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The final episode in a series about IMEGâs refreshed Sustainability Plan features Olivia Paxson, a structural engineering designer with the firm. Olivia is also the Sustainability Planâs champion in IMEGâs St. Louis office, where she collaborates with her co-workers to implement the planâs mandated and optional initiatives.
âWeâve already switched to LED lighting and that's thanks to the people we rent from,â she says. âWe have a dishwasher, and we have reusable utensils, and weâre really close to a metro line as well as bus stations.â Like most IMEG offices, the St. Louis team is a tenant in its building and will be working to find more ways to collaborate with the other tenants and the owner to enact further changes.
Olivia is excited over the effort she has seen across IMEG and the potential for meaningful change. âI think this collective action is so important because one individual can only do so much,â she says. âAll the offices have come togetherâdifferent people of different backgrounds, and they're not all engineers. We've got such a variety of people and because we're able to come together I think we can be pushed so much further.â
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IMEGâs Anchila Monks is featured in the third episode in a series about the firmâs refreshed Sustainability Plan. A business developer with IMEG, Anchila is also the Sustainability Planâs champion in the firmâs office in Portland, OR, where she collaborates with her co-workers to implement the planâs mandated and optional initiatives.
Anchila recalls what her grandmother told her at a young age: âShe said that heaven and earth and humanity are different manifestations of one life energy, and that we only have one planetâand there is no Planet B.â For Anchila, this was the beginning of her understanding of the importance of taking care of the environment.
Living and working in Portlandâone of the countryâs greenest communitiesâmakes some of the Sustainability Planâs optional initiatives easier to accomplish, such as biking and carpooling to work, recycling, and composting. The office also has âadopted a blockâ and formed a âTeam Portlandâ group to participate in a community clean-up day.
Like other IMEG Sustainability Champions, Anchila is passionate about her role, and urges people everywhere to not procrastinate in helping to save the environment.
âDo not waste time,â she says. âThis is the right time to do it.â
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The second in a series of episodes on IMEGâs refreshed Sustainability Plan features Jessica Lee, a sustainability and energy consultant with the firm. Also the Sustainability Plan champion in IMEGâs Chicago office, Jessica collaborates with her co-workers to implement the planâs mandated and optional initiatives.
Jessicaâs passion for the environment began as a child growing up within an indigenous community in Hawaii. âBeing surrounded by the greenest greens and the bluest blues in the world made me appreciate nature and respect nature,â she says. âSo, growing up I was just surrounded by the idea that the earth is what gives us life and we should work with it rather than against it.â
In addition to contributing to the company-wide tracking of office energy use and other mandated initiatives, Jessica is looking forward to helping the Chicago office choose and implement its optional sustainability initiatives. She hopes these will include an office composting bin and increased use of public transportation to and from work.
âEverybody's coming together to get new ideas on what they could do in the office and it's just really inspiring to see that,â she says.
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In the first in a series of episodes on IMEGâs refreshed Sustainability Plan, Adam McMillen, director of sustainability, and Taylor Gawthorp-Cruse, senior sustainability and energy consultant, discuss key aspects of the initiative. Designed to integrate environmentally friendly practices at the firmâs offices, the updated plan builds upon the original version, released in 2018, and promotes conserving energy and water, lowering carbon emissions, and reducing waste. The 2024 version includes new mandated initiatives (such as tracking office energy usage) as well as optional initiatives (such as providing in-office composting) that allow each location to take actions best-suited for their office, whether corporate owned or rented.
While the firmâs largest positive impact on the environment rests within its ability to reduce the carbon footprint of its clientsâ projects, it also can now make a sizeable impact through the operations and actions at its own offices, which now number 90-plus across the U.S. âNow our carbon number has become a big number, and if we have a sustainable mindset where we work every day, then that scales, too,â says McMillen. âIf you only have three offices, it is still worth it to think about it, but it has become more important for us now for sure.â
Implementing an internal sustainability plan is a large undertaking, and organizations seeking to do so should start by identifying office champions who can lead the effort at each office location.
âMy biggest piece of advice is to harness the power of passionate people in your firm,â says Gawthorp-Cruse. âYouâd be surprised by the drive of people who want to make a positive impact and bring new ideas to the table that maybe they don't get to express in their day-to-day work. Our sustainable office champions are amazing, and I think there's nothing a group of passionate people can't accomplish.â
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In the second of a two-part episode, IMEG software development team lead Steve Germano continues his conversation about IMEGâs internal, AI-powered chatbot, Meg. After a year-and-a-half of development, Meg is now live and serves as a search engine for the firmâs engineering teams and other departments, drawing from the companyâs vast amount of stored data.
Built as a large language model, or LLM, questions can be asked of Meg by anyone in the company on a variety of engineering and non-engineering topics, from âHow do I submit my expense report?â to âWhere can I find guidance on sizing steam traps?â Meg will then point the user to the appropriate in-house tool or information from among the firmâs own curated, accurate, and verified databases. Meg fields upwards of 1,000 questions a day from the firmâs 80-plus engineering teams and other staff around the country, quickly bringing knowledge from across the firm to answer questions and provide technical information to provide the best solutions for local clients.
âWe built a singular entry point to help users find information they're looking for across the company in a single place,â says Germano, who also is a mechanical engineer. âEveryone can just type a sentence and ask what they want, just like you'd be asking a colleague sitting next to you.â
Far from replacing engineers, Meg acts as an assistant to help them more quickly find the data and answers to their questions---an especially useful âco-pilotâ and source of accelerated learning for less experienced engineers (who also continue to be mentored by the firmâs veterans).
âItâs like having someone you can bug and ask 50 questions a day and know youâre not going to aggravate them and eat up their time,â says Germano, who expects to see similar AI-powered assistants being developed across the AEC industry. âAs the technology continues to develop, it's just going to get better and better, and more and more knowledge will be available.â
Germano offers a bit of advice for firms thinking about embarking on such a journey. âThere are a lot of tools out there to start exploring with, but in parallel with that, you need to determine if your data is even ready to be consumed by AI. Thatâs a deep topic that needs to be explored as it can take a lot of time to curate and cleanse your data.â
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In the first of a two-part episode, IMEG software development team lead Steve Germano joins Mike Lawless and Joe Payne for a conversation about IMEGâs internal, AI-powered chatbot, Meg. After a year-and-a-half of development, Meg is now live and serves as a search engine for the firmâs engineering teams and other departments, drawing from the companyâs vast amount of stored data.
Built as a large language model, or LLM, questions can be asked of Meg by anyone in the company on a variety of engineering and non-engineering topics, from âHow do I submit my expense report?â to âWhere can I find guidance on sizing steam traps?â Meg will then point the user to the appropriate in-house tool or information from among the firmâs own curated, accurate, and verified databases. Meg fields upwards of 1,000 questions a day from the firmâs 80-plus engineering teams and other staff around the country, quickly bringing knowledge from across the firm to answer questions and provide technical information to provide the best solutions for local clients.
âWe built a singular entry point to help users find information they're looking for across the company in a single place,â says Germano, who also is a mechanical engineer. âEveryone can just type a sentence and ask what they want, just like you'd be asking a colleague sitting next to you.â
Far from replacing engineers, Meg acts as an assistant to help them more quickly find the data and answers to their questions---an especially useful âco-pilotâ and source of accelerated learning for less experienced engineers (who also continue to be mentored by the firmâs veterans).
âItâs like having someone you can bug and ask 50 questions a day and know youâre not going to aggravate them and eat up their time,â says Germano, who expects to see similar AI-powered assistants being developed across the AEC industry. âAs the technology continues to develop, it's just going to get better and better, and more and more knowledge will be available.â
Germano offers a bit of advice for firms thinking about embarking on such a journey. âThere are a lot of tools out there to start exploring with, but in parallel with that, you need to determine if your data is even ready to be consumed by AI. Thatâs a deep topic that needs to be explored as it can take a lot of time to curate and cleanse your data.â
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Kat Klingenberg, executive director and co-founder of the non-profit organization Phius, talks about the history and current state of passive building in this episode of The Future Built Smarter. âPassive building principles are not rocket science,â she says. âWe're talking about continuous insulation, airtight construction, no thermal bridging in the envelope, good fenestration components, and minimized mechanical systems. It's all about holistic integrated design, and once that is all implemented correctly, we get the result of super-low energy buildings that are pretty much zero-energy ready.â
Kat also directs the technical and research programs at Phius, which certifies passive buildings and high-performance building products. The organization also has trained more than 5,000 architects, engineers, energy consultants, and builders as Phius Certified Consultants, Builders, and Raters/Verifiers.
Predated by the construction of thousands of passive houses in North America during the 1960s through 1980s and originally modeled off the Passive House Institute of Germany, Phius codified the passive house strategies in the U.S. when the organization was founded in 2003. The principles have evolved over the past two decades and today apply not only to homes but also to new construction and retrofits of all building types, with climate-specific standards for different geographic regions.
Passive building principles are a vital tool in the global decarbonization effort underway in the built environmentâso much so that the 2024 USGBC International Greenbuild Conference will include a Phius-exclusive track, pre-conference summit, and pavilion of exhibitors.âŻ
âThere has been collaboration and friendship between the Green Building Council and Phius for quite a while, and we decided that Phius should have a track within Greenbuild this year,â says Kat. âWe call it âPhius at Greenbuild.â We hope that we can create a lot of interest in what we do and bring the stakeholders of Greenbuild into the fold and help them with their next challenges.â
The urgent need to decarbonize at light speed, advances in heat pump and envelope technologies, the mastering of air tightness strategies by a growing number of builders, and the expectation that jurisdictions will begin to include Passive Building Certification as part of net-zero stretch codes (Massachusetts has already done so) are all bringing Phius into the spotlight as never before. âIt's almost like the perfect storm,â says Kat. âItâs super exciting.â
Visit Phius on the web to learn more about the organization and its collaboration with the 2024 USGBC International Greenbuild Conference.
Read about one of IMEGâs Phius-certified projects, the net-zero Prairie Trails School in Mount Prospect, IL.
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This episode of The Future Built Smarter podcast provides a high-level look at seismic design and preparedness 30 years after the Northridge earthquake rocked Southern California in 1994. Joining the discussion is IMEG structural engineer and client executive Craig Chamberlain, president of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California, which hosted the Northridge30 Symposium on the anniversary of the event in January. âThe symposium brought policymakers, city government officials, building officials, and engineers together to help make sure we're still moving ahead even 30 years after the earthquake, and that we don't forget what happened on that devastating day,â he says.
The magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles at 4:30 a.m. Jan. 17, 1994, resulting in at least 57 deaths and more than 8,700 injuries. It was Californiaâs most destructive seismic event since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the stateâs costliest to date, by some estimates causing up to $50 billion in damage to buildings and infrastructure. It also ushered in new and advanced building codes and requirements, building retrofits, and new structural best practices for building types with specific vulnerabilitiesâall of which continue to evolve. âA lot has come to pass since that day, but there is more work to be done,â says Chamberlain.
The lessons learned from Northridge, the advances in design and technology, and the growing use of structural assessments, building resiliency strategies, and recovery measures have applications outside of seismic areas, since a variety of natural events can threaten buildings and infrastructure throughout the U.S. âItâs important that we're prepared for that event when it comes, because it's going to come, whether it's a hurricane, tornado, flood, or earthquake,â says Chamberlain.
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IMEG President and CEO Paul VanDuyne talks about the trajectory of his career and the firmâs growth during his 20-year tenure as CEO in this special episode of The Future Built Smarter.
The recipient of ENR Midwestâs 2023 Legacy Award, Paul entered the industry as a design electrical engineer 47 years ago when he joined IMEGâthen KJWW Engineering. In 2003 he became president and CEO, and in 2015 led a merger between KJWW and TTG Engineers of California, which ushered in the creation of IMEG. Since then, IMEG has completed 35 acquisitions and has gone from 800 staff members in the Midwest and California to over 2,400 staff at 80 locations coast to coast. All of that might not have happened, however, had Paul followed his original plans when he moved from the East Coastâwhere heâd already earned an engineering degreeâto Davenport, Iowa.
âI actually came out to the Midwest to become a chiropractor,â he says. âI was going into a new career direction. About six months into it I needed to make some money and joined this small engineering company over in Rock Island, Illinois. I was their 16th person at the beginning of 1976. Thatâs my story with what eventually became IMEG.â
Paul shares how his interest in healthcareâhe did go on to earn his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer Collegeâled to jumpstarting and building IMEGâs healthcare portfolio, which today is ranked 4th in the nation among engineering firms by Building Design+Construction. He also discusses IMEGâs ongoing strategic mergers and acquisitions, its goal to become a billion-dollar company, and how its wide diversity of markets and services, geographic distribution, employee ownership, and single profit center combine to provide the firm with resilience and growth even during times of adversity. âAll that really helped us get through the pandemic, but also any difficult times that come up,â he says. âThat's a huge stability factor for us.â
After nearly 50 years in the business, Paul says he is very committed to a daily health regimen that helps him to stay energized and meet the demands of the job, physically and mentally. âI think a lot of it has to do with mindset,â he says. âIf your mindset is a progressive mindset, and it's an abundance mindset, I think that gives you a huge advantage.â
Learn more about IMEGâs approach and stories of success on the new mini-documentary, "IMEG Built Smarter: A Strategic Growth Story.â
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This episode features Missy Stults, Sustainability and Innovations Director for the City of Ann Arbor, MI, one of 11 communities being funded by the U.S. Department of Energyâs Geothermal Technologies Office to design a community geothermal heating and cooling system.âŻJoining the conversation is IMEG Sustainability Director Adam McMillen, who is leading the analysis and design portion of the project.
âIn Ann Arbor we have the goal of achieving a just transition to communitywide carbon neutrality by 2030,â said Stults. âOne of the things that is really critical is centering equity in our work, and so from the very beginning we said we have to make sure that we're working with neighborhoods that we've traditionally disinvested in.â The cityâs Bryant Neighborhoodâan underserved, energy-burdened community of 262 households, 75 percent of which are considered low-income, with over 50 percent of residents being minorities and rentersâwas chosen for the project. âFor almost three years we've been working with Community Action Network (CAN) and the residents of Bryant to figure out what would it mean if they became the most sustainable neighborhood in America,â said Stults. âWhat would it mean if you flipped the script on a neighborhood that we sort of just forgot about and made it be the centerpiece of climate action? And then this project came about.â
The goal of the project is to design (and eventually build) a community-scale geothermal system that covers at least 75% of the heating and cooling load for all 262 households as well as for a local school, a county community mental health service center, and the City of Ann Arborâs public works facility. The project will directly lower the neighborhoodâs greenhouse gas emissions by 40%, significantly improve indoor air quality, eliminate the energy burden for low-income residents, and enhance year-round comfort.
The project team is led by the City of Ann Arbor and consists of 14 entities including CAN and other community organizations, mental health providers, the public school district, utility providers, geothermal design firms, and workforce development and training organizations.
âThe answer to the climate crisis isn't brand new neighborhoods everywhere,â said McMillen. âIt is: Work with what we have in a smarter way, reuse resources we have, then lift everyone else up with us. And make it replicable so anyone can do it.â
Read more about the project.
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This episode offers a preview of UW Healthâs Eastpark Medical Center in Madison, WI. Expected to be fully open by Fall 2024, the seven-story outpatient facility will offer advanced imaging and lab services, destination services, multidisciplinary adult specialties, and womenâs complex care. The center also will feature the state-of-the-art UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center, one of the few in the country to offer proton therapy and, in collaboration with Leo Cancer Care, the first healthcare facility in the U.S. to offer upright proton therapy.
Discussing the new center and proton therapy aspects of the project are Jerry McGuire and Steve Mumm, senior project managers for University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Planning Design and Construction, and Kevin Langan, an IMEG mechanical engineer working on the project. âProton therapy is a relatively new cancer treatment,â says McGuire. âItâs an advanced form of radiation therapy using a precise dose of radiation that conforms to the tumor itselfâreducing side effects and causing no damage to surrounding healthy tissues.â The new center will offer both a rotating gantry where a patient lies down on a couch with the machine rotating around them, and an upright fixed beam system in which the patient sits up. The upright system is being found to provide improved outcomesâ offering greater comfort, reducing patient anxiety, and improved accuracyâand is particularly beneficial for pediatric patients.
The planning, design, and construction not only of the proton therapy spaces but also the infrastructure to support the technology was like no other healthcare project. âThere were huge implications well beyond the proton therapy spaceâfor example, the chiller plant gets larger, an additional electrical service was added, and larger generators,â said Langan. âIt also required a lot of coordination with the proton therapy vendors to make sure we were providing what they needed.â To withstand the neutron dose rates of the treatment bay and contain the radiation, the proton therapy space also required 7-foot-thick concrete walls below grade. A temporary system to pump glycol through tubing within the poured concrete was required to keep the concrete from overheating and to cure appropriately.
Eastpark Medical Center is also seeking LEED v4.1 certification for healthcare and has several sustainable features, including a 1MW rooftop solar array which provides the approximate energy needed to power the proton center. âWe basically will have a carbon-neutral proton center in Madison, Wisconsin,â says Mumm.
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Scott Campagna, Senior Director of Housing at IMEG, is featured in this episodeâone in a series of conversations with the firmâs market leaders. Scott talks about the subsectors of IMEGâs housing workâneighborhoods, multifamily, student housing, and senior livingâand the challenges and opportunities facing the market overall. âIt's an interesting time,â he says. âThere's a huge housing demand in all sectors but in the current environment, with the lending being pulled back, projects in all sectors generally are moving a bit slower.â Scott also discusses office-to-residential conversions, a trending topic in the market. He cautions that such pursuits always be preceded by an infrastructure assessment. âCertainly not every building is the same nor is it best suited necessarily for a housing conversion. You need to look at the systems infrastructure to ensure it will support the housing project. You don't want to be hit with any surprises after the fact or during construction.â On all projects in the market, Scott says the mentality at IMEG is to âTurn housing into homes. We understand we are drawing more than just lines on paperâwe are providing a home where people can thrive and flourish within our communities.â
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In a continuing series of discussions with IMEGâs market leaders, this episode of The Future Built Smarter features John Holbert, vice president of education. John discusses the challenges facing the market, primarily those for higher education institutions, which face ever-increasing enrollment competition, changes in student demographics, limited resources, aging infrastructure, and difficulties with facility staff retention. Many higher education institutions, as well as K-12 school districts, also face challenges in meeting sustainability and environmental initiatives as well as the need to improve safety and security in their buildings and on their campuses. âSecurity has become a big topic, and we have started consulting on safety and security plans for campuses and districts,â he says. Such initiatives start with a vulnerability assessment and gap analysis, with planning and design including principles from Crime Prevention through Environmental Design, or CPTED. âWeâre also seeing more referendums and funding opportunities for safety and security measures,â he adds. Before embarking on any building project, John emphasizes the importance of master planning to best prepare for the needs of the future. Such planning helps institutions meet their long-term goals and allocate funds and other resources accordinglyâbefore itâs too late. âAcross the landscape of education, we see a lot of deferred maintenance,â he says. âWe're still going into 50-plus-year-old buildings that have original systems in them.â
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Holistic security considerations for K-12 school design are examined in this 17-minute episode featuring Ryan Searles, IMEGâs security consulting group leader. Ryan spends an average of three weeks of each month traveling the country presenting at conferences or training organizations in crisis management, active shooter mitigation, and other security preparednessâwith a growing number of school districts seeking his teamâs services. âWe keep seeing a rise in violence in the United States and more violent events occurring at places of education,â he says. âIn K-12, particularly, it's really about what we can do to mitigate it from happening.â In addition to getting involved earlier in the design phase of new facilities, Ryan and his team are also conducting an increasing number of security assessments of existing schools, providing answers to such questions as, âWhat do we have in place? What are we doing right? Where are our gaps and where are our vulnerabilities? How do we fix those?â The most effective security design and emergency preparedness takes a blended, holistic approach, Ryan says, and includes not only physical and technology design aspects but also âthe human aspectââtraining, drills and rehearsals for staff and students, as well as proactive threat assessments of individuals and being vigilant about watching for early warning signs. âWe've been a very reactive culture in the United States with school security and safety. We can't do that anymoreâthat's become very apparent and has a lot to do with my team being so busy. Schools are reaching out saying, âCome show us what we need to do to keep these kids safe.â â
Ryan Searles will present "Security Considerations for School Design" at 8:15 a.m. Oct. 13 at the Association for Learning Environments' National Conference, LearningSCAPES 2023, in Chicago. Learn more.
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This episodeâanother in a series of discussions with IMEGâs market leadersâfeatures Jack Kusek, market leader for water and wastewater. Listen to the episode and youâll learn:
What PFAs are and what can be done about them Which U.S. city has the largest concentration of lead pipes Why security is a big concern for water and wastewater facilities, particularly in smaller communities How two communities collaborated to ensure their water resiliencyWhy outsourcing facility operations is a necessity for many small municipalitiesHow IMEG has helped restore Frenchmanâs Reef resort on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands following back-to-back hurricanes that devastated the property in 2017Jack also discusses his motivation for the work he specializes in, and the reward he receives when heâs able to help a community improve its water infrastructure and water quality and provide for one of the fundamental needs of life.
âThe fact that we can help people on St. Thomas and other communities so that they have new facilities, cleaner water to drink, and wastewater plants that aren't polluting the Top of Formstreamsâjust seeing how those improvements benefit people and how thankful they are, thatâs motivation enough for me.â
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This episodeâpart of a series of conversations with IMEGâs market leadersâfeatures Kelly Altes, the firmâs industrial market leader. Kelly discusses the firmâs industrial teamsâ areas of expertiseâ agriculture, aerospace, automotive, food and beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, and general manufacturingâas well as challenges facing industrial clients. These include the pace of project delivery, the lengthy process of capital expenditure decisions, and the push to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. She also talks about the difficulty of meeting and funding ESG and corporate sustainability goals and the importance of master planning to help clients achieve those goals over manageable periods time. âI'm actively talking with clients about the importance of master planning,â she says. âAs with any big problem, you break it down into small chunks. So, we've worked with a number of clients on yearly capital expenditures that we can look at over a five-, 10-, 15-, or 20-year period to try to help them with that decarbonization process.â
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Note: In keeping with the topic of this episodeâartificial intelligenceâthe following summary has been generated by ChatGPT using a transcription from the podcast.
In this podcast episode, host Joe Payne and co-host Mike Lawless discuss the topic of AI and its impact on the design profession. Their guest, Michael Kilkelly, is a registered architect and member of IMEGâs internal Technical Operations team. He shares insights on how AI is being used in the field of architecture and engineering.
They discuss the initial fears and concerns architects and engineers may have about AI taking over their jobs. However, as people start using AI tools like ChatGPT, they realize the practical applications and usefulness of these technologies. Michael highlights that while there may be some unfounded fears, there is also a recognition of the skill involved in effectively utilizing AI.
The conversation dives into various areas where AI can enhance the design process. Michael mentions generative design tools like TestFit and ARK that help architects create optimal building layouts based on specific parameters. They also discuss the potential of AI in aiding visualization during client meetings, where AI tools can generate images based on spoken text, allowing clients to better understand and react to design concepts.
The hosts explore the benefits of AI in terms of efficiency and productivity, as well as the potential for AI to assist with data analysis and historical data access. They emphasize the concept of "augmented intelligence" and the idea that AI tools can enhance human capabilities rather than replace them entirely. Michael introduces the concept of "prompt engineering" as the art of extracting useful information from AI systems, while maintaining contextual control to avoid generating false or fabricated data.
Looking toward the future, the discussion touches on the possibility of personalized AI assistants or virtual copilots that can work alongside professionals, providing support and leveraging collective experience. They also anticipate advancements in querying databases with AI, allowing users to ask complex questions and receive accurate answers, leading to more informed decision-making.
For related information, read Michael Kilkellyâs article, âAI and architecture and engineering: Programmed for success,â published by Smart Buildings Technology.
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In a continuing series of conversations with IMEGâs market leaders, this episode of The Future Built Smarter features Bridge Market Leader Steve Myer. Steve discusses his background, the types of services that IMEGâs bridge engineering team provides, challenges facing the market, and often-heard questions from clients. âThe common questions from our clients include how to extend the life of their bridges,â he says. âThey also often ask for rough cost estimates for their bridges and what they can do to make their money go further. We provide quite a few estimates, either for rehabilitation of existing bridges or for replacing bridges.â Steve adds that over the past five years he and other engineers âhave been going at a really fast pace and have designed many bridge projectsâto the point that now one of the biggest challenges facing clients is there so many projects out there, the competitive bid process is somewhat going away because contractors can just go after the projects they want.â As for the future, Steve says, âI really don't see a slowdown coming in the bridge market. Hopefully it stabilizes a little bit and construction prices stop doubling every five years.â
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In a continuing series of conversations with IMEG market leaders and directors, Corey Stout discusses the transportation market with host Joe Payne. Corey touches on several topics, including the effects to date of the federal governmentâs massive infrastructure funding made available in late 2021.
âAside from repair and maintenance work, most of the projects have been in the planning stages and weâre seeing these projects go out for bid, two years later,â he says. Labor shortages have added to the slow-down of the process. âThe state agencies have to assign the contracts and they're short-staffed; consultants have to do their work and they're short-staffed; and then the contractors have to get their work done and theyâre short-staffed. But itâs coming around and weâre starting to see more and more construction going on everywhere.â
Corey also talks about the importance of public engagement, the effectiveness of holding virtual community meetings, and the technology now being used to help motorists and pedestrians visualize and understand infrastructure projects. In one such project, IMEG created a 3D rendering and flyover video showing a combine easily moving through a proposed rural roundabout. This allayed farmersâ concerns by allowing them to âsee that the intersection was going to function just fine with something as big as a combine going through it.â (Learn more.)
As for the future, Corey says to expect more electric vehicle charging stations popping up along the highways, and, someday, the rise of drones as a means of personal conveyance and commerce. âI don't know what that's going to do to the infrastructure, but itâll be kind of exciting to see how itâs going to go.â
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This episode examines an innovative and integrated application of reality capture technologies that has been developed by IMEG to improve exterior lighting and security site assessments. Explaining the components, applications, and benefits of the ALL (Accurately Locating Light) Meter are guests Eric Vallejo, Director of Reality Capture and Geospatial Solutions, Ryan Searles, Security Consulting Group Leader, and Shanna Olson, Architectural Lighting Team Leader. The ALL Meter combines an illuminance meter, 3D camera, GIS, and drone photography to gather more accurate and robust data in a vastly more efficient and safer manner compared to conventional site assessments. âThe traditional methodology for lighting assessments is to go out on site, obviously after dark, and about every five feet or so get down on the ground with a light meter,â says Olson. âYou're also looking at other things, making observations, and taking photos as it gets later and later into the evening. At a particularly large job site recently it ended up becoming a little bit like Frogger in that we were repeatedly bending down, getting up, and moving around as cars and semi-trucks drove past us.â In addition to allowing the gatherer to remain standing, stay out of harmâs way, and quickly collect more and better data to inform the design phase, the night drone photography enables stakeholders to visualize areas of poor visibility, lack of uniformity in lighting, and gaps in security. âYou can see immediately where something's dark or well illuminated,â says Olson. âOwners can see and feel how it is to be in that space at night.â
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