VRnow uses deep learning to extract structural and semantic details like walls, windows, doors and furniture from blueprints. The extracted information can then be used and interpreted according to the client’s needs. The concept is based on more transparency, a greater degree of predictability and better visualization of real estate objects.

VRnow uses an algorithm based on AI uses scans of the floor plans of apartments to obtain architectural information. The technology recognizes the size and number of rooms and additional details including the number of windows and doors as well as furnishings, automatically and within just a few minutes. With the information obtained from this picture recognition software, it is possible to answer important questions from Asset and Facility Management regarding, for example, cost calculations and options for furnishing apartments.

Deutsche Wohnen explained the idea: “With this technology, we can obtain data which up to now has not been accessible to us digitally. One of our first projects with VRnow will be to collate and standardize the floor plans of our holdings so that VRnow can process this information.”

“Digital floor plans can be used particularly in sales and marketing, but for new builds as well,” added Dr. Marcus Eilers, head of Corporate Development and Strategy at Deutsche Wohnen.

Here’s how it works: The first step in the process is extracting and analyzing information by detect various information such as the size of the property and the number of doors, windows or rooms. Step 2 is to analyze the extracted architectural information. The information gained can improve further strategic planning and facilitate cost calculation and furnishing set-ups.

Deep learning is at the core of our algorithm; the more data it gets, the smarter the algorithm will become and the more it can improve the quality of the product. In the future, it may go on to analyze energy costs and also to create indoor navigation systems for large facilities. The last step relates to the automatic creation of a 3D model from any given floor plan. The visualized object can then be accessed using VR gear, YouTube 360 (for a 360° video) or a web browser.

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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?

The post 7 Inspiring Startups Combining Architecture and Tech appeared first on Archipreneur.

Having earned her MArch II from Harvard and her BArch from Cornell, Miriam Roure has worked as an architect for almost a decade in Barcelona, Rotterdam, Cambridge, and New York. She now helps organizations and individuals unlock their potential to use technology and design for urban improvement.

Keep reading to learn more about Miriam’s experience in founding her own firm. As well as supporting others’ entrepreneurialism as well as her advice on the future of cities and architecture.

Enjoy the interview!

Before we talk about your current job at URBAN-X, would you tell as a little about your background?

I was born in Palo Alto, California, and I grew up in Barcelona spending many summers following my quasi-nomadic parents to different parts of the world. I remember crossing the border with France by car when it still existed; being amazed by the sculptural qualities of the Jantar Mantar observatory in India; walking on the rails of the High Line, before it was the High Line; sleeping on a tatami at a traditional Machiya in Kyoto; and the transformation of the beach and the old quarters during the Barcelona Olympics of 1992.

It became apparent to me that as much as we shape what we create, what we create also shapes us.

For years, I wanted to be an astronaut, but when I was a teenager, I took a course on art and architecture history that changed my understanding of who we are as humans and how we have evolved and manifested ourselves through different civilizations. It became apparent to me that as much as we shape what we create, what we create also shapes us. I studied architecture, but today, I think of myself simply as a designer.

After finishing your undergraduate studies at Cornell University, you joined OMA and worked there for two years. What did you learn from working in the office of a Starchitect that has proven the most useful for your further career?

Being critical. During those two years, I was very much involved in the AMO side of the office . The think tank space dedicated to research, thought, and sometimes provocation. We worked on projects that engaged with the built environment beyond the traditional practice of architecture. We explored the notion of preservation and the notion of the countryside. But while I was there, it became apparent that there was something not being addressed. Something that would change us and how we understood, managed, and interacted with our environment. Digital technologies. It was 2009-2010, Google was 12 years old, the iPhone was already three years old, and Uber was in its infancy. In other words, the transformation felt inevitable, but what it would mean beyond the euphoria of Silicon Valley was, and still is, to be defined.

What made you decide to found the urban design consultancy firm Field? Was there a particular moment that sealed the decision for you?

At the time, I was at MIT Senseable City Lab interacting with large corporations and governments that would come to us for help with change management. As part of a research lab, there was always a scientific question that needed to be answered. But more and more, external partners were asking for digital master plans and productized solutions. Research, design, and entrepreneurship are closer than they have ever been. I decided to start a practice focused on urban technologies that were able to bridge the gap from research to practice. And in doing so, entrepreneurship became the medium.

Now let’s talk about your present job. Could you tell us about your role at URBAN-X?

I’m Program Director at URBAN-X, a venture accelerator founded by MINI dedicated to improving the way in which people live in cities through technology and design. As Program Director, I wear many hats. I help find and select the companies that we invest in and take into the program; I lead curriculum development for the program, curate events, and produce content. But on a broader level, I help create a fertile environment for startups to be able to take off and grow. I like to think of it in Darwinian terms.

URBAN-X strives to create these ecosystems while being selective of the kinds of technologies we think have the greatest potential of improving urban living.

Many iterations of technologies and embryos of startups come into being every year. But the question of which ones are the ones that are able to succeed greatly depends on their environment. These environments are determined by local resources, including access to funding, hands on engineering and design resources, the right mentors and advice, proximity to clients and visibility. URBAN-X strives to create these ecosystems while being selective of the kinds of technologies we think have the greatest potential of improving urban living.

What major challenges and opportunities do you think cities face in the 21st century? And how does URBAN-X help to improve urban life? Could you give as an example?

Urbanization is going through an unprecedented phase of growth. At the same time, we see rapidly changing climates, energy systems, emerging mobility services, migrant populations, and decaying infrastructure. Over 70% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere comes from urban centers. While the challenges are massive, we are also seeing a greater environmental consciousness. As well as developments in manufacturing intelligence, biomaterials, deep learning algorithms, computer vision and other digital technologies that are transforming XIX Century infrastructure into more sustainable and efficient environments.

Some of the solutions developed by URBAN-X companies include: Industrial/Organic, tackling food waste by leveraging bioprocesses to recover water and nutrients; Farmshelf, an indoor farming solution that brings the cultivation of microgreens into the kitchen; Roadbotics, making infrastructure maintenance cost effective for cities of all sizes; Wearworks, a haptic device for the blind and visually impaired to find their way through cities; or likewise, Versatile Natures, bringing intelligence to construction sites for a safer and more efficient built environment.

From your experience, what is the biggest mistake startups make and how can they avoid it?

Pursuing shiny things causes many startups to die. Focusing on a clear value proposition and great execution can help reduce that risk.

Do you have any advice for Archipreneurs who are interested in starting their own business?

Find a good co-founder. The training of architects is highly individualistic. We are taught to be able to lead a vision, differentiate ourselves from the rest, and deliver on projects often by ourselves. To be able to succeed in launching a venture, you also need to be able to share this vision. And recognize that there are other kinds of expertise that you haven’t mastered, and rely on other people to deliver.

How do you see the future of the architectural profession? In which areas (outside of traditional practice) can you see major opportunities for up and coming developers and architects?

I think architecture needs to be extrospective. It needs to look beyond its field to address bigger and more pressing challenges. I would dare architects not to build. The future of the practice of architecture needs to get closer to the tools, the technologies, the environment, and the market. In some ways, we need to go back to the Bauhaus model of education, where all design disciplines would converge. But if in the 1920s, technology was mainly analog, today it’s digital.

I would dare architects not to build. The future of the practice of architecture needs to get closer to the tools, the technologies, the environment, and the market.

I think there is an opportunity for architects to challenge construction materials and processes; to question typologies, ways of living, access to space, energy generation, mobility services, waste and water systems, public infrastructure, and civic engagement. Therefore, the good news is architects and entrepreneurs have one thing in common. The guts to think that they can make a difference, and the determination to make it happen.

About Miriam Roure 

Miriam Roure is passionate about improving cities through technology and design. She is the Program Director at URBAN-X – an accelerator founded by MINI in partnership with Urban Us dedicated to investing and supporting urban technologies. In addition, she is also the co-founder of the digital placemaking consulting firm Field. And is part of the founding team of Deeds by The Social Coin.

Previously, Miriam Roure worked at MIT Senseable City Lab, a research laboratory dedicated to exploring the future of cities from a data and sensor-based technology perspective. Trained as an architect and an urban planner, she also worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam and at Mateo Arquitectura in Barcelona.

Miriam Roure has been invited to speak at a number of venues; including CES, Smart City World Congress, Ignite Talks Barcelona, the Architecture Boston Expo, the European Lab Forum, amongst others and was a guest at 8TV with Josep Cuní.

Miriam holds degrees from Harvard University (MArchII) and Cornell University (BArch). And her work has been published in Passatges, A+U, FRAME, Dezeen, Archinect and other online platforms.

The post How to Improve Cities through Technology and Design: Miriam Roure’s Urban Future appeared first on Archipreneur.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 emerging architecture studios that are already making an impact on the built environment and show the potential to continue to innovate, affect social change and explore new design approaches.

EVA Studio

London-based research and design practice, EVA Studio, is only three years old, but is already making a strong impact in areas with displaced communities throughout the world. Their work in Haiti, in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, is helping local communities to recover and rebuild. EVA Studio’s eight projects in Haiti–community spaces, houses and educational facilities– are built sensibly using locally available materials. They collaborate with local governments and grassroots organizations in implementing their designs and draw on vernacular architecture to respond to specific problems and scenarios.

The team includes professionals experienced in working for renowned practices such as Massimiliano Fuksas. Between London and Port-au-Prince, the practice has a team of over ten designers and field architects, with different backgrounds and a wide experience and expertise in public and social projects. The firm has been shortlisted as the AR Emerging Architecture firm this year.

IF_DO

London-based design studio IF_DO is taking UK’s architecture scene by storm. Their Dulwich Pavilion was the centerpiece of this year’s London Festival of Architecture and will be rebuilt in the playground of a local primary school. The pavilion, nominated for AJ Architecture Award, which showcases the very best built projects in the UK, was developed with engineers StructureMode and built by fabricators Weber Industries using a relatively small budget of just over £100,000.

The emerging architecture firm already has a number of notable renovation and refurbishment projects in its portfolio, and uses prefab construction and affordable materials to create vibrant, flexible spaces. The studio has recently released proposals for the 10-year transformation of the headquarters of internationally acclaimed designer Joseph Walsh Studio in Cork.

Hou de Sousa

New York-based Hou de Sousa has had a very successful 2016, during which it won several competitions. The series of notable projects continued in 2017, with the firm winning the 2nd Prize at The National Museum of World Writing in Songdo, South Korea and becoming a finalist in the competition for Public sculpture in Sarasota, Florida. Hou de Sousa previously transformed 650,000 three-inch, translucent plastic balls from the National Building Museum’s Beach exhibit into a transformable assembly block system. They also won the 2016 Socrates Sculpture Park Folly Competition in New York with their adaptable proposal, Sticks.

The emerging architecture firm’s projects are playful and unconventional. They work on an array of diverse projects that capture the attention of the public as well as the architecture community.

The LADG

Los Angeles-based emerging architecture company The LADG, established in 2004 by Andrew Holder & Claus Benjamin Freyinger, works across typologies and scales and has a number of completed projects in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and the United Kingdom. The firm’s co-principal, Andrew Holder, is assistant professor of architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, which goes to show that the connection with the academia can reinforce a young studio’s creative engagement.

The LADG is the winner of the 2014 Architectural League Prize, one of North America’s most prestigious awards for young architects and designers. Their recently completed art installation at the GSD explored concepts of the picturesque in contemporary architecture. LADG’s sensible renovation of a split-level single-family house the Silverlake neighborhood in Los Angeles captured the attention of both the architecture community and media. We look forward to seeing what they come up with in 2018.

dRMM de Rijke Marsh Morgan Architects

UK emerging architecture firm dRMM has won this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize with its redevelopment of the iconic Hastings Pier in the UK. Their minimalist intervention transformed the surviving Victorian Pavilion into an open plan, glazed café-bar, with a timber-clad visitor center and viewing deck on its roof. The project has been lauded for its flexibility and absence of grand architectural gestures.

Among the firm’s other notable projects in Maggie’s Oldham– the first permanent building constructed from sustainable tulipwood cross-laminated timber. The firm collaborated with AHEC and Arup to develop this innovative material, which demonstrates its nimbleness and scope of interests. Another successful project by dRMM is the Clapham Manor Primary School, a lovely building informed by post war system-built schools and the surrounding brick buildings.

AOR

Helsinki-based AOR (Aarti Ollila Ristola), the practice behind the floating Viewpoint in London’s King’s Cross has won several architecture competitions since their angular canal-side platform where visitors can make contact with London’s canal-side wildlife. The firm represents the best trends in Finland’s current state of transition.

AOR has also been selected following an open competition for the extension of Tampere Art Museum, in Finland. The new extension for Tampere Art Museum aims to create a landmark for the museum articulating the urban landscape between Pyynikintori square and the park surrounding the current museum.

Materia

Emerging Mexican practice Materia was founded by Gustavo Carmona and Lisa Beltran in 2006 as a multi-disciplinary team. The firm has completed projects across the world in a range of scales and typologies, including residential, cultural, interiors and hospitality to high-end retail and historic preservation. Their most notable projects include Casa U, located in the suburbs of Mexico City, a business center in Veracruz, and the Louis Vuitton flagship store in Mexico City.

The emerging architecture firm has recently completed a beautiful pavilion for the 9th edition of Design Week Mexico. The structure, nestled within Mexico City’s largest public green space, Chapultepec Park, served as a major cultural attraction during the event from October 11th—15th. As a multi-disciplinary studio, Materia focuses on “the creation of atmospheres expressed through the thoughtful craft of materials and detail.”

Mole Architects

British studio Mole Architects often collaborate with other studios, which young archipreneurs can see as a great way of breaking into the industry and creating valuable contacts. The studio teamed up with MVRDV in designing their Balancing Barn project as the first of five homes from Alain de Botton’s Living Architecture project– a series of holiday homes around the UK designed by established and emerging architects. Another collaboration, this time with Norwegian Architects Jarmund/Vigsnæs resulted in the two-story Dune House located on the seafront in Suffolk, England.

Mole Architects participated in The Greenwich Design District project, the next phase in London’s largest single regeneration initiative, and received recognition at the World Architecture Festival in 2017 for their HouseBoat project in Dorset, designed for developer Solidspace.

BLDGS

Founded in 2006, Atlanta-based firm BLDGS has completed both new and adaptive reuse projects that have garnered them recognition as a distinct design voice that can significantly influence the architectural profession. Brian Bell and David Yocum founded BLDGS 10 years ago, and have crafted a compelling architectural approach to adaptive reuse interventions and projects, exemplified by their recently finished Congregation Or Hadash Synagogue, for which they won an AIA South Atlantic Region Honor Award.  Beyond adaptive reuse, the re-thinking and re-presenting of existing relationships has led to more complex responses for their ground-up projects as well.

The emerging architecture firm is currently restoring a building for Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Van Leer Interdisciplinary Design Commons, and recently completed an invited competition for Georgia Tech’s new Campus Center, working with design-build team partners DPR Construction, Mackey Mitchell Architects, HILLWORKS, FRONT, Transsolar, Newcomb & Boyd, Uzun+Case, Eberly, and many others. BLDGS is one among 8 emerging firms honored by the Architectural League of New York, which spotlights emerging North American firms that have the potential to influence architecture’s trajectory in coming years.

SO-IL

New York City-based emerging architecture practice SO-IL embraces diversity. Their recent projects include the Kukje Art Gallery in Seoul; the 2012 Frieze Art Fair tent in New York City; the Linked Community Center in Wulpen, the Netherlands; and, “Tri-colonnade,” an installation at the 2011 Shenzhen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale in Shenzhen, China.

For the Place Mazas competition which called for proposals to reinvent the Seine river in Paris, SO–IL and Paris-based Laisne Roussel partnered with French real estate developers REI Habitat and Icade to design a project that has a fresh approach to urbanism. The winning design transformed the underused site of Place Mazas into a new social node for Paris.

SO–IL and artist Ana Prvački participated at the Chicago Architecture Biennial titled “Making New History,” and debuted a project that raised questions about the impact of progress on the wellbeing of our cities. SO-IL co-founder Jing Liu is a finalist for the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture, which in association with The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal, recognizes architects using innovative architecture to effect social change.

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What other architecture startups do you think will make an impact on the profession in 2018?

The post 10 Best Emerging Architecture Firms in 2017 appeared first on Archipreneur.

In 2016 Archipreneur ranked PENDA 1st of our list for the world’s best Architectural Startups 2016. In 2017 we spoke with the head of PENDA: Chris Precht.

In 2013 Chris Precht founded the Beijing and Salzburg-based design studio PENDA with co-founder Dayong Sun. Despite accolades from the AEC community – the studio won the “Emerging Firm of the Year Award at Architizer’s 2016 A+Awards” – they are still a small team of only 11 people. This is a conscious decision by the founders who prefer to form long-term relationships with their employees and stay compact. Learning and sharing plays a main role in PENDA’s office.

Their projects focus on small architecture, interior design, exhibit and product design. Their most known work is the Hongkun Art Gallery in Beijing. In 2014 they completed their own office design in a Nanluguoxiang’s hutong in Beijing. However, Chris Precht mostly works from his studio in the Austrian Alps far away from any city.

Keep reading to learn about PENDA’s philosophy and how this young startup made it to the top of the profession.

Enjoy the interview!

You started out in China, which is a fast growing market for architecture. How did you manage to get your first project there?

Chris Precht: Like so many others after winning a competition.

By graduating from architecture school, students have a better set of tools than most architects who are working. Technology, software and skills change so fast these days that there is not enough time in a job to keep up with the updates. As students you do. And so did we. But what we lacked experience. Overplaying your cards can help in situations like that…

Today you are based in Beijing and Salzburg. How do you split your time and work between the two offices?

Chris Precht: With a good partnership. My partner Dayong is handling day to day work in Beijing and my wife and me are trying to build up a branch of our studio in the Alps away from cities. A city provides opportunities, but an equal amount of distractions. We have the feeling on the countryside (or mountainside) there is more space to breath and concentrate. It’s a simpler live-style and it lets us focus on the essence.

Working on mostly international project, it doesn’t matter where your office is located. We are living in an age of telecommunication and all the technology and software makes it certainly easier to work together globally without being together locally.

What projects are you working on right now?

Chris Precht: We try to keep a healthy balance of projects that come directly through a client and projects that we start because we have a statement to tell or a vision to share. These usually don’t have a client in the beginning, but can interest clients, partners or investors in the long-run.

We keep intentionally the team small and try to grow slow. That keeps a lot of freedom to work on projects we are truly passionate about. Usually 2-3 at a time.

On your website you write that learning and sharing plays a main role in your office. Could you give us an example of how you implement that in your office culture?

Chris Precht: Architecture is one of the professions where you never stop learning. Specially when you are starting out young with your own firm. There is a lot that is not taught in architecture school like business strategies, leading a team, managing contractors and so on. Usually architects get good with an age they would retire in a different profession.

Although starting an office was an exciting phase in my life, the greatest passion for architecture was as a student. Projects without compromise and new knowledge and tools every day. The most important task for a life in architecture is to keep this passion alive as long as somehow possible. I never wanted to work for offices that kill this passion with doing too much overtime for boring work, not delegating responsibility or not giving space for employees to get better and learn more. We try to implement this in a daily routine through workshops or team-training.

If you feel your passion for architecture is dropping, please quit your job and find a different firm. Being uninspired as an architect is a really sad state.

You have over 60K followers on your Instagram channel. That is an impressive number! Do you think that a good social media strategy will lead to new clients for architects?

Chris Precht: Yes, but I wouldn’t overestimate it. The most important thing is to build up a level of trust with your client. The speed and fast-pace of social media is good to connect people, but not necessarily good for a trustful relationship.

At the Architizer Award 2016 you mentioned: “We Are Start Architects, Not Star Architects”. Do you have any advice for Archipreneurs who are interested in starting their own business?

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

– I think that captures the essence of starting out.

Chris Precht: There are many distractions that can blur the strategies or concepts of your projects. If you clearly know what you wanna do, keep that always in the forefront. Yes, architecture emerges by a dialog between many parties, but if your main intentions die in a compromise, your passion dies with it. Saying no to certain projects or clients can save your motivation for architecture in the long run and clears your schedule up for projects you truly believe in. A large fee doesn’t make your love for the profession grow, a great project does.

How do you see the future of the architectural profession? In which areas (outside of traditional practice) can you see major opportunities for up and coming architects?

Chris Precht: The great news is that the playing field for architects got much wider in recent years. New technologies, new tools and a changing media create possibilities for young generation of architects to get to the frontline of innovation. The bad news is that the role of an architect got diminished. Compared to architectural gods like Mies, Corbusier or Kahn, the respect for architects is nowadays constantly sinking.

But I believe in so fast changing times and politicians who just think until the next election circle, it needs the long-term strategies of architects. Topics like climate change, pollution, world hunger or demographic change don’t get solved through populism, but need an analytic process and persistent vision. An architects mind is trained for that and I believe a new generation of architects can play an important role in solving important, global issues from here on forward.

About Chris Precht

Before Chris Precht founded PENDA together with his partner Sun Dayong in 2013, he was the Founder and Director of Prechteck, a collaboration of international creatives.

His education started in Innsbruck/Austria where he studied under Patrik Schumacher (Zaha Hadid Architects) and Kjetil Thorsen (Snohetta) at the Institut for Experimental Architecture. He graduated with honors from the Technical University of Vienna in 2013. His work has recently been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Künstlerhaus in Salzburg in 2011 and at the “Best of 2009”  student exhibition at the .aut in Innsbruck.

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