Lars Christensen, buildingSMART International
BIMStorm LAX was a sandbox and revolutionary in the way it allowed participants to collaborate in real time. We need more time to play around now in order to avoid mimicking the old way of doing things and really understand how we should utilize the full BIMStorm and interoperability potential.

Mario Guttman, AIA
The BIMStorm was an eye opener that things are going to change a lot more quickly that we thought because change doesnt have to be planned out in advance. Everything is going to be out there for your application to access and we dont need an endless series of committee meetings to make this happen.

Tony Rinella
BIMStorm is a revelation for Integrated Project Delivery teams looking for new and efficient means of collaboration. We saw international design and analysis talents coming together instantly as needed to further projects. BIMStorm opens a new universe of possibilities for procurement and contracting in our increasingly competitive and globalizing AECOO economy.

Dana K. Deke Smith, FAIA
The buildingSMART alliance is all about changing the way we do business and for a brief 24 hours some of us stopped how we normally do work and we played and had a little fun. We stepped out of our stovepipes a bit and we saw what life might be like without all the self-imposed conventions, working in a collaborative in a free information exchange world. We did not worry about digital rights management, and contract law or liabilities. It was a breath of fresh air and we needed that to start the change in the industry.

RK Stewart, FAIA
Collaboration continues to be the biggest question across the industry. How people can share data to make projects move forward. The BIMStorm was the condensed period that focused a certain amount of collaboration but there were some pretty clear lines that people did not cross when they had the opportunity to. Communication happened on the fringes and then it fed back to the center, why did some teams decide to go to a 2nd channel, or why did they hold to the boundary of a site and not go further.

Michael Tardif, Assoc. AIA, Hon. SDA
BIMStorm LAX, as a proof-of-concept demonstration, provided a very large number of participants an opportunity to kick the tires and evaluate Onuma technology. From that perspective, it was an unqualified success. Future BIMStorms, as public events, could be even more successful if they were planned more closely with a municipal or regional planning authority, and if teams had more information about other participating teams and the skills they bring to the process. The educational experience would be greatly enhanced by introducing these real-world conditions and constraints, with the added bonus that the results might help move an actual urban-planning effort forward.

Lars Christensen, buildingSMART International
Technical Program Manager buildingSMART-Norway, Norwegian Homebuilders Association & co-CEO, buildingSMART International Council Ltd

Lars C. Christensen is currently working as a Technical Program Manager in the Norwegian buildingSMART project. He, together with Bjrn Stangeland also from Norway, has also been asked to take on the position as CEO of buildingSMART International (formerly IAI International).

Lars is a sivilingenir graduate in engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NUST). He has worked with engineering and ICT development and deployment within the AEC industry for more than 20 years. Within ICT he has done both software development work and more academic research. His experience covers businesses like engineering companies, pre-cast concrete producers, industrialized homebuilders, software companies, ship classification societies and research at NUST and Stanford University. In Norway he is also know as a buildingSMART evangelist for the efficient usage of buildingSMART standards enabling low friction information logistics and thereby improving decision quality and project efficiency and effectiveness.

The last 8 years Lars has been working with technology development and industrialization in the Selvaag Gruppen and has held several different roles. Selvaag Gruppen has three major business areas; homebuilding and special projects, capital management and business development. Lars founded and was Chief System Architect of Selvaag BlueThink^?, a knowledge based systems company. He was also part of the founding team of Selvaag Hus, a low cost housing company. He has also been Senior Vice President for Technology Surveillance and Competence in the Selvaag Gruppen. His last assignment in 2007 was to establish Selvaag Design, a 45 person architectural and engineering practice focusing on residential projects.

Mario Guttman, AIA
Senior Vice President, Firmwide CAD Director, HOK

Mario Guttman, AIA, LEED AP, is a Senior Vice-President and the Firmwide CAD Director for HOK, a multi-disciplinary, international design firm with 26 offices in eight countries. In this role he coordinates the CAD, Building Information Modeling, and related activities of the offices and focus groups, as well as leading the firms strategic direction in these areas. Mario holds degrees in mathematics and architecture, is a licensed architect, and is LEED accredited. In addition to practicing architecture for 20 years, he has worked in software development, computer-aided facility management, and construction. HOK is a leader in the advanced use of information technology in the AECO industry and supports industry-wide interoperability standards. Mario represents the firm with other members of the industry, standards organizations, and government agencies in promoting Integrated Project Delivery.

Tony Rinella
Principal, Anshen+Allen

Tony Rinella is Principal and Chief Information Officer of Anshen+Allen Architects, an international architectural practice dedicated to design for healthcare, scientific discovery and education. Tony began leadership of knowledge and information services for the firm in 1986. His experience using data modeling and presentation to inform the design process began in 1978; during studies at the University of California, Berkeley, he developed systems to predict performance of passive solar buildings. His work continued through positions in architecture, property management and software development firms. Tony is an advocate for development of Virtual Design and Construction collaboration in support of Integrated Project Delivery and Environmental Quality. He speaks frequently on these topics throughout the US an internationally. He is currently serving as 2008 chair of AIA Technology in Architectural Practice Advisory Group and also active in a variety of efforts and organizations furthering beneficial use of information systems in AEC practice and education.

Dana K. "Deke" Smith, FAIA
Executive Director, buildingSMART alliance

Deke is the Executive Director of the buildingSMART Alliance an emerging program of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to improve construction productivity through interoperability. He was the founder and former chair of the NIBS Facility Information Council, home of the US National Computer Aided Design (CAD) Standard and the evolving National Building Information Modeling (BIM) Standard. Deke is a senior analyst with the International Centre for Facilities and also a senior analyst with CYON Research, and has his own information consulting firm. He participated in the beginnings of the NIBS Construction Criteria Base and was on both American Institute of Architects (AIA) CAD Layering Guideline efforts as well as the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST)/ Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Uniformat II. He was the U.S. representative for facility related CAD to the International Standards Organization (ISO) in the 1990s. He was a winner of the 1996 Federal 100 award, 1997 NIBS Member Award and the 2006 CAD Society Leadership award. He is a registered architect in Virginia and has worked as a surveyor, assistant field engineer, facility designer, cost engineer, value engineer, life-cycle cost analyst, deputy CIO, and was the chief information technology (IT) architect for the DoD Business Transformation Agencys modernization effort for installations and environmental issues before his retirement after 30 years with the DoD.

RK Stewart, FAIA
Perkins + Will

RK Stewart joined Perkins + Will in 2008. Prior to Perkins + Will he was at Gensler since 1988 where he had extensive experience in large scale, mixed-use projects, institutional projects, renovation/restoration projects, and high-rise office towers. Mr. Stewart manages complex projects applying his expertise in the architectural design, development and documentation processes coupled with his understanding of engineering disciplines. Mr. Stewart's experience in regulatory approval processing makes him a firmwide resource for planning code, building code, historic preservation, building technology and similar issues. As a rotating member of the firms Management Committee in 2000 - 2001, Mr. Stewart led development of improvements in Genslers Design and Delivery Systems, including technical, specifications, CAD, project management and learning committees. To improve the communities in which we practice, Mr. Stewart has been involved in advocacy efforts across the state and nation. Mr. Stewarts contributions to the profession were recognized with his investiture in the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2001. At the 2005 American Institute of Architects Annual Meeting Mr. Stewart was elected to serve as the organizations national President in 2007 as AIA celebrates its 150th Anniversary.

Prior to joining Perkins + Will, RK gained experience working for:

• Gensler, San Francisco, CA 1988-2007
• Heller Manus Architects, San Francisco, CA 1984-88
• Skidmore Owings & Merrill / DC (Director of Computer Operations) 1983-84
• Skidmore Owings & Merrill / Chicago 1978-83
• Mississippi State University, School of Architecture 1976-78
• Louisiana State University, School of Architecture 1976

Michael Tardif, Assoc. AIA, Hon. SDA
Editorial Director, Design Byline

Michael Tardif, editorial director of Design Byline, is an editor and writer specializing in the building industry. He writes regularly about architecture, design technology, and AEC business management for both professional and consumer audiences, including a monthly column on home renovations for Washingtonian magazine, a monthly design technology column for AIArchitect, and frequent feature articles for New Old House magazine. His work has appeared in Waterfront Home & Design, Bethesda magazine CE News, and OnSite, the quarterly real estate magazine of the Washington Business Journal.

Michael studied both civil engineering and architecture as an undergraduate and has fifteen years of experience as a project designer and project manager for architecture firms. He is the former director of the AIA Center for Technology and Practice Management. During his five-year tenure he served as a contributing editor for technology of The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 13th edition, and wrote or edited over 250 AIA Best Practices articles. He is also the former Editorial Director, Best Practices, for ZweigWhite, where he edited four professional/technical books, including the Insider's Guide to SF330 Preparation, a comprehensive guide for design professionals on the federal procurement of professional design services.

Michael is the co-author, with Steve L. Wintner, AIA, of Financial Management for Design Professionals: The Path to Profitability. He is currently collaborating with Deke Smith, AIA, on his second book, Building Information Modeling: A Strategic Implementation Guide for Architects, Engineers, Constructors, and Real Estate Asset Managers, to be published in early 2009.