Departments

Photo: New Life Nicaragua. EMI Intern Shayla shares proposed design of the children's home with the ministry leaders as EMI volunteers and staff prepare to walk through the rest of the ministry center master plan.

EMI Nicaragua mobilizes teams of staff and volunteer design professionals to provide architecture & engineering conceptual design services for approved development projects. EMI’s Technical Assistance Pre-Application is the first step of the project approval process. Assessments and Concept Design services often begin with an EMI Project Trip, where the EMI team visits the project site for 5-7 days. The team will assess & survey the property and consult with the client ministry to review the project and develop design ideas that meet the needs of the ministry.

After the Project Trip, the Assessment or Concept Design documents are the published product of the groundwork & feedback from the Project Trip consultation and focus on the first phase of the development project. It usually takes 2-3 months to publish these documents. Concept Design documents can be used for sharing vision inside & outside the client ministry to build consensus and support for the project. Concept Design is a baseline for the project & as such can be refined further with critical alterations, used to formulate informed planning strategies, or given to a local builder to guide construction.

Photo: SJC, Guatemala. Engineer and Architect volunteers on a project trip to Guatemala design a school campus for Kindergarten to High School students including workshops to teach technical skills.

Once a concept design has been completed, and funds are being raised for a project, it is time to begin the detailed design process. While concept design documents the EMI Nicaragua are very well thought out and the finish product provides beautiful representations of a final product—they are not ready for construction.

In order to properly describe a project to a contractor or a volunteer team, detailed designs are needed that have been prepared to meet the design standards and norms in the location of the project. Additionally, depending on the location of the project, permits will be required.

Depending on the project, the Detailed Design phase can include construction ready plans and specification, assistance with the permitting process, connection to other local design professionals and preparations for construction. The Detailed Design phase usually ends at the delivery of Final Design documents (construction ready drawings, specifications and budgets).

Photo: Managua, Nicaragua. The construction supervisor reviews the plans for a horse arena with a construction superintendent while architect interns look on.

EMI Nicaragua mobilizes teams of staff and contractor design professionals to provide construction support services for approved development projects. EMI’s Technical Assistance Pre-Application is the first step of the project approval process.

The scope of EMI Nicaragua’s construction support services varies based on project type and location. Historically EMI Nicaragua has not provided provide full-time construction support, but is working towards full time Construction management for select projects that are either limited in scope or are close to the Managua office.

Available for all EMI designed projects, Limited Construction support usually consists of remote assistance to the project site engineer / manager / client representative who is engaged in the day-to-day management of the project. Along with multiple 1-3 day site visits to the project on the following occasions during the project:

Pre-construction meeting to discuss & review the Detailed Design plans with the key persons involved in project execution, i.e. the contractor / builder, site engineer / manager / representative, etc.
Pre-construction layout of the building(s) on the site. This is to ensure the correct positioning of the building on the site master plan.
Mid-construction review of progress at a key stage(s) to answer questions, review & address problems, etc. For instance, this could be before concrete is placed for the first floor of a building, or as the interior finishing work begins for the building.
Post-construction review to identify missing items, develop a completion checklist, answer questions, review & address problems, etc.