Whats 2017 All About

What’s 2017 All About?

As the year comes to an end our MD Rich gives us his musings on all things 2016 and looks ahead to what he sees as the things to work harder on in 2017.

“Wow 2016, what a year… Business has been interesting for many reasons this year and our relentless pursuit of our human centred approach to how we design for our customers has culminated in a plan to create delivery for them on a similar level! 2017 we are coming!!

Times they are a changing.

Architecture is changing massively, it has been for years but the rate of change has never been faster, the last few years has seen technology move on from basic CAD systems to it being the norm to design everything in 3D. Revit and Archi-cad, depending how you roll are here to stay and are revolutionising how we deliver buildings.

Virtual and Augmented reality are at a tipping point of bringing the design of buildings closer to customers than ever before and what we are learning about building and material performance will lead to better buildings, technically at least !!

Houston we have a problem…

It still amazes me however that with all this technology at our fingertips how architects and designers can conspire to get things so spectacularly wrong … A lot of the time!

Why is this …Well honestly I think it is because most buildings are designed as the architect thinks best. There is an early immersion on what they think constitutes good design and how they interpret the brief and this can lead projects down a path that leave the clients at the “Garden gate”.

Essentially at the end of the path looking on as their vision and brief is distorted and moulded into a version of what their Architect thinks they want but how he can make it better.

As the pace of technology gets faster, the efficiency in design create opportunities for designers to improve the quality of what they do, cut out mistakes and use modern systems to manage the delivery of projects. Add in a dangerous ego and before you know it you can have something completed in double quick time that is further from the original brief that even the most accommodating of clients may accept.

So what needs to happen?

2017 is all about the end users …. For who and why are we designing? We need to harness the power of the customer, we need to take them on a journey with us and deliver their story their way, using our skills and expertise to enhance the whole experience for them.

From the moment we begin to understand them, what makes them tick, how they feel and most importantly WHY are they talking to you there is the opportunity to harness all of this technology and apply a human touch that creates really, really exciting buildings. Buildings and spaces that have an intangible beauty for their end users…. Buildings and spaces that will grow with their users, be useful and make them feel a certain way long after the dust has settled and the smell of new paint fades…

2017 is about people, lets understand each other a bit better and let’s make some Great Buildings!”