The document discusses refined design and value engineering in architecture. It begins by defining refined design as targeting design complexity to control costs. It advises architects to identify where their design is vulnerable to going over budget, such as by analyzing costs by category. Examples are provided of design modifications that reduced costs, such as making a building footprint more compact. The document outlines different types of value engineering: good improvements, acceptable swaps, undesirable decreases, and hideous redesigns. It stresses the importance of setting a design target early and avoiding exceeding the budget.

1. The Architect
it is late
and they have all gone home
a small walnut desk corner
chamfered from years of tight spaces
juts out from a collection of memos
reports and hastily scribbled notes
that will become encrypted in a few days
if he forgets to pay them attention
he brushes the drafting table clean
with a horse hair brush
worn to nothing in the front
and pulls the light arm down
clicking the switch twice
the drafting light found in the corner
of the basement on his first day
thirty years ago
illuminates his space
as he shuts down the computer
and covers the monitor
with the yellowed drafting table cover
closing his eyes for a moment,
the quiet begins to seep
into his pores
the indented callous
of his middle finger
perfectly fits
the flamingo pencil
as he begins to sketch
on the yellow trash
at first they are but faint trails
exposing the transparent paper’s tooth
he is searching for the path
that soon begins to show itself
although an hour later
it is proved false
but no matter
another soon takes its place
they are all greedy tonight
suddenly the form emerges
and a butterfly is carried on the wind
but he knows the truth
that months will pass
and the client will talk
about budget and compromise
about matching the old
about straight lines
and ask why he did this and did that
he will lie
and tell them about
function
context
and economy
still they will shake
their heads
so he will tell them
the truth about
form
feeling
scale
conflict
and resolution
they will talk about
architects building monuments
and laugh as they
sharpen their knives
before they clip its wings
and watch them flutter
to the ground
as the butterfly finds a quiet death
sometimes his own people
will hold the body down for them
and later talk
of profits
of schedule
of the need to move on
as always
he will acknowledge them
but knows they are all fools
and lives for the day when
the computers crash
the plotters and printers blink error
messages
the power fails
and their world comes to a stop
he will light a candle
take out his flamingo pencil
pull out the yellow trash
roll up his sleeves
and smile
because the butterfly is free at last
Gilbert Oran Nicholson, Jr. – 1999

2. Less is Never More
Refine Your Design And Save Cost:
Architecture doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful
or highly functional.
Discover how refined architecture can cost less
and be more defensible to the VE process.
Ron Semel, AIA, CPE

3. • Part 1: What is “Refined Design”?
Answer: One that is On Target
» Targeting Design Complexity
• Part 2: Where is Your Design Vulnerable?
Answer: Where it is Off Target
» Targeting Individual Costs
» Targeting Overall Cost
• Part 3: Examples
• Part 4: Types of VE
» Good (Improvements)
» Bad (Swaps)
» Ugly (Decreases)
» Hideous (Redesigns)

4. Excerpt From a
Previous CPSM
“Good architecture can be achieved simply by
good design, which implies sensitivity to scale,
massing, proportion, materials, detail and even
color – none of which necessarily cost more”
Melvin Stanley Krause Jr., FAIA
Former Chairman of the Commonwealth’s Art and Architectural Review Board

5. CPSM Section1.4
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY Excerpts
• Agencies shall ensure their architects and engineers exercise discipline in
their designs to avoid inefficient use of space in terms of floor area and
building volume. Exterior design features and materials should be
consistent with the architectural character of the surrounding buildings and
site.
• Excessive or grandiose features which are not related to the function or
the intended use of the facility shall be avoided.
• Projects must be designed by the A/E to meet the functional and space
requirements within the “design-not-to-exceed” budget for the project.

6. Part1:WhatisRefinedDesign?
Benchmarking Design

7. Counterpoint
“Where simplicity cannot work, simpleness results.
Blatant simplification means bland architecture.
Less is a bore.”
Robert Venturi
Complexity and Contradiction In Architecture
Part1:WhatisRefinedDesign?

8. Part1:WhatisRefinedDesign?

9. Part1:WhatisRefinedDesign?
The Best Time to ID the Target

10. Part1:WhatisRefinedDesign?
Modifying the Target Late
Can Cost You

11. Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable
Identify a Cost Target
- Overall
- By Category (Uniformat)

12. VBCCD (Virginia Building
Construction Cost Database)
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

13. VBCCD
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

14. VBCCD
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

15. Cost sources
• Virginia Building Construction Cost Database
(VBCCD)
• Tradeline
• DCD
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

16. Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

17. Comp Modifiers
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable
• Location
• Size
• Site Access
• Escalation
• Life Cycle

18. Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

19. Identifying Vulnerabilities
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

20. Budget = Design Target
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

21. Morphing of Project During Design
I know a project that came in to the Schematic Phase like a Library
and went out like a Car Dealership.
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable

22. Watch For Program Creep
Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable
@ Schematic @ Preliminary

23. Part2:WhereisYourDesignVulnerable
What Did The Client Want?

24. Part3:Examples

25. Part3:Examples
At Schematic

26. Part3:Examples
At Preliminary

27. Part3:Examples
At Preliminary

28. Part3:Examples
Savings: $35/SF
At Preliminary

29. Part3:Examples
At Schematic

30. Part3:Examples
At Preliminary

31. Part3:Examples
Savings: $25/SF
At Preliminary

32. Part3:Examples
At Preliminary

33. Part3:Examples
Savings: $10/SF

34. • Church
– Structural and Light Gauge Steel to Standard
Dimensional Lumber Framing
– $2,000,000 - $350,000 VE = $1,650,000
Part3:Examples

35. Part3:Examples
Hearst Tower – Charlotte, NC

36. Part3:Examples
Hearst Tower – Charlotte, NC $265 / SF

37. Part3:Examples

38. Part3:Examples

39. Part3:Examples
$970 / SF

40. Part3:Examples

41. Part3:Examples

42. Part3:Examples
ASF to GSF Ratio: 63% (75%)

43. Part3:Examples
$176 / SF ($209)ASF to GSF Ratio: 63% (75%)

44. Part3:Examples
540,000 SF

45. Part3:Examples
540,000 SF $300 / SF

46. Part3:Examples

47. Part3:Examples

48. Part3:Examples

49. Part3:Examples

50. Part3:Examples

51. Part3:Examples

52. Part3:Examples
$236 / SF

53. Part3:Examples
$265 / SFODU – New Arts Building

54. Part3:Examples
GMU ACADEMIC II - ARLINGTON - NEW
CONST (CM)

55. Part3:Examples
$184 / SFGMU ACADEMIC II - ARLINGTON - NEW
CONST (CM)

56. Part3:Examples

57. Part3:Examples
$288 / SF

58. Part3:Examples
VCCS Student Center

59. Part3:Examples
$280 / SFVCCS Student Center

60. Part3:Examples
ODU New Arts Building

61. Part3:Examples
ODU New Arts Building $265 / SF

62. Part3:Examples
Radford University – Student Union

63. Part3:Examples
$218 / SFRadford University – Student Union

64. What is Value Engineering?
“Value engineering seeks to remove the "fat" and "frills" from buildings by eliminating
unnecessary or overly complex elements, trimming away unnecessary quantities of
materials and scaling back materials that are excessive in quality and expense.
At its best, value engineering is holistic, comprehensive and balanced. It optimizes
building design without compromising functional, structural, environmental or aesthetic
attributes. Responsible value engineering achieves proper equilibrium between
appearance, durability, utility, technical performance, initial capital investment and life-
cycle energy and operating costs.
At its worst, value engineering simply cheapens buildings.
When lowering initial capital investment is the dominant or only goal of value
engineering, it easily can strip buildings of their architectural quality and, in fact, reduce
rather than enhance operational performance.”
“architects will continue producing work susceptible to hack-and-slash value engineering.
Only when they build a solid case for their design ideas, a case that makes sense for all
who are not architects, can they get their way.”
VALUE ENGINEERING: WHERE BEAUTY AND BUDGET SOMETIMES COLLIDE
By Roger K. Lewis January 24, 1998
Part4:TypesofVE

65. Parts
&
Pen Strokes
Part4:TypesofVE
Two Types of
Cost / VE:

66. From To $
Delay concrete
pour
April $125,000
$1.10/SF
Good VE (Improvements)
From To $
Custom lab
casework
Standard lab
casework
$450,000
$3.90/SF
From To $
Terminal &
Package Units
Boilers/Chillers/
VAV
+ $27/SF
From To $
Non-compact
building footprint
More compact $35/SF
Part4:TypesofVE

67. From To $
Hydraulic
Elevator
Machine
roomless
$38,000
$0.32/SF
Good VE (Swaps)
From To $
Stone Exterior Brick $340,000
$2.83/SF
From To $
Gas fired water
heater
Heat exchanger
for domestic hot
water generation
$38,000
$0.38/SF
Part4:TypesofVE

68. From To $
Barrel Vault
Ceiling
Coffered Ceiling $134,000
$1.34/SF
Bad VE (Swaps)
From To $
Terrazzo VCT $220,000
$1.83/SF
From To $
Elevated Slab Slab-On-Grade $143,000
$2.67/SF
From To $
Four-pipe system Two-pipe system $317,000
$4.18/SF
Part4:TypesofVE

69. From To $
Sunscreens Half Sunscreens $22,000
$0.58/SF
Ugly VE (Decreases)
From To $
2x2 Lights 2x4 Lights $12,000
$0.32/SF
From To $
Barrel Vault
Ceiling
Cove Ceiling $134,000
$1.34/SF
From To $
Eliminate
Clerestory at
Library Stack
Area
No Clerestory at
Library Stack
Area
$168,000
$3.14/SF
Part4:TypesofVE

70. Hideous VE (Redesigns)
Part4:TypesofVE

71. Recap:
1. Identify your target early
2. Stay on target when it moves
3. Don’t exceed your target
4. Parts vs pen strokes
5. Architects as estimators
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