AEC Business

In this podcast interview with Pouria Kay, CEO and Co-founder at Grib, we talk about the startup's new, intuitive 3D design tool.

Grib® is a cloud–based software that turns a mobile device into a universal controller. With Grib, both young and professional designers can sketch complex objects without first having to learn cumbersome 3D software.

You work intuitively in actual 3D space and interact with your environment using augmented reality. All you need is pen, paper, and your mobile device. You can share models with friends, order a print, or export them if needed.

Users are involved in the development of Grib as the following video on GribTowns demonstrate.

https://youtu.be/YGsZGx9uopU

Contact Pouria for at pouria.kay(at)grib3d.com or via LinkedIn. You can learn more about Grib at grib3d.com. Also, visit their Instagram account grib3d and Facebook page.

Listen to the interview (also on iTunes)

In this podcast interview with Pedro Aibéo, we discuss Architectural Democracy, a research project, and its practical implementations.

Pedro Aibéo, photo: Helen Kurri

Architectural Democracy started as a doctoral research by Pedro Aibéo, architect and civil engineer. Pedro has been doing his research at Aalto Bim Lab, Aalto University School of Engineering. The project has now grown into a larger working group of researchers and entrepreneurs who are currently putting in practice the developed technologies.

Pedro's research "aims at investigating possibilities and benefits of combining existing technologies (Smartphones and BIM) in collaboration with government policies, in order to include end-users as participants in the decision making process of the built environment."

Pedro explains in the interview, how citizens can e.g. create 3D interior models of their homes or other spaces with a mobile app, annotate objects, and share the information on a digital platform. The technology turns buildings into "dollhouses" with facades opened to reveal their interiors.

You can find information on Architectural Democracy and pilot projects at http://architecturaldemocracy.com/ and on Facebook and Twitter (hashtag #ArcDem).

Architectural Democracy app demo

Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)

I had the pleasure to talk with Paul Doherty, AIA, President and CEO of the digit group. Paul is a BIM pioneer, construction innovator, and smart city strategist.

In this 44-minute interview, we’ll learn, among others

* How the AEC Hackathon came about

* Why proper application of BIM will revolutionize construction

* How to do construction business in China successfully

* Why China will leapfrog the rest of the world in BIM adoption

* How to build a home in six days

* What is a city operating system

* How autonomous vehicles will change the shape of cities

* How to deal with the fast development of technology in the built environment

* What are the new relationships between buildings and people

The digital group’s Guangzhou Office Meeting

About Paul’s businesses

In 2014, the digit group formed a Joint Venture to enter the People’s Republic of China to plan and implement Smart City solutions, opening offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou, partnering with China’s leading Information Technology and Facility Management companies.

In 2015, the digit group became equity owners in numerous real estate development projects regarding Smart Cities in the US, China, the Middle East and Australia.

In 2016, the digit group launched theBIMcompany, an outsourced BIM services firm that provides the world’s best and most comprehensive BIM services that saves you time and money while increasing value for your projects. theBIMcompany also provides internal scale for production delivery of the world’s largest and most iconic Smart Cities projects.

Source: The digit group

Title image: Kingdom City, Saudi Arabia

More information:

www.thedigitgroupinc.com

www.i-modular.com/lifestyle/

www.investrussell.com

Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)

I had the pleasure of meeting with Pirita Vainio, Head of Digital and Innovation at NCC Group. In this podcast interview, we discuss how a newcomer to the industry brought agile practices into a construction company. NCC Group is actively exploring agile methods such as Scrum and Kanban. 

What is agile?

Agile is the term that is most familiar to software developers. Traditionally, projects deliver the result at once near the end. An agile project is more iterative, delivering results incrementally. Agile projects adapt to evolving customer needs and focus on users and business value.

Agile projects typically use the principles of a framework called Scrum. The basic unit of Scrum is a sprint. It is a time-limited iteration for the sprint team to achieve a certain goal. The duration is fixed in advance and can vary from one week to one month.

There are three core roles in the Scrum framework: a product owner – representing the stakeholders, a self-organizing development team, and a scrum master. Scrum Masters are trained in agile methodology. Their role in a sprint is to be a facilitator and intermediator, not a team leader or project manager.

About Pirita

Pirita started at NCC in March 2016. She has wide-ranging experience in innovation and digital development in e.g. retail, logistics, and ICT services. In January of 2017 she became Head of Digital and Innovation at NCC Group, headquartered in Stockholm.

You can connect with Pirita on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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In this podcast episode, my guest is Andrew Weinreich. We talk about the future of homebuilding against the backdrop of Andrew's new podcast Predicting Our Future. 

Is construction ripe for disruption? Andrew believes that homebuilding is much closer to a tipping point than ever before. In this interview, he explains why.

"In the United States, modular construction significantly lags behind what we see elsewhere around the world," Andrew reminds. "When everything you can imagine today, from the paperclip to your smartphone is made in a factory, why is it that -certainly in this country- we associate homes made in factory with the lowest of low end homes."

"The first question is: why is that? And the second question is: could that change? Could we be on the precipice of looking at the next Tesla; not for car-building, but for homebuilding."

Predicting Our Future podcast focuses on the next revolutions in technology. The first 6-part series focuses entirely on homebuilding where Andrew interviews 29 experts & CEOs in the industry to hear their predictions about the future of the space.

Andrew has founded seven startups, including the world’s first social network, Six Degrees.

The podcast is available on several podcasting platforms. You can also listen to the podcast at predictingourfuture.com.

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In this podcast interview, my guest is Daniel Sundlin, a partner at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in New York. We talk about how BIG innovates and what opportunities and challenges digitalization brings to architecture.

BIG is a Copenhagen and New York based group of architects, designers, builders, and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, interior design, landscape design, product design, research and development.

The Interview

In the interview, we discuss these topics

The philosophy, key principles, and vision of BIG

How experimentation and innovation are part of the company’s DNA

What digitalization means in design

The challenges and opportunities of the digital economy

The role of the architect and how BIG wants to expand it

The future plans of BIG as a company

About Daniel

Daniel joined BIG in 2008 and has worked on many of BIG’s most prominent projects and winning competitions, including Tallinn Town Hall, Slussen Masterplan in Stockholm, Astana Library in Kazakhstan, Qingdao Bridge in China and the international competition for a new entrance pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec.

Daniel was one of the lead designers of the prize-winning Maison Des Fondateurs Audemars Piguet (Audemars Piguet Museum) in Le Brassus, Switzerland and the PARC Jussieu Campus in Paris. Recently, he worked as Project Leader for VIA 57 West, a mixed-use residential building in New York City. Daniel currently oversees the expansion of the Google campus (Google North Bayshore and Google Charleston East) in Mountain View, California; the Audemars Piguet Hotel also in Le Brassus, Switzerland; the Spiral high-rise and the Eastside Costal Resiliency project (BIG U) both in Manhattan, New York; and the Wilson Secondary School in Arlington, Virginia.

With a background as a photographer and graphic designer, Daniel is a strong communicator, leading visualization and graphical representation at BIG. Daniel moved to New York City in 2010.

You can learn more about BIG at big.dk. To connect directly with Daniel, email him at [email protected].

The title photo is courtesy of BIG.

Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)

In this podcast interview, Casey Grey talks about Conscious Building, passive houses, and  and how we can make our homes healthier.

About Casey Grey

Casey Grey is the founder and CEO of The Conscious Builder Inc., an Ontario company.

Casey is one of those very few people who knew what he wanted from a very young age. Although his goals have changed over the years, they have always revolved around building homes. From Lego, to tree houses to custom homes, he is constantly looking for ways to build better homes.

Casey grew up in Orleans, Ontario, but he now calls Manotick, Ontario, home. He lives in one of Canada’s very few Passive Homes with his wife, Natasha, and their son, Sullivan. Not only does he talk the talk but he walks the walk. He lives by Mahatma Gandhi’s famous saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Now, Casey focuses on, what he likes to call, Conscious Building. As a licensed carpenter, he is the owner of The Conscious Builder where he and his team focus on building and renovating homes “consciously”. Ultimately, these are homes that are cheaper to operate, better for the environment, more comfortable to live in and, most importantly, healthier for the families who live in them.

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Here are the links mentioned in the podcast:

http://www.theconsciousbuilder.com/

http://www.theconsciousbuilder.com/podcast/

http://www.theconsciousbuilder.com/tesla/

http://www.theconsciousbuilder.com/chevrolet-volt/

Connect with Casey on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/caseyagrey/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseygrey/

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Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)

In this podcast interview with Kevin Forestell, Founder and CEO of Dozr, we discuss how contractors can lend and rent heavy equipment using the company's new online service.

In the construction industry, the cost of owning and operating equipment is a big factor in profitability. As the owner of a commercial landscaping company, Dozr co-founder and CEO Kevin Forestell hated watching his equipment sit idle between jobs, and he knew other contractors were in the same situation. With Dozr, owners can post their equipment for rent, and Dozr helps match them people in need of machinery, with insurance coverage built in to the platform. It’s like Airbnb for heavy equipment.

Dozr (@Dozrhub) is Canada’s largest online heavy equipment marketplace, and they are revolutionizing the construction industry. For contractors the cost of owning and operating equipment is a key factor in profitability. Idle equipment not only fails to generate revenue for its owner, it costs them money. Founded by experienced construction veterans, Dozr provides an alternative for contractors by connecting owners of high quality equipment with our network of trusted renters who need it.

Not only does Dozr create revenue for equipment owners, rates on the contractor-to-contractor platform tend to be about 40 percent less than retail rental rates and the variety of equipment is greater. Dozr offers both construction and agricultural equipment and is free to join.

Dozr launched in Kitchener, Ontario, in 2015 and is expanding operations in the United States following a $2.5 million (CAD) equity financing round with FairVentures Inc., the innovation initiative of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. After moving into the New Jersey market in December 2016, Dozr is now open for business in Florida with an initial focus on Miami, Tampa and Orlando.

To start using Dozr, go to https://dozr.com/.

Listen to the interview (also on iTunes)

Plastic waste is a huge global problem and we need viable solutions. In this interview with Jeff Mintz, CEO of Envirolastech, we discuss how plastic can be recycled and used as a building material in a unique way.

Envirolastech, Inc, is a developer of thermoplastic technology that offers a cost-competitive alternative to wood and concrete in a variety of products and applications. The company's products are made from 100% non-organic recycled materials and they are 100% recyclable (see product features).

The company was founded based on innovations made by Paul Schmitt, the technology expert of the company.

In the interview with Jeff Mintz, we discuss

The problem of plastic waste

How Envirolastech came about

What is unique about the company's manufacturing process and their products

What are the first, and possible future, products of the company

You can contact Jeff by sending email to [email protected]. The company's website is at www.envirolastech.com.

Listen to the interview (also in iTunes)

I had the pleasure of interviewing Laura Kassovic, CEO and Co-founder at MbientLab Inc. We discuss how wearable technology and smart sensors can help on the construction site.

MbientLab is a technology company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was started about four years ago by a team of engineers who are experts in sensors and machine learning. MbientLab develops wearable technology and also does manufacturing in the USA and Asia.

In this interview, Laura shares her views on how wearables can be beneficial in construction. She mentions three specific application areas:

Safety: how your day is going

Insurance: data on accidents

More efficient workflows: using wearables for data entry

You can learn more about how MbientLab and how they can help your company at mbientlab.com and email Laura at [email protected].

Photos are courtesy of MbientLab Inc.

Listen to the interview (also on iTunes)