AEC Business

Kojamo is the biggest housing investor and rental services provider in Finland. Teemu Suila is the Chief Development Officer leading the strategic development and digitalization of the company. 

Kojamo’s mission is to create better urban living. They want to be a forerunner in urban housing and the number one choice of the customers.  The company provides their services under the LUMO brand.

In this interview, we discuss

The megatrends of the built environment and the digital transformation that’s taking place

How Kojamo is turning their housing properties into service and innovation platforms

Kojamo’s co-creation approach with partners and customers

Services ranging from e-commerce to AI-optimized heating

How the AEC Hackathon has helped develop new forms of urban living

How Kojamo works with startups

You can connect with Teemu Suila on LinkedIn and meet him at RecoTech on December 4, 2018, in Helsinki.

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Duke Long is a world-renowned PropTech promoter, commercial real estate broker and owner of the Duke Long Agency. In this interview, he talks about why Proptech is a huge opportunity and how to seize it.

If you’re considering creating new solutions for the real estate and construction industry, you should definitely listen to Duke. Likewise, if you’re an investor looking for growth in a huge, global industry, hear what he’s saying.

Duke shares his views on real estate and construction industry disruption, what and how to develop, and how to get into the game if you’re not an industry professional. He discusses how tech investors and big tech companies could change the PropTech scene. Duke also talks about the PropTech Challenge.

You can meet Duke in Helsinki, at RecoTech. He’s going to host a fireside chat on December 4, 2018.

Visit Duke’s website and listen to his podcast at dukelong.com. Follow him on Twitter , LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

This recording was originally released at recotech.fi.

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In this interview, Brett Young talks about the future of BIM in the AEC industry.

Brett Young is the CEO and Founder of BuildingSP, Inc. This is the second startup for Brett, having previously founded and managed Modulus Consulting, a BIM consulting firm with multimillion-dollar annual revenues. He has a background in the management of large, commercial construction projects from nine years of work at Cahill Contractors, a San Francisco building general contractor. Brett holds a BS in civil and environmental engineering from UC Berkeley.

We discuss the following topics

Why BuildingSP came about

Why its hard to integrate technology with the construction industry

The coming paradigm shift

What is the most promising BIM technology

How we should use standards

The construction ecosystem

The value of startups

Meet Brett at WDBE 2018

Brett is going to give a keynote presentation at World Summit on Digital Built Environment WDBE 2018 in September in Helsinki, Finland. You can also connect with Brett on LinkedIn.

About BuildingSP

BuildingSP is a premier developer of Autodesk add-ons, API tools, and automation programming.

In a blog post titled Next-Gen BIM Workflows: Project Virga & Data-Driven BIM Tools, Brett describes their the next-gen BIM coordination environment. The following video demonstrates the concept using the Unity platform.

https://youtu.be/cJRtjA1cdeU

The images and videos are courtesy of BuildingSP

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In this podcast episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Natalia Rincón and Johanna Suortti of CHAOS Architects, a smart city AI platform startup.

CHAOS Architects say that current smart cities are missing a key element: "The smart city is very good at tracking but not very good at listening. We are still missing one ingredient. A city is only smart when it considers the creativity of citizens and combines it with existing data."

The company develops an AI platform that combines open and proprietary data with data created by citizens. Customers can use the platform for citizen engagement, communication, project management, and property management.

The solution provides two interfaces: a customer dashboard and a mobile app called Happycity. Anyone can download the app for free and start sharing ideas about their environment.

The dashboard is a commercial solution. The data dashboard shows real-time data with an intuitive interface. It also includes creation and automatization of projects and notifications with stakeholders. The company's premium service includes machine learning.

Natalia is the CEO and Johanna the business developer of the company.

More information

Website: chaosarchitects.com

Facebook: CHAOS architects


Twitter: @CHAOSarchitects


Instagram: CHAOS_architects


Happycity:

Google Play

iTunes

Photos: Aarni Heiskanen

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Dr. Noha Saleeb is Associate Professor Creative Technology/Digital Creativity at Middlesex University London. In this interview, we discuss BIM and other technologies in education and the best ways to put BIM into practice.

Noha has taught multiple modules at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Architecture, Building Information Modelling, Design Engineering, Programming, and Graphics.  Her research interests lie at the intersection of architecture, computer programming and e-learning disciplines specializing in 3D digital architecture and Building Information Modelling.

Noha is also currently investigating using Artificial Intelligence agents to develop student interaction and e-learning applications. Initially an architect, she worked for many years in the industry in design, construction and onsite project coordination. She is currently providing consultancy on BIM implementation and management.

Our interview topics

Noha's background and current position at Middlesex University

What is the state of BIM education in the UK?

BIM is not just about technology. It can be a strategic question, it requires new knowledge and skills, and it will have an effect on business processes. What should businesses and public sector organizations do in order to navigate in this new environment?

Digital collaboration, open data, IoT, the blockchain, platforms, robotics, etc. How can education prepare professionals to survive and prosper in the exponential acceleration?

Noha's currently investigating using Artificial Intelligence agents to develop student interaction and e-learning applications. What's that all about?

What is the future of BIM, in five years or so?

You can contact Noha Saleeb at [email protected] and on LinkedIn.

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Marianne Friis is Head of BIM Management at Arkitema Architects, a Danish company. In this interview, we discuss architectural BIM, especially from the Scandinavian perspective.

Arkitema Architects was founded in Aarhus in 1969. Today, it is one of Scandinavia’s biggest architectural firms, with fifteen partners and a staff of 500 employees. The company has offices in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Oslo, Stockholm, and Malmö.

In this interview, we discuss the following topics:

What has inspired Marianne to combine architecture and technology in her career?

Who is Arkitema Architects?

What is the state of BIM in Denmark?

How does Arkitema use BIM?

What are the main challenges of getting the full value out of BIM?

How does Marianne see the future of BIM in 3 to 5 years?

You can reach Marianne via LinkedIn.

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Newtecnic is a world leader in the engineering design of ambitious construction projects and building envelope systems. In this interview, Andrew Watts describes how his firm became an international success and how they approach difficult design problems.

Andrew Watts it the CEO of Newtecnic, an architect and engineer. In this exciting interview, he discusses the following topics:

How to solve difficult design problems

What is agile management of design

Why you should start by designing the process before you start the design task

Why experimentation is essential

How the construction industry will change

About Newtecnic

Newtecnic is an international world leader in the engineering design of complex highly ambitious construction projects and advanced building envelope systems. The company is an engineering design house that undertakes the engineering design of building structures, facades, and MEP (Mechanical Electrical and Plumbing) installations in partnership with leading international developers, architects, and contractors.

Founded in 2003, Newtecnic’s design professionals team is completely and solely dedicated to the design and engineering of structures, facades and MEP.

In partnership with the Engineering Department of Cambridge University, Newtecnic’s R&D team, based in Cambridge UK, analyses, develops, tests, validates and specifies new building technologies and methods.

Newtecnic has offices in the USA, UK and Saudi Arabia. The company is owned, directed and managed by long-established highly qualified and experienced engineers and architects. Newtecnic holds the ISO 9001:2015 certification with the British Standards Institution (BSI).

For more information, go to newtecnic.com.

Photos are courtesy of Newtecnic

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Silvia Taurer, the founder of LivingRoomCraftZ, says that BIM is more than a technology or a methodology. It is a collaborative mindset that is becoming elemental for the renewal of the construction industry.

LivingRoomCraftZ, a Delft company, helps clients implement BIM and Integrated Project Delivery. They are specialized in Autodesk products (e.g. Revit Architecture/Structure/MEP and AutoCAD) but offer BIM related consulting services regardless of the technology employed.

Silvia founded LivingRoomCraftZ in 2008 and is a founding member of the RTC Europe Foundation since 2012. She has contributed to conferences such as RTC Europe and BILT Europe as well as influenced other industry related events.

The next Built Europe will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 11-13, 2018. The deadline for the Call of Abstracts is January 28, 2018.

Here are the links mentioned in the podcast:

The LivingRoomCraftZ blog: https://livingroomcraftz.wordpress.com

The website: www.livingroomcraftz.com

General info on BILT Europe 2018: http://www.rtcevents.com/bilt/eur18/

Info on the BILT Academy initiative will be updated regularly: https://blogbiltacademy.wordpress.com

Email: silvia.taurer(at)livingroomcraftz.com

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In this interview, my guest is Wes Smith, Cloud Executive Officer of AEC Cloud. We talk about how and why AEC companies are moving to hosted IT services. We also discuss the state-of-the-art in cloud hosting and look into the future.

About Wes

Passionate about people and process driven technology, Wes Smith has 20 years experience enabling AEC Industry leaders & participants with business focused technology. He has participated in thought leadership sessions with AGC, Constructech and ENR Magazines as well as Citrix, Oracle, Trimble and Viewpoint.

His company, AEC Cloud, is a certified Microsoft Cloud Service Provider (CSP) and developer with extensive experience providing intranets, hosting, integration, and business technology consulting services to the AEC Industry. Major clients include Hensel Phelps, The New York Times, The Pentagon Renovation Program, and Turner Construction.

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Brittanie Campbell-Turner is a Construction Management professional and a podcast host. In this interview, we discuss construction productivity, ways to make it better, and the Constructrr podcast.

Here's what Brittanie says about herself and her podcast: "I've been servicing the engineering and construction management industry for 10+ years having specialized in project controls and schedule management. I'm currently a Project Management Consultant at Mace, and I am always researching ways to positively impact the construction industry by implementing best practices and innovative ideas through The Constructrr Podcast at Constructrr.com.

Constructrr is dedicated to helping property owners have certainty and their decisions about their construction projects. We talk about fostering trusting relationships within your project teams, help you to understand how to lower risk, be under budget, and on schedule in your construction projects. Most importantly exceed your end user’s desires."

You can listen to the podcast at http://www.constructrr.com/ and contact Brittanie at [email protected].

Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)