{"id":159846,"date":"2020-06-02T22:20:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/?p=159846"},"modified":"2020-06-02T22:20:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:21:57","slug":"the-digitisation-of-architecture-as-a-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/architect\/the-digitisation-of-architecture-as-a-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The Digitisation of Architecture As A Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Digitisation of Architecture As A Business<\/h3>\r\n

I<\/span>n many parts of the world, remote working is a common practice today and digital engagements are replacing in-person interaction. Although this is driven out of necessity, companies around the world have adopted this way of working, rethinking what is essential to operate a business with a crucial eye. On the 12th of May 2020, Twitter\u2019s CEO Jack Dorsey announced that their employees will be allowed to work from home forever given their work that was \u201cuniquely positioned to respond quickly\u201d and \u201cemphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-image-of-light-vortex-by-teamlab\"<\/a>

Light Vortex, a light sculpture that pushed the boundaries of light to create a new spatial experience, a way of thinking that leads innovation. Light Vortex by teamLab, 2016. Image by Von Chua.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

Low Digitisation Within the Architecture Industry<\/h4>\r\n

Within the architecture, engineering, construction, and property industry, the way how things work has remained unchanged for decades. In 2015, McKinsey<\/a> published its Digitisation Index, highlighting the design and construction industry at the bottom of the index. Although architecture practices have been integrating Building Information Modelling (BIM), which is one of the successful adoptions, there is still a huge gap between what technology can help achieve today.<\/p>\r\n

With my background in architecture, my view and experience focuses on the forms of the process when a client first approaches an architect for a project until the project is handed over. Depending on the scope of work, some architects also work with the clients on marketing materials, thereby extending the process to include understanding what purchasers are looking for. There are opportunities to lead new forms of process through which we design, construct, and operate, and the form of organisation through which professional services within the built environment work and interact.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

To avoid obsolescence, architects need to increase demand for their skills by embracing emerging technologies that both stimulate and satiate consumer desires.<\/p>\r\n

Harvard Design Magazine<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Digital Adoption in the Architecture Industry<\/h4>\r\n

For architecture practices, the largest barrier to the adoption of digital tools appears to be the cost. Firstly, investing in technology, then training to use the new piece of technology. Therefore, digital transformation adoption often stems from strong leadership to drive this change, supported with the financial commitment to adopt it.<\/p>\r\n

At the core of digital adoption within the architecture industry, in my opinion, is the aim to create a competitive advantage for architecture as a business. For example, beginning with thoroughly understanding a client\u2019s design brief and in the case where clients are unsure, to take the responsibility to develop it with them to have a clear set of aims to achieve, ensuring the right design team is sourced to work together from day one, minimising inefficiencies in the complex workflow in architecture projects, selecting the best use of resources along the entire process to maximise the value delivered for clients, and also, building resilience for the architecture industry.<\/p>\r\n

In the Royal Institute of British Architects\u2019 publication titled Client Conversations: Insights into successful project outcomes, Ian Mehrtens was quoted:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

You need to spend this time to be sure that the architect really understands your intentions and vice versa so that you are able to test each other\u2019s conception, because otherwise you find out later that you are not getting what you want and you waste time and money doing redesign.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Digital transformation is a shift in the industry-level adoption of a technology, which requires multiple direct and indirect aspects to fit together to happen. Within development projects, this is often cross-disciplinary as well which the digital transformation needs to be adopted across the board. As digital transformation involves changes in how we work, create, communicate, and deliver architectural services, the current pandemic has had an effect to accelerate digital transformation activities across industries.<\/p>\r\n

At the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)<\/a> in the United Kingdom, a survey with over 1,000 of its chartered members was conducted, evidencing the huge disruption of projects and the fragility of the business of architecture:<\/p>\r\n