back period.  We will see examples of projects that utilize BIVP systems, as examples of what we can see when these systems become more popular in the future.

Learning Objectives:

1.  Learn three key performance parameters for envelope design.

2.  Learn what the four main types of photovoltaic panels are.

3.  Learn four cutting edge envelope material systems.

4.  Learn two key Federal tax regulations applicable to BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic) systems.

Free for AIA members / $3 for non-members

1.5 CES LUs

Brown bag lunch (BYO lunch)

Aug 16

Gearing Up To Deliver Greener Projects

Thursday, September 6
Noon – 1:30pm

A Small Firm Forum Presentation
Free for AIA members; $3 for non-members. All are welcome, no need to RSVP.

Ann V Edminster presents what professional firms need to do/be prepared to do if they want to produce high-performance (healthy, net-zero energy, LEED, Passive House, Living Building) homes. New performance objectives mean new knowledge, skills, resources, and relationships – get your ducks in a row!

California aims for all new homes to be net-zero energy by 2020. Meanwhile, ever-increasing numbers of design firms are getting on the green building band wagon and designing homes to meet goals for health, achieve LEED certification, meet Passive House standards, earn Living Building status, etc. Designers pursuing these high performance goals need new information, skills, resources, and relationships, yet more often the focus is on innovative products and technologies.

This presentation provides strategies and tools for laying the essential groundwork to equip design firms to consistently meet higher performance standards on their projects while avoiding common pitfalls. New performance requirements typically entail adopting change, both within organizations and in team dynamics. The topics covered will include how to be effective as an agent for change, as well as specific types of changes that are needed and how to go about implementing them – from new ways to approach energy modeling to writing new specifications to using new software. Last but certainly not least, we will cover integrated design and integrated project delivery – what they are, and why and how to adopt these approaches.

About the presenter: Ann V Edminster, M.Arch., LEED AP, is a recognized international expert on green homes. She chaired development of the LEED for Homes Rating System and authored Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet, which provides guidance on net-zero energy home design and construction. She has held key roles on award-winning residential projects of all types.

Learning Objectives:

  1. How to successfully address common challenges in high-performance projects.
  2. Skills, knowledge, and relationships needed to effectively coordinate green projects.
  3. Why and how to pursue an integrated design process and/or integrated project delivery.
  4. Tools and resources to support high-performance projects.

1.5 CES/HSW/SD LUs

Jul 17

Traditional Japanese Joinery For Today

August Small Firm Forum
Thursday, August 2, 2012
12 noon to 1:30pm

Traditional Japanese Joinery For Today
Speaker: Jay Van Arsdale

Program Description:

Joinery is the basic wood to wood connection and has been around the construction site for millennium in all countries around the world. This old world device still has lots to offer the contemporary architect, designer, and builder. It offers its clean look and functional connections as solutions to all scales – cabinetry and doors to timber frames. These elegant options give the architect a very unique approach to how members are connected and the materials that can be employed in composing structures. Joinery itself has little effect on the style of the members being held together, but does highlight the craftsmanship and sustainable aspects of long lived creations. In some applications, it can provide a means of convenient assembly and disassembly. The ideas and values embedded in traditional joinery construction are evolving and entering back into the vocabulary of modern building techniques and enable us to build the best structures, large and small.

This presentation will present useful ideas and values that make joinery construction a viable option for modern construction. An overview of the history of joinery use in Japan and China, with examples, will be displayed and discussed.

Learning Objectives:

1. Gain a more general understanding of joinery, its function design, history and cultural developments.

2. Provide a look at the specific traditional hand tools and techniques of construction.

3. Discuss the general types of Japanese joiners and their building styles that have resulted over time.

4. Discuss some of the ideas, values, and issues embedded in traditional joinery structures that are applicable to the priorities for contemporary construction.
Free for AIA members / $3 for non-members

1.5 CES LUs

Brown bag lunch (BYO lunch)

Jun 13

Fantastic New Products

July Small Firm Forum
Thursday, July 12, 2012
12 noon to 1:30pm

Fantastic New Products
SFF Host:  Linda Randolph, AIA

Program Description:
Share finds from your own practice and learn about products from PCBC this year. There are some very exciting things out there. We all need to periodically recharge our practices with new products that address changing codes, new technology, and client needs. Learn about things that will make our lives easier, be better for the environment and add pizzazz to our designs.  We all need to have a wider selection of products to choose from when filling out the green checklists.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn about an innovative,  roll in,  A.D.A. shower door design that creates a barrier free enclosure.

2. You will find out about LED and fluorescent lighting options that actually look good.

3. Find  out about an invisible structure for turf that you can drive on- this will get you permeable surface credits .

4. You will be introduced to innovative products using recycled materials.

Free for AIA members / $3 for non-members

1.5 CES LUs

Brown bag lunch (BYO lunch)

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