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BUSINESS NEWS MARK HUMPHREYS RECOGNIZED FOR $1.5 MILLION DONATION TO TEXAS TECH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE Texas Tech’s College of Architecture celebrated Mark Humphreys with an American Institute of Architects Chair in Urban Design in September. Humphreys donated $1.5 million, including partial state matches, to the school. On November 5, he will be recognized with another distinction: the college’s Architecture Kleinschmidt Award; both tributes are prestigious honors. The September 25 occasion featured esteemed speakers, including Texas Tech President Duane Nellis, Dean Andrew Vernooy, and Humphreys, and the November 5 happening will be highlighted with an alumni reception in conjunction with the Texas Society of Architects. Humphreys is the CEO of the largest multifamily and student housing architecture firm in the U.S., designing approximately 12-15 percent of the U.S. apartment market, which equated to about 40,000 units in 2014. Headquartered in Dallas, with eight U.S. offices and five international offices, Humphreys & Partners Architects employs a talented team of professionals with artistic talent, classical training, and diverse experience in all aspects of the architectural process. “I am honored and humbled to receive such respected accolades in my profession. I am in such a venerated company, and I look forward to witnessing the students at Texas Tech’s School of Architecture benefit from the resources that the Mark E. Humphreys AIA Chair in Urban Design will afford them,” Humphreys said. The Mark E. Humphreys AIA Chair in Urban Design will support research concerned with sustainable and engaged models of urban design in Lubbock, at Urban Tech, and in Houston. Research will include the intersection of business and urban architecture design, mixed use multifamily residential development, urban energy consumption, community definition and engagement, transportation consequences and environmental imperatives – wind, water, and micro-climates. The Humphreys Chair will give the College of Architecture at Texas Tech a national profile as Lubbock consolidates its growth leaning forward over the next 20 years and as Houston becomes the third largest city in the United States. This profile will augment to be the most professionally involved urban design program in the country. The Kleinschmidt Award was established by the Texas Tech Architecture Advisory Council to recognize any individual, alumni, nonalumni, or firm whose commitment or service has enriched the College of Architecture. Professor Florian A. Kleinschmidt’s eponymous award was distinguished by being the first leader of the Texas Tech Architecture Program.

Architect and engineer. Design and engineering omissions and inaccuracies in the drawings and specs can lead to addi- tional costs for the architect and engineer. By catching omis- sions and inaccuracies early, before materials are ordered and structural systems built, changes can be made that do not greatly affect the margins of these project stakeholders. General contractor and trades (sub-contractors). Address- ing potential issues early-on in the project helps give the GC and trades time to adjust and solicit feedback from the design team without delaying construction. Any potential issues that can be addressed by the constructability review early in the project also reduce the project risk to the GC and trades and help to make earning their fees (margins) on the project more predictable. While Vernox is early in its initial pilots, there are already two key benefits that the owners are seeing: Those who routinely perform constructability reviews, such as general contractors and superintendents, are often unable to be pulled off of a project during construction to perform a review for an upcoming project. This means that the construc- tability review might be done later in preconstruction than it otherwise should be or that it is done in an ad hoc manner because there is neither time nor resources to commit to it fully. By having Vernox perform the constructability review, the project team gets a detailed and concise overview of the issues in the design drawings and specs that need their time and attention. This means that a superintendent does not need to spend weeks or months reviewing all of the design specs and drawings, but can instead focus on the key issues based on the Vernox constructability review. As the most experienced and knowledgeable workers within the construction industry retire, decades of highly valuable project experience is leaving with them. Vernox’s system of- fers a way to retain and transfer knowledge gained from past projects.

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that resources (manpower) are severely limited within gen- eral contractors for this type of engagement,” he says. “Our focus, and key differentiator, is that we’re bringing a data- driven and technology-centric approach to constructability reviews.” Vernox’s constructability review uses data analysis and technology, which differentiates it from other constructa- bility review providers because the company is able to take advantage of the long-term project management expertise of its customers (mostly general contractors and owners) by leveraging their past project data. Many of Vernox’s early users have been designing and building for decades; they have completed thousands of projects over the years and data from these past projects acts as a rich source of infor- mation to learn from and apply to new projects. As Vernox delivers constructability reviews, the algorithms within its technology platform are constantly learning, so each review gets better and more refined as the software is able to leverage learnings from past reviews and user in- puts. The Vernox platform is also becoming a knowledge-base for project teams. As a project progresses, Vernox is able to track issues and resolutions. Over time, Vernox sees its platform becoming the go-to location for design- and con- struction-related questions and answers on a project. WHO BENEFITS? Savaiano says the entire project team can ben- efit from this technology: Owner. Breakdowns in design (planning) and building (exe- cution) can lead to delays and project cost overruns. Address- ing potential issues early in the project lifecycle helps to give adequate time to find resolutions before the costs associated with the breakdown and any potential delay grow exponen- tially.

THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 19, 2015, ISSUE 1124

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