Digital Design
New standards and technologies in the Information Age have given architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms both new benefits and challenges. For instance, when the General Services Administration mandated that all government projects must be designed electronically using building information modeling (BIM), the industry began experiencing a number of benefits in building quality. However, the same standard means that significantly higher volumes of electronic data is now created and must be managed.
Digital Design
When the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) wanted to renovate the Martin Luther King, Jr., federal building (MLK) in downtown Atlanta, a Depression-era building that originally served as the central postal facility for the Southeast, sustainability was an important part of the process. The $62 million renovation and rehabilitation of the MLK building, overseen by architecture firm Lord, Aeck & Sargent, was completed in 2011 and achieved LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.