No matter if it be urban community or peaceful retreat, these firms are pushing the limits of architecture to redefine it for future generations.
These innovative businesses remain at the forefront of popular culture, embrace new technology and invest in their own growth – setting an example for others to follow.
Adapting to Change
As part of your efforts to be the best in its field, your commercial architecture firm must adapt to cultural and technological shifts – this may include adopting new design tools, communication strategies and business models.
Firms that remain at the cutting-edge are more likely to attract clients, secure new projects and expand.
From using groundbreaking materials to testing prefabricated designs, a firm that innovates can create more sustainable and cost-effective structures. Firms should consider undertaking internal research initiatives in order to cultivate creativity and innovation within their workplace.
NBBJ, for instance, has initiated its own self-contained venture Visual Vocal to develop a virtual reality platform integrated into their design process and boost productivity by enabling designers to make changes instantly.
HOK, an architectural firm, recently unveiled Life at HOK as a blog that shares information on their design process and passion for their work among its staff and clients alike. This initiative seeks to demonstrate HOK’s dedication and encourage interaction among staff members as a whole.
Other firms are exploring innovative building techniques, such as using modular and prefabricated designs to achieve beauty, sustainability and cost effectiveness while simultaneously reducing environmental impact by cutting waste production and transportation costs. Such designs can also meet local conditions while responding to social and cultural needs.
Embracing Technology
Technology’s rapid advance is revolutionizing architectural design in unexpected and thrilling ways, creating innovative architecture firms that go far beyond simply designing and supervising building construction; instead they’re exploring new horizons of design while pursuing algorithms, experimenting with adaptability and even 3D printing!
architects are turning to technology as an avenue for both stimulating and satisfying consumer desires, making architects even more indispensable – or essential – than they are today.
Technology allows architects to streamline their processes and collaborate more effectively with colleagues and clients. Firms use touchscreen technology, visual scripting and virtual reality tools such as touchscreen technology, visual scripting and virtual reality for iterations, explorations and delivery; saving time while increasing transparency and recording revisions.
These technologies not only facilitate communication and collaboration between architects and clients, but they are also aiding construction costs by helping clients understand the layout of a space before construction begins. AR/VR solutions such as these help clients better comprehend how a space will look before work commences – this reduces site visits while eliminating errors or miscommunication.
Technology also assists architects in designing buildings more efficiently and providing better customer service. A survey of top architecture firms revealed that many offer virtual meetings to reduce travel, online submissions and portals for accessing drawings and documents as well as cloud storage to allow more collaborative working sessions.
Developing a Culture of Innovation
Architecture firms need to foster an environment of innovation. To do this, they can do this through encouraging collaboration among employees, providing a supportive work environment, and organizing ideation processes such as Hackathons to generate fresh concepts.
Companies can foster innovation by adopting an open-door policy and giving employees the space and time needed to pursue creative projects outside of work. Establishing an innovative work culture may be challenging, but is essential if any company hopes to remain competitive within its industry.
Successful companies embrace innovative technologies, adapt to market and industry changes, and foster an engaging working environment for their employees. They set clear goals for team members while encouraging them to take risks to achieve success. Furthermore, these businesses emphasize continuous improvement by measuring performance metrics and adapting strategies accordingly.
Architecture firms that understand innovation as essential to their business understand its centrality to success. Their employees possess an insatiable desire to push design processes further ahead and use cutting-edge tools and strategies to meet this goal. Innovative firms know the art of finding balance between change and stability, keeping up with industry trends while still focusing on creating quality designs.
Investing in the Future
Innovation relies on having diverse viewpoints, which usually requires moving beyond skill silos. Architecture firms encourage staff members to break out of these silos with the goal of increasing innovation within the firm; some even launched internal initiatives designed to bring new ideas from other industries – like tech and retail – into play to foster collaboration on new solutions for projects.
One way architects can help foster innovation is by increasing their exposure to business needs and challenges. At HOK, architects have now been embedded with customer-facing functions so as to gain direct knowledge of which features customers want and need; as a result, HOK architects can now act more like strategic partners rather than mere observers when it comes to adhering to technology standards.
Thomson Reuters, a technology-focused architecture firm, has taken an approach similar to Thomson’s by restructuring their architecture teams so as to enable agile, cross-functional project delivery-oriented groups focused on single applications or specific reusable components. Furthermore, senior architects were placed directly within these teams so as to be more accountable for overall application fitness as well as participating in business operations more directly.
Firms can further assist their most senior architects in taking on these new roles by equipping them with standardized reference models and roadmaps to aid their design efforts and produce consistent standards and approaches. Furthermore, firms can encourage more proactive approaches by allowing these architects to participate in strategy meetings with business stakeholders as well as sharing their work amongst fellow architects.
