Sweet Onion Creations

LEED is thrown around so much these days and even magazines like FastCompany are reporting on the profitability of using the “LEED” halo to extract money from the building process.

So, here’s a basic overview courtesy of the The Sustainable Design Forum’s Eric Corey Freed.

Definition: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is US Green Building Council rating system that defines a voluntary guideline for developing high-performance, sustainable building.

Notice the guideline is only voluntary at this point.

Encouraging Trends:

There are currently over 20,000 LEED Accredited Professionals trained in this rating system and nearly 2,000 buildings on their way to certification. This represents about 8 percent of the U.S. new construction market: a number that is growing quickly.

I think the fact that the US is approaching every 1 in 10 buildings as being LEED certified on some levels is a promising number. I think anytime an idea starts to reach around 5% acceptance, even if it’s the adoption of something as esoteric as the Linux operating system on comptuers, it’s a force that is starting to gain traction.

Check out the entire post here:

Living in Bozeman has many advantages, one of which is being in close proximity to a phenomenal architecture program. This past weekend the team from Live Architecture was in town to teach the local students on different ways to take digital designs and craft physical objects. This workshop in particular focused on using a CNC machine that MSU has on hand and working with a cardboard/honeycomb material called Gridcore.

A couple things I learned:

• Rhino This is becoming the premier program for designing nonlinear architecture ideas. The ability of Rhino to mold, bend, form, (whatever you want) for any surface is incredibly powerful. I learned a few tricks for creating ‘ribs’ out of a solid object and assembling them together later. While it doesn’t look like Rhino will overtake a program like Revit anytime soon, it is becoming the choice for creative digital work.
• BIM. This is where the industry is headed…the idea of modeling at a 1:1 scale and making it a part of the design process just makes sense. Renderings are poor substitutes, as our 3D fly-throughs. With the rapid-prototyping tools to make this physical transition getting better and faster, look for continued revolutions in the architecture world.

Monika, Shane, and Mariano were patient and helpful instructors. They have a very interesting idea on how to get students involved and pushing the limits on what can be designed using RhinoCAM. Check out their site: LaN | LIVE ARCH.NET for more info.

PS: Check out the March/April 2007 issue of I.D. magazine.  The “Design on the Cusp” section has a nice piece on Brooklyn’s Commonwealth that uses a CNC machine in a similar process to get some interesting pieces.

Design on the Cusp: The Artists Doth Protest
Lang/Baumann’s spaces may resemble real interiors, but they’re something else entirely.
by Diane Vadino

Cutting-edge architecture firms are now enjoying the tools of Web 2.0: Projects can be rendered remotely with powerful programs like 3D Studio Max and Maya or viewed online in places like SecondLife. Collaboration can take place virtually around the world. This left me thinking with what this means as the world goes flat for this industry.

So, here are my Top 3 things to consider with Web 2.0 and Architects:

1. Social Media. Facebook seems to be outpacing everything at the moment and many in the tech circles believe this will truly be the next Google. The nice thing is they have made it easy to use their platform as a way to build all sorts of spin-offs.
   Opportunity: Make it easy for satisfied clients to talk about your work and experience your designs. Facebook promises to make it ridiculously easy to link exponential numbers of people…make sure you’re ready for that conversation with examples of work that can be viewed easily online. Think flash movies, renderings, animations and YouTube videos.
2. Outsourcing. It’s often referred to as a dirty word but there are real opportunities to grab some time back for yourself using a Virtual Assistant. One company in particular offers a service: Your Man in India that will assign you assistant to help with the drudgery tasks like email, scheduling, invoicing, logging time. Basically, this is somebody that can free you up for more design time or project management.
   Opportunity: Consider hiring an assistant for the preliminary research for projects. Spell out in clear terms what is needed and let them do the surfing online, while you focus on more profitable aspects.
3. Management. The opportunity to manage multiple projects and communicate better with sub-contractors is now at hand. As Wi-Fi access continues to grow, look for the opportunities to take advantage of people in the field being online.
   Opportunity: Check out BaseCamp from 37 Signals. This is a cheap but amazingly powerful tool for collaboration. You can track time, expenses, milestones, share photos and CAD files, etc. Multiple projects can be managed under one account and updates are sent via email or even with RSS feeds.

The web is growing and as access gets easier and faster it will continue to change how work gets done. Staying on top of these trends makes for a better client experience and ultimately results in better word of mouth. In this business, referrals are the seedlings of growth for any architecture firm. Do your best to make it easy to grow.