There are a lot of architects, designers, and drafters out there that aren’t convinced by my ruminations on better tools. Either they refuse to be persuaded or just feel the pencil has some ineffable qualities about it. Ineffable doesn’t cut it for me. And I don’t like stubbornness when it comes to expanding our understanding of what it means to be an architect in the 21st century. I’ve already tried to persuade a rethinking based on equality of user and on understanding why we love the feel of drawing by hand. But perhaps part of the problem is fear. We put so much time and effort into learning specific tools. We get invested and don’t want to see that investment go to waste. We then project added value to something because of the length of ownership. This is known as the endowment effect. We value the past knowledge more than the potential of future knowledge because we’ve OWNED that past knowledge for some amount of time. We see all this time we’ve put into learning a skill, a skill like drawing that many of us started perfecting before we could speak, before our memories began. Then someone threatens that investment by saying “You know that skill you’re so good at? Well its value is diminishing; it is no longer the foundation of your chosen profession.” That is not going to feel good. It’s much easier to deny and argue rather than contemplate what happens if those statements are true.

Faber-Castell 2B 2013 (only 12 months until the 2014 update is released)

We digital types have a similar plight. But one that’s actually far, far worse than the hand drafter. Those of us who are experts at a particular software program face two mutually reinforcing pressures. We live in a world of yearly software upgrades. To maintain our skills we can’t just practice what we know, we need to also continually learn new advances, techniques, and options. Otherwise our knowledge becomes obsolete. If we don’t constantly learn, our static knowledge becomes relatively less. There is no coasting. There is either improvement or degrading. There is no middle ground. On top of that we also become more tied to a particular software or software company. Our amassed knowledge becomes more intimately linked to a particular thing. A hand drafter is a hand drafter whether he’s using a 2B, 6H, or F pencil. Or a pen or a crayon or marker or a digital stylus. There are differences but they are minor hurdles. I’ve been using ArchiCAD for seven years and I love the program. But you could also say I’ve been using BIM for seven years and I love the process. If I had to switch to Revit, I could. If I was forced to. But I really don’t want to. Partially it’s because I believe ArchiCAD is better than Revit, but let’s be honest. It’s also because I don’t want to have to learn something new. Much of my seven years of ArchiCAD experience would transfer to Revit. And I’d learn it fast. And I’m sure I’d be great at it. But that just sounds daunting. Much better to find another job using the program I already know and love. I really have better things to do than get to know and love another program that just does similar things. I went to school to be an architect, not become an expert with one tool after an other. But then again, we can all see the falsehood in the self-denial of that last sentence, right?

21st Century Pencil

So here’s a thought experiment to help us all see why the pencil (or any of the paraphernalia of our chosen media) is just a tool, and not some magically superior thing that always wins in the “who’s got the best toys” competition. Imagine a 2B pencil. Near perfect, right? Now imagine that same pencil but everything you drew was also transmitted wirelessly and saved as a PDF on your computer. Isn’t that a better tool? What if our theoretical 2B pencil also had an undo function. Instead of erasing, you could say “undo half-speed” and the pencil marks would slowly disappear at half-speed until you said “stop”. Wouldn’t that be a better tool? Now don’t start imagining associated problems. This is another trap we fall into when thinking about digital tools and future tech. We assume everything comes with a catch. Oh sure it can undo, but what if X, Y, or Z happens. We assume that all advances have some distopian darkside. No. In our imagination there need not be ill side effects. We are implementing perfect additions.

BIMstylus

Perhaps what we’re imagining here is a pencil-based BIM tool. I know we haven’t even touched on the Information aspect, but how hard would that be to add. Especially if adding Information was dealt with via voice controls. And maybe there’s the key. The pencil is great because it’s well adapted to our hand. It gives us a full range of motion that other tools at our disposal do not. Its superior haptic feedback makes it light years ahead of a clunky stylus typically used with touchscreens. The lesson of the pencil isn’t that wood and graphite are the champions, but the relationship of the tool to our hand. How can we steal that? How can we co-opt that value into something that is properly integrated into the digital realm? How can we make the awesomeness of the pencil a 21st century wonder? How can BIM learn from that and co-opt it.

You know what? This imaginary 2B super pencil is already here. Almost. Most of the features probably depend on the program you use it with, but check out Douglas’ Fletcher’s comments on this other post about his love for the Adonit Jot Touch 4 stylus. The voice commands aren’t there, but that’s probably better handled by the computer anyways. As already discussed voice controlled computers are developing at an incredible pace. For another take on a digital wonder pencil, check out How Adobe Built a Stylus Fit For the Cloud.

A Better Tool

I’m going to have to buy a stylus and test it out myself this fall. No current stylus is perfect. None meet all our requirements. But what is there sure looks like some pretty awesome steps in the right direction of finding a better tool for architects in the 21st century. I can definitely see in the available options the precursors to our future BIMstylus. What do you say? I’ll take a step towards the pencil and you take a step towards digital tech?

Of course to go along with a BIMstylus we need some apps that can handle it in an architectural context. I know of at least one that should work with it. Now to get Revit and ArchiCAD on a Tablet, that’d help too. Subscribe to my blog to read more of my wild ramblings on everything from BIM and Design to the Future of Architecture and Technology: Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, and the RSS feed.