Michael Bade, AIA

by John Gendall

Summary: In a time when work is done more from hotels and airport terminals than from a fixed office desk, when files are transferred through FTP sites, and commissions know no borders, it can be easy to overlook the very transformative nature of international experiences. But, for many architects, stints overseas have shaped the way they understand architecture and business. California architect Michael Bade, AIA, is one such person.

As the interim assistant vice chancellor for capital projects and the campus architect at the University of California San Francisco, Bade has shaped his current practice with lessons learned abroad.

In the 1980s, as a MArch student at UC Berkeley, Bade seized the opportunity to study in Sienna, Italy, at the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design. There, he developed an early appreciation for the social perspectives of architecture and for understanding design as something that is about solving problems in an aesthetic way. “I really learned a lot about architecture and design by being abroad and looking at projects with a critical eye,” he says.

Later, as a young professional, after working in a small design studio in California, Bade decided to move to Asia. He worked for Pacific Architects & Engineers (PAE), an American design and project management firm with a significant presence in Japan, and later, in 1993, still in Tokyo, launched his own project management consulting practice.

“Soon after I was licensed in the 1980s, I moved to Tokyo for what I thought would be a year or two,” recalls Bade. “It turned out to be 12 years.”

In a way reminiscent of his time in Sienna, Bade picked up new ideas about architecture and aesthetics. Not only did his Japanese experience offer new insights into design, it also stimulated new modes of considering project management. “At PAE, I got involved with a few rapid construction projects. I like the Japanese approach—it’s a very sophisticated way of project delivery.”

For a 50,000-square-foot semi-conductor building, for example, he executed design and construction in a staggering seven months. This experience with rapid execution provoked him to consider how he could wring wasted time out of the construction process.

When he took on his role at UCSF about 10 years ago, he wanted to implement this approach to building. In pursuit of this objective, Bade has adopted Toyota’s method of management, now known in the A/E/C industry as “lean construction.” As part of this approach, for each new project, Bade assembles the entire team—contractors, subcontractors, engineers, architects, and owners—to consider the project in its entirety. Beginning at the end, the participants schedule in reverse, carefully outlining the steps to accomplish along the way. They break down the schedule into several key milestone periods, with each constituency making specific commitments to the successful completion of those periods.

“We don’t focus on one critical path, since it does not address the total flow,” explains Bade. “If you ignore the flow, you will be surprised when situations turn into crises.” To that end, during meetings, Bade rolls out a sheet of butcher paper, and participants will mark it up with Post-It notes, mapping out the complex sets of issues and relationships for each period. “Each meeting is meant to be a learning process—we discover what has been completed, and if it hasn’t been, we determine why not.”

As a way to encourage collaboration, each site has only one trailer. “We’re trying to change the social nature of construction,” claims Bade. “We went from isolated trailers, with each group sending hate-mail through the post to a single trailer, where everyone is seated together.”

He is now overseeing two major building projects: a laboratory building for cardiovascular research, designed by Smith Group in San Francisco, and another building for stem-cell research, a 75,000-square-foot structure designed by Rafael Viñoly. He ascribes the smoothness with which they have proceeded in large part to the techniques he learned in Japan.

Bade recognizes that the team process demands strong individual players. “We have very high standards,” he explains. “We are committed to exceptional design and exceptional technological capability. Our selection process is very careful.”

Much of the work he oversees is smaller, tactical intervention to existing—but aging—buildings. “I sign construction documents from $200 to $180-million. It’s easy to get the impression that I’m focused on only a few mega-projects, but that’s not how it is. We always have projects at smaller scales, so I’m always looking for architects,” he says. “I am the treasurer of the AIA’s San Francisco chapter, and it’s been really great to be involved, since it gets me out to meet architects.”

Though he has become closely engaged in San Francisco over the last 10 years, Bade’s time abroad continues to shape his perspective. “International experience is a really important thing to do, even if you do it for only a couple of years,” he says.