VDC Manager, Pierce Reynoldson, discusses his work with Yale School of Design’s spring course Systems Integration and Development in Design (SIS).

Pierce is a Lecturer in Architecture at Yale.

SIS is an integrated workshop and lecture series in which graduate architecture students develop the technical systems of preliminary design proposals from earlier studio work. The studio projects are essentially conceptual designs that will be further fleshed out in terms of program, egress, structure, mechanical, and envelope systems. Throughout the semester the students produce detailed technical drawings and analyses using of BIM software.

I am excited to return for a second year with Yale’s SIS course. Three years ago, Yale formally introduced BIM into the SIS program and I was invited to lecture and provide an afternoon of technical support. The following year, I was brought on to provide a weekend BIM workshop and serve as one of the course consultants, who provide student teams with a weekly technical review for code compliance, detailing structural design, and mechanical systems.

This year is another new role for me and for the course, as a full-time BIM Coordinator. Like last year, I will provide a weekend introductory workshop. Unlike last year, I will be providing weekly workshops and one-on-one support. This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with the entire class on a much deeper level.

This is a new chapter in Tocci’s ongoing and ever-broadening relationship with academia. Tocci people have been sharing their unique professional perspectives with academic programs for years. This is how I found my place with the company, after meeting John Tocci when he spoke at Yale’s professional practice course. Through teaching Tocci spreads the BIM and IDP good news to new generations and in turn, learns about new ideas. The SIS course is a perfect venue for experimenting with new approaches to BIM-enabled design collaboration.