digital vs analog Archives | Page 3 of 3

Could a 21st century pencil be the better tool Architects are looking for?

August 6, 2013

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

The irony of using technology to write about the benefits of technology

August 2, 2013

On Tuesday my plan was to eat breakfast, make dinner, take care of some admin stuff (emails, responding to post comments, order new business cards, etc.), finish a blog post, and then spend the rest of the day working on an article that’s due in a month. And if I had time, work on a proposal for some real architecture work (YES!). Well I ate breakfast and made an awesome

Beyond Haptics

August 1, 2013

In my post about haptic feedback and architecture tools, I really wanted to go beyond haptics, but the post was already long enough. Haptic feedback is great and I am confident it is coming. But we can go further than that, and sooner. Right now we interact with BIM software through keyboards and mice. In the next few years we’ll be able to use touchscreens as well. Maybe some people

Architects are really just asking for Haptic Feedback

July 31, 2013

I spend a lot of time thinking about architects and their tools. Why? Because architects struggle to separate themselves from their tools. We see this regularly withÂ job postings that stress software knowledge over process understanding. I find those postings extremely frustrating because it cuts out applicants with the wrong product names on their resume, limiting the potential hiring pool by the wrong criteria. That mindset is disappointing, but I don’t think

It Happened Again: someone reminded me that Computers are Just Tools

July 23, 2013

Today on Twitter, in response to this post about the most amazing BIMx model I’ve seen, I saw a Tweet that went like this: “4all their power computers are just tools #architects still need 2do the hard work of #design” Yes, but. Anyone who thinks using computers is about making things easier is wrong. Well maybe not wrong, but missing the bigger picture. Using computers (and technology in general) is

CLOG SCI-FI ready for Pre-Order (and guess who’s a contributor)

July 17, 2013

One of my goals this year was to write articles for places other than Shoegnome and BIM Engine (though I love writing for both those places, and you’ll start seeing new posts by me on the GSNA blog hopefully next week). I wanted to expand to both other places online and to print. I’ve had some success. And there are a few more in the works. Equally importantly I wanted

Digital vs Analog: Lessons from Daft Punk

May 15, 2013

“We never want to do something twice… but at the same time, we’ve never done anything twice, so if we did do something twice, that might be cool.” -Thomas Bangalter Are you excited about the new Daft Punk album Random Access Memory coming out on May 21, 2013? I sure am. Let’s dissect a few things and relate it to what we talk about on Shoegnome. Specifically let’s see what

Residential Architects and Technology

May 14, 2013

I’ve written another article for the AIA CRAN Chronicle. This time I talk about the relationship between residential architects and technology (for both design and production). Specifically I discuss what holds many small firms back from testing new methods and then I explore Morpholio Trace, which I find to be an interesting app that bridges the divide between digital and analog stalwarts. Enjoy the article. If you missed my first

Digital over Paper Documents: This is Solvable

May 10, 2013

We need to move away from printed documents. Not to save the forests and not to save on money, though those are nice benefits. We need to evolve beyond what we’ve always done because paper documents are so dumb, so inflexible, so 20th Century. We can do better. Why do we cram as many sections or details as possible on a sheet? We do this to save paper, to go

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