Comprehensive Building Assessment Services Provided Strategic Planning Future Space Needs Capital Improvements New Construction Deferred Maintenance Facility Management Cost Estimates
Planning Our multidiscipline team of architects, engineers and planners perform detailed technical and spatial assessments of existing facilities, integrating programming for future needs, to create Comprehensive Assessment and long-range Master Plans.
There are three key aspects to our design approach in creating a Comprehensive Facility Assessment and Master Plan.
Aspect 1:
The assessment of existing building systems and space utilization.
Aspect 2:
The discovery of opportunities for improved performance and efficiencies within these existing building spatial organizational and pedagogical programs.
Aspect 3:
The master and long-range planning process, where future growth and stakeholder goals are realized into a single vision.
The simultaneous investigation of these three components is critical in developing a Master Plan where tangible needs, intangible opportunities and future goals inform each other. The resulting concepts are holistically developed, functionally progressive and fiscally planned.
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Comprehensive Building Assessment Aspect 1
Building Systems Assessment
This aspect of the process is defined by active listening and focused observation. We perform walk-throughs of the facilites with integrated teams of architects and engineers, including forensic specialists, experienced in building evaluations and inspections. We conduct interviews with facility staff and review maintenance logs and record drawings. We observe end users working in their existing spaces. This initial overview is then augmented by additional layers of information gathering, including historic relevance and energy consumption evaluations focused on sustainability. All information is entered into an assessment data base tool we developed specifically for the analysis and reuse of R & D, commercial, and industrial facilities. This tool holistically captures all building system review comments into a single flexible data base that organizes the information into tangible solutions. All recorded comments in the data base are assigned a cost based on current, local practices and direct construction experience, providing up-to-the-minute comparisons that support fact-based decision making.
Aspect 2
Conceptualizing & Spatial Discovery
Concurrent with Aspect 1, our team develops potential solutions as they investigate existing building needs. Design alternatives explore functional and architectural improvements, creating new environments that foster creativity and collaboration while building a sense of place. Brainstorming and rapid prototyping quickly generate many potential solutions, helping the team understand the design www.idcarchitects.com
problem more deeply, and producing a preferred solution that has been thoroughly tested. During interactive design sessions we present options to stakeholders, enabling participants to decide the best path forward based on information gathered and best practices. Cost impacts and comparisons can be made in real time, providing immediate feedback for informed decision making. Aspect 3
Visioning & Campus Master Planning
Here, our team simultaneously develops concepts for the campus as a whole, allowing the specific building assessment to inform master planning, and vice versa. We define future space requirements and research program goals. We investigate design parameters for the new building, including conceptual lab configurations. We analyze site context for density, impact to traffic, parking availability and pedestrian access. Potential sites for expansion are evaluated for appropriateness. Utility
infrastructure and existing campus process systems are evaluated for expansion capacity. We use conceptual 3-D massing studies to investigate scale, campus entry and formal/informal exterior space. Preliminary estimates, in conjunction with solutions developed through the building assessment process, provide the necessary information to compare and contrast concepts, and develop a site-wide approach to repair, renewal, and replacement.