Jeanne Tan
At the annual Architectus Design Charrette, designers from various disciplines, locations, and experience levels come together to take on a unique design challenge, exploring new ideas for renewing Australia’s cities.
Steve Fox, Digital Practice Lead and Principal at leading Australasian architecture practice Architectus, chats with us about digital toolkits and a great user experience, adapting to clients’ technology needs, and how Forma offers the Architectus team a platform for design exploration and collaboration.
Steve, what’s your role at Architectus?
My role is Digital Practice Lead and Principal. I lead a fantastic team of twenty design technology specialists to create and implement a design technology strategy across the company.
Can you tell us more about Architectus and your approach?
Our practice combines expertise in every sector with a commitment to exceptional design. Through our collaborative ethos and insightful, human-centric approach, we design to make a positive and lasting impact on people, cities, and communities.
With a recent merger with Conrad Gargett, as a unified force we are now one of Australasia’s largest and most diverse design firms, with more than 730 talented designers and specialists working across our nine Australian studios and three affiliated New Zealand studios.
Unsurprisingly then, my approach in shaping solutions for the business is to consider scale, diversity of sectors, and most importantly the user experience of a digital toolkit.
Can you tell us about your digital strategy and how this supports your ambitions as a practice?
Recognizing our vision and core business goals, I’m all about three main things: delivering projects, boosting our staff’s digital skills, and fostering innovation through systems development and research. We’re aiming to lead the industry with smart, creative ways to get projects done, and our awesome design technology team is here to make it happen!
What do you look for when you’re testing new digital tools?
Apps should be user-friendly and easy to navigate for a great experience. Ideally, digital tools should work well with our existing systems. We really appreciate good customer support and a lively user community for troubleshooting. Most new tools are cloud-based, which raises concerns about data security and client confidentiality. That’s why we prefer apps that meet data security standards and offer local data hosting options.
What challenges do you face today in using innovative new tools?
Implementing a consistent digital toolkit on projects is our greatest challenge. Through digital transformation in AEC, projects often have unique technology requirements that require us to adapt to new tools with training, licence purchasing, security auditing, and data archiving back to our systems. Our clients are more engaged digitally than ever before, often establishing technology stack requirements on individual projects. Our teams need to be flexible and ready to adapt to client needs, choosing from a range of apps that often do similar things.
Shopping for AEC applications is like being a kid in a candy shop – so many tempting options! And while we’re hooked on the idea of productivity, somehow we need to avoid a digital tummy ache and the hit to the back pocket.
What made you curious to try Forma?
Our interest was ignited by its potential to transform design into a more dynamic and collaborative process. Forma appeared to deliver more than just a basic suite of design tools; it offered a platform for design exploration.
What types of projects do you use Forma for?
We’re in the early days of training and implementation but already projects are seeing benefits in the feasibility and concept stages. We expect it will grow to serve us across all our sectors and various scales from façade studies, to complex mixed-use developments, and right up to large urban scale planning.
How do you use Forma within your existing toolsets and workflows? How do you connect Forma with other tools?
It really comes down to what we’re aiming for. We upload hand sketches and trace them within Forma to create 3D data models. Our Dynamo gurus are exploring how to re-shape data outputs with these models. Thanks to the Forma integration, we’re diving into environmental testing on detailed Rhino models. We’re also kicking off some new projects packed with contextual and geo-positioning information to migrate into Revit. Plus, we’re making the most of our existing subscriptions in Forma, like using AI rendering through some innovative third-party extensions such as EvolveLAB Veras.
What are some of the benefits you’ve experienced from using Forma?
In my view, Forma’s biggest strength is its role as a central platform for design, collaboration, and integration with other tools. That’s where we really see the most benefits beyond just the individual tools it offers.
Can you share some examples of how using Forma helped you improve a design?
Typically, we use Forma to quickly iterate designs and explore better floor area outcomes. On the environmental side, we conduct massing studies and detailed studies in Forma to optimize design for solar and wind performance. For instance, on an education project, we proposed a campfire space by a riverbank known for its strong cross-winds. With Forma (image below), we were able to show our client a viable design solution that created a comfortable environment by incorporating a screen along the site.
What about improving business outcomes?
With Forma, we have a chance to tackle our key strategic goal: delivering a consistent and streamlined digital user experience across projects. Design is at the core of our business, and Forma aligns perfectly with our commitment to design to make a positive and lasting impact on people, cities, and communities.
What’s next in terms of your digital strategy and tools, and your ideal workflow in the future?
Our team will continue to develop, test, integrate, and implement leading edge design tools including Forma. We’re also keen on leveraging AI and machine learning to aid design decisions and automate repetitive tasks, allowing our talented designers to focus on creativity.
As for the crystal ball question? Ultimately, we’d love software to be ubiquitous. Imagine workflows that no longer rely on moving data from one place to another, where file formats are no longer a constraint, they are simply consumed and can be transformed regardless of which tool created them. Exciting times ahead!
All images courtesy of Architectus.