Oct 06, 2021

An Exciting Project Win for Align Builders and the Environment

PROJECT | SOARS Instrument Make-Ready Lab Phase 1 

TYPE | LIFE SCIENCE LAB

The newly built Scripps Institution of Oceanography Atmosphere Research Simulator (SOARS) lab proved to be an exciting project for the ALIGN BUILDERS team. The first-of-its-kind instrument was designed to provide an interdisciplinary UC San Diego science team with the ability to monitor the effect of pollutants over a wide range of ocean conditions from the polar ice caps to the equatorial tropics. 

The simulator consists of a wave pool with a hydraulic piston and paddle at the end to drive the water back and and forth simulating the water movement of the ocean. Above the pool is an Aerolab LLC wind tunnel fiberglass channel that’s used to simulate wind and air effects on the ocean. Six Solatubes attached to the wind tunnel provide varying levels of sunlight from low light to full blown tanning weather. The project included a new outdoor mechanical yard with associated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering upgrades, new foundations, and fire sprinkler modifications. 

This important project came to fruition by the stakeholders sharing a common vision which was to build, inspire, and educate and to improve and protect our environment. The Align Builders team is grateful for the opportunity to work with first class trade partners as well as the UCSD CM and design teams, all working together to make the project successful and fun. We look forward to the positive impact it will have through a deeper knowledge of our oceans and by understanding how we effect our vulnerable environment.

Want to know more about this crucial project? Read NSF Awards Scripps Oceanography $2.8 Million to Develop Advanced Ocean and Atmosphere Simulator by the UCSD News Center.

Mar 28, 2019

Finding the Return on Your Small-Project BIM Investment

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is too often associated with large, ground-up projects where prefabrication and trade coordination can happen well before the structure is erected.  When measuring productivity, quality, and future maintenance savings, there is simply no argument against the value it can offer.

However, when we approach managing small projects, even those with complex MEP systems and spatial constraints, BIM routinely gets eliminated from discussion.  Why this resistance to investing in BIM?  The answer usually comes down to initial cost, or better yet, the initial understanding of value.  And, understandably so.  Estimating the ROI on your up-front BIM expenditure can seem more like an art than a science.  We will admit that this is largely true.  Ultimate value is difficult to calculate when you are unsure of what the future benefit may be.  Will a dollar spent today result in two dollars of hard cost savings at the trade level?  For every day spent clash detecting in pre-construction, how many days of increased productivity will be gained during install?  Could traditional trade coordination render similar results?  We all wish we could answer these questions with complete certainty.

Read the Article

Nov 28, 2018

MEP rough-in is now off to the races!

Another exciting milestone achieved at the University of California San Diego Future of Surgery Project! MEP rough-in is now off to the races! It was determined during Design Development that our teams greatest challenge would be to maintain the designed ceiling heights based on the limited interstitial space that existed in the basement of this operational academic space. In some areas, we had less than 3” of space from finish ceilings to structural deck. In fact, on paper, it was determined that it simply didn’t work. After implementing our in-house BIM process, and the strong efforts of CallisonRTKL, Randall Lamb, University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors, Inc. (CA), Standard Drywall Inc., and KM Consulting Group LLC we were able to re-position and re-design MEP Systems that allowed us to retain the desired ceiling heights for our client, increase trade productivity, and avoid system clashes that occur when a traditional coordination process is used. Way to go Adrian Campos. This is how you Build Together!

Sep 25, 2018

UC San Diego – Breaking Ground with Virtual Reality

KM Consulting Group LLC is excited to partner with University of California San Diego, CallisonRTKL and ALIGN BUILDERS on the new state of the art Hybrid OR and Mircro Surgery suite for the Center for Future Surgery! At the ground breaking ceremony, we invited Stryker to create and share a virtual mock up of the space so that Dr. Santiago Horgan could experience the elements of the space before its even built! THANK YOU to Stryker’s Lillie Cole and Kyle Uminger for bringing this technology #halolens to the Project Team, we are all looking forward to seeing this project come to life!

Aug 23, 2018

CREW Summer Social

Thank you to all that attended the annual CREW Summer Social last Thursday! We enjoyed live music, Hodad’s burgers and great company! Align Builders donated a surfboard  for the raffle to support the CREW Foundation!  Big shout out to Ryan Sakal of the Aryse Company (www.arysecompany.com) who shaped this board!  Bree Wong of SWS Engineering and President of CREW San Diego was the proud recipient of the raffle.  Couldn’t have been a better person to land it! As she put it “what a bad-ass prize!”