Awarded from " Building Design + Construction Organization. Congratulations!  DESIGNERS Consultants & Associates is one of the "Best AEC Firm to work for" 2010 winners of competition from: Building Design+Construction (BD+C) http://www.bdcnetwork.com/best-aec-firms-work-0

1. 03.10
INSPIRING THE BUILDING TEAM
Big-time BIM
Testing the Limits of 3D Modeling
24
AIA/CES Course:
Designing Public Libraries
34
7 Tips for Installing
Moisture Barriers
56
PERIODICAL
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Maricopa County Court Tower
Phoenix, Arizona

2. MARCH 2010
VOLUME 51, NO. 03
Cause: Providing essential solutions that
inspire Building Teams to design and construct
great places for people.
INSPIRING THE BUILDING TEAM
FEATURES
COVER STORY
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
41 I Best Firms to Work For
41
• HOK 42
• JBA Consulting Engineers 45
• Designers Consultants & Associates 48
• Walbridge 51
54 I Recycled Pavers
Elevate Rooftop Patio
Renters flock to a mixed-use project where
a 6,500-sf rooftop patio is paved with
bricks made from recycled tires and plastic.
54
56 I 7 Tips for Installing
Moisture Barriers
Big-time
BIM
24
While BIM can unlock process
efficiencies on any project, its benefits
are most pronounced in large projects,
such as the $339 million Maricopa
County Court Tower in Phoenix.
Expert advice on the proper selection and
installation of moisture barriers.
AIA CONTINUING EDUCATION
34 I The Evolving Library
34
Earn 1.0 AIA/CES continuing learning units
by studying this article and completing the
online exam.
DEPARTMENTS
9 I Editorial
22 I New Projects Portfolio
End the battle of FSC vs. SFI wood
in LEED
San Diego’s new Shakespeare
theater; glass company’s LEED Gold
headquarters; Cal Poly’s massive
student housing complex.
10 I News
Autodesk issues BIM deployment
plan; what ‘Generation Y’ wants
in its workplaces; office construction decline nears end; insulation
industry council members meet
with Obama.
16 I Industry Data
18 I On the Drawing Board
Las Vegas city hall; SOM’s Beijing
‘gateway’; Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum; Georgia Aquarium’s
$110 million dolphin exhibit.
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60 I Products At Work
65 I Advertisers’ Index
66 I Thought Leaders
Martha VanGeem, PE, LEED
AP, principal engineer in building science and sustainability at
CTLGroup, on the new ASHRAE
high-performance green building
standard 189.1.
COVER: The 695,000-sf Maricopa County Court
Tower, currently under construction in Phoenix,
will process up to 56,000 court cases a year when
it opens in 2012. BIM and integrated project
delivery have kept it on schedule.
RENDERING: GOULDEVANS
BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION
MARCH 2010
5

3. Designers Consultants & Associates
Competing in a
World Market
P
rofessional development? Check
Generous benefits? Check
Team building? Check
Sustained growth? Check
Founded in 1994, Designers Consultants &
Associates is a 53-person design firm that specializes in hospitality (including luxurious floating hotels), restaurants, and retail—not to mention the occasional private villa.
During the judging process, it quickly became clear to the
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MARCH 2010
BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION
editors that Designers Consultants & Associates offers many of
the same benefits, education opportunities, and employee perks
as other leading firms that have won our “Best AEC Firms to
Work For” honor since the inception of the program in 2006.
With one big difference: Designers Consultants & Associates
is based in the ancient city of Cairo, Egypt, making the firm’s
forward-thinking, Western-style benefits and programs all the
more impressive, and earning Designers a spot on this year’s list
of top design and construction firms to work for.
Let’s take a look at how this progressive firm has brought fresh
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4. ideas in professional development, employee benefits, team spirit, and strong business growth to the land of the Pharaohs.
ENCOURAGING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The firm’s in-house educational programs—the equivalent of
American-style lunch-and-learns—include a monthly event
hosted by the firm’s information architect that touches on new
materials and products, sustainable design and construction,
and new design and policy issues influencing the firm’s work.
A second series of monthly programs (as many as four per
month) are hosted by outside experts within the local AEC
industry, to discuss issues of importance to the design and engineering fields.
In addition to in-house education, employees are encouraged to take continuing education courses or pursue advanced degrees. The firm works with these staff members to
reconfigure work hours and project loads to accommodate
their class schedules.
Managing partners Raef Azouz and Emad Khouzam serve as
mentors to the firm’s senior design and engineering staff, who
in turn serve as mentors to the junior staff members. The firm’s
close relationships with some of the country’s other AEC firms
allows Designers Consultants & Associates staff to form outside mentoring relationships—a nontraditional approach, but
one that has worked well for Designers.
UNUSUAL EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Under Egyptian law, employers contribute 26% of an employees’
salary to social insurance, while employees contribute 14%. At
Designers Consultants & Associates, the firm pays 100% of
employees’ social and medical insurance.
The firm also provides assistance in overcoming one of the
more arduous and expensive tasks of everyday life in Egypt—
opening up a bank account. The firm helps employees open such
accounts, affording them the opportunity to get personal ATM
cards as well as corporate credit cards. As a result of having this
relationship with a bank, employees have been able to obtain
personal loans to purchase housing, furniture, and vehicles.
The firm’s offices are a shade of green, offering natural daylighting and two large outdoor spaces. Air conditioning—
something American white-collar workers take for granted, but
by no means a guaranteed amenity to those working in offices
in sweltering Cairo—cools the Designers office, thus enhancing employee productivity.
Other Western-style benefits are also offered. Monetary
bonuses are given in recognition of outstanding project work.
And flex time—hardly a common practice in Egypt—is also
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BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION
MARCH 2010
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5. Designers Consultants & Associates
SUSTAINING GROWTH IN THE BUSINESS
Finally, managing partners Azouz and Khouzam have worked
hard to make Designers Consultants & Associates a firm of
growth and opportunity.
In just the past few years—some of the roughest for the design
and construction industry worldwide—the firm grew in size by
more than 50%, from 34 employees in 2007 to 53 employees
currently, and they anticipate additional hires during 2010.
The firm has also expanded beyond its original markets,
Egypt and Libya, to pursue work in places as diverse as Togo,
Gabon, Tanzania, Eritrea, Tunisia, Rwanda, Uganda, and
Guinea. BD+C
— Jay W. Schneider, Senior Editor
available to support work/life balance, allowing employees who
qualify to tend to family matters or other personal concerns.
Team building is also a major consideration. Firm-wide events
and outings occur several times each year, giving employees a
chance to bond while celebrating New Year’s Eve together at
the big bash the office hosts, or a day of bowling, or playing
ping-pong and basketball during a visit to a sports club. A road
trip to the historic city of Alexandria offered another chance for
Designers Consultants & Associates to build on the spirit of
family that makes the firm such a desirable place to work.
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BUILDING DESIGN+CONSTRUCTION
Floating hotels are a niche market within the hospitality
sector, and the firm’s luxurious vessels are decked out
in rich wood and modern appointments, and offer—no
surprise here—amazing water views.
Check out some of the firm’s newest floating
properties:
http://www.designersconsultants.com/project12.htm
http://www.designersconsultants.com/project13.htm
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