A brief highlight in a recent Metropolis interview with Phil Bernstein

On teaching industry practices:

“I also teach the Harvard Business School case about the Waltham project so they understand the technical and sociological aspects of BIM and alternative project delivery and see first-hand how things could be radically different. I have to do so, of course, acknowledging my conflict of interest but I can always rely on my students for a healthy dose of skepticism on that front. For several years I was the only source of information about BIM at Yale, but they are hearing and seeing enough of it out in the world that I’m no longer (implicitly) accused of pitching the idea alone. My second-term seminar (which you have visited in the past) has several visitors like John Tocci, Peter Gluck, Scott Frank, and others who bring a BIM perspective that just comes with their work. There is an emerging understanding of BIM in the studio and a decent appreciation of the issue in other classrooms.  And it doesn’t hurt that, in the current market, BIM skills make a recent graduate much more employable!”.

On architect’s learning means and methods:

“Somewhere in Brazil right now I hope there is a young, brilliant architecture student wondering why office buildings in a modern city collapse, looking at the huge opportunities for construction over the next decade there and realizing that she could help re-invent the very means of design and construction in a place where innovation is desperately needed to face the challenges of modernization. (N.B. – one of our recent graduates is working for Tocci now as the “Design/Construction Integrator,” the bridge between the CM and the architects. He moves fluidly with the designers and often works side by side with them, but carries the torch for the construction managers. Ironically, almost none of this work counts toward his IDP licensure requirements!)”.