1981.Ronald Reagan was president. The TV series Dallas ruled the ratings. Bette Davis Eyes would be atop the Billboard charts and the country was shocked at the walkway collapse at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency in July that year.Although the actual date and location of this disaster were changed in my novel, EQUILIBRIUM, many of the other facts surrounding this failure  are fairly accurate. The 1982 “post-mortem” report by the National Bureau of Standards found that two primary factors caused the collapse - inadequacy of the original design for the hanger rod connection and the change in the hanger rod arrangement during construction that essentially doubled the load on fourth-floor connection. Although the NBS report states that the connections were understrength in spite of this change, the “split-rod” detail change left the connection with a capacity of approximately one-third of that dictated by the building code.How can some long-ago engineering failure -- in a world before IBM launched their first personal computer -- still be a teachable moment to the new crop of young people who will be freshman engineering students this fall? Has a world now saturated with information made the problems of information sharing in the Hyatt Regency collapse irrelevant?Undoubtedly the world has changed since 1981, but the Hyatt Regency collapse is still a tragedy that provides valuable lessons. Although the interface between design and construction has inevitably changed over the years, some things have remained consistent. At its core, the construction process requires that design information be communicated to those that will perform the construction.  That hasn’t changed. Engineers and architects, although schooled in hard sciences, mathematics, and design techniques still, in many areas, rely on specialists to actually help “complete” the design. That hasn’t changed. The completed project, and the structure which supports it, still must resist the loads as presented in the applicable building codes in order to protect the public. That hasn’t changed.So what has changed?The flow of information and the technology that supports that flow has evolved in the design and construction arena like it has in other parts of our lives. People everywhere want things done faster. The Hyatt Regency project was “fast-tracked” meaning that construction would overlap design in order to shorten the overall schedule. Although the concept of fast-tracking is still popular, coordination and communication in such projects can be problematic. Historically, the design and construction teams on a project have preferred to exist in their separate silos. If communication on a fast-tracked project is not emphasized, then incomplete information can lead to misunderstandings. Communication difficulties in the Hyatt Regency project were later found to be part of the problem. The steel fabricator reported that they called the structural engineer and received a verbal “okay” to change to the “split rod” arrangement although this verbal approval was in fact disputed by the engineer. Nonetheless, the shop drawings were changed to the split rod arrangement and these drawings were approved.How might this be different in today’s world?Many of today’s engineering students will undoubtedly be exposed to an emerging project delivery system in today’s construction world called Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). This delivery system which seeks to integrate the processes, practices and technologies used by project participants. Success in a project is the overriding concern of the team where achieving shared goals takes precedence over meeting individual expectations. The overwhelming majority of owners, designers and contractors that have participated in an IPD-type project have stated the efficiency, productivity and costs have all been positively impacted. Today’s technology, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), combines a three dimensional model of the building with a database allowing the storage and sharing of information related to the design, fabrication, and installation of components into one place shared by all project participants. The opportunity this technology provides to help those involved on a project communicate cannot even be compared to a time before the widespread use of computers, email, and everything digital. It is hard to imagine but 1981 was even before the widespread use of fax machines (as I hear a chorus of college freshman asking “what’s a fax machine?”).  IPD also stresses a team-based approach to decision-making instead of decisions made in isolation by a single person or company. The theme of close contact and collaboration in decision-making is an opportunity for all project participants to use their expertise to shape the best decisions for the good of the project. Would this project delivery model be a shift from what existed in 1981? I have to believe it would.Although many things have changed since Dallas ruled primetime television and Kim Carnes sang Bette Davis Eyes to the top of the charts, one thing that has remained the same in the world of design and construction is the need for clear and effective communication. I think that may be a timeless lesson for those heading to college this fall.