CREJ

June 2019 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 23 rmg-engineers.com info@rmg-engineers.com STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING CIVIL ENGINEERING ARCHITECTURE CONCRETE MATERIALS TESTING GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING Building Long Term Relationships Through Creative Solutions, Practical Design & Reliable Service For Over 30 Years! LET RMG GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE CRITICAL PHASES OF YOUR BUILDING PROJECT Denver • Fort Collins • Evans / Greeley • Colorado Springs • Monument As designers, we are constrained by the pieces and parts we have to work with when we begin to design. However, these constraints are not necessar- ily negative as they are very convenient, cost-effec- tive and make the process of selection (from win- dows to toilets, boilers to carpets) efficient; we only need to flip through a catalog. The purpose of cat- alogs of predesigned and time-tested parts is that it gives us time because we do not have to reinvent the wheel each time. By keeping some things the same, we have been able to optimize, engineer and supply chain ourselves to more reliable and better lasting en- vironments. We can reliably purchase windows, doors, manifold valves and shirts, even if we lack the expertise to make them ourselves. The products we have at our disposal as we build our world come to us through a complex and often invisible historical network, which already has made many design decisions for us. While these options are often tried and true, we need to design in balance between what is and what is possible. We need to allow ourselves to think be- yond the catalog to what might be needed in our grand- children’s world. We need to make a conscious effort to see past the standard and the convenience to imagine the im- possible. When you consider the design options you have around you today, are they solving the problem you have today, or are they keeping you from falling off a horse? \\ In the Details As architects, we sometimes seemmore like bespoke tailors crafting fitted suits, but we are still digging through catalogs to find two sleeves that match, pants that fit and buttons that fit into the buttonholes we have to work with.