Practice-Based Research: Gerard Gutierrez AIA

Gerard Gutierrez AIA
senior associate, Sasaki

Lightning presentation
8:45 am - 9:00 am EDT
Captured Insulated Metal Panel Facades

How do you define practice-based research?
In our profession, every output we deliver is unique to the client and the circumstances that brought us together. Every design project that comes into our office requires some aspect of that design to be analyzed, precedents reviewed, and simulations performed. Practice-based research is the back-up we collect to prove to ourselves - and to our clients - that that aspect of our design will succeed.

What is the biggest barrier to practice-based research?
Complacency from the design team.

What is the value of practice-based research?
The value is the expansion of knowledge in our profession. The results of practice-based research often provide a verifiable precedent to ourselves and to our colleagues, showing that an idea can work.

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Gerry is the leader of Sasaki’s Technical Quality Control Group. With over 25 years of professional experience with firms that emphasize and value design excellence, Gerry's many collaborations have been published in journals such as Abitare, Building Design + Construction, and The Architect's Newspaper. Gerry’s contributions have been recognized with awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America, the Boston Society of Architects, and National Honor Awards from the AIA. He is an active member of the Boston Society of Architects, and co-chairs the BSA's Construction Administration Roundtable.