New requirements for architects athletic abilities

on Monday,April 06,2009 21:04

Thanks to new communications technologies, surveying jobs are becoming more efficient but they also require substantial athletic abilities.

Rope-access surveying now yields a great deal more information in real time thanks to video conferencing equipment and digital photography, but it also requires much courage and top-notch physical fitness.

Recently, a team of such highly trained architects conducted a survey to assess the extent of work that needs to be done to rehabilitate the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse building in Brooklyn, according to Evan H. Shu.

Shu is an architect with Shu Associates in Melrose, Massachusetts, who wrote about rope-access surveying in Cheap Tricks, a newsletter for DataCAD users and computer-using architects.

During the surveying process, the architects wore a jumpsuit while hanging from a rope attached to a roof parapet 10 stories higher.

They also had a digital camera, a streaming video camera and a tablet computer attached to their harness allowing them to inspect the exterior conditions, make instant CAD notations and video conference with a team which followed the action from the construction office.

Architects who want to conduct rope-access surveys need to be certified by the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians, and they still remain rare. However, Shu concludes, their work could be applied broadly to improve the field survey documentation work on the ground.