ArchiTech host Oliver Thomas speaks with Head of BIM Veronica Quintero, Global Director of Sustainability Carlos Cerezo Davila, and Global Director of Design Technology Luc Wilson during KPF’s annual Tech Week.
The video begins with a walking tour of the office led by Veronica, which features Tech Week activities such as lectures, vendor displays, and interactive demonstrations. “Our goal is to bring awareness to the office around all of our technology and make it feel like you’re at a tech conference,” says Veronica. As Head of BIM, she manages the 3D-modeling phase of the design process, simulating project data to ensure it aligns with its intended outcome.
Oliver then sits down with Carlos to discuss KPF’s approach to sustainability and how the Environmental Performance (EP) group works with design teams through the lifecycle of a project. Carlos identifies a guiding principle, describing how “there’s a big commitment, in the firm, to cities that are going to work in the future.” From early concept design phases, the EP team leverages a wide variety of environmental simulation and modeling tools to help designers optimize building performance, reducing climate impact and improving resilience. This team “started with the idea of not doing traditional sustainability…but rather taking a very much more scientific approach,” says Carlos.
The video then dives into how the Design Technology (DT) team works. Luc explains how the team quantifies the design process to create digestible data that often drives planning approvals. Known for their in-house tool development, Luc explains that “a theme with our software development is how do we meet people where they are at,” using virtual and web-based tools to simplify complex site and building constraints, enabling a shared understanding between stakeholders. Luc’s academic background helps to bridge the divide between theory and practice and to ensure KPF stays at the forefront of current research.
Watch the full video here.