Closing the Gap: Information Models in Contemporary Design Practice Architectural Design

Closing the Gap brings together a group of academics, architects, engineers and construction managers each engaged in the use of Building Information Models in the actualization from design to construction of complex building projects. Through the inclusion of texts that trace the development of BIM technologies and address issues of collaboration, design and management; and current building projects by contributors, the publication systematizes the use of BIM in contemporary design practice for architects, students and allied professionals faced with considering these tools within the changing marketplace that we have created.

Richard Garber is an assistant professor at the New Jersey School of Architecture (NJSOA), where he teaches design studios and directs the school’s FABLAB. His work involves the use of computer simulation and computer numerically controlled (CNC) hardware in the generation of innovative design, construction and assembly solutions. In 2007 his practice, GRO Architects, won the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s re:Construction Competition. The resulting work, Best Pedestrian Route, was fabricated at NJSOA’s FABLAB and was installed at the corner of Broadway and John Street in Lower Manhattan. In 2008 GRO won an AIA Merit Award and a NY Designs Award from the Architectural League of New York for these efforts. He was also the ‘Emerging Architect’ Visiting Assistant Professor at Barnard College in 2007, with Nicole Robertson. He was previously a project manager at SHoP Architects, where he worked on the firm’s 2000 winning PS_1 entry, Dunescape, and at Greg Lynn FORM where he worked on the Presbyterian Church of New York. His writing and design work has been published in the New York Times, the Star Ledger, The Architect’s Newspaper, Azure, Art News, Metropolis and Architectural Record. He holds architecture degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University. www.groarc.com