According to a statement released by Paul Smetanin, President of the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis.

The discussion of digital twins and Virtual Reality might not be a new exciting topic, but this piece of observation will reveal a new perspective on its application. 

As stated in Daily Commercial News. 

Creativity in architecture extends beyond aesthetics to address functionality and sustainability. Technology and tools are being used to enhance the field of architecture today.

Many of the chief architectural innovations in history were due to engineering and mathematical breakthroughs, including vaults, aqueducts, and classical columns. With every new invention, design barriers shifted one step higher; pushing the succeeding generations to explore more.

From the development of reinforced concrete and steel to the development of contemporary technology, every generation has been fortunate to witness such advancements. Architecture flourishes as a common ground tying up various disciplines, namely computer science, engineering and environmental science.

Speaking of technological developments and their repercussions in the construction field, let’s deep dive into the recently booming subjects digital twins and VR. 

The Power of Digital Twins

In this age of advanced technology, almost everything has become practically possible. As we strive towards an efficient future, we are reimagining the possibilities of visualization. Although rigorous design processes and detailed planning are considered being at the forefront of any structural development, close to real-time digital representations weigh higher attention.

On that note, Digital Twin has been brought into the limelight, and industry experts who realized the true potential of its application are reaching new heights.

Digital twin – as one may presume, is not a mere latest technology but is a powerful tool with which AEC firms are exploring new ventures. It is as flexible as it could be applied to any physical entity, be it a 3D product or a city planning. Digital twins, in other words, represent the exact digital replica of the original design. Only that it exactly replicates the dynamic character of the design.

When considered in terms of the AEC industry, it will replicate the nooks and corners of the physical structure, making it easily accessible for future reference. Imagine you could figure out if there’s an issue in the MEP system of a building by just referring to the digital twin of it from the comfort of staying at home/office. 

VR and Digital Twins – A Comparison

Because of its built-in acting capabilities, virtual reality (VR) is a well-suited tool for facilitating human interaction with CPPS (Construction Phase Plans). Virtual reality does, in fact, provide lifelike rendering, intuitive gesture interactions, collaborative features, comprehensive 3D scale-one visualization, and fast navigation tools in a large area. As a result, it makes it simple for users to concentrate on each system component—from the smallest to the entire factory.  

Meanwhile, digital twins in the AEC industry enable firms and owners to minimize conflicts by providing data-rich assets throughout the design and operation process. It guides the professionals to access and keep track of data during their planning stage and act as a reference material after it is occupied by the users.

Real-World Use of VR & Digital Twins

Now that we are aware of the potential and characteristics of digital twins and VR, ‌let’s interpret the way they’re applied in various sectors of the AEC industry. VR and digital twin technology can be applied at any scale ranging from residential to urban planning, rather than merely at a selective scale.

Adaptive Reuse

The indestructible combination of VR and digital twin has elevated the construction industry to a new height from restoring old structures to designing new ones. Regarding VR, it uses an advanced tool called photogrammetry to scan the existing physical entity with exact features and scale. 

This process can be implemented in adaptive reuse projects, where it can be used to perceive the characteristics of the depleted structure and how exactly it can be remodeled to meet the new requirements. Not only that, it allows you to document any historical structure without any disruption.

Efficient Project Management

1. Bringing Down Coasts

Planning, designing and constructing a building is an extensive process, where every step takes time and ample amount of effort to be executed. On that note, when you’re able to perceive real-time data and plan a few details beforehand, you can cut down both the budget and time. With digital twins, you can replicate and observe the entire process without fabricating the actual design.

With precise cost estimations and maintaining your cost limit at every stage, digital twins can boost your project’s timeline.

2. Optimize Utilization

With increased accounting of remote work culture, digital twin allows users to collaborate effortlessly whilst managing complex work schedules. It can increase the efficiency of workflow by allowing the team members to access real-time data and saving ample time. 

For instance, if a building designed with the help of a digital twin is about to face an issue in its HVAC system. The real-time data that digital twin has been monitoring gives you an indication that an air filter or any part has to be changed. At the end of the day, the more you feed into the database, the more we will benefit out of it.

3. Effective Functioning

Besides the aforementioned aspects, adopting digital twins paves the way to advanced collaborations and lets you prioritize the type of data you actually require. Irrespective of the size of a team, it allows sharing and work on the saved data.

A digital twin allows workers to detect issues instantly, allowing solutions to be implemented quickly and reducing costly delays caused by faulty shipments or bad weather.

CASE STUDY
Digital Twin Example in Construction- Canada Line SkyTrain in Vancouver, Canada

The Canada Line, operational since 2009, has embraced new technologies to enhance daily operations. An accurate real-world model of the line has been created for operators using LiDAR scans as part of the digital twin initiative. Subsequently, sensors were attached to crucial assets like switches to continuously update the digital twin with real-time data.

Sensors were installed on certain switches identified as ‘golden assets’ essential to meeting performance targets. This data accumulation over time establishes a baseline for normal switch behavior.

Any deviation from this norm triggers alerts for operators, enabling them to proactively create maintenance plans and prevent downtime. This shift towards data-driven decision-making has already proven effective, significantly improving the overall performance of the Canada Line.

Elevating Beyond Boundaries

As architects and designers, we have the responsibility of building a better and efficient future. Moreover, we embrace a future in which distances diminish, problems become puzzles waiting for solutions, and our collective dreams shape the reality of the next generation.

While we go to work every day and work mundanely on the same software, there is some innovation happening in the background.  Tomorrow beckons, and with digital twins and VR as our guides, we shall embark on a journey towards a future redefined.

The post How digital twins and VR will help build a better tomorrow? 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.

One of these aspects relates to the an ever-shifting flow of different occupants in office spaces: employees, temporary occupants, partners, customers, suppliers, clients, etc. Over the last few decades, it has become obvious that, in order to stay competitive and increase productivity, companies need to embrace the idea that physical spaces have to adapt to the concept of fluidity. This flexibility has already become a staple in the organization of many forward-thinking enterprises which created workplaces that facilitate a way of operating in which team sizes and way of collaborating vary from project to project, and depend on specific tasks and project stage.

Data collection to analyze the use of office spaces

Deloitte’s new HQ in Amsterdam, named The Edge, epitomizes this smart utilization of new tech which affects office design in terms of organization and energy efficiency. Designed by PLP Architecture, the building is described as the world’s greenest, most intelligent building. The project, which promotes a new way of smart-enabled agile working, has also received the highest sustainability score ever awarded by the British rating agency BREEAM. It provides 1,000 desks for 2,500 Deloitte workers who interact with it – for anything from parking to desk allocation, instant locker access and food ordering – through a dedicated app which connects with 30,000 sensors embedded in the building’s LED lighting system.

As a result, Deloitte’s talent attraction and retention has rocketed, with a four-fold increase in job applications and 60% fewer absentees. Data collection allowed company to analyze the use of their office spaces and helped push forward the concept of hot desking–using desks only when they’re needed. This greatly increases occupancy efficiency and boosts productivity. Meeting rooms may be moved, merged, or eliminated entirely, providing a more efficient use of any available office space.

It is only a matter of time before the new standard for meeting and presentations is immediate interaction. Presenters will be able to send information directly to participants’ personal devices or collaborative interactive displays such as smart whiteboards. Telepresence is already here and will be further advanced through the proliferation of virtual reality. VR allows companies to hold interactive presentations and get fast and accurate feedback on their products and concepts. Attendees can “travel” to remote locations with their colleagues or customers, with motion controllers and positional tracking of the headsets bringing hands and body movement into long-distance meetings, making communication more natural and effective. The increasing use of VR in meetings reduces the need for physical meeting and conference rooms.

It is only a matter of time before the new standard for meeting and presentations is immediate interaction. Presenters will be able to send information directly to participants’ personal devices or collaborative interactive displays such as smart whiteboards. Telepresence is already here and will be further advanced through the proliferation of virtual reality. VR allows companies to hold interactive presentations and get fast and accurate feedback on their products and concepts. Attendees can “travel” to remote locations with their colleagues or customers, with motion controllers and positional tracking of the headsets bringing hands and body movement into long-distance meetings, making communication more natural and effective. The increasing use of VR in meetings reduces the need for physical meeting and conference rooms.

Sharing information and knowledge

Another important aspect of the use of IoT in office design is its contribution to sharing information and knowledge. The future of modern workplaces lies in seamless collaboration across departments and continents. Studios, incubators, pop-ups are just a few new workplace types that evolved with the emergence of digital technology. These new spaces reflect the fast-paced economy that is pushing out the old concept of hierarchical structure manifested through space. The anachronistic model of centralized decision-making is being replaced with a more transparent setup that reinforces different cultural values and caters to a whole new generation of young professionals that put great value on well-being and at-work comfort.

Large companies build their office buildings equipped with smart sensors and heating systems that can regulate micro-environments to suit individual employees makes the occupants of the building more comfortable, and they can do their work more productively. This ability of the workplace to boost user satisfaction is particularly important with millennials. Tech giants like Facebook and Google are leading examples of companies that embraced campus-style workspace aimed for young talents.

In designing Apple’s new spaceship-shaped campus in Cupertino, California, Foster+Partners included a 100,000-square-foot fitness center, 300,000 square feet of research and development facilities, and two miles of walkways and running paths for employees at Apple’s new spaceship-shaped campus in Cupertino, California. They also included an underground parking, as well as an orchard, meadow and pond. The staff can also navigate the campus on bikes, electric golf carts and commuter shuttles. The use of environmental sensors tracking the interior temperature, humidity, air quality, barometric pressure, ambient light levels and occupancy turns a building into an intelligent ecosystem that is both cost-efficient and increases productivity.

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Intelligent office design is already embraced as cutting-edge innovation and a smart business investment that improves workplace dynamics. How do you see your workplace evolving in the future?

The post How the Internet of Things (IoT) is Changing Modern Office Design appeared first on Archipreneur.

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, are gaining in popularity not only among the general public and consumers, but also among professionals working in the AEC industry. We’ve seen ambitious predictions for the use of drones on construction sites, as transportation vehicles and marketing tools.

While this new technology, like 3D printing and robotic fabrication in general, promises to revolutionize the architectural profession, it is useful to know to what extent its practical application can affect the way archipreneurs work. It seems that, for now, drones have great potentials when it comes to several aspects of the profession.

Researchers and firms are already experimenting with building with drones. In 2012, Swiss architecture firm Gramazio Kohler Architects and roboticist Raffaello D’Andrea teamed up with ETH Zurich to program a fleet of drones to lift and stack thousands of polystyrene bricks at the FRAC Centre in Orléans, France. Similarly, researcher Federico Augugliaro and contributors at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control and Gramazio Kohler Research had two quadrocopters construct a rope bridge strong enough to carry the weight of a human.

These may be impressive feats that will advance the technology, but they still offer little information on the way drones can currently be used in practice. It could be a while before we see programmed drones build entire habitable buildings, but they can already contribute a great deal in surveying building sites, collecting useful data and creating amazing visuals for marketing purposes.

The use of drones by (architecture) firms, and those working in the AEC industry, still belongs to a legislative grey area. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed specific regulations that aim to ease the technology into the commercial and consumer sectors. The agency has created a way for firms to apply for permits on a case-by-case basis. Because of the lack of strict regulatory framework, and as long as the use of drones doesn’t threaten the safety or security of people or property, architecture firms can use drones mostly for gathering site data, monitoring construction work and creating marketing materials. Regulatory limitations include not being able to fly after dark, out of operator’s line of sight, above certain altitudes and near other structures or above crowds.

FAA’s official FAQ page states: “If you are operating an unmanned aircraft that weighs less than 55 pounds, generally you may apply for a Part 107 waiver (special permission) to conduct your operation. Your waiver application must outline how you intend to safely conduct your proposed operation, including any additional risk mitigation strategies you may use.”

In Europe, manufacturers and operators of small unmanned aerial vehicles have to jump through several legal hoops before getting their drones airborne. The European Union doesn’t regulate the civilian use of drones heavier less than 150 kilos. There are no regulations on EU level. Instead, civil aviation authorities (CAAs) have the power to grant flight authorization on a case-by-case basis. As of 2013, UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) rules are that UAV aircraft less than 20 kilograms in weight must be in direct visual contact with the pilot, cannot fly within 150 meters of a congested area or within 50 meters of a person or vehicle, and cannot be used for commercial activity.

Some EU countries, including Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Sweden, also have national regulations, while many others have still not addressed the issue. In all cases where regulation exist, drones must fly within visual line-of-sight, at altitudes less than 500 feet, and with a maximum take-off mass of less than 25 kilograms.

The possibility to outfit drones with high-definition cameras, infrared scanners and thermal sensors allows for gathering important data that can affect a project as early as the design phase. They can survey sites, inspect construction quality and photograph completed buildings, with more powerful capabilities in sight thanks to the improvements in battery life and other features. However, the use of drones requires investment in resources and training, many among architecture firms who use drones choose to employ third-party drone specialists.

AECOM has recently received permission for the use of drones in commercial operations. Paul Clarke, Technical Director of Intelligent Infrastructure at AECOM described the way the firm uses drones: “Drones reduce the need to place staff and resources in a position of risk, allow repeatability to surveys, examinations and assessments, and offer a rapid and economical way of acquiring data. We are capable of shooting 4k or HD videos, 16MP photos and can achieve ±40mm accuracy from photogrammetry data.”

San Francisco AEC firm Bechtel has been granted permission for commercial use of unmanned aircraft system. They teamed with Skycatch in 2013 to further develop the company’s UAS platform and integrate it into Bechtel’s systems and processes. The data collected by the drone can now be stored in a cloud, analyzed within Bechtel’s design and construction software requirements, and viewed on multiple devices by the teams on site. The companies proved the technology’s viability at one of the largest LNG projects in Australia.

Another San Francisco company, Antonia Bava Landscape Architects, uses drones internally to create a phased master plan for residential design projects. For their project in Sonoma County, the architects used orbitals, reference measurements and photos to gain insight into the details of the property. They process the materials in DroneDeploy (Drone & UAV Mapping Software) through a very quick process.

While using satellite imagery for site planning is common among architects, these visuals are often available in low resolution and produce less accurate data. Data collected by drones can completely eliminate the need for hiring land surveyors for creating topographic surveys. Instead, architects can use this information to build accurate 3D models of the terrain and site and import them directly into drafting and modeling software like Rhino.

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Do you use drones in your work? How do you think this new technology will affect the future of architecture?

The post How Drones Can Be Used in Architecture appeared first on Archipreneur.

Among the many communication channels architects use to reach out to potential clients and create a following, the website is arguably the most important one. With a plethora of website-building platforms and attractive themes available to architects, choosing the right one can become a headache. Solutions that strike the balance between beautiful design, streamlined navigation and affordability are rare, and those tailor-made for architects are even rarer.

Common Mistakes Architects Make When Creating A Website

One of the most common mistakes architects make when creating a website is opting for a template that lacks intuitive navigation. We’ve all seen website builder for architects that feature cool animated graphics and stunning visuals, only to see them turn into frustrating experiences after just a few clicks. Visitors end up spending little or no time trying to navigate the maze of information and rarely come back.

Another mistake is having a single URL website that doesn’t allow users to link back to specific projects. This means that bloggers and social media users can’t share specific links in their posts and tweets, but can instead only link to your homepage, thus forcing their audiences to hunt around for relevant information.

Most marketing efforts in architecture rely on great visuals. Firms hire professional photographers to capture images of their built projects and use engaging diagrams and 3D models to represent work in progress. All this effort can go to waste if not properly displayed, organized and optimized for online searches. There are two important aspects concerning images that need to be considered when designing a website. Firstly, it’s useful to have some text to accompany each image in order to make them more searchable. Another reason for adding text is providing useful information to journalists and bloggers who want to talk about your work. Images should also be large enough to be reposted in online magazines and platforms.

A Website Builder Tool From Architects For Architects

A structured and easy-to-use website is the cornerstone of every architect’s business. Its technical, aesthetic and functional aspects will determine traffic, user engagement, and build a firm’s reputation. An ideal architecture website should let the work speak for itself and require minimum effort to maintain.

Monograph website builder for architects is a subscription-based website-building platform for architects that offers beautiful, responsive templates and a free concierge service. Unlike other website-building platforms like WordPress, Monograph Website is designed to be wysiwyg (“what you see is what you get”). While working in WordPress can be cumbersome an require programming knowledge, the Monograph Website backend shows the page you’re editing exactly as it will look when it goes live. The drag-n-drop interface makes it easy to edit content, choose fonts and arrange elements.

One of the best things about Monograph website builder for architects is the fact that it was developed by a team of architects turned entrepreneurs. Robert Yuen, Alex Dixon and Moe Amaya created Dixon & Moe, a boutique software development and design consultancy focused on building applications and digital products in the AEC industries. The agency’s first digital product is Monograph Website, an industry-tailored web platform, website builder and concierge service designed specifically for the architectural profession.

The available templates focus on the visuals and let your portfolio speak for itself. Each is search engine-optimized in order to maximize your web presence. You can simply drag and drop media, arrange, update and reorder content using the streamlined, intuitive editor. You can also monitor traffic and connect Google Analytics. The platform currently offers three gorgeous themes–Avant, Mezzanine and Meridian– with three more to come.

How To Turn A Slow, Difficult To Navigate Website Into An Effective Marketing Tool

Arkansas-based Modus Studio migrated to Monograph website builder for architects when their previous website became too complicated to maintain. The firm, which works across typologies and scales, from sustainable renovations and conversions to urban design and multifamily housing, built their previous website by themselves. The amount of coding necessary to keep things running smoothly eventually forced them to hire professionals. Nevertheless, the site became slower and more difficult to navigate, and turned from a useful marketing tool into a resource- and time-consuming chore.

Switching to Monograph website builder for architects allowed Modus Studio to use their website as an on-the-fly marketing tool to quickly show their work to potential clients. Their current home page has a simple grid layout that showcases a select number of projects which best represent their practice. They use the Avant theme with a clean, banded layout. Each clickable image leads to a project page with an image gallery, project description and essential info like project typology, location, completion date and photo credits.

“Our particular website design using Monograph Website has helped to quickly get the information that matters to potential clients”

“Our particular website design using Monograph website builder for architects has helped to quickly get the information that matters to potential clients,” said the architects. “Our philosophy, design team, projects, contact info…all of it flows to the user rapidly and in an organized manner,” they explained.

Among the many useful features Monograph Website offers, architects at Modus Studio have been most impressed with the streamlined way of adding content to their website and organizing it on the front end. “This reflects well on our level of organization. For example, if one of our designers has a meeting with a potential client or has a presentation to a particular group, we can promptly reorganize the content of the site to fit the theme of the day. Photos, sketches, and diagrams appear quickly and navigating through these in conversation is effortless. Since the website works so well, we’ve been able to turn all of our designers into potential marketers. If projects come up in conversation outside of the office, any one of us can quickly pull out our phone or tablet and get to the project type being discussed.”

“Since we began working with Monograph website builder for architects we have noticed that our target market seems to have a better, more complete understanding of our work.”

Monograph Website provided the firm with a level of consistency in marketing that resulted in considerably higher visitor engagement and stronger online presence. “Since we began working with Monograph Website, we have noticed that our target market seems to have a better, more complete understanding of our work.”

We interviewed Robert Yuen, Co-Founder of Monograph.io and Partner at Dixon & Moe as part of our Archipreneur Insights series. Check it out to learn more about how Yuen and his team mates develop innovative products for the AEC industry.

Also stay tuned for the upcoming Monograph Dashboard. Their second in-house software venture, Monograph Dashboard is a data driven platform designed to help architects and engineers understand and run their businesses more effectively, combining project planning and management with time tracking, forecasting, reporting and a lightweight CRM.

Learn more about creating a high converting website for architects here

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