Real-Life Communication
Architectural engineer Wayne Lischka says that learning how to communicate
with different people is essential to a career in architectural engineering.
"You learn a lot from talking with workers in the field that have
a substantially lower level of education than you do," he says. "To be able
to learn like this you must be able to communicate at a level that makes them
feel comfortable and not feel like you are talking down to them. Then, when
you are talking to clients, you are talking with some very educated people,
some artistic people and some power-motivated people. You need to be able
to communicate with them all to get the job done right."
Another
aspect of communication is being able to understand reports from the field.
Being able to read them and figure out the key elements is important.
Here
is an example of a report about an environmentally friendly Canadian building
project. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and
is a nationally accepted rating system for green-friendly projects in Canada).
The report is from the Canadian Green Building Council. Read the report, then
answer the questions that follow.
Canada's first refurbished
LEED-Gold building
Vancouver Island Technology
Park's design team set objectives to improve the 35 acre site while accommodating
165,000 square feet of renovated, high tech office buildings and 235,000 square
feet of new office buildings
The original building
was an abandoned hospital facility and required the removal of asbestos and
underground storage tanks. The landscaping design includes 100 percent storm
water treatment and infiltration onsite, restoration of 97 percent of the
degraded habitat, and native species plantings requiring no irrigation. In
order to encourage alternative transportation, options negotiations were made
to extend several bus routes to the site, showers and bicycle storage facilities
were provided, and parking requirements were reduced.
Materials
used in the project were carefully selected to emit low or no VOC's [volatile
organic compounds] in order to maintain good indoor air quality and occupant
comfort. The use of recycled and reused materials represents respectively
33 and 8 percent of the total material costs for the project.
A:
What are three things that have been done to ensure this building made a lesser
impact on the environment?
B: What percentage of the costs of the project
went to using recycled and reused materials?
C: Was there efforts made
to cut down on people driving to the building? What were they?
Want
to learn more? Check out this URL:
Why Communication Skills
Are Critical to Engineers
Internet: https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-communications-skills-are-critical-to-engine