A Discussion with Dirk Meyer

Facades and Digital Fabrication Conference February 16, 2012

U. S. General Services Administration

D I R K J. M E Y E R , A I A NATIONAL TECHNICAL ADVISOR BUILDING ENCLOSURES

Federal Agencies Who Have Authority for Real Property 15 Agencies have property holding authority, totaling 3.4-billion-sf  GSA 

U.S. Department of Defense (military bases)



U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)



Architect of the Capitol (AOC)



U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)



NASA



U.S. Department of Interior

Who is

?

 1949 

Public Buildings Service



Federal Acquisition Service

 1970 - 40,000 employees  2009 - 12,600 employees (PBS has 6,000 employees)

PBS has two fundamental activities: Space acquisition through new construction or leasing Life-cycle asset management of acquired space AK Northwest/Arctic Region 10

Rocky Mountain Region 8

New England Region 1

Great Lakes Region 5 ME

WA

ND

MT

MI WI

SD

OR

Northeast & Caribbean Region 2

Heartland Region 6

ID

MI

VT

NH

CT

RI

MA

NY

WY NE Pacific Rim Region 9

NV

UT

IA IL

CO KS

PR

IN

OH

PA

MO

WV

NJ MD

DE

Mid-Atlantic Region 3

CA KY OK AZ

AR MS

TX

LA

NC

TN

NM

HI

VA

GA Southeast Region 4

GU Greater Southwest Region 7

FL

DC National Capital Region 11

SC

AL

VI

PBS Portfolio  Buildings ~ 8,603  Inventory of over 353-million-sf  49% Owned & 51% Leased  Federal workers housed in GSA space exceed 1.0 million

Chronological Distribution of GSA Buildings

“The policy shall be to provide…facilities in an architectural style and form which is distinguished and which will reflect the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American National Government. Major emphasis should be placed on the choice of designs that embody the finest contemporary American architectural thought….”

Design Excellence Program was establish in 1994 in accordance with GSA’s Strategic Plan “to be the best”

Meeting EISA Fossil Fuel Reduction Goals 120

kBtu/SF

100 80 60 40 20 0 2003

2008

2010

2015 Year

EISA

CBECS

Efficiency

2020

2025 9

Renew ables

2030

Latest ain’t necessarily the greatest

Premature failure caused by an in line wood preservative

No Pain No Gain

Blue curves – cost vs. effort

Portland

Newark Houston

Cleveland

Portland

Newark

Cleveland

Houston

of Bing Thom, Architect for the newly renovated Arena Stage ………he made a strong impression on the theater’s artistic director, Molly Smith.

(For one thing, he asked for a copy of its mission statement, something none of the architects thought to do, she said.)

Nic Lehoux courtesy of Bing Thom Architects

“Do the right thing”

How we do things is a Manager’s decision

Why we do things is an Executive decision

Budget Challenges

In Thousands of Dollars

 “no glazed system that is presently available can come close to the level of performance delivered by a simple and relatively inexpensive opaque wall system”  Dr. John Straube, University of Waterloo

P 100 - Building Enclosure Changes 2010 version

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/220569

Air Barrier Requirements = ASHRAE 90.1 2010 plus

GSA Air tightness Requirements - Qualitative Design Checklist Guide Specification for Air Barrier Quality Assurance and Testing Inspection/quality Assurance/testing Requirements

Hygrothermal Design ASHRAE 160 "Criteria for Moisture Control Design Analysis in Buildings" is an acceptable basis of design

“People do what you inspect not what you expect” Anson Dorrance, Head Coach Women’s Soccer University of North Carolina

You can not inspect quality into a project it must be designed in

DEFECTS What Commissioning must become

Current practice of commissioning

RISK

Thank you dirk.meyer@gsa.gov

Wind Tunnel Testing

Photos courtesy of RWDI

Wind Tunnel Testing 19-ROOF

65 63

18-FL12 17-FL11 16-FL10 15-FL9 14-FL8 13-FL7 12-FL6 11-FL5 10-FL4 09-FL3 08-FL2 07-FL1 06-GUEST 05-PARK 04-PARK 03-PARK

54

102 103

84 84

76 53 82 49 80 46 78 42 77 39 76 36 76 33 75 31 74 28 72 26 73 25 73 24 69 23 66 WIND TUNNEL

ASCE 7-98

Wind Tunnel Testing Component

Pre-Test

Post-Test

Piles

$352,100.00

$315,330.00

Pile Cap Concrete & Rebar

$445,640.00

$335,280.00

Shear Wall Rebar

$392,000.00

$341,600.00

$1,220,000.00

$775,000.00

Exterior Wall Studs

Estimated Total Savings Initial Owner Investment

$642,530.00 $57,500.00