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The primary volume is clad in white oak panels that are shaped to create a vertical raked pattern, enclosing an entry foyer, a powder room, and a guest bath, along with other utility spaces, including a wet bar concealed by a custom door assembly. Spaces within this central volume feature dark materials and minimal, taut details, in contrast to the volume’s exterior, such as the black stained white oak panels and marble interior utilized in the entry foyer. The second volume, long and horizontal, contains the kitchen finished in white materials and marble. While it is clad in paneling made from the same white oak species as the central volume, it is detailed with solid oak battens that create a different texture and rhythm.

While the two volumes contain material similarities, the subtle differentiation in the oak paneling, and the unique materials used for disparate programmatic elements, divide them according to distinct identities. Says co-principal Max Worrell, “This apartment is so much about the views, so we clustered the program elements into two separate volumes to free up the perimeter. The two wood volumes that define the space are essentially fraternal twins made from the same material yet different in scale and texture.”

The volumes also provide contrast to the open, view-soaked perimeter. “We wanted the entry foyer to be very dark and intimate, so that it would create a moment of pause before the burst of daylight and stunning views of Manhattan,” says Worrell. The perimeter walls throughout the loft are white, intentionally stark against the dark window frames that help reduce glare, while framing the spectacular views. Oversized pocket doors conceal two private bedroom suites and provide more intimate spaces through the use of wood floors and stone.

Stone in particular strikes a cool, grounding counterpoint to the oak and sunlight, such as in the form of the concrete terrazzo floor and monolithic terrazzo kitchen island in front of the second volume. “We found opportunities to carve or sculpt with stone”, says co-principal Jejon Yeung, alluding to its tactile qualities, “[including] the red marble powder sink, the stepped black Nero Marquina bench in the foyer, and the large kitchen island that is of the same gray terrazzo as the floor, adding moments of rich contrast.”

The concrete ceiling and structure of the historical warehouse are exposed and expressed throughout to highlight the rawness and texture of the building, juxtaposed against the warmer materials, and pure minimal lines of the new elements. Says Yeung, “This building is one of the first reinforced concrete buildings, and was even the tallest of its kind at the time, so we wanted to expose and highlight the concrete texture of the beams and columns, and complement and contrast with finer and richer materials.”

Project Information:

Architect : Worrell Yeung
MEP : Engineering Solutions
Lighting Designer : Lighting Workshop
Contractor : Metropolitan Innovations
Size : 3,200 square feet
Completed : October 2018
Photography : Alan Tansey, Naho Kubota

Material/Product Information:

• White Oak Paneling
• 8” Wide White Oak Engineering Flooring
• Tectura Terrazzo Cement Tile/Slabs
• Nero Marquina Bench/Countertop
• White Lilac Marble Backsplash / Wainscotting
• Blue de Savoie Marble
• Rosso Lepanto Marble Sink
• Waterworks Flyte Fixtures
• Ex-T Stand Bath Tub
• Rich Brilliant Willing Queue Light Fixture
• Rich Brilliant Willing Hoist Sconce Light Fixture
• Rich Brilliant Willing Brim Sconce Light Fixture
• Allied Maker Mini-Orb Pendant and Sconce

The post Four Corners Loft in DUMBO by Worrell Yeung appeared first on Archipreneur.

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The last time we spoke, you were based in Beijing, China. Since then you have built your own studio in the mountains of Austria. What inspired this change?

Yes, quite a lot has changed. Before we were surrounded by skyscrapers – now we are surrounded by mountains. The short answer is, I relocated because I get distracted in the city, and I find it’s easier for me to focus on my work in a studio far off the grid. But that is also a bit of a superficial answer…

What’s the long one?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this question recently. I think it starts with my dad. He was an extreme free-climber: no ropes, no security, just him and the mountain. He had a very direct connection to our natural environment. The more I climb and hike, I feel that my dad’s determination to climb is similar to my determination to be an architect.

My dad was always fascinated by how small he felt at the bottom of the mountain and how humble he feels on top of it. It is a change of perspective. You become insignificant and surrounded by millions of years of evolution. You become part of a larger story. The same is true for architecture. It can become this transmitter of history and culture and this can create something long-lasting in times that are driven by nearsightedness and short attention spans. As architects, sometimes we need this change of perspective.

When my dad fell from the mountain and died three years ago, some said that my dad had achieve the creation of his own universe, his own reality far away from the real world. However, when I go to the mountains, I feel there is nothing more real than being up there. You with all your emotions and senses, with your fear, your joy, your strength and your weaknesses. And you are with nature, with all its beauty and danger. I don’t think that my dad created his own reality, distant from our reality in the cities. I think he was as close to an objective reality as possible. This direct connection to our environment is more ‘real’ to me than what we consider to be ‘the real world’ with our invented stories of consumption, consumerism and capitalism.

Yuval Harari wrote in his books that our being and doing is shaped by fictional stories that we invented, which only exist because we all agree on them. Stories like money. A dollar bill is in the eyes of a chimpanzee a worthless piece of paper. Further stories are political systems, the economy, religions or nations. Our lives were shaped by those stories.

The same is true for architecture. For most of history, those stories shaped our buildings. We built pyramids for gods, churches for religions, palaces for kings. We built in different architectural styles for different eras, for different political systems. Now we mainly build skyscrapers for the economic system. We mainly build expansive real estate. Architecture was shaped by those stories. We care about those stories, but our planet doesn’t.

The countryside connects me more to an objective reality. For example, growing and harvesting my own food reconnects me to my senses. This is something I really missed in Beijing: to breathe in nature, to taste self-grown vegetables and to touch haptic materials. I would like to base my work as close to this reality as possible. How can architecture increase the health of people? Do we find strategies to build without harming other species or the environment? How can buildings give something back instead of just consuming from their environment? How can buildings reconnect people with their senses?

I think those are important topics of the future. If we lose our connection to our environment, we won’t be able to solve the problem of our generation: climate change.

Are you still working with Penda or do you pursue your own practice from your new studio now?

Yeah, we relocated our studio to the Austrian mountains two years ago and we rebranded our studio as ‘Precht’ at that time, for a couple of reasons. The main reason was that I wanted to work closer with my wife. Projects from the last couple of years like the Toronto Tree Tower, the Tel Aviv Arcades or the Indian Projects were already done by Fei and me. However, Fei wasn’t a partner of Penda and it was about time that she gets a proper recognition. Another reason is that we are working on the countryside and authenticity is here very important. It makes a difference if you stand with your name for your projects or with an invented synonym. So there are a couple of reasons, but we are very excited about the path ahead and all the feedback we are getting.

You represent a new generation as a aspiring young architect. What are your thoughts on the future of our profession? How do you think we need to change and be ready for the future?

We live in uncertain, fast changing times. What will artificial intelligence and machine learning do to architecture? Or does it something for architecture? No one knows what the future of architecture holds, but I will put forward two possible scenarios, one optimistic and one pessimistic.

Optimistically, we will introduce nature back into our buildings and connect residents with their senses. There will be sensible architecture with materials that you want to touch, with plants that you can smell and eat, and birds and bees that you can hear. Buildings will be healthy for the residents and for the environment. There will be buildings that people care about and get inspired from. We will find a way to reinvent the building industry and our sector will detach from the notion of economic growth and our towers will become more than vast real estate.

A more negative path could be that architecture will be based on fictional stories, but it won’t be a political system or the capital market. The currency of the future is not Dollars, Euros or Renmimbi. The currency of the future is data, and architecture won’t be an exception. If that is the path, the capital for buildings won’t be money any more, it will be data, and the developers won’t be Soho, a fund or an investment group. The developer of the future will be called Google or Amazon, and the architects will no longer be Rem or Bjarke, they will be called Apple, Baidu, or whatever comes after those tech giants.

I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a possibilist and I am excited to be a young architect in our time. The challenges that are ahead of our generation are enormous, but so are the possibilities. In the end, it is up to us to determine the future we want to shape.

What are your further thoughts on technology and architecture? Around the world, venture capitalists are excited to disrupt the built environment. What are your thoughts about that as a young architect working and living in times of change?

The question is whether the change is coming from within our industry or from the outside. At the moment I see our architecture too occupied with ourselves to change anything. We are still driven by intellectual, theoretic and academic statements, but there are more urgent problems than form and styles. As we remain distracted, most likely the change will come from the outside, but maybe that wouldn’t be as negative as I previously described. In recent years, the tech companies have revolutionized other sectors that were highly insufficient, such as the mobility and transport industry. For years, innovation in that sector stagnated and it needed Uber, Hyperloop, Tesla and Google to bring change. On one hand there is a lot of place for innovation, on the other hand there is possibilities to collect data and make a profit. This is true to architecture. Our sector is insufficient and there is a huge potential of innovation and profit.

In my mind, two things are certain: The business model of architecture will change and the architectural bubble will burst wide open.

Perhaps investors and large technology companies will use their collaborative resources to create the most coherent and sustainable buildings systems. Perhaps they will use their greed to collect data in exchange of cheaper real estate. It’s very hard to predict. In my mind, two things are certain: The business model of architecture will change and the architectural bubble will burst wide open.

At the ASA Forum Bangkok you said that the era of the Star Architect is over. Could you elaborate on that?

There will still be famous names in architecture, but I think the era of the ego is over. The era of the Vitruvian man is over. The celebration of the individual will be replaced by the power of
collaboration. I am inspired how Danish architects are working on collaborative projects. From the outside it looks like couple of bands who are jamming together from time to time. I think that is a path to a future.

I used to do ski-jumping and I have to say that in sports there is less competition than in architecture. There is a lot of elitism and egoism and I hope that a new generation of architects will find ways to work together, learn from each other and lift the quality of our industry.

You are very active on social media and you have built a personal brand among young architects. Is social media also a channel to attract projects for you?

As an architect I have two goals: Create good buildings and inspire others to do so. I use Instagram mainly for the second goal. Being active on social media certainly creates opportunities, but it takes calls and meetings to establish trust. A project will never happen without trust. Similar to a dating app, social media might get you in contact, but getting married requires more effort.

Social media does something else to our projects: it’s now very common for clients to ask us to design an “Instagramable spot”. They want one shot that will make the project viral. That’s an interesting part of the brief and I am not sure if that is a particular request for my studio since I’m active on Instagram and they think I have a clue about viral marketing of spaces. I don’t know, but I find it interesting. One can say it’s superficial, but maybe it adds another dimension to the design, because it lets you also think in stories.

You also just started a food startup based in Tel Aviv and Toronto. Could you tell us more about that? What inspires you to look into the startup world?

The startup culture is a beautiful part of our time. The playing field for creativity is wide open. You don’t need to study architecture to be an architect and you don’t need to work as an architect after studying architecture. We are trained with a unique skillset that is also needed outside of our industry. We combine business with creativity. We combine history with a future vision. We combine craftsmanship with cutting edge technology. We are strategic dreamers.

We are trained with a unique skillset that is also needed outside of our industry. We combine business with creativity. We combine history with a future vision. We combine craftsmanship with cutting edge technology. We are strategic dreamers.

I try to make use of this skillset and combine it with opportunities of our time. With that in mind, I’m part of a couple of startups like Halvana (a sesame seed business), Tmber (a startup for wood distribution) and Baumbau (a startup for prefabricated structures).

As much as I am in love with architecture, the business side of it is horrible, so I try to stand on a couple of more legs to create a stable future.

What are the bad parts of the architectural business?

As Koolhaas put it, “We are in the business of uniqueness” I think that’s a pretty stupid business model. We create always a unique prototype, but we never ship. Architecture is not scalable. If you design a small house, you need two architects on your team. If you get an airport, you hire 30 architects, but your margin stays the same. This is unlike other creative industries like product design, where if you design a chair and you can sell it a million times and have a scalable business.

As Koolhaas put it, “We are in the business of uniqueness” I think that’s a pretty stupid business model.

What are your thoughts on the future of the built environment? How can it improve, and what continues to inspire you as a young architect?

I am now a five-year-old architect. An architectural toddler. As a toddler, I ask a lot of questions about our profession and try to find some alternative answers for the status quo. How did we end up with a building system that is highly insufficient, inefficient, damaging and harmful for us, other species and the environment? At the same time, less than 5% of buildings today involve an architect. Did 95% stop listening while we were busy talking to ourselves? Do we have the wrong message?

The challenges that are ahead of our generation are enormous, but so are the possibilities. In the end, it is up to us to determine the future we want to shape.

I think architects can have an important message for the problems of our time. The biggest one for our generation is climate change. But for that, we need to get our message straight. Does the world really need another glass-tower filled with ACs? The international style of a concrete structure and curtain wall killed thousands of years of building intelligence, and it makes our cities look undistinguishable. The urban fabric dies in conformism.

Maybe we have to look back to build in a location appropriate way: culturally and climatically specific. Climate change won’t be solved with new technology. It will be solved with empathy, and architecture has a lot to offer here. We should try to create buildings that connect us to nature. and to our senses. Because if buildings isolate us from our environment, we become numb to it, and if we become numb, we won’t be able to solve anything.

What continues to inspire me? Well, I am a toddler. I am naturally inspired. Wherever I look I see excitement and possibilities. If I wouldn’t be inspired as a young architect, how could I ever keep up my passion. I believe the best time for me comes in my 60s and 70s. Everything until then is learning. —

Climate change won’t be solved with new technology. It will be solved with empathy, and architecture has a lot to offer here.

About Chris Precht

Founder of Studio Precht & Penda

Chris is a young architect from Austria and founder of Penda and Studio Precht. Together with his wife Fei, his team and 2 cats, he is working from a remote place in the mountains of Salzburg. From there, they are working on projects worldwide, which range from ecological High-rises to Bamboo-buildings. Chris is an advocate for a new generation of architects that finds meaning in their work and that is a leading voice to design an ecological future.

The post Transforming Practice: Chris Precht Represents a New Generation of Design Entrepreneurs appeared first on Archipreneur.

How did you come up with the idea of starting a digital platform with a focus on engineers and architects?

We realized that the status quo of the application and job search process for architectural or engineering related jobs has room for improvement, mainly in terms of generating relevant search results and leads. The majority of potential employers posting job vacancies do not find their desired talent audience in a systematic manner. We were discussing the shortcomings and challenges in this regard and tried to understand the opportunities for improvement. Naturally we looked into ways how to digitize this and make the entire journey more intuitive for both employers and candidates.

Aside from the basic submissions when looking for a job such as a CV, in our industry space candidates typically will spend (too) much time creating and updating a portfolio. Unfortunately, a creative portfolio will often give a potential hiring manager only a cursory overview or vague picture of your actual capabilities and relevant experience.

For employers, the process of finding a pool of skilled candidates with relevant skills can also be cumbersome. Typically, this involves researching by asking around in your professional network for suitable candidates, as well as looking to a social network. Most companies will post vacancies on their own company websites, sporadic job ads or carry out a dedicated search via headhunters (given a certain level seniority for the open role). Unless a candidate is approached by a headhunter directly (assuming headhunters know where to find top candidates), a candidate’s active job search will be like looking for the needle in the haystack.

Talent within the built environment sector is no longer solely attracted to practice for its strong design and aesthetic sensibility. Today’s top talent also expects an agile working environment which embraces new technologies and established, functional workflows for collaboration and knowledge sharing. No one is looking for a 9-7 cubicle job any longer.

Can you tell us more about the process of creating and starting SKILLARY? What steps did you take?

We are very fortunate to have a great team of mentors and advisors who have continuously supported and encouraged us to follow through on this project. We refine our concepts, test various options along the way, remain open to the team’s feedback and make changes as necessary to help our solutions and products evolve.
This thought process and system of feedback loops were very helpful to develop a clear, solution-oriented mindset and focus on the key barriers. It is one thing to develop a product; but to make sure that it has an actual market is of course paramount.

Why do you think the recruitment process in the building industry is broken?

Broken seems a bit harsh. We don’t feel it is broken but rather feel that it is not yet digitized to a healthy extent. We conducted a survey in 2018 which showed us that merely 30% of all engineers and architects are listed on job or career portals. Clearly, active candidate sourcing via these portals will never lead to adequate results if 70% of the talent pool is in stealth mode. At the same time, our survey indicated that 90% of the same audience would list themselves if there would be a subject matter platform available.

In addition, companies have increasingly complex demands on the skills and abilities for new talent. A mere architect or engineer is no longer in demand. Today, companies are frequently in search of specialists for a certain assignment, with other adjacent skills such as relevant IT proficiency.

While recruitment agents and job portal services work to provide a digital product for job seekers and candidates to interact directly, quickly and efficiently, these platforms do not provide the special subject matter needs in order to be a real asset for our workforce and talent. For this reason, SKILLARY offers a new talent and tasks search feature. As a job portal focused specifically on our industry; we at SKILLARY understand that our sector is subject to constant change and reinvention.

Smaller firms with limited headcounts will often not have a dedicated HR person or department focused on traditional talent management and recruiting as well as on digital recruitment including the social media channels involved. Digitally linking architects, engineers and other professionals to potential employers is a great benefit to complement classic recruiting tools, if not substitute them entirely.

How would you like to develop the company in 2019?

By the end of 2019 our objective is to offer a fully developed platform that enables both candidates and employers to explore collaboration opportunities using an adequate user experience / UIX. We have successfully launched our MVP during the BAU2019 in January 2019 in our hometown Munich. From here we want to roll out into Europe, starting with Germany as a case study.

Do you have any advice for Archipreneurs who are interested in starting their own company in the built environment?

When launching your start-up, have a plan A, plan B and plan C ready. Also, 24/7 ­commitment to your vision is as important as your founding team.

What are your thoughts on the future of the built environment? How can it improve, and what continues to inspire you?

Future projects will be digitized further in order to share learnings from completed projects. There will be many developments in this space and we are keen on being part of this journey. We hope that SKILLARY will contribute to this transformative phase of our industry. —

About SKILLARY

Julia Stöckert
Founder & CEO SKILLARY

Andrea Kaiser
Founder, COO SKILLARY

Andrea Kaiser and Julia Stöckert, both originally from the Munich area, met on their first day of studies at Technical University of Munich (TUM) to study architecture. They worked together closely on various projects and assignments, particularly during their tenure as student research assistants, where they had valuable exposure to the responsibilities and challenges around the planning of larger scale buildings. Andrea and Julia completed their architectural studies and graduated from TUM in 2011.

Andrea then continued her academic career at TUM where she was responsible for the organization and management of the postgraduate Masters program for ClimaDesign. She also practiced as a freelance architect and worked for other architectural offices in Munich where she gained hands-on skills.

After graduation, Julia started her career at one of the leading German architectural companies where she was engaged in international projects, mainly for large industrial clients. Through that project work she learned first-hand about the complex challenges of large projects and how to develop good systems, interfaces and frameworks to identify and conceptualize solutions. She also continued TUM as a teaching assistant, and she began working as an independent architect in 2016.

At the end of 2018, Andrea and Julia founded SKILLARY.

The post Outdated Job Market: A New Way of Connecting Talent and Companies in the Built Environment appeared first on Archipreneur.

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Could you tell us a little about your background and how you came up with the idea of cove.tool?

I think my career path was influenced by my upbringing. Since my father was a diplomat, growing up we moved to a new country every four years. We moved to a new place with a new climate zone, new building types and a new culture, and I believe this exposure to different environments interested me and pushed me to become an architect.

While practicing as an architect, I kept wanting to design green buildings, but I had no real way of quantifying this impact. I wanted to understand how one solution better or greener than other solution quantitatively, but there were no numbers. The information I found was very general, saying a solution is green, so therefore it’s great.

That’s what brought me to my Master’s program at Georgia Tech. I concentrated my studies on building physics and high-performance building design. This jump-started my career into sustainability consulting, energy modeling and building performance.

After my studies I worked at a large firm and I started their energy lab, a small consulting unit serving 26 offices across the globe. It developed like a startup inside a giant company.
Soon after that, I founded our sustainability consulting company called Pattern R+D. The consulting company grew rapidly, which confirmed the strong need. We worked as Pattern R+D for a few years on many amazing projects, but then we realized there were some parts of our process that were the same manual process over and over again.

We had the idea to automate these parts of our process instead of continuing to do it manually. That is how cove.tool started, by automating our own consulting company to make it even more efficient and process-driven. Once we had the software, we began selling it and everyone wanted it. We’ve just been adding features ever since.

Who is the founding team behind cove.tool?

Patrick Chopson and I both originally came up with the idea, and got in touch with Daniel, our CTO, to be a part of this vision.

Patrick and I met at Georgia Tech and we were in the Master’s program together. We both have a background in architecture, sustainability and high-performance building. Patrick also has a background in mechanical engineering.

We didn’t have a beautifully written software at first. We gained a lot of traction with our early software, which was hacked together code connecting this plug and that plug, but it needed improvement. Later we brought on Daniel to be our CTO, to actually write the software beautifully.

What exactly is the core product of cove.tool?

If you’re one of our core clients, you’re either an architect, a mechanical engineer, a sustainability consultant, an owner or a contractor.

To get an energy model, our core clients would typically need to appoint an expensive energy modeler to the project. Maybe about two weeks later, this consultant could describe how a building is currently performing and make recommendations, but it’s a very time-intensive and expensive process.

cove.tool automates that entire process. Clients can use the software and select their building location, building size and provide some basic geometry. cove.tool can also automatically import the geometry and data from models in other programs like Revit, which is a BIM software, and from Rhino or Grasshopper for example.

The product evolved slowly from a consulting agreement to a software solution, so our first clients came right to us.

Then all of the energy modeling inputs are automated. They’re pre-coded based on an energy code. The moment a project is started for an office in California, or an office in Germany, cove.tool knows what the lighting requirements should be, what the HVAC requirements should be, has all of the weather data required and in less than five minutes, it can provide an energy number.

Then as the design develops and selections are made, for the type of roof, type of windows, type of walls, cove.tool can calculate the energy number for these elements in comparison to an energy goal. There are so many different products out there and for example, there’s no way of knowing that if the energy goal is 20% better than the energy code, where in the building to invest in products to improve the overall performance.

For example, should you buy the better glass, or the better roof, or spend money on the HVAC? You can define multiple options for all of these parameters, and it can run the entire optimization in the cloud for every option with every option to find the most cost-optimal ways, the cheapest way to get to your energy target. This is unique to our software.

Does that mean architects could also use your product within the design process of a building to test and improve different versions of the design in terms of the energy sufficiency?

Yes, you can vary the glazing percentage specifically for example or you can even change within the software. For example, you can change the window to wall ratio from 60% to 50% very easily. Or if you’re passionate about having a lot of window area, then you can change your glass type, and perhaps you would learn to then use a more efficient glass. This allows the user to consider all of these factors in an automated and optimized way, holistically. You don’t have to go back and change your geometry. Once your geometry is in, you can make all your changes within cove.tool. 

How do you deal with building codes which are regionally very different around the world?

That is a very complex issue and we do a lot of it manually. We created our own database code by code. Currently, the software supports all of North America including Canada and it’s based off of the ISO standard which is used in Europe for code compliance as well. We haven’t pre-loaded all of the ISO baselines in it yet, but that’s coming early 2019. We will start to support Europe in 2019.

How did you find your first clients when you launched your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

The product evolved slowly from a consulting agreement to a software solution, so our first clients came right to us. We were using the software while consulting and our clients asked for a software subscription because they had already seen it work. They saw how, for instance, in one project we did over at Emory University which was a $90 million building, they saved a little over half a million dollars by using our software which is a lot of money.

Our clients were then able to use that money elsewhere in the design. Since we already had many case studies with real numbers and real savings and real project teams that had tried it out, and we were able to publish these case studies, most of our first clients came to us. Then all of our future clients we’ve reached through email marketing, phone calling, webinars, trade shows, everything! Now we have thousands of customers.

What was your most effective marketing channel?

Email marketing and webinars. We have AIA accredited webinars where architects would get credits for participating, like the LEED Learning unit. We would show how to design and build a sustainable project using cove.tool. Each time we would show how to go from nothing to having fully complete brand-new project in less than 15 minutes. After a sample project, at the end we would show a case study which users found really helpful.

You recently closed a $750K seed round. Could you tell us more about the process of raising venture capital for your startup?

Our venture capital journey started after we won the Atlanta Startup Battle.That particular year, over 600 people had applied to that startup battle and the whole process took two-and-a-half-months. Once we won the startup battle, it opened a lot of doors for us because a lot of people then heard about us. From all of the investors I met, it seems they all either know each other or have heard of each other. Once we had our first set of investors by winning the startup battle, the other connections were made more easily. It opened the door to pitch to a few investors and they made our seed round.

How did you calculate the amount of money you needed for your seed round?

This was a very rigorous process because we didn’t want to take too little that we ran out, but we didn’t want to take too much so we were giving away such a big chunk of the company. We did the calculation of what we thought all of our future hires were going to be, how many sales we were anticipating to make, essentially the total burn, total expenses.

Do you have any advice for Archipreneurs who are interested in starting their own company in the built environment?

There’s so much room for innovation. I truly do think that the AEC industry (Architectur, Engineering, Construction) is the slowest progressing of all industries out there. There’s still so much that needs to be done, that any good idea you come up with, you should do because there’s a very high chance you could be the first.

Also, bootstrap as far as you can. I think we were able to get a good valuation for our company because we already had a product and customers (from bootstrapping). Had we gone out to raise money with just an idea, we would have had to give away more than half of our company just to get little amount of money. I really think bootstrapping is a great idea early on, and then when you have a concept together and you’re raising money to grow your markets to get more customers, that’s the best time to raise capital.

What are your thoughts on the future of the built environment? How can it improve, and what continues to inspire you?

I feel it needs to be all more automated. There are too many manual steps. But anytime I say that in conferences, architects get a little worried that this implies taking the design away from the designer. That’s not the case. Automation would just take the chore out of the design work, so designers can truly design.

I feel it needs to be all more automated.

We are now able to design for the experience, and are not spending all our time validating, wondering if a building will pass the energy code, building code or meet the budget in the end. I feel all of those things, hopefully, will be automated. Some of them currently are, and more and more automation so that the people are able to spend their time a lot more efficiently and are able to concentrate on the user experience and what the space truly feels like, instead of how to fit 20 apartments in a certain amount of space. That should not be a designer’s problem. —

About Sandeep

Sandeep Ahuja
Co-Founder Cove.Tool

Sandeep Ahuja, co-founder of cost and energy optimization software cove.tool, Inc., has worked with a variety of clients in academic, hospitality, healthcare and corporate spheres. She is pioneering the integration of energy analysis into the design and construction process. She recently won the Atlanta 30 Under 30 Award for developing cove.tool, a unique methodology to optimize for cost in sustainable buildings. As a building performance specialist, Sandeep specializes in informing performance-related building decisions in careful consideration of cost.

The post Design Tools for Sustainable Building: Cove.Tool Automates Energy Optimizations appeared first on Archipreneur.

Over the last decade the AEC industry has seen an emergence of multidisciplinary, tech-savvy firms that are changing the way we design, build and collaborate. These ambitious enterprises are tackling an array of issues that often hamper progress and growth, whether it’s through streamlining workflows, using new media tools or experimenting with new construction methods.

We’ve compiled an eclectic list of 7 most noteworthy tech-oriented startups that are already making an impact on the AEC industry.

Top 7 Architecture and Tech Startups

Flux.io

Flux is a platform that allows AEC professionals to design and build eco-friendly homes by drawing on big data. Architect Michelle Kaufmann teamed up with three ex-Google employees to create this innovative Google moonshoot that applies artificial intelligence to help build architecture that’s durable, environmentally friendly and responsive to users. Kaufmann led several enterprises before founding Flux. She developed a successful business based on building prefab houses inspired by Eichler’s postwar tract housing projects and designs by Charles and Ray Eames. The firm suffered greatly during the 2007 housing market crash, after which she joined Google X as a consultant.

The main idea behind Flux is to radically lower the cost and improve the quality of building worldwide. It’s a platform that allows all members of the building-making community to seamlessly share data. Its first product, Flux Metro, gathers information about zoning and local ordinances. It also provides cloud-based collaboration between contractors, engineers and architects and simplifies file transfers and data conversion. In 2015, the company raised $29 million in Series B funding co-led by Temasek and Surbana Jurong Private Limited.

UpCodes

UpCodes is a platform that makes it easy for architects, designers and engineers to research building codes and requirements in order to make code compliance easier. This includes codes at the federal, state and local level, as well as specific codes in areas like plumbing, electrical wiring and fire safety. It is accessible via website and mobile app and currently provides resources for 40 U.S. states and has grown to over 44,000 monthly active users, which include architects, engineers, building inspectors and homeowners. UpCodes streamlines codes into a library, described by the company as “the most advanced search engine built for the construction industry”.

Prior to starting UpCodes, brothers Scott Reynolds and Garrett Reynolds worked in architecture and software engineering, respectively. Renowned firms like Foster + Partners, FxFowle, and Skidmore, Owings & Merril use UpCodes. The startup is currently taking part in Y Combinator based in Silicon Valley.

RateGravity

Two ex-community bankers launched a Boston startup that matches homebuyers with low-interest mortgages, while cutting out the middle man. The tool uses an algorithm to calculate what kind of mortgage or loan homeowners are eligible for. RateGravity streamlines the decision-making process for people looking to buy real estate or refinance their homes. It connects them to a number of lenders and eliminates the need for a salesperson for a fee that’s much smaller than that which loan officers usually get.

The company recently raised a financing round of over $2 million, with investors like Evertrue co-founder and CEO Brent Grinna and BOSS Syndicate, an AngelList syndicate run by Cambridge venture capital firm Accomplice. According to BostInno, RateGravity has connected over 150 people with $40 million in approved mortgages over a single year. The service is on its way to revolutionize the way real estate works, and we’re excited to see how they do in the years to come.

ENVELOPE

ENVELOPE, led by MIT’s Sarah Williams, developed a data-driven software under the auspices of SHoP. It mitigates the negative effects the spreading of information through the industry has on prices of real estate. It provides developers with privacy while they speculate, and analyzes zoning to help real estate professionals develop optimal solutions and predict development potentials.

The SaaS company, launched in late 2015, recently announced a $2 million round of financing by investors from the real estate and tech industries. It is also developing Camera, a data analysis program that provides real-time info on the state of urban infrastructure in order to facilitate the use of self-driving vehicles. The company seems to be at the forefront of adapting to the automation trend.

Black Spectacles

Marc Teer, licensed architect and former instructor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, founded Black Spectacles after going through various online learning resources himself. He realized that there was a business opportunity in tailoring specific lessons to architects. He first reached out to various industry experts in order to see if there is enough interest. After getting positive responses from some of the world’s leading architecture firms, Teer decided to create the Black Spectacles platform.

This 7-person startup targets specifically architects with its offering of classes for the industry’s most popular software and tools. The platform offers more than a dozen classes on different design tools, as well as a preparation course and test prep suite for the Architect Registration Examination, developed in partnership with the American Institute of Architects. The team behind Black Spectacles tries to simplify the workload and break down courses into smaller parts. Around 40 percent of the world’s top 50 architecture clients use the services provided by Black Spectacles.

Cover

Startup called Cover Technologies Inc., launched in 2014, designs and builds energy-efficient, affordable housing units using the firm’s proprietary building system and design optimization software. As dwelling units become increasingly popular, Cover’s software provides something other firms offering prefab units don’t–versatility– and eliminates the need for coordinating with architects, planning departments, and contractors. This brings modular architecture to a whole different level.

The software allows users to search for the types of accessory units they are permitted to build according to local regulations, and generate design options based on survey answers. Cover’s prefab homes and plans are currently available only in Los Angeles, but the firm is already taking reservations worldwide. They recently raised $1.6 million in seed funding from General Catalyst and Khosla Ventures.

Source – Architizer

Source is the new offshoot of Architizer, which started off as a community and portfolio site for architects and designers. Since its launch, 40,000 architecture firms have uploaded over 120,000 projects with an average price tag of $33 million. Its founders, Marc Kushner and Mathias Hollwich, built this huge database of projects and firms and are now developing what is touted as “the Amazon for architects”. Source aims to connect architects with product vendors and material manufactures in a large online marketplace.

Source has already garnered new investments from architects, including Bjarke Ingels and Jurgen Mayer H, and features renowned participants like Studio Gang and SHoPArchitects. Last year, Architizer received $7 million in Series A financing.

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What other architecture and tech startups do you think will make an impact on the profession in the coming years?

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