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MillimeterNew ICIA Book Describes Industry’s Best Practices
Sep 8, 2005 8:00 AM
For architects, engineers, building owners, general contractors, and others who often ask themselves, “What’s all this AV business, anyway?”—help is at hand.
A new book from the International Communications Industries Association brings together the best thinking of integrators, educators, architects, and others to summarize best practices for this fast-changing industry.
Audiovisual Best Practices: The Design and Integration Process for the AV and Construction Industries is available through ICIA’s website. It’s the result of a wide-ranging effort that began last fall.
Mark Valenti of The Sextant Group, who chaired the ICIA Best Practices Committee, says the book is not an effort to market the industry to end users. “[It's] an opportunity to point out to others, with whom we work on a regular basis, what is the right way to do AV. It’s not one view of the industry, but the industry view.”
Reaching a consensus on the right way to do AV involved a multi-step process, Valenti explains. “Lock up 12 guys in a room and don’t let them out,” he says, explaining how the entire Best Practices Committee was sequestered at ICIA headquarters in Fairfax, Va., for two days to work out the contents and structure of the volume.
The book looks at how AV systems and considerations should be integrated into every phase of a construction project, from formation of the project team through design, construction, and building commissioning. It includes specific AV best practices throughout its 200-plus pages, highlighted as call-outs from the text. It also includes graphical depictions of the most common project delivery methods, design processes, schedules, and other project elements, along with listings of standard contract documents and other materials.
The actual writing was done by Tim Cape, CTS-D, of Technitect and Jim Smith, CTS, of HB Communications. Then came reviews and comments, not only by the full committee, but by outsiders as well, including architects. “We felt it was important to have architects’ reviews at a time when we were still able to make significant changes,” Valenti says.
Taly Walsh, ICIA’s senior vice president for marketing and membership, notes the committee also interfaced extensively with the association’s education department to be sure that the group’s identified best practices were aligned with what’s taught in ICIA’s numerous courses and schools. She says the new book will become “a living, breathing document,” subject to continuous updating and refreshment through ICIA’s website and other vehicles.
The prime audience intended for Audiovisual Best Practices will be the design community and owners of new building projects. “When I land a new project, I’ll send a copy to the architect and the engineer,” Valenti says. “It’s a way of saying ‘Here’s what we’re going to try to do.’ Consultants, integrators, owners, architects, and end users will all be users of this document.”
That’s not to say AV systems integrators won’t also benefit from keeping Audiovisual Best Practices handy. But when it comes to actually following the recommended best practices, Valenti says, “We have a long way to go. As an industry we are not yet applying all of these things, although I believe these best practices are more prevalent than not.”
Both Valenti and Walsh stress that the book does not prescribe one correct approach to AV integration. “It contains options,” Walsh says. “It combines recommended practices and flexibility.”
Continue the discussion on Crosstalk the Millimeter Forum.