![]() ![]() This subject deserves several articles in and of itself. The Type of System Intended by the Architect This list certainly is not comprehensive but is a place to start. However, there are some basic considerations which the architect and structural engineer should be cognizant of. For majority of projects of more modest size, this is not practical. On very large buildings – this may be possible provided a large design budget which may still be an appropriately small percentage of the overall project cost. In a perfect world, a cladding consultant is involved early on and can assist with planning a cohesive integration of the envelope with the building. Frequently, the curtain wall engineer and contractor are involved late in the project (often well through construction) and are saddled with the consequences of these decisions and the resulting solution can be sub-optimal. Architects and engineers with limited expertise in the area of envelope design must make critical decisions early in the project which have serious impact on the cladding design. This is often the curtain wall consultant. With the volume of folks involved in this immense planning effort, and the rapid expense incurred, one group is all-too-often left out of the discussion. With the collective input from this array of expertise, the team may begin to assemble a set of requirements and constraints to satisfy the project’s program. If possible, the general contractor is brought on board early and can offer pragmatic perspective on budgets, schedules and methods. An ideal beginning to any project brings together minds from diverse backgrounds of architecture, structure, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, civil, HVAC, energy and technology – all to formulate a plan to satisfy the client’s needs. If you were to attempt to sum up the task of architects or engineers in two words – those words may reasonably be chosen as collaborative planning. ![]()
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