Category: Features
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Helsinki Stream City: A Re-imagining Outside the System
Modern man lives under the illusion of being the most intelligent being out there. This is the paradox of human nature; we all want to make the best decisions with the knowledge we have at any given time, but on the other hand, our thinking is largely based on how our ancestors organized the world…
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The Urban Village Project – An Interview with Jamiee Williams
In the podcast interview with Jamiee Williams, Architectural Lead at SPACE10, we discuss the recently announced Urban Village Project. The project rethinks how we design, build, finance and share our future homes, neighborhoods, and cities. SPACE10 is IKEA’s global research and design lab. SPACE10 is on a mission to respond to the major societal changes…
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Know What’s Under Ground and Make Smarter Planning Decisions
A Finnish experimentation project developed a framework for classifying ground conditions for building and infrastructure construction. It will help anticipate the future cost of foundation laying during the early stages of city planning. The ground conditions of an area can have a substantial effect on the costs and the environmental impacts of constructing buildings and…
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Taking Service Network Planning to the Next Level
Cities and municipalities are basically systems for delivering services for the benefit of their citizens. An experimental project demonstrated how improving the flow of data between these services could save a lot of time and taxpayer money. Emilia Rönkkö Emilia Rönkkö is an architect who worked for the Finnish city of Kuopio. Besides that, she…
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The Business of Engineering: An Interview with Matthew Loos
Matthew Loos is an experienced project manager in the civil engineering industry. He works as a project engineer at Jones|Carter in Fort Worth, Texas. In this interview, we discuss Matt’s new book, The Business of Engineering. It is not very common that an engineer writes a non-technical book. What inspired you to do so? Matt…
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Gardeners in the City of the Future: An Interview with Eric Baczuk
I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Baczuk, Designer at Google. We discuss his views on the future urban experience and design. We also touch on Sidewalk Labs of which Eric was a founding team member. What are you working on currently? I lead a design team imagining future of communication and thinking about possibilities…
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How BIM Helps Make Buildings Safer
There are many uses for building information models that are yet to be discovered. One Finnish team collaborated with a city and fire & rescue authority to explore how BIM would help make buildings safer. “Imagine a fire inspector in a building with an AR headset. He can retrieve data from the building’s digital model…
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Microsoft Urges the Construction Industry to Deliver Lifecycle Value
Digitalization is changing the way that we operate and use buildings. Salla Palos is directing Microsoft towards a future that inspires innovative changes in both the mindset and the business models of AECO industry stakeholders. Salla Palos moved from Finland to the United States in July 2015 and settled down in Seattle, one of the…
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How Algorithmic Design Improves Collaboration in Building Design
Design, like everything else in a construction project, is a collaborative effort. Even with digital tools, collaboration across design disciplines is not yet optimal. An experimental project thus set out to test whether algorithmic design could help streamline the interaction between architects and structural engineers. Design data originating from an architect is used in several…
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How VR and AR Will Help in Remote Expert Assistance
The speed and quality of maintenance and repair are critical in the modern, technology-packed built environment. Consequently, these were considered in an experimental project that tested how remote expert assistance using VR and AR technologies could help improve the productivity of field service. I’m in a hall overlooking white mountain tops. It’s snowing. In front…