News & Insights
Photo courtesy of: Greg Land
In the early days of the dot-com era, a small group of individuals had a fascinating thought: what if we asked love-seeking singles to publish a list of personal interests and relationship criteria and developed an algorithm to create connections? That idea eventually became Match.com – one of the earliest forms of online dating. Match.com revolutionized the use of data on preferences and desires, allowing for early reconciliation of seemingly intangible relationship expectations. While reconciliation in data analytics was not a new concept, applying data-driven metrics to something as emotive as love was novel and redefined what successful matchmaking could look like.
In many ways, architects and designers can be considered the Match.com for connecting dreams and reality. They can take complex criteria and goals and align them with the realities of the existing conditions, building codes, material physics, and the art of aesthetics to create unique environments. However, as with any matchmaking, the long-term success of an owner’s relationship with their building is dependent on the quality of the information and guidance received by the designer. Misaligned expectations can result in heated friction, unnecessary tension, and heartbreak – often, very costly mistakes.
After hearing multiple stories of unsatisfying design outcomes and acknowledging the complex landscape of institutional capital projects, Brailsford & Dunlavey developed a process known as Program & Quality Reconciliation (P&QR). Somewhat like a dating profile, P&QR leads owners through a process that aligns preferences and priorities in a way that can be objectively communicated to a design team.
The P&QR process enhances the ability to successfully match a design with the owner’s immediate and long-term needs and to provide objective direction regarding expectations for design priorities that are rarely communicated. The PQ&R process may also uncover aspects of the project that were either assumed, yet not articulated, or where a leadership team may not have been fully aligned. By going through the PQ&R process, a clear picture of the project priorities creates alignment in university leadership; and a clear understanding of the value being created by the project can then be articulated.
P&QR takes a data-driven and analytical approach to describing what are often intangible and unmeasured aspects of a project such as:
Various details in each category are ranked from low priority to high priority, which sets the framework for decision-making and prioritization throughout the design process.
When paired with a detailed program outline and guided by The BIG Why, the summarized PQ&R Report provides definitive guidelines for the full design and construction team. At the onset, the PQ&R Report effectively communicates the expectations of the owner to the design team and focuses the design efforts. This clarity also aids the pre-construction team as they help guide the allocation of funds towards aspects that are identified by the owner as having the highest value.
During the construction phase, the information can provide clarity on whether to pursue a particular product substitution or the necessity of a proposed Change Order. And as the project progresses, the P&QR Report combined with the detailed program outline provides clarity to the engineers and specialty designers regarding the priorities of various systems and aspects of the project.
Brailsford & Dunlavey’s mission is to empower organizations to maximize the value of investments that advance them toward their targeted new reality. Much like the founders of Match.com decades ago, B&D believes in the importance of establishing priorities and articulating preferences to guide the projects towards healthy and sustainable outcomes and providing the greatest value possible for each and every unique institution. By assisting universities in the formulation of strategic projects that catapult an organization forward and by creating mechanisms to understand, communicate priorities, and evaluating the alignment of progress towards the objectives along the way, B&D provides unique value to the project process.
