In 2023, the new facilities director at Dexter Southfield School, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, initiated a comprehensive evaluation of the school’s 36-acre campus, which dates back 58 years. The school also sought a virtual tour of the property to enhance its marketing efforts.
A contractor with prior experience working with Dexter Southfield connected the director to LLB Architects. Alongside their partners at Pragmaticam, LLB introduced an evolved approach to the traditional “facilities audit”—a thorough review of a site’s assets, policies, procedures, and infrastructure.
LLB and Pragmaticam aimed to transform the facilities audit process from static, periodic snapshots into a dynamic, continually updated database, accessible anytime and anywhere it’s needed.
The team collaborated with Existing Conditions, a GPRS company specializing in 3D laser scanning and Building Information Modeling (BIM), to deliver Dexter Southfield a comprehensive interior and exterior model of its entire campus, alongside a virtual tour.
Existing Conditions, a GPRS company, collaborated with LLB Architects and Pragmaticam to provide revolutionary existing conditions documentation for Dexter Southfield School.
About the Project
Pragmaticam is led by Neal Bijlani, a former LLB Principal who was instrumental in developing a modernized alternative to conventional facilities audits.
“There was an opportunity to branch off, and I’m now acting as principal for Pragmaticam while maintaining a close partnership with LLB,” Bijlani explained.
LLB Architects, formerly Lerner Lads Bartels, has long specialized in educational and research facilities across New England.
“We focus on projects that are highly contextual, centered on people, and innovative in technology integration,” said LLB Principal Enno Fritsch.
LLB has a long-standing relationship with Existing Conditions, which has only strengthened over time.
Once 3D laser scanning was complete, Existing Conditions’ in-house Processing Team compiled the data into the virtual walkthrough and other drawings & models requested by LLB Architects, Pragmaticam, and Dexter Southfield.
“Our understanding of Existing Conditions’ deliverables has become more efficient, which helps us tailor our scope of work between teams,” Bijlani noted. “At Dexter Southfield, we needed to concentrate on design and planning, so having a specialized team for field verification kept the project on time and on budget.”
Like LLB and Pragmaticam, Existing Conditions is pushing the boundaries of site documentation, ensuring project data is both accessible and frequently updated.
“It’s about documenting their critical assets and setting up a system where we and Pragmaticam effectively become their CAD and BIM department,” said Mark Catalano, Senior Account Executive at GPRS. “These facilities teams juggle a lot, from maintenance to day-to-day operations, but asset documentation often gets overlooked. By ensuring they have up-to-date drawings, they gain accurate records of campus assets in a manageable format.”
In the summer of 2023, Existing Conditions’ Project Managers conducted 3D laser scans of Dexter Southfield’s 15 buildings and surrounding grounds, working within the narrow summer break window.
The school’s new facility director received a comprehensive assessment of the campus and its buildings that he needed to responsibly allocate resources for operations & maintenance (O&M).
“To minimize our on-site time, we coordinated closely with our Field Operations Team, deploying between one and five staff members on campus at any time,” explained Holly Vaillancourt, Director of Operations for GPRS.
The team had to work around ongoing campus construction.
“Campuses often schedule updates during summer, so we navigated around contractors. If needed, we returned to re-scan spaces post-renovation,” Vaillancourt added.
Once scanning was complete, the data was processed into a virtual walkthrough and additional models for LLB Architects, Pragmaticam, and Dexter Southfield.
The facilities director received a thorough campus assessment, and the school gained a virtual tour to share with prospective families worldwide.
“The walkthrough exemplifies how to maximize a deliverable,” Fritsch said. “It’s a tool for both modeling and marketing, and, by merging data from Existing Conditions with our assessment, the school has a valuable, continuously usable resource. As buildings evolve, they can keep this information updated, turning it into a foundation for long-term improvements.”
“This technology will transform their facility management.”
How SiteMap® Supports Project Management
The collaborative vision of Existing Conditions, LLB Architects, and Pragmaticam echoes GPRS’ work providing accurate, above-and-below-ground documentation through SiteMap® (patent pending), an industry-leading facility and project management platform.
SiteMap® consolidates precise, field-verified data collected by GPRS’ SIM and NASSCO-certified Project Managers into a secure yet accessible platform. From any device, team members can work from the same data set, reducing the risk of errors due to miscommunication.
GPRS is now offering live SiteMap® demos. To see how SiteMap® can benefit your next project, schedule your demo today!