Daily Archives: May 9, 2017

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Albert Einstein

The above quote seems pretty appropriate for the AEC industry at the moment. Everyone seems to agree that digital construction is the way forward, but were still struggling with adoption rates and realising the efficiencies that are available to us.

Theres a behavioural change that needs to happen across the industry to embrace a new way of thinking in order to successfully manage the delivery of our objectives.

While there are many examples of key tasks that can be delivered more effectively using BIM processes, there remains significant frustration and a lack of confidence as to how our processes align and work with technology, and this has created a lack of confidence right through the supply chain which needs to be overcome to achieve the true collaboration and information sharing that will transform the industrys productivity and efficiency.

Whatever your approach, digital empowers businesses to be more accurate and more efficient, and can facilitate the removal of waste, be that physical or process. But the opportunity of what you can realise is about you, your approach, your leadership and the commercial framework you work under.

The value a digital approach can bring is influenced by many factors at each phase of a project. The value can appear as a simple cost saving or as a benefit to reducing risk or realising greater opportunity, or simply by allowing tasks to be done quicker with or without a better outcome.

Invariably it is about simpler, more predictable business.

With the direct cost of enablement running at 0.2 0.5% of the project cost and the value created running in excess of 5% of the project cost, the commercial opportunity, if you have the resources and the tools to realise the outcome, are significant in an industry often only making 2-3%. While weve got some general rules based on our experience of using these methods on our own software and seeing the savings our customers are making, we are conscious that conclusively and unequivocally evidencing these savings remains complex.

If you believe in what youre doing, we believe the right thing to do is to look at a managed risk approach. This is not about taking on the risk as much as it is a more managed approach to that risk. Historically, we aim to pass the risk down the supply chain but at the same time simply expect some new utopia to be delivered, or leave insufficient time to deliver the improved outcome we want and expect. If youre using your tools correctly and have confidence in the information that youre producing on your projects, you should now feel comfortable taking on that risk and proving that BIM worksafter all, risk and opportunity are extremes of the same core challenge, managing the level of uncertainty.

Changing your approach is, of course, much easier when you have confidence in the ROI that you will achieve and you value the outcome rather than the simplicity of the completion. Its also easier to get the supply chain on board when they clearly understand the benefits and the ROI they themselves could achieve.

The savings are tangible and can be proved not only to you but also to the supply chain.

A managed risk approach is dominant in the process sectors and was dominant in the heady days of Construction Management in the 80s, or in the fully detailed design preferred by some Clients. But a combination of the technology and the new opportunity from BIM may well see such approaches return to the fore. For us, it was something we did years ago when our team directly delivered projects across the pharmaceutical sector. However, in those days the outcome, the content of the project, the surety of the time line and the continuous improvement mattered to owner occupier clients. That is not to imply that such outcomes dont matter now, it is just that there is a more short-term focus on the result to the detriment of a focus on the process which delivers it.

Graeme Forbes

Managing Director

Clearbox

0800 085 9872

sales@clearboxbim.com

http://www.clearboxbim.com

@clearboxbim

Please note: this is a commercial profile

See the rest here:

Digital Construction - taking on the risk in construction - Planning & Building Control Today

BostonsBSA Spaceis exploring the evolution of inflatables at its newest exhibit, The New Inflatable Moment, on display through September.

The exhibition was inspired by The Inflatable Moment: Pneumatics and Protest in 68, a 1998 book and exhibition by Marc Dessauce and The Architectural League of New York, which explored the relationship between inflatable technology and utopia.

With this exhibition, we revisit the moment of the 1960s explored by Dessauce to suggest that utopian thought is re-emerging today in architecture and art as evidenced by projects involving inflatables, said curators Mary Hale and Katazyrna Balug in the exhibit description.

From the advent of the hot air balloon to the studies of inflatable houses on Mars, the evolution of inflatable structures will be displayed in an interactive timeline created by Boston-based design agency Certain Measures. The timeline provides context for the different projects on display, showing them adjacent to corresponding sociopolitical moments in history.

A series of installations, photos, videos, and models will also populate the exhibit, depicting the ways inflatables have embodied the radical and experimental thinking of architects and artists throughout history. Work by the likes of Buckminster Fuller, Ant Farm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and many others, will explore the experimental designs of this bubble-like architecture as well as the advancements in technology that are pushing inflatables into the future, and into space.

The exhibition reveals some of the most visionary architectural minds working with new methods of display and communication, said Laura Wernick, chair of the BSA Foundation, on the exhibits web page. Its premiere at BSA space will empower designers to similarly think and work in new ways to create a better future and motivate the general public to believe in it.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Wednesday, May 17 at 6 p.m. The exhibition is currently open and runs through September 3, 2017. For more information about the exhibit please visit the BSA Space website here.

Read the original here:

BSA Space's new exhibition explores the past, present, and future of inflatable architecture - The Architect's Newspaper

Sitting majestically in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor, this gleaming 644 feet-long white vessel is the largest, and probably most exclusive, "residential yacht" on earth.

Home to the world's only full-sized at-sea tennis court, a 7,000-square foot spa and fitness center, and 12,000-bottle wine collection, this ship has visited 1,213 ports and sailed 641,000 nautical miles.

This year alone it has undertaken expeditions to two of the most remote regions on earth -- the Ross Sea, in Antarctica, and Melanesia, near New Guinea.

But don't get too excited.

None of the suites on this 12-deck beauty are available to rent.

Dubbed a "condo cruise liner," every one of the 165 luxury apartments on board -- worth between $3 million for a studio and $15 million for a three-bedroom pad -- are owned by residents who must have a net worth of $10 million. At least.

To get on board, you'll need an invite.

When The World was launched 15 years ago, it nearly floundered.

"Initially, the ship was partially owned by a hotel company," Lillian Veri, a Canadian who has owned a residence on The World for nearly 10 years, tells CNN.

The sixth floor of the ship, she explains, had initially been reserved for hotel rooms, the rental income from which was intended to subsidize the residential side of the business.

"Well, it just didn't work out that way," Veri says.

In 2003, the business model changed. There would be no tourists on board. Just residents of a very high net worth.

It became -- and remains -- the only entirely residential cruise liner in the world.

All residents are shareholders who vote on everything from the ship's route each year, to the type of fuel used and the Christmas decorations.

"The people who buy here are successful in one way or another. Lawyers, doctors, architects, entrepreneurs," says Veri. "They have opinions on how things should be run."

The change in business plan worked.

By 2006, all of the residences had sold out.

During CNN's tour of the boat's facilities, various residents float by.

Looking like passengers of a regular cruise ship, they all cheerfully greet by name our guide Lisa Spiller, who joined as residential director of The World six months ago.

Everyone who passes, I realize, is at least a multi-millionaire. Just how rich, I ask Spiller -- who herself is dripping in what appear to be diamonds -- are residents of The World?

She smiles. "Let's just say the type of people who buy here have private jets. They collect art. This is not their only residence."

The wrong kind of success, however, could see a wealthy candidate vetoed by the vetting committee.

"I don't think that Oprah Winfrey would be allowed to buy here," explains Veri, as we chat in her three-bedroom apartment. It boasts a wonderful wrap-around terrace that today has an unobstructed view of the Hong Kong Island skyline.

"There's a code of confidentiality and privacy ... We don't want paparazzi here. This (boat) is a refuge, a sanctuary.

"You will never find out who else lives here."

Today, 142 unidentified families reside on the ship, who all have undergone a strict vetting process before being allowed to buy. Roughly half of those on board are North American, about 45 are European and another 20 are South African. The average age is 64 years old.

General manager Sandra Mooney says that, on average, most residents spend about six months a year on board the ship, which flies the Bahamas flag and adheres to that country's rules when in international waters. Occupancy peaks at Christmas, when many guests invite their families and friends on board.

Still, a ship that was built for 600 people, says Mooney -- hotel rooms have a higher occupancy per square foot than residences -- only ever has 330 maximum on board.

That The World is impressive there can be no doubt.

On a clear night far out at sea, residents can choose to sleep under the stars on a collection of "Bali beds." Each apartment receives complimentary turn-down twice a day. Bvlgari toiletries appear in the bathrooms as if by magic.

There is wifi coverage wherever the boat is, doctors on board, and even a pilates teacher on hand.

But wouldn't individuals with such fabulous wealth, and who seem to value privacy so highly, prefer to buy and travel on their own yacht?

The appeal, explains Veri, lies in the adventurous itineraries The World's staff put together.

"I don't have the creativity these people have. It's a lot of work to put all that stuff together."

By the end of 2017, for example, the ship will have visited Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Hawaii, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canada, Alaska, Mexico and Central America, rounding off in Miami.

Three times per year The World undertakes "expeditions" -- voyages into unusual destinations, which are joined by leading environmentalists and academics, who through a series of lectures, forum breakfasts and field trips stimulate educational discussions about the given destination.

"We did, a long time ago, (a trip to) Madagascar," says Veri. "We had a National Geographic photographer, an anthropologist, a marine biologist. It's like being at a university for a week. That you can't get anywhere else."

Plus, there's the sense of community, says Mooney, recalling numerous parties the residents have thrown on board for one another.

"We feel this is our family, too," says Mooney with a sparkling smile, of the relationship between the staff and crew. "We have our family at home and we have our family on board. It's lovely."

The World, it seems, is not enough. Other cruise ship operators are now eying a slice of the luxury floating city market.

Launching in 2021, The Utopia is a five-star residential cruise liner set to rival The World.

It will have cost an estimated $980 million to build, according to its owners, and its 190 residences will be listed for between $4 million to $36 million. The ship's route will be tailored to tie in with key events on the global calendar, such as Cannes Film Festival, Monaco Grand Prix, the Olympics, fashion weeks, the Melbourne Cup, and Rio de Janeiro's Carnival.

"Utopia will be a place for annual meetings of first ladies, philanthropists, Nobel laureates, festivals of thinkers, and missions where world leaders are bringing together conservatives and liberals to solve pressing issues and brokering peace treaties among feuding ethnic groups and cultures," The Utopia's PR team tell CNN over email.

Unlike The World, however, there will also be 165 hotel rooms on board.

Launching in 2019, The Marquette is a residential-only river cruise ship, with apartments on board selling for the more modest price range of between $310,000 and $1.9 million. The project was founded by David Nelson, who has lived on a houseboat on the Mississippi river in the United States for 29 years.

For Mooney, however, no ship will rival The World.

"People think of (The World) as a cruise ship," she says. "It's not."

The World, she explains, is a unique floating city of like-minded individuals with a passion for travel and learning, which over the course of 15 years has become home to a bonded family. That sort of chemistry is hard to replicate.

"You have to come on board. Within a short period of time you really feel the heart of soul of spirit of the ship."

Link:

The World: a floating city of millionaires - CNN