Kaizen is Japanese for  “change for the better.”  Primarily the term is used with regard to continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, and  supporting business processes.  If you are serious about being part of the revolution going on in the AEC industry, you know there is no magic bullet.  Changing methodologies is a process.

Jeff Miller of our San Diego office and David W. Robb of our New York office were in Dallas this week for a cross-office brainstorming session to look at how data flows in the AEC industry and the relationships between data in Acoustic Dimensions’ offices.

David Weinberger, author of Everything is Miscellaneous, says that “Metadata is what you already know and data is what you want to find out.”   And while the digital world provides a wealth of information and tools to manage both, we find the we are still refining our methodologies for seeing relationships within data.  We remain firm believers that there is untapped power just beneath the surface and it is a company passion to unlock it.

First Baptist Church of Dallas has been part of downtown Dallas since its opening in 1860. As the church grew, multiple buildings were added as needed and the church currently makes up six city blocks with facilities for worship, education, fellowship and recreation. We are working with Beck Architecture on the new project which is designed to create a cohesive, easily identifiable campus and will include the church’s first completely new worship center since 1890.

Features of the new facilities include, a state-of-the-art 3,000-seat worship center, a senior adult education center, a glass concourse that will connect the worship center to a six-floor education building for preschool, children and youth, two gymnasiums, children’s play areas, an outdoor concert space, a skybridge, an acre of green space and an outdoor fountain where baptisms will take place in warm weather. The existing sanctuary will remain as a site for weddings, funerals and other special events.

The project is scheduled to open Easter of 2012.

One of the challenges with being close to an airport is that noise is transient.  The type of plane, direction of takeoff, and frequency of flyover events make a difference.  So, simply taking measurements once may not be sufficient to make good design decisions. And, while most airports have noise contours (basically, an average level), that doesn’t matter when you are in an office trying to make a phone call if you are doing it when the noise is decidedly above average.

We often place noise level meters on sites for weeks at a time to be able to get a picture of the reality of peak noise.  Having accurate information means the client doesn’t have to spend more in construction than necessary to achieve a quiet building.

And that often means walking miles through pastures or hanging out on rooftops.