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Two Conversations to Join Now on the CSI Community Connect Forum

By Peter Kray posted 07-19-2022 01:38 PM

  

 Want to discuss a specific work challenge with fellow professionals in the architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) industry?

 

The CSI Community Connect Forum is the go-to resource is where you can connect with AECO peers in real-time, keep up on current events, get informative professional insight, and even share interesting information about yourself.

Here are two current conversations to join right now.

 

Custom Baptistry Glazings

I’m looking for some design/spec help for the glass in one of our Baptistries. It is an octagonal shape glazed with silicon set in a concrete base.

The glass has water filled to 2/3 the height. The size is large: about 2,500 gallons with about 800 gallons against the glass. A structural engineer designed the concrete but won't touch the glass design. Contacted a few manufacturers and they said to contact an aquarium designer. Any help, please.
John Murray, CSI, CDT®, SCIP

 

You will need to specify applicable loads, such as seismic loads, and impact loads, thermal movement, deflection limits, water density, and a safety factor.

You can use acrylic glazing, laminated glass, or laminated low-iron glass, depending on your budget. If using laminated glass, you will need to specify what is the required stress that the glass unit can withstand if one lite of a laminated glass unit fails.
Ronald J. Ray, RA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP

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Post-Pandemic Work Schedule

When the US Travel Mask Mandate ended, it marked a significant step in how the country is managing COVID-19, especially for business travelers. But how are you and your team managing your office schedule this spring? Are employees being asked to return to work? Is work-at-home still an option? How has the pandemic impacted the way you and your colleagues get the job done now and in the future?

Peter Kray, CSI

 

Nationally, we have gone to three days in the office (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) with Monday and Friday being work-at-home days or in the office, if you prefer. People are allowed slightly flexible schedules to make commuting easier, at least in the San Francisco office where I work. We are masked according to the protocol of the office location, or masked if there have been three COVID cases in the office within the preceding 10 days.

Some people are permitted to work remotely full time. We found that some staff moved during the past two years, and since most of our project meetings are virtual, your location may not matter that much. We also started spreading the work between offices, and most meetings have a virtual component anyway because of where staff is located at the time.
Anne Whitacre FCSI, CCS®, LEED AP

 

My firm found that productivity has improved, measured by billable hours worked, and compared to the number of projects vs. staff we have now compared to pre-pandemic. We experienced a 10 percent increase in productivity in 2020 with everyone working remotely, and an additional 17 percent in 2021 with a flexible, hybrid work schedule. Things are going quite well this year as well. As a result, pay has been increased, benefits have improved, and generous bonuses have been awarded.

Staff is able to choose where they work. About 75 percent work remotely, and the rest choose to work in the office, but many of the folks that come into the office work a hybrid schedule based upon what works best for them. We have several offices in the US and abroad, and a majority of our project teams involve members from several offices, so meetings are almost exclusively virtual.
Blair Reese CSI, CDT, LEED AP

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