Sunday, February 19, 2017

Getting It Going

I had a few discussions this past week about advanced technology in our industry and how it is or isn’t being adopted or grown in the architectural market.  This is a massive frustration for me. I have always been an enthusiastic early adopter of new technology and see the value.  Unfortunately the people that really can control the end results of these new products are completely opposite of me.  What is the answer here?  How do we get more push?   Interestingly if you ask people from outside the industry they’ll blame us- saying we don’t innovate.  But we do.  We have amazing glass products that can hit numbers never seen before and are an active part of the structure.  There’s now framing that allows the glass to actually perform as expected, not decreasing its values thanks to make up.  And there are plenty of other components that help the assembly as a whole soar.  So the products are there- the mass adoption continues to be slow.  What are we missing?

Elsewhere…

--  Saw a tidbit online that made me feel good… residential building starts in 2016 posted its best year since 2005-2006.  With the commercial industry running a year behind the residential side, this surely shows that the positivity should continue.  Residential starts have grown now for 7 straight years.

--  One area I failed to mention in depth during last weeks BEC recap was the always extremely helpful presentation by Dr. Tom Culp.  I seriously think his presentation should be streamed to the entire industry (hey there’s an idea!) because it absolutely affects all of us.  One word that really stuck for me throughout Tom’s presentation was “daylighting” – that surely seems to be an area of serious focus going forward and obviously our industry has great options for that.  Though you still have to not give in on the energy side, so a happy medium between great daylighting and high performance is a must. 

--  The rocky run for the AIA ontinues.  They are still dealing with the fall out of their post election press release and then they ran into another issue when they laid out their keynote speeches for their upcoming show.  They did not initially include any women in the program.  After a heavy backlash they did add a panel on day 3, but the damage was done.  If you want to get a feel for how some of the membership is feeling, check out the article on the situation and spend some time in the comment section.  Very interesting.

--  For my marketing friends- just a heads up, Twitter is making more changes including hiding some “low quality tweets” during conversations.  One thing that is not clear is how Twitter will determine quality, but if we have learned anything from Google and their programs, the rules will be changing constantly.  Never a dull moment when you are trying to be active in the social and online realm.

--  Last this week… now that I am addicted to Netflix (the ability to download so I can watch while I fly is awesome.) I found actually a work reason to use it.  There’s a new series on there called Abstract: The Art of Design and it’s a documentary series that follows different designers- many of which are major players in the commercial architectural world.  So in between me binging on “House of Cards” I will have some work to watch….

LINKS of the WEEK

--  I am NOT a believer in Valentines Day at all… but this couple did it right for each other!

--  VERY lucky to survive this gator attack on the golf course

--  The pet squirrel is a hero!

VIDEO of the WEEK

I don’t understand the “Challenge” here but I love Bruno Mars- easily the most talented entertainer out there right now.  So I know there’s no way I could watch his video or listen to his music without singing and dancing….


  

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