AEI Build Technical Communities

AEI Build

AEI Build outlines eight practice focus-areas of the architectural engineering profession.  Each AEI Build category is multi-disciplinary in nature and requires interdisciplinary collaboration.

• Deliver

   

  

  The process of designing, documenting, constructing, and operating buildings, when systematically executed results in higher quality and greater efficiency for the owner.

  To achieve the best outcome, the most sophisticated integrated delivery methods are considered. These delivery methods include Design/Build, Integrated Project Delivery, Lean, Best Value, Design-Bid-Build, and Public-Private-Partnerships (P3). Three-dimensional modeling, time and cost considerations, and ongoing monitoring of operations are tools to improve the effectiveness of project delivery.

  At the time of construction and commissioning, conformity, condition, and acceptance assessments are critical parameters. Preventive, corrective, recurring, and emergency maintenance programs are necessary components of building operations. Facility Condition Indexing (FCI), Utilization Indexing (UI), Asset Priority Index (API) among others are used to monitor operations.

  To complete the delivery cycle, documentation of building system operation and monitoring provides data on occupant satisfaction, energy consumption, water use, and waste management. In turn, this library of data may inform the establishment of performance benchmarks and the advancement of future designs.

• Enclose

   

  To design, document, construct and operate energy-efficient enclosures for buildings, campuses, building systems and infrastructure that control the transmission of light, energy, air, moisture, and water.

  Building enclosures encompass all elements between a building occupant and the exterior environment, ranging from roof systems, curtainwalls, to foundation walls. Integrated design solutions for building enclosures consider multiple hazards, both environmental and man-made.

  In some contemporary buildings, the double skin façade systems are integral to the building’s engineering design. Double-skin façades are best known for its inherent capability to reduce the impact of external loads on the building. Some double-skin facades are integral to the HVAC system design to improve its efficiency. Some projects take advantage of the geometry of the building enclosure to reduce the impact of wind on the structure.

  In the modern era where architects and engineers collaborate to introduce innovative geometries and materials in building design, more efficient solutions are being systematically developed at each of the design, manufacturing, construction, installation, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning phases of a building’s life cycle.

• Learn

  

  To acquire and share knowledge about the design, documentation, construction, and operation of buildings, campuses, building systems, and infrastructure to prepare the current and next generations for the challenges of the future.

  Learning is the process of promoting the discovery, investigation, analysis, synthesis, and application of technological, integrated, and innovative ideas and practices. In the architectural engineering community, this process of learning results in a higher degree of integration, excellence, and efficiency in the design, documentation, construction, and operation of buildings. As a means of fostering these goals of learning, AEI shepherds the Journal of Architectural Engineering, conferences, forums, webinars, seminars/short courses, the Student Design Competition, as well as the Professional Project Awards.

  For the AE community to see innovations in design, construction, and operations of buildings, students, as well as educators and industry professionals must continue to gain knowledge in existing and new areas of interest. By striving to better oneself, the architectural engineering community never stops learning.

• Modular

  

  To design the construction of buildings with repeatable parts and to join two steps of conventional construction, fabrication and site erection, construction using the modular concept reduces on-site construction time, improves safety and quality, and maximize productivity.

  AEI Modular encompasses Modularization, Prefabrication, Preassembly, and Off-site Fabrication (PPMOF). Modularized/prefabricated building components, such as MEP systems, building enclosures, and building superstructure have been implemented in many building typologies; healthcare, institutional, educational, manufacturing, and office buildings.

  Modularization methodologies are complementary to collaborative project delivery methods, which enable design and construction decisions to be made with the goal of maximizing cost and scheduling efficiencies; and in most cases, enables participants to share in the rewards of project execution. With the increased use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and project management practices, such as Lean construction, the architectural engineering community and construction industry can further advance prefabrication/modularization resulting in reduced overall construction costs, reduced waste, and improved resource allocation.

• Perform

  

  The process of designing, documenting, constructing, and /or operating buildings resulting in lower utilization of non-renewable resources and increasing the use of renewable resources. The high-performance building design is an integrated approach to minimize the need for artificial lighting and mechanical heating and cooling and maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the mechanical systems.

  In these projects, high-performance building attributes are integrated and optimized. These attributes include sustainability, functionality, energy efficiency and conservation, durability, life-cycle performance, occupant productivity and satisfaction, quality environment, safety, security, durability, accessibility, cost-benefit, productivity, and operational considerations. High-performance Buildings designed using performance-based approaches typically meet the general intent of building codes while challenging the prescriptive text of the codes.

  Net zero energy buildings design with long-term life-cycle performance is the fundamental benchmark. The desired goal is to design and construct self-sufficient, self-sustainable buildings capable of having low to zero impact on the environment while providing their own energy, water, and waste services. Beyond self-sufficiency, regeneration is sought where buildings contribute back to the environment through the supply of energy, water, and treatment of waste for other buildings, districts or cities.

• Resilient

  

  Redundant, complete, coexistent, operative, robust and integrated systems, designed and constructed to increase the service life of buildings and infrastructure, maximizing resourcefulness of building operators, so as to reduce the overall recovery time in response to various hazards.

  These systems are designed based on performance-based objectives and constructed to continuously operate when subjected to abnormal building demands due to natural or man-made hazards. City/district networks link to individual buildings for advanced catastrophic preparedness and resourceful solutions. Water, energy, waste, and communications all make up the lifelines of these resilient systems. Enhanced, high-performance systems for buildings and utilities/infrastructure form the primary objectives for integrated design and construction.

• Secure

  

  To design, document, construct and operate buildings, campuses, building systems, and infrastructure to achieve continuous occupancy and normality while managing risk associated with man-made hazards.

  The goal is to identify hazards and mitigate vulnerabilities through robustness and redundancy. Consequences are minimized if not eliminated through physical and operational measures. Performance-based design is the basis of understanding behavior and operations beyond prescriptive code requirements. Building systems are interconnected with a multidisciplinary approach offering security design solutions that reduce risk and ultimately saving the lives of building occupants.

• Sustain

  

  The process of designing, documenting, constructing, and operating buildings, campuses, building systems, and infrastructure that minimizes adverse effects on the environment and results in a better future.

  Integrated systems are designed to have the capacity to endure and remain productive indefinitely reducing negative impacts on the environment, and considering the health and comfort of building occupants.

  Sustainably designed buildings are not always new, in some cases proven more effective to restore, renew, and redevelop existing structures.

  Buildings are designed and built with an emphasis on minimizing material use in construction through supply, fabrication or transportation to the project site. As a result, the initial carbon emitted into the atmosphere is minimized. During the operation of the building, the goal is to have all waste recycled and repurposed, net-zero energy use, and water collected for use on-site. In the future, these buildings will be designed and built to be regenerative, creating, gathering, and distributing energy and water to neighboring buildings or districts.