This article came to us today via Green Source. It discusses enthalpy wheels, a neat little invention that recovers warmth and humidity from air exhaust systems. We were excited to read about them because we are using them on New Street Residences, our current residential project in Cambridge, MA. Our VDC team gave us a brief description of how we are using them:

“On New Street we are using Fantech Energy Recovery Ventilators to reduce energy consumption and increase indoor comfort for residents. Each unit contains one of these (see below) Heat Recovery Units (HRU) with an enthalpy core, which transfer heat and moisture from the outgoing air to the incoming air. This means that the fresh air coming into the building in February won’t be cold and dry. We have modeled these units, and the necessary clearance space for maintenance,  as part of our HVAC modeling and coordination effort.”

It was another exciting night last night at our weekly training session. This week we spent an hour on architectural training and then the next hour on VDC training. It was a great blend, the past and the future all in one night.

During our architectural lecture we started the Renaissance period of western architecture (part I of II). We learned about the return to classicism in design and form, the rebirth of geometry as divine and the introduction of perspective in art. However, the most interesting discussion of the evening was about the architect’s role during the Renaissance. Renaissance architects were artists, who could draw and paint, as well as builders who understood engineering and materials and, in many instances, oversaw construction. Halfway through the 14^th century a rift developed, case in point: Brunelleschi vs. Alberti. Two contemporaries, Brunelleschi represented the architect as master builder, a sculptor who understood construction materials and learned classicism from ancient ruins; and Alberti the gentleman’s architect, a scholar who approached problems theoretically and learned classicism from ancient texts.

It was tempting to draw parallels to today’s design and building process from this discussion, to say that this pivotal moment in history was when the separation between builders and architects occurred. But, history is never one-sided and while Brunelleschi’s master builder mindset is indeed what we are striving for with our work today, he was also notoriously misanthropic and secretive about his work, which is not in keeping with a transparent IPD process!

Enough history already! During our VDC training we learned to navigate a BIM in Bentley Navigator. This is a continuation of our VDC training started a few weeks ago to give each employee in the company the power of VDC at their fingertips. This training is not just for our project management staff, by training EVERYONE, we ensure no loss of information and communication as a project progresses through the team from Business Development, to Virtual Design and Construction, to operations and even accounting.

There has been a lot of coolness floating around here lately. This is one of the greatest things about working at Tocci (not that this writer has a bias or anything): we are always sharing the most interesting links we come across or discussing industry trends or pondering the merits of great buildings together. Below is a random collection from our recent discussions:

We have all seen the mobile Puma store made out of shipping containers, but here are shipping crates being used as green, cost saving office space.

200 + years of urban development in Charlotte, NC envisioned by visual artist Rob Carter. You never saw paper look this cool.

On the urban front again – this time a shout out to all you Bostonians – we all watched the Olympics, what does Vancouver have that Boston doesnt? A comparison of urban planning.