Cross-Discipline The addition doubles the existing footprint of the church, adding a classroom wing, a huge worship space and an atrium. At least for our new addition we are sticking to 15’ f loor to f loor heights. Later, I’ll explain how this created, shall we say, a learning opportunity. The nightmare gets worse. The new addition will have to match the existing limestone (weight issues) façade, and have a central stair/elevator core to provide access to all three buildings and their disparate f loors. Put another way, the original church has a beautiful bell tower and we’re building a matching one with an elevator in it.
THE TEAM The project team was a ten person Revit team as well as engineers overseeing the Structure and MEP disciplines. The two Architects assigned to the project already had Revit knowledge and they were responsible for moving the project though preliminary design using Revit. Although there were two structural drafters who are supposed to be on the project, we lost one to another project. One gentleman did all the mechanical, another all the plumbing and lastly we had a young hotshot for electrical. Everyone, except the electrical hotshot, on the project is both well established in this office and their careers. There were also three interns working on the project. The interns were absolutely critical. The project could not have been pulled off without their willingness to learn, work, and laugh at the grunt work involved. I should mention that there was one other critical player that was never actually assigned to the project. He was constantly dragged into miscellaneous tasks. He was our “go-to” guy who somehow managed to juggle all his own projects and still help us out. TRAINING I remember the week I trained fifteen people on three different verticals in three days well. (Professional stuntmen were used in this production. DO NOT try this at home) The intern mistakenly walked past my desk at 7:30. I’d been in the office for over an hour finishing up the reference guide. Poor kid, now he’s got to print, and bind a bunch of manuals. 8:00AM attacks with usual fury, and there I stand tie and all, a clean cut professional. Before me, nine people ready, or dreading, the dive into Revit. I have their Revit Model, a projector, a PowerPoint, and almost a decade of experience training. Most people in the room have met me in the last two weeks, some have not. Scanning the room, I make eye contact with each of them and begin, “All of you have had that monotone, boring, instructor, whose melancholy voice makes not falling asleep your goal for the day.” As the next slide appears the room busts into laughter. Pointing at the room from the slideshow stands a man with a truly Red-Neck mullet. The goatee I’d grown for this was really just topping on the cake. I continue “As you can see, I’m not your typical instructor.”
winter_2010
I took the 1500+ page Revit User Manual, skimmed though it and made a 30 page reference guide. The guide focused on the truly critical things: How Revit thinks, how to communicate with it, and how to f lip the CAD mindset to a Revit mindset. Everything else was to be addressed after the initial training. Training went well. We ran the architectural side of training in the morning, then the engineering side in the afternoon. Day one (four hours) was UI and some basics. I made them model a simple house. Day two we addressed core tools, and how Revit is the same and different than AutoCAD. They have to model another simple house, this time I only allow them twenty minutes. Day three, we moved onto specific tools for each discipline. What? Yes, all the Revit verticals are the same. Tools and process may differ between verticals; however, the fundamentals are same. Here is where things get complicated. I’m a Revit expert who specializes in architecture and management. I know enough about Revit MEP and Structure to teach the basics, as well as how systems are supposed to work. So how did I train them? I did, and didn’t. I made sure that everyone knew the basics of Revit. I made sure that each person had a “Wow!” moment. I explained that we would get them more advanced web training, from other experts in a few weeks, right now they just needed time in the software. Teaching Revit is simple. You talk about the painful parts of drafting in CAD; those things that make you want to hit your computer, your boss or your dog (it’s not your dog’s fault). You show how Revit relieves those pains. Then explain how to get there. No one likes pain for pains sake. Let BIM relieve the pain. Or, be in an economy with over 10% unemployment and have the boss explain they have two options, learn this or... Either method of encouragement works.
REPLACED Only a few weeks after talking with my father I stood there, f lipping burgers. The patio of one of the local spots was all ours. Only a stone’s throw from the office, the project team enjoyed the goodbye party. All smiles, and laughter, it was a family gathering on a beautiful day. Although the marathon was far from over, we were chasing a hope and had been succeeding thus far. During that initial training I had told them, “My job is to replace myself as quickly as I can.” That time had come and I was leaving, it had been a summer of long days and office Saturdays. Along the way, it was the people that drove me; the project was just a bonus. LOOKING BACK The Architect smiled at me. “With this new addition, there are now thirteen (13) levels in forty five (45) feet. We did it! We finally have the elevator and stairs all worked out.” The engineering and architecture on the stair/elevator core wasn’t easy to design. Making that design print was difficult.
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