Innovative tech solutions– from 3D printing to project management tools and drone-based monitoring systems– are revolutionizing the way architects work. These tools allow them to optimize their workflows, increase ROI and communicate better with clients. Since the advent of the smartphone, app developers have been rolling out small, nimble tools that tackle all sorts of problems professionals encounter on a daily basis, both in the studio and on the construction site.

These 10 apps for architects have proven to be extremely useful across different aspects of the profession. They are intuitive, enhance collaboration and can integrate well with the most popular design software solutions used in the AEC industry.

Best Mobile Apps for Architects List:

#1 MagicPlan

MagicPlan makes augmented reality work to an architects’ advantage by allowing them to create accurate floor plans without the use of measuring tape, pencils, or paper. The app assembles a floor plan in a matter of minutes. All that is required is that the user stand and point a device toward the space that needs measuring. Users can also export these drawings as a PDF, JPG, or DXF and share them with collaborators. The app also includes tutorials on how to use it effectively and get fully adjusted to it.

#2 Autodesk Formit

Autodesk created Formit as part of the company’s Revit software package. The app allows architects to use real-world site information during the early design stage of a project. Formit is an intuitive, easy to use mass-modeling application helping designers make informed decisions while accessing site and climate data. It allows designers to sketch proposed design options that can be compared with program requirements and then shared with the project team for continued collaboration through Autodesk® 360. The Pro version allows users to build larger models and includes built-in Solar Analysis. FormIt started life as an iPad application, but is now available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and in the web browser.

#3 iRhino 3D

With iRhino 3D, architects can view models created in Rhino 3D on the go. It allows users to view native Rhino 3DM files on their iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, pan, zoom, and rotate using typical commands. By using the navigator, they can scroll through thumbnails and quickly jump to different models, showcase them to clients and colleagues and save views as images for markup and emailing. You can load Rhino models from websites, Google Drive, Dropbox, email attachments, or from iTunes.

#4 BIMx

BIMx is GRAPHISOFT’s mobile BIM communication tool for viewing ARCHICAD models on smarphones and tablets. Architects can use this free app for Android and iOS to share designs, view them in 2D and 3D, or in virtual reality on the iPhone where the Google Cardboard is supported. BIMx Viewer allows users to download models from other sources or from the BIMx community site through iTunes to the iPad.

#5 Morpholio Trace

Morpholio Trace is perfect for architects who love to create quick sketches with the intelligence and accuracy of CAD. The app allows them to draw on top of imported images and templates, add comments and annotations, and quickly visualize ideas. It provides instant scaling, allows users to create custom entourage, landscapes and graphics, and send or print packages. It includes the ScalePen, a patent-pending technology that checks the drawing scale and zoom level continuously to automatically assign a calibrated set of technical pens. The result is simple but powerful – an array of perfect pen sizes that dynamically responds as you move around, through and into the drawing.

#6 IrisVR

With virtual and augmented reality tool gaining popularity, this new technology has also become a medium that is transforming the way the AEC industry communicates and creates designs. Tech startup IrisVR, which develops virtual reality software for professionals in the AEC industry, has already developed two useful pieces of software: Prospect, which instantly and automatically converts 3D models into fully navigable VR experiences for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets, and Scope, an app that allows you to view rendered 360° panoramas with a Google Cardboard, GearVR, or other mobile VR headset.

#7 Storyboard VR

Storyboard VR is a free prototyping and visualization tool that allows users to pull in, arrange, scale and animate simple 2D assets. Architects can upload transparent drawings and environment maps from existing sketching tools to Storyboard VR and use the app to get feedback early in the design process. It also features a VR version of PowerPoint which creates slides for effective presentation purposes.

#8 Pair

Pair (formerly Visidraft) is a tech startup that built an app which allows architects to drag-and-drop 3D models of consumer furnishings and appliances into their designs using iPhones or iPads. The firm built Pair using their proprietary computer vision and augmented reality technology that makes the app different from its AR competitors. Architects and consumers can physically walk around a virtual 3D product like it is in their home, office space or design.

#9 Drone Deploy

Drone Deploy is an app that allows architects to collect aerial construction site data and images using drones, upload imagery to create accurate, high-resolution maps and 3D models for detailed analysis, manage hundreds of users and connect teams with one-click collaboration and admin tools. Project monitoring thus becomes easy and consistent, with the app helping to improve site planning and quality control, managing assets, and reducing risk on the job site.

#10 ArchiSnapper

Archisnapper is an app for iOS and Android devices which allows users to create and access field reports and punch lists on the construction site, as well as to photograph, draw, sketch, annotate and add comments. It streamlines the creation and organization of construction site data that typically requires the use of several devices and cumbersome processes. With ArchiSnapper, architects can automatically generate and edit field reports and share them with their collaborators and clients.

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Let us know which of these apps for architects do you find most useful, or if you think we’ve missed other important ones you can’t do without.

The post 10 Best Apps for Architects That Make Life Easier appeared first on Archipreneur.

This week’s interview is with Sébastien Lucas, Co-Founder and CEO of Bricks.

Sébastien has been working an architect for 7 years before he started as an entrepreneur and self-taught web developer. His goal was always to make architecture a collaborative practice. He first developed Openbricks, a platform to share and find open source architectural projects and designs.

Then, inspired by GitHub, he developed Bricks. Bricks is an app for architects that focusses on providing collaborative solutions for architectural design. The public beta of Bricks will be launched this month.

Continue to read to learn more about SaaS, business models for open source and of course about Bricks and how it could help your practice.

Enjoy the interview!

What made you decide to found Bricks? Was there a particular moment that sealed the decision for you?

Since the beginning of my entrepreneur journey back in 2006, when I was still working as an architect for agence TER, a well-known French landscape architecture studio, my motivation is to improve the way architects collaborate.

I developed Archiref in 2010, a platform to share images of architecture,  and then Openbricks in 2014 to make it easier to find open source elements for architecture.

Those two projects seek to encourage architects to share their library of inspiration and projects. In order to save time, build a community, and communicate their work in a way that is useful for everyone. With Bricks, I was also at the design side of the development.

Software developers have GitHub, where most open source software are built and shared. Github is both a working tool and a huge library. Inspired by GitHub, I was motivated to develop an app for architects that can be useful daily and help in making the design process collaborative, in essence, the GitHub for architects.

I met my two associates about a year ago. One of them, François Muzard is a BIM manager. He introduced me to the BIM world and the fact that the BIM ecosystem needs apps to help efficient communication among project stakeholders, task sharing, and even discussions…

All Bricks associates have experienced agile methods in the fields of web development and BIM collaboration. So the idea arose to quickly build an app that would integrate not only all the benefits of Agile Methods, but also adapt to AEC and closely integrate to the growing BIM ecosystem.

You have just launched Bricks app. Could you give us some examples of how the tool is used and how it helps architectural practices?

Architects lose a lot of time for external and internal communication. After a meeting, everyone seems to be all clear on what needs to be done. But how to track progress and answer questions before the next meeting? How to keep the project momentum and maintain flawless communication day after day, and keep everyone involved motivated and informed?

Communication is usually a mix of emails, phone calls, and maybe some paperwork… but it takes time and never provides a clear state of the work to be done.

With Bricks, we propose a shared platform to communicate and exchange ideas about tasks before and after the meeting.

You can then:

• plan tasks for the next meeting
• assign them to your team or external collaborators
• discuss the tasks in greater detail
• follow their progress and hierarchize them with a kanban board

We will release a new meeting module soon. It will allow you to invite meeting attendees assigned to specific tasks. It also generates a report to send out automatically to all the attendees.

Compared with other architecture project management tools, Bricks is based on Agile approach. More than just tracking tasks, we also aim to give everyone a clear idea of what how far along they are on the project.

Of course, you can manage privacy too, thanks to our group feature. It allows creating separate project groups where you can share specific topics to just your engineers, the client, or to everyone on the project.

In which development phase is your app?

The public beta of Bricks will be launched this month. This version is the result of nearly one year of development and iteration on the product. We have decided on a clear roadmap, giving priority to the ease of use and simplicity along with specific attention to the quality of the user interface.

Though BIM and 3D model integration are important, we have decided to orient our first product on task management, as it is at the core of agile methods. Also often the simple, such as sharing comments and images, is more efficient than the complicated, like discussing a complex 3D model. Indeed the 3D model environment could be overwhelming for many people and not accessible under bad internet connection contexts.

We will make a demo of the app at Web summit, the biggest startup event in Europe, held in Lisbon this November. We will animate a few specific user workshops in our network of innovative architectural practices. Our objective is to gather as many feedbacks as possible to improve the app for its next iteration.

The next feature we will develop is a new module that handles meetings efficiently and integrates with task management seamlessly. We expect to launch it before the end of the year.

After which, we will launch the final v1 version and payment plans at the beginning of 2018.

How did you finance it?

Since the end of 2016 and until now, we have financed the Bricks app project out of our own pockets. We are looking for public and private funding to move with the project even faster. As in the startup world, completion speed  is a key factor to success!

Further I wanted to ask you about a project you launched earlier, Openbricks. Could you tell us a little about it?

Openbricks is a platform to share and find open source architectural projects and designs. These past few years have seen open source architecture gaining momentum, with a community like the Wikihouse and the Pritzker prize Alejandro Aravena who shared four of his social housing designs under the Creative Commons license.

I have the chance to be both an architect and a web developer, so I know very clearly how open source contributes in development – it simply revolutionizes everything!

While big tech names like Google and Facebook also contribute to open source framework, a software collaboratively developed by a community of people can eventually get bigger and more powerful than the software developed by powerful companies. It is a way to democratize the knowledge.

But now to get back to architecture, the open source movement face several roadblocks that prevent its viral development :

• A clarification of licenses
• A clarification of responsibility for the design
• A simple way to find and participate in open source design
• A business model to share the benefits to contributors
• …

With Openbricks, we wanted to solve the problem of the fragmentation of open source architecture projects to create a standard that facilitates discovery like GitHub did in its time.

We, of course, want to advance in a better model and improve the tool. But for the moment, the development of Bricks is our current priority.

Open Source means that knowledge is shared at no costs. What is the business model for Openbricks?

Openbricks is completely free!

Open source platforms can have several business models. Let’s take two examples. First is the Noun project, a platform of quality design icons shared by the designer community. They offer free license of the icons they share, all within the Creative Commons framework. Most people don’t pay, but the professionals do and contribute for the others.

Secondly GitHub, the hub for open source development projects. It is free for open source projects and does have paying plans for companies that want to use the same tools (code versioning, project management, etc) to manage their private projects.

In our case, Openbricks is a library of architectural elements that could be, at some point, integrated with Bricks app. Openbricks will remain free and what people will pay for is to use the Bricks app as a monthly subscription. This, in turn, will go to the services, formation, integration, and customisation that could be needed for architects to set up the app internally.

Do you have any advice for Archipreneurs who want to start and build their own business?

Don’t be afraid to study your project idea. We are all constantly overwhelmed by announcements of new apps, new startups. You may feel discouraged to launch your own project in such a competitive and dynamic world.

But do it :

• start small
• focus on one specific problem to solve, one that you experienced personally
• choose the right people to build and complete your team
• don’t be afraid to talk about your idea to anyone you meet
• show the product early for feedbacks and do not hesitate to change your initial idea

Experience has proven that ideas that seemed very similar at first can create a whole new experience and with continuous improvement, differentiate itself from the rest and find its target market.

Think about Instagram, who would have imagined that an image sharing app with a few filters could end up being so popular!

About Sébastien Lucas

Sébastien Lucas is co-founder and CEO of Bricks, a SaaS application focused on providing collaborative solutions for architectural design. Sébastien is an architect by profession and for 7 years worked for award-winning French architecture and landscape architecture companies.

In 2009, passionate about the web and with the idea to make architecture a collaborative practice, he developed several projects: Archiref, Openbricks and then, the Bricks app. He became, as a result, an entrepreneur and self-taught web developer with a specialization in javascript and frontend technologies.

He then worked 5 years as a freelance web developer to create web applications for other startups, media and web agencies. In 2013, he organized three Future Architecture Night events, a conference cycle inspired by TED’s or Pecha Kucha and offered the opportunity for more than 30 startups and architects to talked about their innovations related to architecture.

The post Design Together with Bricks: Collaborative Solutions for Architects appeared first on Archipreneur.

From being a novelty a few years ago, VR/AR solutions are slowly becoming a medium that’s transforming the way professionals in the AEC industry communicate, create and experience content. Offering a more immersive experience of architectural designs, but also products and areas related to space building, Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) tools are becoming an industry standard that offers rapid iterations and opportunity to refine designs in collaboration with clients and colleagues.

While Virtual Reality (VR) creates fully computer-generated and driven environments, Augmented Reality (AR) delivers virtual elements as an overlay to the real world. This is why, while leveraging the same type of technology, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are taking different paths to the end user as well as various industries. Also, VR is thought to be a tool better suited to architects, while AR will likely find more uses in construction.

Although both these groundbreaking technologies are exploding, they are still in an early development stage. In order to provide a more structured overview of the most interesting solutions out there, we compiled a list of VR/AR tools that best suit those working the in AEC industry.

#1 – ARki

ARki is a real-time augmented reality visualization service for architectural models. It incorporates AR technology into architecture by providing 3-D models with multiple levels of interactivity for both design and presentation purposes.

ARki can be used on any IOS/Android device. It simply overlays 3-D models onto existing 2-D floor plans, but also provides several other interactive functionalities, including real-time shadow analysis and material selection. Users can capture and record custom views of models in both movie and 3-D still format, and share their content via email or social media with a few clicks.

#2 – Storyboard VR

Storyboard VR is a free prototyping and visualization tool that can be used by architects, AEC professionals, artists and creators. It allows users to pull in, arrange, scale and animate simple 2-D assets. The creators of Storyboard VR, design firm Artefact, developed it for their own internal use for Virtual Reality (VR) projects they worked on. They created their own tool to quickly and easily prototype VR experiences.

You can create and upload transparent drawings and environment maps from your existing sketching tools to Storyboard VR, then select your assets and build a storyboard. The ease of use allows designers to share ideas and get feedback early in the design process. Storyboard VR also features slides – sequential scenes – providing something like a Virtual Reality (VR) version of PowerPoint.

#3 – Pair

Pair (formerly Visidraft) used proprietary computer vision and augmented reality technologies to build an app, which allows architects to drag-and-drop 3-D models of consumer furnishings and appliances into their designs using iPhones or iPads. Their online catalog of models and assets now features over 200 home and office furniture products from Fortune 500 manufacturers, with new products being added every day.

After launching their app, the firm saw that a large percentage of their growth was coming from furnishings and appliance manufacturers. What makes Pair different from other Augmented Reality (AR) solutions is their focus on products and consumers – it allows users to physically walk around a virtual 3-D product like it is in their home of office space.

#4 – SmartReality

SmartReality is an augmented reality mobile app that uses the mobile device’s camera to overlay an interactive BIM model over printed construction plans to create 3-D visualizations of projects. It allows users to zoom, expose structural layers with a touch, move through stages of a project over time and record images and video of their experience. Users can create a free account to upload 2-D plans and get matching 3-D plans and models for a quote.

The SmartReality app is also available in a VR version developed by the JBKnowledge Labs R&D team. This version lets users virtually walk through building models using virtual reality solutions like the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and Google Project Tango.

#5 – Fuzor

Fuzor is a real-time rendering app that integrates with Revit. It uses the technology originally designed by Kalloc Studios for game design and offers a bi-directional live link with Revit, allowing users to move around, visualize, annotate, and inspect BIM information, while also syncing changes between the two tools.

The live link is what allows Fuzor to instantly update and reflect the modifications done in a Revit file. It supports various measurements, clash analysis, lighting analysis, color and visibility filters, cross section and section cut rendering, and walkthrough video rendering with BIM information embedded.

For collaboration with construction sites, BIM Solution supports mobile devices BIM drawing visualization via Google Drive or Dropbox. Fuzor currently provides support for Revit, Archicad, Rhinoceros 3-D, Navisworks, SketchUp, FBX, and 3-DS files.

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What other Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) tools do you find interesting? Have you incorporated any of these in your workflow? Let us know about your experiences.

The post The Top 5 Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Apps for Architects appeared first on Archipreneur.

The AEC industry is becoming increasingly competitive, and that is largely thanks to the emergence of innovative technologies and digital tools on the market. For any business, productivity and time management are considered integral to success. To gain a competitive advantage, AEC professionals must be able to keep up with their peers – and today, that means automating workflows.

ArchiSnapper’s own development story is also an excellent example of how creating passive revenue streams and productizing services can both add value for clients and help companies to build successful, sustainable businesses.

ArchiSnapper’s founders had been running an online and mobile software business, building software and apps for various international companies, until in 2012 a client asked them to create a comprehensive, practical field reporting program. The client’s firm had been struggling to find the time to generate weekly field reports and punch lists, and they needed a simple app to automate this process.

Before that time, ArchiSnapper’s developers had used a bespoke approach to solving individual client problems. But this process only kept them shackled to the out-dated model of trading time for money. This new proposal to develop software was a perfect opportunity for the team to develop a passive revenue stream while also solving a client’s problem.

Rather than proposing a one-time software solution, which would be costly for the client as well as the developers, the team decided to research whether there would be a demand for such a tool among other architecture firms. They found that 10 other studios were also interested in using the app, which gave them the impetus to start developing a program that could be licensed to individual firms.

Today ArchiSnapper has thousands of architects, contractors and engineers using the app to streamline their field reports and punch lists.

ArchiSnapper is a sleek app for iOS and Android devices that allows users to draft and access field reports and punch lists on the construction site, as well as to photograph, draw, sketch, annotate and add comments. In order to create jobsite reports, architects typically have to take photographs and upload them from their smartphone or digital camera to a computer. Then they must put them into a document, format, compress, add text and captions, and turn them into a PDF document, before they can finally email it to a colleague or client. This is a time-consuming task that requires multiple programs and media.

With ArchiSnapper, field reports are automatically generated and are editable online. Instead of struggling to find the time to complete field reports and punch lists, the easy-to-use interface means that your reports are basically finished before you leave the job site. Forget about USB sticks, cables, cameras and notepads. ArchiSnapper enables you to draft, preview and edit reports onsite and send them to anyone.

In addition, you can also share web links and email reports to entire project teams. This great app frees people up so that they can focus on the creative thrust of their project without having to juggle several devices, insert photos into Word or Excel, or type out multiple notes.

The ArchiSnapper team felt that the early version of their software was slow, a little buggy, and lacked an intuitive approach to user experience. Over time, they rebuilt it to address each of these issues. What the app’s license-based model affords them is the time to gather user feedback and fine-tune ArchiSnapper, which ends up saving their clients significant time and money.

ArchiSnapper is a great example of a niche product that solves a real problem for many construction professionals. Considering the time that it saves its users, the small cost to purchase ArchiSnapper is something that many architects, engineers and contractors are happy to bear.

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Want to follow suit and fulfil a critical industry need? Just take a step back and think about the problems that you face in your day-to-day tasks. By identifying a real business problem, you may indeed uncover an opportunity to develop a new product to solve it.

The post ArchiSnapper – Create Field Reports and Punch Lists with this App appeared first on Archipreneur.

There are numerous digital tools dedicated to optimizing workflow, communication and time management, helping business owners and freelancers realize their full potential. This can also apply to goal setting. Goals are closely connected to our daily habits. Whether you’re looking to start a new project, learn to use a new tool or launch a product, your habits will play a crucial role in moving things forward. This is why we have compiled a list of great productivity apps for architects and tools that will help you keep track of your work dynamic and make good habits while breaking bad ones.

10 Productivity Apps for Architects

#1 – Evernote

(Free / Web, Android, iOS)
Evernote is a popular note-taking and goal-tracking app that can be synced across your other devices. You can record your thoughts and notes, upload and save photos, audio files, bookmarks, and any type of reference materials all in one place. It also features an in-app chat box that lets you instant-message coworkers in real time.

#2 – Wunderlist

(Free / Web, Android, iOS)
Wunderlist is a to-do app that entrepreneurs love. It has a minimalist design and can also be accessed from all your devices. It’s great for both short-term and long-term lists and includes a lot of functionality even at the free level. Each task list contains to-do items, and each item can have a series of subtasks.

#3 – GoalsOnTrack

(subscription-based, 30-day free trial / Android, iOS)
Available for both Android and iOS, GoalsOnTrack helps you break down goals into smaller tasks which is great for minimizing procrastination. It tracks your progress in real time and allows you to partner with other apps. As a great productivity app, it documents your journey as you move toward achieving your goals, which can help boost motivation.

#4 – Strides

(subscription-based, 30-day free trial / Web, iOS)
Strides is a hybrid app for habit and goal tracking and organizing. It can be used to track goals like losing weight, marathon training as well as work-related projects. It color-codes your progress in green or red to keep you on track. Projects can be broken down into smaller steps and the Milestone Tracker helps to keep track of your overall pace.

#5 – Optimized

($3.99 / iOS)
Optimized splits all your activities into four categories: health, creativity, routine, and pleasure. You can set a timer for each activity and log the amount of time spent on it. Using the data, the app establishes correlations between activities and lets you know if you’re falling behind on any of them.

#6 – Habit List

($3.99 / iOS)
Habit List is a great productivity app for architects. It lets you track your habits through streaks, which show how many times in a row you’ve completed that habit. You can create flexible schedules, reorder your lists and mark different habits for different days. You can also toggle between the calendar and stats view.

#7 – Way of Life

($3.99 / iOS)
Way of Life can track everything from your eating habits to exercise and productivity, but it can also track when you don’t do things that are bad for you. If you log a habit that is marked red, it means that it’s not good for you. Green means the opposite. You can add notes when you log a habit, which can help you remember why you chose to skip it on specific days. Informative charts show the ratio of good vs. bad for each habit you select.

#8 – Irunurun

(Free for personal use / iOS)
Irunurun is a performance and accountability app that allows you to enter an action or habit and assign it a point value up to 100. You start at zero and with every completed action the number increases. You can share your experience with other users and build an accountability team that can encourage you. It can be used as a personal, team or enterprise app.

#9 – Momentum

(Free / iOS)
This app in calendar form allows you to complete habits and turns them from grey to green. Two tabs underneath the calendar allow you to set up and maintain habits. There’s also a Tips option in case you’re looking for suggestions for alternative ones. The free version allows you to track up to three habits, while the Premium version allows for an unlimited number. Momentum can be paired with an Apple watch.

#10 – HabitBull

(Free / Android, iOS)
HabitBull has a simple calendar layout to show progress on different goals color-coded to be easily identified. It tracks your success rate and also allows you to get support from other users. It recently expanded from Android only to include iOS. The free version lets you track up to five habits, and offers reminders, while the premium version allows up to 100 habits, cloud backup and other features.

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We all have bad habits that stipple our productivity and affect our overall mood. While these digital tools are no substitute for the hard work needed to increase efficiency and productivity, using one can be extremely helpful in turning things around.

The post Top 10 Productivity Apps for Architects to Help You Achieve Your Goals appeared first on Archipreneur.