San Francisco CSI Profair

Dance to the Music of Time, Nicolas Poussin, 1640

San Francisco CSI is holding their annual Profair event at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center, 1675 Owens Street, San Francisco on May 8, 2013.

I will be presenting a brief talk on specifying Division 01, "The Hub of the Wheel".  One of those wheels can be seen in the painting Dance to the Music of Time above, held up by Apollo in the chariot.

Anne Whitacre FAIA, CCS, Associate AIA will be discussing “Specifying Beyond Platinum: Working with Red Lists, Pharos, and Living Building Challenge Projects”, pointing the directions beyond LEED, CAL-Green and garden-variety sustainability.

Michael Chambers FCSI, FAIA, CCS, SCIP will offer "“UniFormat™: Preliminary Project Descriptions, Cost Estimates, and Post-Occupancy Maintenance", to round out the technical sessions.

For more information, or to enroll for the presentations, see http://sanfrancisco.csinet.org.

Don't delay, the wheels are turning and the music is playing, make sure you have a chair when it stops.

The Beginning of Specifications... and More

 I am very honored to be invited back to California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) to present to the students on the relationship of architecture and construction specifications on Thursday, 25 April.

This year we will discuss a little of the beginning of specifications and how the written component of construction documents evolved out of the early contracts for construction.  The slide above is a brief preview of the central content.

Thanks to Jim Doerfler, Associate Department Head of CAED for the opportunity to address the students and share CSI principles and specification trivia with the next generation of architects.

The next day, Friday, 26 April, the CAED students are presenting the Cal Poly Construction Forum, with sponsorship by CSI, with a focus on sustainable materials and innovative techniques.

DTR Consulting Services is fortunate to be involved with the Human Needs Project, creators of an innovative approach to help people in need of basic utilities and facility services that the developed world takes for granted.    

This project by architect Ken Kao of Kao Design Group of Somerville, MA http://www.kaodesign.com, constructed by Redhorse Constructors of San Rafael, http://www.redhorseconstructors.com, embodies new thinking about human needs and exciting applications of ordinary materials to offer a promise of better circumstances to the people of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya.

A brief presentation will outline the architectural response to the social and environmental factors in the community of Kibera and discuss the engineering and design effort involved to address the concerns of the residents.

Please consider visiting the Human Needs Project, http://www.humanneedsproject.org, to learn more about their plans for the future.  Donations are gladly accepted at their site.