Diggin' It | December 2017

Mogens’ Message THE DIRTT POWER/NETWORK STORY

Transforming a Community HIGH TECH NURSING SCHOOL IN NEW MEXICO

American Interiors & DIRTT USING VR TO RAISE FUNDS FOR HOSPITAL

Built Interior Construction & DIRTT TEAMING UP TO BRING HOPE TO KIDS

DIRTT Recognized DIRTT WINS AT 2017 BE LOCAL AWARDS

Mogens’ Message

Diggin’ It

August 2017

Folks, Believe it or not, the DIRTT Power/Networks story is your best and EASIEST way to tell your Clients about DIRTT. Yet most of you are either keeping it as a side story or avoiding it entirely!

Now, I know exactly why this is the case. It is our own fault.

We’ve historically made it a convoluted, behind-the-scenes, BORING discussion. We were so bad at it OUR OWN I.T. TEAM WOULDN’T IMPLEMENT PON FOR OUR OWN OFFICES!!!

Meanwhile, Dallas, probably one of the most conservative places on the planet, is our number one implementer of PON. So why do they get the value proposition better than anyone else?

Because they were told: we install it faster, it saves you real estate, it’s more secure, it saves energy, its better-quality technology, the way we make it means it is adaptive and you never have to upgrade to new cabling again – something they currently have to do every five years with copper! Oh, and by the way – the Ciscos of the world are getting out of the infrastructure game. Pretty soon there won’t be an option other than PON. Now of course, the Client is going to think ‘this all sounds good.’ But there’s no way they’re going to make this decision without buy-in from their IT Team. NOW we trot out our experts who speak IT-ese and can provide a non-sales education that will make them not only confident it will work, it will make them leaders in the conversation… though no one will understand the conversation!

It is up to the rest of us to ignite the excitement in our Clients.

It’s up to us to talk to them human-to-human. Finally, their power and data infrastructure is going to have an ROI. It’s going to work with them rather than against them. They will spend less money on their most expensive labor. They’ll save money on real estate. And ICE will make sure the place they plug into is where they want it to be. Later, when that is no longer the case – they can move it!

Everyone needs this stuff. They don’t care HOW it works. They care that it does work and want to know what makes this stuff better than conventional. And it ain’t the volts or signal transfers.

They care about how fast their computer works. They care about being able to plug in the equipment they have and want. They care about when they can move in. They care about cost savings and certainty. They care about having a higher quality, more valuable outcome. Sound familiar?

When the technical questions come – you set them up with the technical experts we have at your disposal. But YOU have to bring this up early and YOU have to understand the basic yet massive benefits these solutions bring your Clients.

Mogens

Remote convention center transforms into high-tech nursing school Diggin’ It

August 2017

Written by Julie Pithers Taos, New Mexico is a spectacular tourist destination. It’s also a small working town in a large, sparsely populated state, making construction projects challenging and costly. That’s why the University of New Mexico had some buyers’ remorse after purchasing the abandoned convention center downtown… for just one dollar. Feasibly turning it into a much-needed health sciences campus required a lot of imagination.

To educate himself on the idea, Jim Pollard, who also has a manufacturing background, went to the DIRTT production facilities in Phoenix. “The factory itself was a marvel to me,” said Pollard. “I saw the software there. And the first thing that struck me was not just how easy it would be to design, it was going to be easier to check. Easier to specify what we needed and easier to go through a submittal.”

“The county’s only 30,000 people,” said Jim Pollard, the university’s former construction manager. “I think the town itself technically may be 6,000 at this moment. We don’t have any contractors in the immediate area who can afford to issue performance bonds for a project of this size.”

Upon experiencing ICE software, Pollard noted “It was almost as if we were inside a virtual reality system. You could go in and look at each room and look at each fixture, look at the height, look at the colour, look if the lines match up and change it if it didn’t.”

Nearly all skilled trades would have to come from Albuquerque and stay during construction. “It’s good for the town’s economy for lodging and food,” said Pollard. “But it costs us in the end.”

Not until the architect, Doug Patterson from Living Design, mentioned the idea of using integrated prefab construction for the interiors did the idea start to show promise.

“I came later in the process to recognize how different the construction process is with DIRTT,” said Pollard. “Maybe I was sheltered and didn’t see enough, but this was really very revolutionary. Just build a shell, furnish a fixed floor at a fixed height and provide a ceiling, and rough-in the utilities by distributing power and data to various distribution points, rather than having to feed them into a wall and get them wired? This was unheard of. This is not a normal construction process.”

With DIRTT production lead times at 2-3 weeks, the team could continue designing and sourcing equipment right up to the last minute. “We were probably making corrections up to the second week before we released the order,” said Pollard. “Because it’s an existing building, we didn’t have all our as-built dimensions and we had a few things that just needed to change. From a contractor’s point of view, and from our architect’s point of view, it was so much simpler. And error-free.”

Still, the method of construction was a mystery to the team. The prefab schedule had walls, fixtures and equipment coming in after the floor was finished. The space looked strangely empty with the move-in date looming. “When we pulled the trigger with DIRTT, literally two and a half weeks later two semis pulled up one morning. By noon the following day they were packing up all of the crates and all but one person left. The 15,000 square feet was the way you see it right now. Just incredible.”

Diggin’ It

August 2017

Pollard feels this revolutionizes the process. It took six months from the day they started to strip the building, get everything in and commissioned all of the equipment. “We could not have done that within that time without DIRTT,” confirms Pollard. “I believe we cut two months out of the construction process.”

The construction experience was a shock to the other trades on the project too. The simplification of their work and the reorganization of when things needed to happen was revelatory to them. “For a couple of months, the expression passed from the superintendent level down to the average apprentice was, ‘You’re going to do what?!’” The other trades couldn’t believe they were really done with their portion of work when the site seemed so bare. Ninety percent of it was being done at the factory, so they were scheduled to be off the job-site months earlier than normal. “But that didn’t stop their curiosity,” said Pollard. “All the electricians and all the HVAC people were hanging around wanting to see how all this works. In the end they all became great supporters.”

It was because of those labor savings Pollard says he was able to hit his budget. “We ended up with a finish we could not have done, or afforded, had we gone with the traditional frame and finish operation.”

Taos is fiercely proud of its culture and history. Anyone considering renovating, let alone building, faces a powerful community of protectionists. Jim Pollard happens to be on the planning and zoning commission in Taos. “We are dealing with all these heritage buildings and a community that really treasures our architectural history. But that doesn’t help us with what’s inside the building.”

The old convention center, while not authentic adobe construction, fit the local vernacular and any changes to its exterior were warned against. “I still love when somebody comes into this building for the very first time. They will say, ‘what a wonderful job you did in keeping that look of this building. You know, you’ve made it good for another 50 or 60 years.’ And then they get inside the door and they just are agog when they see such a high-performance nursing school. They forget the shell and forget that they’re in the centre of Taos.”

That interior is integrated with all the technology and equipment needed to get national accreditation for graduates. Even though the current cohort only has 16 students, these up-and-coming nurses are vital to the small community. Melissa Wohltman is the Nursing Program Director. She came to Taos for a vacation and fell in love with the area. She was thrilled to find they needed her expertise to help run the nursing program. She wasn’t quite as thrilled when she saw the original classrooms tucked in a low-tech basement. “Our faculty has gone from a situation where our offices had to double as classrooms to a space that feels like a hospital,” Wohltman explained. “Nursing is a really complicated profession these days. The learning environment is highly technical and the stakes are very high. This gives our students real-world situations.”

An added bonus in using integrated prefab construction is the classrooms are able to respond to future technologies without having to bring in trades to renovate. The walls containing their plumbing, technology and equipment are all accessible by the facilities team. “If we had to do this with fixed walls, it would have never happened,” said Jim Pollard. “It would end up being stuck with an obsolete use in 10 years. With this system, we can adjust to whatever the needs of the school are going to be, or the next owner.”

Stay tuned for the video case study on this project – coming soon.

Community Diggin’ It

August 2017

DIRTT builds training and multi-purpose space for Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society When it comes to repurposing, DIRTT does it right. We found a new home for a former healthcare mockup with our friends at the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society. DIRTTbags gave their time to build the new training space at their Calgary Safe Haven facility.

Watch the video to see the full story.

Video link: http://bit.ly/2ipp5b5

DIRTT and American Interiors use VR experience to raise funds for hospital Diggin’ It

August 2017

When it comes to inspiring people about the potential of a space, little does it better than ICE and virtual reality.

On the roof of the parking structure next to the construction site for the six-floor Summa West Tower project, the Summa Foundation held a fundraiser. They were raising funds to support the newly named Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Center for Breast Health.

To inspire attendees with the future of the medical facility, DIRTT and American Interiors set up a virtual reality experience. Prospective donors were able to walk through a sample Medical Surgery

Recovery Room designed with DIRTT. They could see, firsthand, the complete rooms with bathrooms, furniture, medical equipment and all the finishes. The new rooms will be bright, clean, crisp and efficient for caregivers while also calming for patients.

Summa is committing an investment of $350M to Akron, Ohio for new and remodeled facilities over the next ten years. And to make the most of that investment, they’re committed to using DIRTT to reduce construction schedules, reduce site labor resource impacts and allow flexibility to an ever-evolving caregiving environment.

DIRTT and Built Interior Construction team up to bring hope to kids For families with children who have cancer or other life-threatening medical conditions, a support community can be powerful. Most of us cannot imagine the costs, fears, emotions and isolation that hospital stays and surgeries impose on families. Parents often become overwhelmed with treatment and finances. Siblings can experience confusion, fear, and resentment as normal life activities and parental attentions are replaced with a difficult medical journey.

HopeKids is a support community for these families. They host highly-anticipated, free, fun events for families who have a child with a life-threatening medical condition. The organization offers a wide variety of activities for the whole family to keep children and their families focused on the future rather than dwelling on the painful experiences they’re dealing with now – from needle pokes to chemotherapy and blood transfusions.

Diggin’ It

August 2017

Built Interior Construction recently hosted an event with HopeKids.

Games and activities were set up around the Green Learning Center: An Eye Spy of Kansas City, coloring animals on Willow® Glass, and even a search for teddy bears inside an ICE file while wearing VR headsets.

The event was eye-opening for many of the Built team and DIRTTbags in attendance. As one DIRTTbag put it, “we go home to our warm houses and kiss our kids goodnight. These families are dealing with things that we wouldn’t even dream of – or have nightmares about. They may kiss their kids goodnight with the fear of them not waking up in the morning.”

We were honored to be able to put a smile on the kids’ faces as well as their parents. This event was made possible by every member of the Built team who all helped make the event successful and the innovative space that Built has created.

“This was a unique memory that I’ll have for a lifetime.”

– Kerri Brocker, DIRTTbag

DIRTT in the News Diggin’ It

August 2017

DIRTT wins at 2017 Be Local Awards REAP (Respect for the Earth and All People) is a not-for-profit group for locally owned businesses that care about the community and environment.

Naturally, DIRTT has been a member of REAP since 2012. This year, we are honored to have been presented with a REAP Calgary ‘Be Local’ Award for Favourite Medium-Large Business!

ICEreality in the news

Partners in the news

More DIRTT in the news

We had some great coverage of our ICEreality virtual reality app launch and the benefits this innovation brings to the construction process.

RJE Business Interiors starts fresh with new showroom locations in Louisville and Lexington

Culture of space: How office environments affect productivity, creativity

The Lane Report highlights our Partner RJE Business Interiors’ new DIRTTy Green Learning Center:

Business in Savannah discusses the advantages of DIRTT’s whole new approach to commercial construction, featuring DIRTTbag Laura Lee Bocade:

EconoTimes: http://bit.ly/2i0Ag63 The BIM Hub: http://bit.ly/2AIsRUk FMLink: http://bit.ly/2Al3rf1

http://bit.ly/2zvq2EY

http://bit.ly/2mxwWV4

ConstructConnect: http://bit.ly/2k9RUc2 Digital Trends: http://bit.ly/2j7adLx

DIRTTbag Laura Patel named among top women in NYC real estate!

DIRTT featured in Georgia Power’s national advertising campaign (again)

For the 17th year, a list of the top women in New York City’s real estate scene have been named. And this year, we’re proud to say our own DIRTTbag Laura Patel is among them for her work to challenge the construction status quo and share the DIRTT message. Check out the full story here:

As you heard back in September, DIRTT and our Savannah DIRTTbags have been featured in Georgia Power’s national advertising campaign. The latest installment of the advertisements has just been released; watch for DIRTT around the mid-point:

http://bit.ly/2zz0cNb

http://bit.ly/2AhU3rS

Spreading holiday joy in Savannah DIRTT Savannah celebrated the festivities of the coming season with the annual DIRTTbag Holiday Bash at the historic Ships of the Sea Museum in beautiful downtown Savannah.

DIRTTy characters from Savannah, Calgary and points inbetween gathered to celebrate the year’s bounty and the promise of the coming year, which is why we set the stage with a theme of gratitude. It was a grand evening of fun, food and fellowship.

We believe gratitude is an action word. Being DIRTTbags, after all, we combined our good fortune in being able to celebrate on such a grand scale as a DIRTT family with some community giving-back: we engaged local youth, through three different community partners, to develop a collection of decorative message-sign styled pieces to create the backdrop for our ‘grateful and thankful’ themed-event.

All the signs were created from scrap and waste wood from the DIRTT Savannah facility. The production team gathered two truckloads of scrap and collected 2x4 offcuts for this project. So, this project contributed to DIRTT’s material diversion goals and reinforced the sustainability, reuse, repurpose focus with the students too.

Diggin’ It

August 2017

Partnering with these local non-profit, grass-roots groups, we decided to give our “farmhouse-style” décor a dual purpose. After the party, we returned the signs to the maker-students to sell at the upcoming Vintage Market Days convention to earn money for the group’s ongoing educational programs.

The community partners we collaborated with for the event were: Maven Makers, an adaptive makerspace, woodshop and innovation hub that provides mentorship, training and economic devlopment using non-traditional means to the local community, especially the area’s youth.

The City of Savannah’s Department for Specialized Instruction, a City department that provides educational services to local students with emotional, developmental or other disabilities and ensures all the school system’s young people find a path to engagement and productivity.

Design for Ability is a universally-designed apprenticeshipbased organization for youth with exceptional needs that advocates environmental stewardship through green jobs training and vocational education. “DfA” believes in empowering these students to actively contribute meaningful skills based in sustainability.