Ryan Evans, director of sustainability for Henderson Engineers, gave a Henderson University presentation Thursday in the firm’s Bentonville office. Based on the 2004 book Refabricating Architecture by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, Evans described how standardizing Henderson’s practice can lead to improvement of quality design, speed-to-market, and cost. He further explained how Henderson has created processes to mass customize results, which has provided innovation to designers with more time to discuss on vital particulars, which had the added benefit of improving innovation. Representatives from several Northwest Arkansas firms were in attendance.

Henderson has successfully executed the innovation-standardization method at the Kansas State University Olathe Innovation Campus along with architects from HNTB. Dustin Schafer, Henderson’s senior vice president and director of engineering, has led the firm’s implementation over the last few years. Processes are in place with an enterprise-wide designer interface tool used to create projects that unleash innovation, improve quality, and speed up design.

“RA explicitly points out the flaws of our current state of design and asks the industry to reconsider our methods and adjust in a similar way to other design industries like automotive manufacturing and furniture making,” Evans said. “We are hopeful that our design methods can lead to truly lean construction, so that the byproducts of this — our designs themselves — are lean by default. Henderson is deeply involved in the development of these progressions that benefit the entire industry.”

Lean design and construction enhances value on projects and uncovers wasted resources, including time, movement, and human potential. Such methods seek to develop and manage a project through relationships, shared knowledge, and common goals. As a result, owners are assured they receive a quality product in a short amount of time at a fair price.

As the industry continues to transition, Henderson will continue to place a focus on refabricating.

“Much is at stake,” Evans emphasized. “We are already seeing firms in the industry move towards this model. The traditional paradigm will either become too costly or too slow if the intent is to provide architecture to the masses.”