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British Columbia. His career began in the con-
struction industry in the late 1980s as a trades-
man working on building envelope systems and
assemblies, earning his qualifications as a jour-
neyman in glazing and carpentry. After decid-
ing to pursue a career as a building envelope
consultant, Battistel enrolled at the British Co-
lumbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) to study
building science and then joined RDH Building
Engineering after graduation. RDH was a new
company at that time but it was gaining recog-
nition thanks to the company’s founders who
were considered some of the top building en-
velope consultants in the industry.
After a year with RDH, Battistel became a
shareholder and later relocated to Seattle,
Washington to open the company’s new office
in the U.S. and introduce rainscreen construc-
tion to the area’s architects. Rainscreen con-
struction is a design approach used to control
rain penetration into the exterior envelope,
or the walls and roof, of a building. RDH was
involved in writing many of the industry stan-
dards and guidelines that led to rainscreen de-
sign becoming a building code requirement,
