The First Facility Management Blog

Imagine 5th and 6th grade students donning hard hats and safety glasses, helping to design and build their own school, and then acting as energy conscious stewards for the facility. For public school children in New Haven, CT, Kids Build, an educational program developed by architecture firm Svigals + Partners, in conjunction with the New Haven School Construction Program, is allowing them to do just that. By offering participants the opportunity to gain firsthand experience working with architects, construction managers, and tradespeople, Kids Build offers career mentoring, side by side with lessons in art, science, and math.

The first Kids Build project focused on the Beecher School, completed in 2006.

The Kids Build program is intended to educate schoolchildren about the design, construction, and maintenance of their new schools. Students are involved in the design and ongoing maintenance, becoming “stewards” who can responsibly care for their schools and help younger students learn about these important values.

Kids Build is an energy conscious program that supports the City of New Haven’s efforts to reduce energy use in schools. It provides opportunities for schoolchildren to explore career paths in architecture, design and building/construction and is supported by New Haven Public Schools.

With two schools completed under the program—the Beecher School in 2006 and The Columbus Family Academy in 2008, participants are gearing up for a third project at the Engineering and Science University Magnate School.

Throughout the construction of each school, groups of 30 5th and 6th grade students meet for four two-hour workshops. Activities include exploring the office of Svigals +Partners, visiting construction
trailers, participating in discussions with the architects, construction managers, and tradespeople, and touring the schools at various stages of construction.

Students learn about a variety of building topics related to construction and operations.

Students in past projects hailed from several New Haven Public Schools and included several of those who would be entering the new schools upon completion. Once the schools opened, these students prepared a presentation of their Kids Build experience for their classmates.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., has said: “Kids Build is an innovative way to introduce city students to meaningful careers in architecture and construction and also to teach them to be proud of their schools. The City’s $1.5 billion Citywide School Construction program presents a great opportunity for kids to learn more about how to care for assets like their own schools. Kudos to Svigals + Partners for their involvement.”

Those of you familiar with the comedy of Monty Python should recall this classic sketch about two architects and their concepts for a mixed use residential block.

Facility managers should be suspicious of an RFP that includes rotating knives or a mock up with a questionable central pillar system. And now for something completely different….

David Fisher, architect of the Dynamic Tower to be constructed first in Dubai, has been honored as the worldwide Architect of the Year 2008, out of a record number of 2325 nominees, by The Developer & Builders Alliance (DBA), a worldwide real estate and construction organization. Fisher’s firm, Dynamic Architecture, is based in the Bedfordshire, UK.


The other five finalists to the award were Foster & Partners, Jean Nouvel, Santiago Calatrava, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, and Zaha Hadid.


The 80 story building is to be built in Dubai.

“I am honored to receive this award from the Developers & Builders Alliance, as I believe strongly in the group’s stated goal of improving our global economy by fostering prosperous worldwide business relationships through successful projects and innovation,” Fisher stated.

The first of Fisher’s Dynamic Tower–which TFM covered here in June 2008–will be built in Dubai. The structure challenges the development of architecture, as it defies the static to embrace the dynamic, enabling its shape to change according to meteorological factors, changing needs and desires. In line with David Fisher’s slogan “Designed by life, shaped by time”, his Dynamic Tower is the first building to feature the fourth dimension: Time.

The construction process starts with the top floor (80th), as the prefabricated units are assembled around the concrete core floor by floor, spiralling downward, until the ground floor is completed. 
Living in a dynamic tower, you will be able to park your car right next to your entrance door, and while you relax in your swimming pool you will be able to enjoy the eve-changing view onto a rotating world, as you express your preferences to the voice-activated speed control. 



Fisher, the inventor of the “Dynamic Architecture” graduated from the University of Florence, Italy, practiced architecture and explored the development of methods, construction and real estate in a number of countries. 
He believes  that “The Dynamic Tower will radically change not only the concept of design but also construction and real estate, bringing a new dimension to architecture and to our way of living.” His fir

Four years ago, Fisher was inspired by the view onto the ocean in a North Miami, FL beach apartment. There the idea of a rotating floor emerged for the first time. He is currently meeting with top developers to discuss a possible Dynamic Tower in Miami.