Tag: renovation (4)

Kodet Architectural Group Dakota County Pleasant Hill Library Children's Area

Children’s Areas in Libraries

With an ever-increasing exposure to digital devices, children need opportunities to unplug and engage in hands-on creative learning. Libraries offer a great opportunity to provide this form of free play through unstructured imaginative environments that allow kids to be themselves and discover more about the world around them.  Below are two great ways libraries, schools, and youth outreach programs can create these type of learning environments.

Drones in Architecture

ELK RIVER WATER TOWER Problem: How do you field measure a water tower in the middle of a Minnesota winter? A.     Risk your life to climb an icy freezing slippery ladder and use a tape measure and laser pointer to get an approximation of size. B.    Fly a drone and take pictures and use these images to create a point cloud and Revit family with exact dimensions. Answer:   B: Fly a drone.   Working with the City of Elk River and CAD Technology Center (CTC), an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV aka Drone) was flown the morning of February 8, 2018.  The drone set-up and flight only took a few hours and the flight created a photo scan of the water tower by taking hundreds of digital photos.  CTC processes the data and created a point cloud file in Revit.  From this file, a Revit family component was created that is a full sized three-dimensional digital representation of the water tower After Kodet received the Revit model, some detail had to be added to the model, but the basic dimensions, size, shape, and heights were a part of the model created from the photo scan. Kodet used this model to create drawings for contractors to estimate renovation costs to repaint the historical water tower. Countless hours were saved in field time and modeling time. In the end, a much more accurate set of drawings were created because of the use of the drone. The documentation process to get contractors to be able to bid the project became very simple and cost effective. The client was also pleased with the results and accuracy of the drawings that were created by the UAV Scan. Our office looks forward to using this highly advanced technology, which is constantly changing on future projects. Flying […]

Small Renovation, Big Impact

PINE RIVER-BACKUS HIGH SCHOOL As the students at Pine River-Backus High School packed up for the end of the school year and headed off to summer vacation, bulldozers, machinery, and construction workers filled the site to complete a small addition and renovation to the building. Many months of planning and design began to take shape in physical form at Pine River-Backus High School, and by the fall the construction was complete. Kodet worked with the school district on the design for an addition and renovation to the high school building for almost a year preceding the construction to ensure that the space fit the goals and needs of the school. Part of this process was working with the committee to prepare for the approvals of the School Board and Minnesota Department of Education. Though the overall scope of the project was relatively small, the impact was far reaching. It changed the way students, staff, and visitors interact and experience their everyday environment to work, learn, and play. Construction at Pine River-Backus took place primarily during the summer months so that the students could enter the classrooms on the first day of school in the fall. They were welcomed back with a renovated facility, where changes took place in three main building areas: High School Offices High School Entry High School Hallways The work in the areas listed above addressed three key factors for the school: Ongoing maintenance Accessibility Safety and security The benefits of the project were great – enhancing the user experience on a daily basis. Examples of how the three factors were addressed are as follows: ONGOING MAINTENANCE Issues such as hallway floor cracks were fixed and we changed the flooring material to prevent further cracking problems. In doing so, we had the opportunity to update the material […]
Kodet Construction Observation Twin Cities Academy

Adapting To AXP

July brought more than fireworks and BBQ’s this summer for those on the path towards becoming an architect. A complete overhaul of the experience requirements to become an architect was put into motion, which has the potential to be a game changer for how those in the program gain and record experience. Formerly known as the Intern Development Program the new Architectural Experience Program (AXP) will require architecture firms to adapt in order to keep young talent advancing towards becoming licensed architects. In 2012 , NCARB conducted a national survey to review the old program and realized changes were needed in order to strive for better independent performance of required tasks at the completion of the program. The new AXP allows licensure candidates the opportunity to be more flexible with the number of hours needed for a particular task. This allows for greater time spent on a challenging task and less on ones candidates find easier, which is a major change from the static hours required in the old highly prescriptive system. Below are some of the biggest changes within AXP: 17 specific IDP experience areas are now 6 broad AXP experience areas These 6 areas align with the ARE exams and project phases, essentially WHAT YOU DO FOR AXP = WHAT YOU STUDY FOR ARE’S = WHAT YOU DO IN THE REAL WORLD! There are 96 listed tasks that licensure candidates are expected to have competency in at the completion of AXP. Reduction of supplemental experience in favor of firm-related project experience.   5 TIPS FOR FIRMS ADAPTING TO AXP To efficiently and effectively support those on the path to licensure Broaden Impact of Tasks Firms should encourage those in AXP to broaden the impact of their particular task into a greater network of interconnected tasks. By understanding how […]