(Continued from previous section, A Great Day with John Straube – Part 1.)
At the CPCI High Performance Building Envelope seminar we also discussed some prevalent issues in the industry to help promote better practice. Construction litigation and/or forensic investigation are one major arena in which building scientists serve— when users and owners of a building suffer some form of building failure. Some of these problems (many deeply mired in litigation) may be traced back to poorly labeled construction documents (drawings) that were ambiguous, confusing, or otherwise leading to poor decisions being executed on site during construction. It is easy for an industry practitioner in the design/drawing room to “assume” that a certain detail does not need to be labeled explicitly because “people should know,” only to later find out that people DON’T know, and tragically, by way of building envelope failures, meaning years if not decades of expensive, haunting trouble.
Dr. Straube (and our favorite BCIT building envelope instructors!) strongly urges all building industry practitioners to label the FUNCTION of each material and each layer in a wall assembly or a joint detail, rather than just indicating the material. Is this material providing air-barrier function or moisture-barrier function? Depending on the function, the way this material is affixed to the structure would be very different. Labeling the function of a material on the construction drawing will give enormous clarity to the trades on the construction site, minimizing confusion and disputes of responsibility for how each material and junction should be detailed.
After the seminar we celebrated with 2 hours of cocktail social time. During this time I got to touch base and catch up with other BCIT Building Science MEng graduates and MASc. candidates. Some are working for great companies; others are still working on their program curriculum and thesis. I also enjoyed a long, exciting conversation with John in a small group setting over some red wine! We discussed everything from my alma mater U.C. Berkeley, to Dr. Straube’s student thesis projects, to architects and industrial designers.
All in all, my colleagues and I enjoyed the evening immensely. It was a lot of fun and a real pleasure to engage in candid and informative discussions in person with Dr. Straube. I look forward to the next opportunity to tap into his brilliant mind and abundant experiences!