HOW CAN MODERN TECHNOLOGY BE LEVERAGED

Bathroom with large window

How can modern technology be leveraged to make architecture and planning more efficient and effective?

(LinkedIn asked this morning) 

Not that many years ago, digital visualisation and renders were seen as a costly luxury that smaller projects could not afford. Not only the software required was highly expensive, complex to use and unavailable to smaller studios but not all clients could justify investing in the production of renders. As such, there were many inefficiencies resulting from changes taking place during construction that not only impacted progress on site but also costs. 

VR and AR entering the mainstream marked the start of a journey of appreciation for the value that clients could extract from experiencing spaces at the earlier stages of design. And this, together with the collective design awakening that lifestyle championing social media platforms drove, shifted clients' perspective. 

In parallel to this, software categories that were once exclusive to professionals were disrupted due to an increase in demand and as a result small professional studios were able to afford many more software options. 

At our studio we have been using this shift to provide our client-centred design services. Architects have always worked with models, physical and digital, as part of the process, however when it came to presenting to clients the digital ones had to become 2D and the physical were sometimes too abstract for some of them . And hence in 2018 we started using video form to help clients who needed to imagine themselves in the space become part of the design process and stakeholders buy into the design process. All these years later, we still find video to be a great client centred tool. 

In addition to this, we can see the value that AI based tools can bring to the design process and beyond. From assistance generating components to be assembled in mood boards or collages , to sourcing textures for models, illustrations for educational presentations (in school and university) or even providing help with SEO, context research and more, it is clear that time can be saved. 

We are however aware of the ethical, cultural and other risks that blind reliance on AI tools (in their current form) present and hence we will continue to keep an eye on the development of those tools before introducing them to our workflow to ensure we maintain the quality of our services.