Building envelope components, common building element specifications, and building life safety are essential to the long-term success of any project. It takes an understanding by all parties of the intent to make the building perform properly. Knowing what to include in the Construction Documents and paying attention to the little details, joints, and penetrations must be constantly reviewed and confirmed. Proper coordination of materials will make the quest to create the best possible building a reality. Construction lessons learned are discussed and dissected to improve future detailing and specifications.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review common building elements, life safety components, and construction concerns witnessed in the field when not specified correctly.
2. Understand tolerances regarding the construction process and methods to address the concern.
3. Coordinate between the specifications and drawings to understand how different building components currently do not address the specification gaps for a tighter building.
4. Assess and apply what is discussed to your construction documents for more confident design and detailing.

Corey Zussman, AIA, NCARB, ALA, RBEC, RRC, REWC, RWC, RRO, CDT, CQM, CxA+BE, BECxP, CABS, LEED® AP BD+C, Level 1 Thermographer

Corey is a registered Architect in several states, practicing for more than 30 years. He specializes in building envelope, restoration, preservation, life safety, and interior finishes. Corey is currently the Director of Quality Assurance for Pepper Construction Company in Chicago, where he has promoted a formal quality program for more than seven years and works on 50-75 projects a year, conducting constructability reviews, pre-installation meetings, comprehensive envelope meetings, and construction observations, in addition to providing educational opportunities throughout the industry. Corey has produced more than 150 “lessons learned” papers about building envelope and life safety concerns to proactively address issues during design review, pre-construction, and construction. He maintains an extensive database of quality metrics gathered on more than 1,000 buildings and $3 billion worth of work and developed a quality app for mobile devices which houses the lessons learned papers and allows for easy access and construction verification in the field.