13 When AI Meets openBIM
AI is reshaping the built environment, and it demands structured, open data. In this Café Zai episode, Kimon Onuma meets with BuildingSmart USA industry leaders to explore how decades of buildingSMART...
9 Sep 202532min
12 Before CAD (BC) to BIM Clash & Burn
Kimon Onuma and Cyril Verley trace the evolution of architecture’s digital journey, from hand drafting, to early CAD experiments, to the rise of BIM and Revit. Cyril shares firsthand stories from Skid...
3 Sep 202525min
11 Calling Uber with a PDF: The Absurdity of Facility and Asset Data Today
Most owners are still trying to manage their facilities and assets with static PDFs and mutating Excel files, like calling an Uber by downloading a spreadsheet of cars. From projects to existing build...
29 Aug 202534min
10 Jack Dangermond on the Nervous System of the Planet : A Café ZAi Conversation
I asked Jack Dangermond for 5 minutes… he gave me 52.In this uncut extended Café Zai conversation, recorded live at ESRI HQ during the buildingSMART USA 2025 event, Jack shares his candid thoughts on:...
20 Aug 202552min
09 Donuts, Silos, and the Shape of Asset Failure
Silos are the clogged arteries of your buildings. Time to change the diet. If you only feed your buildings and assets donuts, don’t be surprised when they get sick. In this Café Zai conversation, Mich...
14 Aug 202522min
08 Why Buildings Are the Gift That Keeps on Taking — and What to Do About It
Cameron Christensen grew up with a front-row seat to pioneering work in facility asset management. His father, Doug Christensen, literally wrote the book on Total Cost of Ownership — Building Total En...
11 Aug 202522min
07 Your Shiny Building Smells like Rotten Data and Deferred Maintenance
New Café ZAi Episode, with Birgitta FosterThat new building smell? It fades.Then it starts to smell like budget gaps, moldy ductwork, outdated spreadsheets……and the LEED Platinum plaque still gleaming...
7 Aug 202521min
06 The System Is the Problem: Asset Management, ROI, and the Case for Total Strategy
We’ve been making the same mistakes for decades. Jack Dempsey isn’t afraid to say it, and in this 3-minute clip from our Café Zai conversation, he breaks down why the system is designed to fail, not j...
4 Aug 202521min
