The most popular brand that DLR was involved in was the AC Marriott brand. When I started building out systems for DLR to utilize, the AC brand was the first for mass-distribution. Prior to this – I had no involvement in an official project. My role had always been on the fringes  running BIM support for elements and functionality. 

I developed, what was considered ‘interiors scope’ to aid in bridging the divide between architects and interior designers. The way that projects were developed, architecture started out, with interiors trailing by a few weeks. When that group started – usually what was unfolded was a building that had vital design issues. Any progress that was made in the head start would have to be doubled back to deal with layout problems. 

What I created, gets you to a 60% design document level while you’re still doing schematic design, and reminding the younger staff members that there’s a reason that brands list minimum design dimensions. Furniture & circulation are central components in room type development. All of these elements needed to occur much earlier in the project than it was to keep from hemorrhaging fee over poor practice and bad design. This was about measuring twice, cutting once, and recycling all parts for the next project. 

It was both a study in the proper development of design, and an implementation of hundreds of custom Revit families. At the time, a lot of these components didn’t even have a photo in the brand specifications. There were no models and clients had little visualization on which to base decisions. That needed to change.  

Of course, the value of doing these things to boost accuracy and productivity firm-wide wasn’t readily apparent to certain aspects of management, as I was never officially included in BIM development, I became somewhat of a rogue agent and shadow BIM operative at the firm.