Innovation Architect

How do you start a post that is intended to be a summary explanation of a philosophical transformation of your approach to work? Undoubtedly anything you write will seem pompous, and even more so you are sure to be longwinded and a potential bore to your readers. So in short, I think most of what we celebrate in the architectural world is bullshit. We celebrate the ability to spend money, and we celebrate it so much so that people spend inordinate amounts on projects they inherently know are temporary. What makes this absurd is the push over the last decade to celebrate the 'industrial' look. It absolutely pains me to explain to clients that in order to achieve an effective 'warehouse' aesthetic they will need to spend 3 times the amount of money to use rigid spiral ducting so they don't see cheap flex ducts. That instead of just running power and cabling from point a to b, they need to install cable trays and conduit to give it a more orderly appearance. Imagine a client's lack of enthusiasm when told how many thousands they need to spend to spray encapsulate fireproofing so that it doesn't flake off on their desktops over time and can then be painted so that it doesn't look like hideous spray on fireproofing anymore. That industrial stainless look in a kitchen or breakroom...absolutely the most expensive way to go, and most if it isn't even industrial grade. Want to save money and have cubicles in an open office, that's great, but cubicles cost 3-5 times more than a desk. We're talking about millions of dollars wasted here, all because people are sold on a style and the false impression that its cheaper. The simple fact is that you can have a kick ass space and not spend a fortune on it, but you have to accept that raw means just that. $15 can buy all the materials you need for an awesome desk made of dimensional lumber and exposed bolt heads. It's up to you to find someone who will assemble it with thought and care.

the Stories of Buildings

Architecture is storytelling to the soul. I help people and organizations understand, translate, and narrate those stories to the world. For me, each story is a chapter in a great book that is both read and written together.

I've always been a bit puzzled by the ego of many architects. The belief for many seems to be that buildings are an expression of the architect's personal philosophy and attitudes towards the world. The problem with this approach is that buildings and architecture, when at their best, become an embodiment of the ideals of those who inhabit and use them.

Our philosophy of architecture has always been to help unleash the creativity of the end user through the development of an intimate understanding of their difficulties, desires, and ambitions. We take this approach of empathy towards the users so that a building not only provides usable space, but becomes a usable, functional expression of the client and end users needs and aspirations.

In many ways, we believe the architect's role is to facilitate the creative process for the client. This does not mean however that the we become a drafting and permitting service for them. It is our responsibility to respectfully challenge their existing notions to find unexpected and innovative solutions.

Ultimately, these things are critical for companies. A building or space is a highly visible component of a company brand that impacts both external and internal perceptions of a business. The care and thought behind every decision becomes obvious after several thousand cumulative man-hours in a space. The building quite literally portrays an identity, it is a realization of identity through the built form. Your hopes, your needs, your story.

These stories become our journey to understand and help shape attitudes about the world we share.

CONima Architects' latest project is in Bloomberg Businessweek

Our recent design for Innovation Endeavor's new Palo Alto office space was featured in Bloomberg Businessweek's article on the unconventional Venture Capital Firm funded by Google's executive chairman and former chief executive officer Eric Schmidt

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/eric-schmidts-newest-vc-fund-07282011.html

The space was designed to be a continually evolving collaboration space that could be reconfigured in minutes for any situation. Every detail was done so that those in the space could see connection details and structural support for everything from the building structure, to the furniture, and that virtually every surface was a potential collaboration point; using such details as plexiglass walls which allow dry erase markers, and simultaneously make the interior wall structure visible.

Serious Energy select CONima Architects

CONima was recently selected for strategic planning, site acquisition, design, and project management services throughout North America.

We are proud to make our contribution towards green technologies and sustainable construction methods as part of the Serious Energy team.

Equilar construction progress

We're nearing completion for the new Equilar office in Redwood City. Below are some progress pictures of construction.

second floor open office - June 17
































2nd Floor Open office - July 21


















reception area - July 21

Dental Remodel Progress

The dental office is coming together. Still to come: cabinets, glazing, furniture...should be complete in a couple of weeks!

Saba selects CONima Architects

CONima has been selected for branding and design services for Saba's Redwood Shores Headquarters. CONima's role will be to enhance Saba's brand image by creating a consistent architectural language throughout its facilities and to oversee its multiphase implementation throughout 2010.

Dental Office Remodel Update

The dental office remodel is progressing well. After the demolition of some existing interior walls, new electrical and insulation was installed. Gypsum board was then erected and the wall texture was applied. The rotting wood columns were removed from the front of the building. The old doors and windows were replaced with new contemporary ones. The roof has now been replaced and the exterior of the building has been painted with colors that give a more modern look.

Mercedes Kiosk Project

Almost ready for install...check out this photo of the new kiosk we are installing for Mercedes-Benz Research and Development.

The kiosk is the newest addition to the history museum we designed at the North American Headquarters for MBRDNA, and will be completed in the next two weeks.

Dental Office Finish Board

This is the client approved finish board showing finishes for cabinetry, countertops, glazing and paint colors. Next we will be moving on to the dental equipment specifications.

Space Planning/Schematic Design

This is the architect's plan for the dental surgery. Several changes were made to the owner's original plan.
The entry door was moved from the side to the front of the building to face the street. This made the surgery more inviting and noticeable.

Five consultation rooms were placed around the central garden to give patients a calming, peaceful atmosphere.

A separate children's waiting room away from the adult waiting room was created for children to watch T.V and play computer games.

The reception area was relocated from the center right to the center left of the surgery in between the adult and the children's waiting rooms. A large window opposite the reception would provide plenty of natural light and again a view of the garden.

The restrooms were enlarged and modified to meet accessibility needs for disabled people.

A curved ceiling element running through the length of the surgery was introduced to define areas and circulation paths.

Programming and Pre-design

The next stage was to meet with the client and go through the programming to find the spacial relationship requirements. Included in our discussions were how many exam rooms were needed and what equipment would be going into them.

The owner's original drawings for the building showing survey dimensions. (Owner's drawings do not match existing conditions)

Pre-design bubble drawing showing early space planning.

With the programming information and the bubble drawing we could see how all the spaces could fit together with the existing building.

Case Study Of A Dental Office Remodel By CONima Architects

CONima Architects was recently contracted to remodel an existing building and transform it into a dental office.

Currently the building is in a poor state of repair and has been unoccupied for the last 4 years. We're using this as a case study of how to rehabilitate a commercial space and to address the challenges of a dental/medical facility within an existing building. Over the next coulpe of months we will be showing the progress of this project.

The existing waiting room.

A view of the dated existing bathroom.

A before picture of the reception area.

Project Sequencing

The most common problem I run into in architecture and construction is that the scheduled duration of a project is inadequate. While experience has given me the ability to overcome this problem in most cases, saving a project schedule inevitably comes at the expense of either quality, creativity, or project cost.

Quality:
The main aspects of quality that suffer when a project does not have adequate time are materials. Almost all common building materials, unless already in stock and available, take 4 to 6 weeks to make. If specialty finishes or items are needed for their fabrication, then it can take 8 to 12 weeks. To break this down, use carpet as an example:

If a construction schedule is less than 4 weeks, carpet selection is limited to in stock items only.
If the schedule is extended to 6 weeks, 'standard' and 'quick ship' items now become available, even possibly if they are not currently in stock because the manufacturer already has the necessary yarn
However any higher end carpet will require a minimum 8 to 12 weeks in order to aquire the yarn, ship it to the carpet factory, make the carpet, and ship it to the construction site.

Now consider in the carpet scenario that the same thing is occurring in regards to cabinets, doors, furniture, and a host of other items. These items cannot all be installed simultaneously. Once this is taken into consideration, it becomes clear that, unless finish materials are identified and order prior to the start of construction, most tenant improvement type projects will require a minimum 12 to 14 week schedule for construction.

Creativity:
The limiting factors for creativity are two-fold. An abbreviated construction schedule limits the material choices available to a project. Also, the sequence of events that are needed to design properly are often forced to be abbreviated or eliminated altogether. The following stages of events and rough time lines should be taken into account:

Programming - May be done in house prior to hiring an architect, or done over a period of several days or weeks (depending on size) with an architect
Field Survey - one to three days typically for projects that are limited to interior scope
Schematic Design - This phase is highly variable. Depending upon the ability to reconcile a clients programmatic and stylistic needs within the framework of the building that has been selected, it can vary from 1 week to 1-2 months. However, for most small to mid-size projects accomodating 2 weeks for the planning of this should be sufficient.
Design Development and Code Analysis - This phase is mostly determined by the size and age of a building, and should range from 2-4 weeks. However on smaller projects this can commonly be condensed to one week.
Contract Documents - The final phase of architectural work prior to permitting is the creation of all drawings, details, and specifications for construction, as well as all information related to accessibility and life safety necessary for permitting. This work requires several weeks in most cases.

With all of this work taken into account, the design phase of a tenant improvement project should include 4 weeks for small projects, and 12-16 weeks for larger and more complex ones. When this process is shortened, proper programming usually has not taken place and the project specifications are left more generalized. Under extreme shortening of the process, an initial set may be required for permitting purposes only, with the knowledge that some construction details are not fully resolved. This of course leads to the last area of sacrifice.

Cost:
Cost gets impacted in three ways primarily.

Incomplete designs are bid to contractors, which result in modifications along the way that result in change orders to the construction contract.

The construction schedule does not have adequate time to allow for proper sequencing of events which results in overtime costs for construction labor

General Contractors are not given adequate time to investigate possible hidden deficiencies within a building, resulting in added costs to remedy those unforeseen conditions.

The variations of problems and requirements are endless, and ultimately every project must make sacrifices somewhere along the way. However having an experienced architect involved as early in the process as possible will help tremendously to navigate through these issues. A good architect can also overcome most of the scheduling hurdles thrown their way, but if the process is shortened, both the client and architect should discuss what sacrifices it will entail prior to starting work.

Commercial Lease Negotiations

If there is one thing I wish all clients, brokers, and project managers could understand, it is the critical importance of involving an architect in site selection. During the five years that CONima has been in business, we have saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars in avoided costs by evaluating buildings prior to signing a lease.

Unfortunately, I've probably seen clients spend well over twice that amount trying to resolve fundamental problems with buildings that went unnoticed because they were not evaluated prior to leasing.

So numbers are easy to throw out and they sound impressive, but they mean very little without understand what an architect actually does during the site selection and lease negotiation phases of a project. For this article, I will focus on tenant improvement related work only, as core and shell construction has an entirely separate set of concerns.

So what are the tasks?

Programming and Fit Planning:
Every client knows how many people they have working for them, and most have an idea how many they want to plan for in the future. However working off of simple ratios of square footage per person ignores office standards, adjacency requirements, ancillary spaces, labs, data centers, etc...all of which are critical components to laying out a space successfully. Unfortunately, once a lease is signed, it is too late to make sure that the building suits your needs, and typically will result in making some level of sacrifice in programmatic functionality of a space.

Egress and Path of Travel:
Nobody would advertise a building that doesn't meet code, right? This is a much more frustrating problem for clients that I've had to resolve for both landlords' and tenants'. The problem is twofold.

• Codes change every few years, and things that were legal when a building was built are no longer so. With the recent adoption of the International Building Code this problem has become so exaggerated that many buildings are no longer considered legal because the method of calculating allowable floor area has now changed. Modifications to the occupancy classification further complicate this, resulting in different exiting and fire rating requirements.
• Subdividing floorspace for multiple tenants is the other major cause of headaches. Code requirements change significantly when trying to exit multiple companies from one building or floor as opposed to just one. In this case the distance between exits, overall exit travel distance, fire protection systems, and fire separations become critical. As a simple rule of thumb, one of my professors once told me,"Draw a fire in front of an exit, now see how many will die as a result. If the answer is more than zero it's your fault."

Accessibility (ADA / Title 24)
This category has unfortunately made a few landlords hate me. Accessibility is a very broad topic, but the priorities to negotiate into a lease are those deficiencies that are the most expensive to repair.

• Bathrooms, not just having a 5ft wide stall, but making sure the toilet is spaced the correct amount from the adjacent wall, are grab bars present, how much clearance is in front of the toilet? How high are the counters? Is there adequate knee space below them? Do the shower dimension comply? Fixture mounting heights? etc... A single bathroom can quickly cost over $100,000 to bring into compliance
• Building Entry, the accessibility requirement for most buildings is to have a fully accessible path to the public way. Most cities will bend this to just require it to the parking lot, but this is not much relief. In California especially, for years California's guidelines differed from federal in how to create a curb ramp to an accessible parking space, causing a great deal of commercial parking lots to currently be illegal. Additionally, the slope of the sidewalk to the building, irregularities in pavers, damaged or raised door tresholds, etc...can also lead to a great deal of remediation work. A recent client had to spend $40,000 repaving the entry plaza to their office because their lease did not include a provision for maintaining and accessible pathway into the building.

Do it yourself?

This blog has a tendency to praise all things architectural from, dare I say it, an arrogant perspective. This will probably be a continuing focus of what we write about because of the effort it takes in this country to actually become an architect. Even with this necessity of involvement in the process, even I have to admit that there is something immensely satisfying in doing a project yourself. As my wife will attest, I've built many failures with my own hands, and to this day my own brick laying wouldn't pass a punchlist inspection from a one-eyed drunken sea pirate. But every uneven wall I've ever bricked is both a source of pride in my efforts and a source of respect for quality craftsmanship.

I've told contractors that I will be the best friend they've ever had on a job because of the fact that I like to build projects on my own and know how hard it is to build buildings well. It requires an attention to the details of a wall before it is even built. Verifying layouts and making adjustments constantly while still keeping the exact detail dimensions of a piece of millwork in your head.

Every person should build something on their own as long as you can live with the failure of your own mistakes, or have the patience and money to correct them. It gives a satisfaction and respect for architecture and construction that no amount of writing can describe. My only bits advice are:

1. Know your ability limits and tolerances for imperfection
   
2. A good architect is there to facilitate your vision, not his/her own.
   

What is the difference between a residential building designer and an architect?

This is perhaps the most important question a person should ask before hiring someone to design their home. To be fair, I should preface that I am an architect, but there are substantial differences, as well as myths that should be dispelled. For the sake of this article, designers may go by many different designations (building designer, residential designer, home planner, etc...) I will use the title of 'designer' for simplicity.

So to begin, at the surface the difference is very simple:

1. Qualifications:
A designer can be anyone. A homeowner with an idea and a sketchbook, a contractor working at a drafting table to fix a problem, or a consultant hired to coordinate a project. A designer is any unlicensed person who designs buildings, and due to that lack of license are restricted by most states to a very limited number of building types that they are allow design.

An Architect is a state licensed professional in the design and construction of all buildings. The licensing process is for most a 10 or more year path that includes a university degree in architecture, and a multi-year internship, followed by 5 written examinations, 3 graphic examinations, and in California an additional oral examination. This process ensures that a licensed architect is knowledgeable in project planning; interior and exterior design; site planning and drainage; construction methods; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems; construction management; construction contract and dispute resolution; mechanics liens...essentially all the tools needed to effectively manage any building project from house, to office, to university building, from start to finish.

2. Price:
A prevalent myth is that hiring a designer is less expensive than hiring an architect. In most cases, an architect's fees for basic services and those offered by a designer are actually quite similar. Most services typically range from 5-10% of construction costs depending on the level of complexity of a project and the amount of construction supervision an owner wants to leave to the consultant. If engineering is required in addition to the basic design, that may cost an additional 2-5%.

What the price myth also fails to take into account is the benefits of qualifications. An architects experience not only equips them with more knowledge in how to design a more cost effective construction project, it also includes many benefits in relating to contractors. A great deal of architectural training is in what are referred to as "CD's". Most people mistakenly refer to these as the 'construction documents' because they include the drawings that a general contractor will build from. The true meaning is 'contract documents', and drawings make up only one piece of them. A projects drawings, specifications, and written contract are all equal parts of the contract between and owner and a builder. The accuracy of these documents is the only real basis that an owner has to protect themselves from change orders in the construction process. Additionally, an architect will typically review all contractor payment request for accuracy to ensure that overbilling has not occured and that mechanics liens are released upon payment.

Summary:
So the virtues of the architect have been extolled, even so there are projects where hiring an architect is excessive. If you want to replace cabinets, remodel a bathroom, or do a similar interior project that does not include the relocation of walls, it is typically safe to assume that a contractor can handle the needs of the project without involving an architect. Likewise, an designer can be incredibly valuable in helping you envision a particular layout, color scheme, or fabric and furniture coordination. However if a project involves adding space, raising ceilings, moving walls, or cutting large openings, an architect is the only professional specifically trained to manage all the disciplines of design, engineering, and construction necessary to make the project successful.

Picture of the Day - 2/11/09

San Mateo City Council Chambers remodel:

design by CONima Architects

Picture of the Day

MBRDNA Fuel Cell and Telematics lab in Palo Alto:

designed by CONima Architects

One of those cases where a picture can only hint at the challenges that went into creating it. For this space, not only did we have the standard automobile lab challenges of getting cars into an office building and safely exhausting the engines outside of the building, we had the added challenge of monitoring and exhausting hydrogen in order to prevent any possible explosions. Lastly, the cars were required to be placed on portable lifts. This meant that not only did the building foundation have to be strengthened to handle the weight of several automobiles, the first floor slab of the building had to be lowered by one foot to allow enough clearance for raised vehicles.

Ring Central selects CONima Architects

Ring Central has selected CONima Architects for its new headquarters in San Mateo, CA. CONima will oversee design and construction for the new 13,000sf office space due for completion in Q2 2009.