Bouwen zonder vergunning?🏗 Met 'Architect aan Zet' kan dat in Rotterdam onder begeleiding van een gecertificeerde architect. Maarten Polkamp kreeg vandaag het benodigde papiertje van wethouder Kurvers en sprak hierover met Rijnmond.
ARCHITECTURE LESSONS AT THE TALMASCHOOL IN ROTTERDAM
In the past weeks, the 7th grade of A.S. Talmaschool in Crooswijk worked on their designs for new buildings at the Koeweide in their neighborhood. Merel Paes, Rens Hoofs, and Jip Pijs guided the lessons that are part of the education program of IMC Basis at the primary school.
Lesson 1 focused on getting to know the profession of an architect and the relation to its client. The class went outside to the Koeweide, a location close to the school, to come up with the first ideas and start on sketches.
In lesson 2, the students formed groups to further develop their ideas and started building models to scale. A variety of buildings quickly came to life, from a family restaurant with a football field to a kids' playing hotel or Ajax fan store.
In lesson 3, the groups finalized their designs and presented them to the group. We look back on an exciting day of presentations in which some unexpected designs were pitched.
IMC Basis organizes practical lessons that introduce the students to subjects that they typically do not come into contact with. Thanks IMC Basis for inviting us once again.
VR is changing P·A's design game
If you’ve ever hired an architect for a design project, you’ll know how important clear communication is to a quality project outcome and a healthy burn down of the budget. You might also have experienced firsthand how difficult it is to imagine what a space will look and feel like from two-dimensional (2D) floor plans or material mood boards.
Enter stage right: virtual reality technology.
VR levels the playing field for everyone involved in a design project - from design professionals, to client, to consultant, and to contractor.
Back to the future
When Personal Architecture first embarked on the virtual world four years ago, we began with a very rudimentary technology that included cardboard glasses and a mobile phone insert. Nevertheless, this simple setup noticeably impacted how we communicated ideas to our clients, and improved their experience of the design process.
PA’s first VR set up looked a little something like this.
We pushed a little further and invested in some HTC VR glasses, AND THEN Began TO expand our scope.
Turns out, we weren’t the only ones enjoying experimenting with the technology. Our clients also started to have some fun. One of them got so invested in the experience, that he fell to the ground while trying to sit on his virtual couch!
It was this (well, not him falling, but experiencing our clients’ enjoyment, and the streamlining of our design process) that inspired us to explore the technology and its capabilities in design with it even more. We began to include other consultants in design development, and integrated their design activities into our model to ensure fluency. Later, we shared designs with contractors to provoke discussions on buildability. We have incrementally invested more and more to develop the breadth of our skills in VR, as we began to benefit from using it. We even developed a mobile VR set up so we can we can take the experience to our clients wherever they may be.
Fast forward to the present and we’ve moved far beyond cardboard goggles to HTC Vive virtual reality technology, having discovered that VR is a powerful tool not only in presenting designs to clients but in developing a design alongside them, and the wider consultant team, throughout the building design process. We now test different design options, lighting, and installation integration.
Now our technology looks a little something like this. We also have a mobile set up that we can bring to clients on site.
Taking a critical look at how VR has disrupted the way we work, I’d say it’s influenced the design process for us at PA in three critical ways. These make it indispensable - not just as a presentation tool, but as a tool we DESIGN WITH.
VR facilitates user-centered design, placing the user and their needs in the driver’s seat of the design process
Why is this important? Because architecture is not about buildings, but about the people who use them.
In essence, VR allows us to user-test the buildings we design, and verify the design choices we make as professionals. We can then, with little implication on costs, especially when this happens early in the process, make what we’ve designed for clients BETTER with their feedback. This is so much more effective and efficient than spending time and resources designing and building something that does not meet our clients’ needs. VR allows us to get closer to our clients’ ideal, and as a by-product, increases the joy involved for all participating, and vastly increases the quality of the design outcome.
VR helps us make efficient, informed and integrated design choices early in the process
Why is this important? Because if it’s implemented in the early stages, can save time and money.
By inviting other design consultants (installations engineers, structural engineers, etc) to collaborate in the virtual model from the early stages of project development, it’s evolved from a presentation tool to a collaborative platform. This virtual collaboration platform provokes lively discussion that ultimately leads to innovations and solutions which enhance the quality and accuracy of our built projects. If you have the right team of consultants and contractors on a design project, they all want to make something of high quality, and enjoy themselves while they do this. VR facilitates participation and allows us and our wider consultant team, to make better decisions early on in the development of your project.
VR demystifies the building process for all involved
Why is this important? Because clear communication is integral to the success of your project.
VR levels the playing field for everyone involved in a design project - from design professionals, to client, to consultant, and to contractor. 2D drawings have historically been an architect’s main means of communicating ideas to these players, but the general public and even contractors, have less formal training in “reading” them. With VR, we can create experiences that invite the right kinds of questions, and inspire the right kind of critical thinking at key moments in a project’s development. This facilitates understanding, which consolidates problem-solving, and generates enthusiasm for a high quality outcome.
Looking ahead
VR is changing how we do things, and it’s doing this rather rapidly - faster than the systems around it can adapt. Disruption, like change, is not always comfortable. Although it’s clear that VR creates many opportunities, it also complicates some things. It’s also clear that VR will impact traditional deliverables at each design stage, shifting much of the work to the preliminary phases. This already has implications for the pricing of our work.
By building a VR model in the early stages (as an iterative tool as opposed to static end-state presentation tool), we’re front-loading the early design stages with details that can distract from more fundamental discussions we should be having. For example, we might get caught discussing materials because we had to apply materials to the VR model, instead of discussing the qualities of the space. So, it’s important to manage client expectations and drive discussions in the right direction.
The image above is a still from a walk through of a current residential project’s VR model. We can demonstrate design options for our clients, in real time, allowing them to immediately experience the impact of design decisions.
Want to experience a walk through yourself? Take a tour here.
If you have any questions about how we work with VR, or want to share your experience implementing VR in your design process, please leave your comments below, or drop me a line at info@personal-architecture.nl.
-Maarten Polkamp, Partner
Visie herinrichting stadspark Weert unaniem aangenomen
Personal Architecture is onderdeel van een team met NOHNIK architecture & landscapes en Lara Voerman architectuurhistoricus dat de architectenselectie van de gemeente Weert gewonnen heeft voor de visie en het ontwerp voor de herinrichting van het stadspark van Weert. De gemeenteraad van Weert heeft de visie op 3 juli unaniem vastgesteld. De komende maanden wordt gewerkt aan de uitwerking.
Het huidige stadspark verandert van een saaie grasvlakte in een divers, levendig park.
Nieuwe ruimte voor het stadspark
Centraal in het park ligt het kasteel de Nijenborgh, historisch gezien één van de belangrijkste plekken van de stad. Het stadspark is in de ogen van veel inwoners toe aan een grondige opknapbeurt. Op een deel van het kasteeleiland is een houthandel gevestigd die eind 2019 verhuist. Hierdoor ontstaat de kans om deze historisch unieke plek terug te geven aan de stad.
De stad en het park worden verbonden middels drie nieuwe bruggen. De contouren van het kasteel worden weer zichtbaar.
Leesbaar maken van het verleden
Vanaf eind april heeft het ontwerpteam samen met een projectgroep van betrokkenen gewerkt aan een visie op de herinrichting van het park. Kern van de visie is het leesbaar maken van de historische structuur, het verbeteren van de verbindingen tussen het park en de binnenstad door middel van onder andere drie nieuwe bruggen en daarnaast het verrijken van de groenstructuur.
Het voorhof wordt een levendig plek met ruimte voor ontmoeting, educatie en om te ontspannen.
In de visie worden de spanten van de houthandel hergebruikt in een multifunctioneel paviljoen.
Een levendig voorhof
De gebouwen en het asfalt van de houthandel maken plaats voor groene oevers en een iconische nieuwe ‘voorhof’ bij het kasteel. De voorhof wordt het levendige hart van het park en biedt ruimte aan allerlei activiteiten. Ook rondom het kasteel-eiland wordt het park grondig aangepakt. Wat nu nog een grote kale vlakte is, wordt een lommerrijk, divers en rijk stuk park.
Deze samenwerking is het resultaat van ons vorige project 'Weerbaar Weert' van P ·A reasearch. Voor meer informatie over dit onderzoeksproject klik hier.