CSI Product Show & Accessibility Seminar - March 19, 2024
Posted: Thu, Feb 08, 2024
The Knoxville Chapter of CSI will hold it's annual East TN Building Product Show on March 19 at the Foundry. Preceding the 4 - 7 PM Product Show will be a 2 hour HSW accredited continuing education program - The Accessibility Seminar - ADA Items Often Overlooked. Ms. Stephanie Cook, ADA Coordinator in the City of Knoxville Disability Services Office will present this program.
Both events are free, but registration at the seminar is required. Please Make a Reservation.
Product show opens at the close of the seminar. This is a sold out show of products and experts to learn from. Everyone in the Design and Construction Industry is invited to attend. 2-4 PM for the seminar, 4 -7 PM for the Product Show.
Architecture Student Shadows Local CSI Members at Work
Posted: Sun, Dec 24, 2023
by Gary Bergeron, FCSI
CSI friends, I'd like to introduce you to Karina Kane who is a third year architecture student at the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design. (CoAD)
It all started with a text message from our chapter president who asked if I knew of an opportunity for a student to do some job shadowing in the local AECO industry. Karina was originally supposed to shadow at a local combined A/E firm but the schedules didn't work out. Luckily for our firm, Kelso-Regen, she called and asked if there was an opportunity to shadow at our firm over her Christmas break.
We started the morning with some samples of fire sprinkler heads that are used in several different types of buildings. Karina was shown a church floor plan that our office was currently working on and we showed how the sprinkler heads for light hazard occupancy where located in both acoustical tile ceilings and exposed structure. She was a quick study and offered to finish the sprinkler design intent drawing showing the all the sprinkler heads in the church. After a review of her work, we corrected a few discrepancies.
Karina attended a progress meeting on the church with the architect, owner, electrical engineer, civil engineer, and myself on the following day. It was at the progress meeting that Karina observed that the architect is like the conductor of the orchestra of engineers, contractors, and owner. After the progress meeting we visited three architectural firms and one electrical engineering firm that have several female team members. Karina was able to observe the offices and obtained several business cards for future contacts. Later in the day, we also performed a site visit with another architect, contractor, and engineers to evaluate the existing conditions of a building. This was at a halfway house that was being renovated and doubled in size with new construction.
We believe that Karina learned several things in the two days she shadowed us at our engineering firm and will be welcomed back at any time. If an architectural firm is interested in Karina's abilities we can provide stellar references.
We Are Growing - Come Join Us!
Posted: Mon, Dec 11, 2023
Lots of great things are happening in the Knoxville Chapter. This month we are celebrating together with a dinner cruise on the Volunteer Princess. We start 2024 with a lineup of great continuing education programs. In March we will be hosting the Accessibility Seminar (2 hr HSW) followed by the ETN Product Show at the Foundry. All we are missing is YOU! Come see us the second Tuesday of each month at the AGC Building on Ragsdale for our lunch meeting.
Christmas Crusing with CSI
Posted: Tue, Dec 12, 2023
Join us for our dinner cruise along the Tennessee River Tuesday, December 12 at 6 PM aboard the Volunteer Princess. Board by 6 PM (park below Ruth Chris Steakhouse). We cast off at 6:30 PM. Help us celebrate another great year with your CSI Knoxville friends.
New Member News - Dipakkumar Patel, CSI
Posted: Tue, Aug 22, 2023
Please meet Dipakkumar Patel, CSI. He says that people call him Dipak (pronounced Dee-puck). Dipak joined the Knoxville Chapter in June of this year, after visiting a CSI meeting with fellow employee, Kathryn Fuller. He is currently employed by MBI Companies Inc. as a Project Designer, where he focuses primarily on conceptual design. He has been with MBI for 7 years.
He said that he chose this field because “architecture / engineering combined strengths and passions [he had] as a young adult growing up.” Dipak attained his BA Hons Architecture at Birmingham City University, his Post-Graduate diploma at the University of Nottingham abroad in the United Kingdom. He completed his Master of Architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology here in the US. He came to Knoxville in the spring of 2010.
Dipak has family here in Knoxville: his parents, his wife, Karmi, and his two children, Abhi and Anjali. He has a brother in Franklin, TN and a sister in Williamsport, MD. In his spare time, he coaches soccer with FC Alliance, is a Big Brother Mentor and Board President with BBBS-ETN, plays soccer, watches One Knox/865, and follows a number of other interests.
When asked what he hoped to gain and why he joined CSI, he replied, “Access to learning materials to develop construction and engineering material/detailing knowledge. And to add myself to the local network of AEC professionals as a peer resource and increase my familiarity with the Knoxville community.”
When asked what areas he would be interested in being a part of and how could he see the chapter improving, he replied,” Chapter growth and involvement will be a by-product of offering the environment for building strong, deep connections with one another. This may be social activities beyond the seminar/conference/meeting room walls - and completely unrelated to our occupations. I'm excited to discover where my abilities and experiences can be leveraged!”
He closed with one thing that he would like people to know about him. “I believe, [in] almost all instances, being kind is better than being right. Everyone matters and is managing their own real struggle at any given time. Helping one another in the best way we're able is what we're built for.”
Our CSI chapter is like a family that helps each other grow in our profession. I think Dipak had found a great place to invest his talents. Please reach out and introduce yourself to him at our next gathering.
