Local architecture firm Studio Octopi added this brick and glass extension to a Victorian terrace in west London to improve the connection between the property’s reconfigured interior and garden (+ slideshow). (more…)
While BIM is increasingly becoming a necessity in architecture, it is still difficult to quantify the benefits it is bringing to the industry. Currently, there is no industry-standard method for calculating BIM’s Return on Investment (ROI) and, due to the complexities of the calculation, many firms have not adopted any consistent measurement practices to determine the monetary benefit that the technology has brought to their practice. The difficulty centers upon the fact that traditional analysis of ROI is unable to represent intangible factors that are important to a construction project such as avoided costs or improved safety.
Therefore, as the leading providers of BIM technology, Autodesk was interested in researching the subject. Their study, “Achieving Strategic ROI: Measuring the Value of BIM,” reveals that the role of ROI in technology decision making is shifting in that leading firms are seeking a more nuanced view of ROI to inform their strategy of investment and innovation.
Transcending the traditional “profit versus cost” calculation, companies are looking into different dimensions of the company to develop well-informed quantifications of their ROI for BIM.
Autodesk’s study reveals that firms do indeed understand the costs associated with BIM adoption. However, there is significant variation among firms in the practice of measuring or tracking BIM investment as a separate cost, distinct from business operations as a whole. The costs of BIM often extend far beyond hardware upgrades, so in calculating the cost to your firm you should consider the following are three areas:
The long-term benefits of BIM to firms come thanks to the changes in internal processes that result from BIM’s unique workflow. These changes occur in various ways in the firm and generally create intangible factors that are difficult to quantify in ROI calculations, including:
While these changes do not necessarily result in instantly larger profits, quantifying these benefits in their ROI assessment allows firms to be better at understanding how measurement and technology innovation can be combined strategically to inform progress toward future levels of BIM maturity. Autodesk’s study found that the maturity of a firm’s level of BIM adoption was correlated with their reports of high ROI: a majority of high-maturity BIM users reported high ROI, while only 20% of low-maturity BIM users could claim the same, showing that BIM is an investment which requires patience and commitment.
Interestingly however, Autodesk reports that firms with a mature level of BIM adoption actually found their ROI more difficult to measure. In some of the most experienced firms, rigorous approaches to ROI had transformed the workflow of the companies so completely that they no longer found the measurement of BIM to be critical to decision making. One construction BIM manager writes:
“We realized that we were achieving three to five times payback on the number of dollars we put into a project. Eventually we got to the point where… we have an inherent knowledge that there is value to BIM.”
At this point, ROI is used to inform decisions on specific strategies in which BIM is an assumed component, rather than being used to validate their initial investment in BIM.
To apply the concept of ROI towards making smart decisions regarding your firm’s technology adoption, it’s important to target expected BIM benefits such as “increased design productivity from parametrically coordinated documents” or “fewer design change orders.” In order to assess these benefits, companies can apply tangible measures that are associated with these benefit targets, with the most obvious of these metrics being cost savings through a decreased amount of hours spent on a project, or an overall project timeline reduction. Here are a few examples on how that might be determined:
While it is not a straight-forward process, measuring the return on your BIM investment is an important practice that goes beyond determining whether the initial costs of your transition to BIM was worth it. Calculating your firm’s ROI by targeting benefits, tracking investments, and measuring returns helps you strategize over how to implement the best BIM technologies and practices for your firm’s specific place in the market.
Access more information about transitioning to BIM, including a getting-started guide and a deployment workbook at the Autodesk architect resource center.
This article was sponsored by Autodesk.
You’re reading 5 Ways to Get Productive and Stay Productive, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
With our smartphone, tablet and computer at arm’s reach it can be a challenge to be productive.
All it takes is a simple login to Netflix or seeing a youtube video of a bunny eating asparagus with electronic rave music playing in the background for 4 hours to go by without a trace.
There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with some internet time or other activities you enjoy. But if you constantly find yourself stressed out, trying to keep track of your many tasks and convincing yourself you have more time than you do (a la procrastination), maybe you need to start finding the thrill and joy in productivity!
Yes. Being productive does not cause stress, but rather, relieves it. And it gives you energy, motivation and direction towards your goals. In other words it feels great, almost as great as watching Ser Ilyn cut off Lord Eddard’s head.
Ok so you want you to be more productive. But where do you start? Here are 5 Ways to Get Productive and Stay Productive:
Goals not only help to measure your progress, but they give you a sense of direction and purpose. Setting goals will keep you motivated and willing to keep up with day to day productivity.
A good way to keep track of your goals is, you guessed it, to write them down! Write them in a journal, on a calendar, or leave sticky notes on a bathroom mirror.
The more specific the better. For example instead of: My goal is to become healthier, you could say: My goal is to drink 8 glasses of water per day. Or instead of: I want to be more organized, you could say: I want put aside 15 minutes per day dedicated to organizing my tasks for work. These are very concrete, specific goals that are easy to track.
The feeling of accomplishment when completing a goal is so worth the effort and allows you to start seeing other possibilities that you otherwise would not be open to in your everyday life. The key is to dream big, but to also, dream specific!
There was a time when I thought I was above calendars, scheduling and e-reminders. I don’t need a schedule running my life! I make up my own rules. But all it took was taking on a part time job and starting a freelance writing business to learn that calendars are actually awesome and essential in many people’s busy lives.
It’s a little counter-intuitive but if you set aside time to find the time, you will feel more organized, less stressed and supremely motivated to do your thing, whatever that may be!
A good time to set your calendar is before bed. Your mind will be buzzing with things you need to do the next day so it makes it a good time to fill it in. Relax and make filling in your calendar a ritual, knowing that a little planning now will make you feel so much better later.
As someone who has learned the power of scheduling, I’ve extended my calendar to include everything from blocks of time for exercise, cleaning, shopping, cooking, writing and personal goals. It may seem like it’s limiting to be so scheduled but it can actually be seen as a way of eliminating that constant sense of urgency and stress that accompanies the simple thought of: What do I need to do today?
Some more tips for calendaring at top form:
So you’ve started writing that screenplay you’ve always wanted to write. A love story set in 1825 between a young countess and a smooth talking hay bailer…it’s like Titanic without the iceberg and sinking ship, trust me, its gonna be big. You’ve given yourself a timeline of 1 month, that’s doable. And you’ve looked up some ways to submit it to script-seeking producers when the time comes. It’s gonna happen, you’re gonna do it, life is looking pretty great!
Except the next day you only get 2 and a half pages done….and self doubt is setting in. Will this sell? Maybe I should have made the hay bailer something better, like a pirate or like a feral man who was raised by wolves…wait, how am I going to get Leonardo Dicaprio to play the lead role?
Most often, projects are abandoned or given up on when a “down day” is reached. But down days should be recognized just as that, a down day.
If you can recognize that today you just aren’t feeling it, and make a pact to yourself to get back to it the next day, nothing is really lost. The human mind isn’t designed to focus on one thing constantly over a long period of time. So make sure you aren’t overworking yourself and give yourself breaks when needed.
I find it useful, if I am lacking motivation, to choose something smaller and more manageable I can accomplish that day. An example of this is if you don’t feel like exercising on a certain day, try a short yoga video instead. Or if you don’t feel like cleaning your whole house, clean only one room.
This is a big one. Just about everyone can attest to being distracted by their technological devices. There is nothing wrong with being connected to your family and friends. But it becomes an unnecessary distraction when you are trying to live a productive life.
In an ideal world, the time allotted for personal goals and tasks should be greater than time on technological devices. In order to limit time on these devices, consider limiting all social media feeds.
There are options on facebook, twitter and social media sites to limit news feeds as to not include every single piece of information under the sun. From experience I’ve found this to be a great way to gradually stop investing so much time on social media and start investing more time on personal goals.
Another trick to moderate your use could be to allow internet time upon completion of a task, as a sort of reward. I personally haven’t found this as effective as simply deleting news feeds but has been known to work for some people.
And finally, the last tip to kickstart your productivity journey: Do it Now!
It doesn’t mean do it tomorrow, or do it in an hour, it means do it NOW.
Doing things now seems simple enough, but it turns out not to be so simple with the number of distractions present in our modern lives. There are an infinite number of reasons not to do things now, but the simple fact is doing things now makes more time to do other things you like to do, later.
Doing it now will make you feel like you have more time to actually do the things you like to do, it will bring you closer to your goals, you will find you have more time for relaxation and you will most definitely be happier for it!
psysci is a psychology blog covering all things psychology, from the latest research to the latest self-improvement trends, founded by Marcus Clarke who has worked in the field of psychology for several years.
You’ve read 5 Ways to Get Productive and Stay Productive, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
*KANBAN-style; Billboard architecture, built in the early Showa period. Typically the ground floor is served as retail space, with displaying windows at the storefront.
The client’s request was simple. First, to keep the facade of the Billboard architecture. Second, to enforce seismic retrofit to resist earthquakes.
There was a tailor shop closed for over ten years. The existing building was almost abandoned, and the damage was disastrous. Although it seemed impossible, the client strongly wished for the building to remain. We decided to lift-up the complete building, and reconstruct the whole foundation and damaged elements.
There was no earthquake resisting elements at ground floor. If we chosen ordinary way of reinforcement, such as: -bearing wall or brace-, it was impossible to keep the original facade with an open storefront.
We applied an arch-frame made of Ductile Cast Iron as earthquake resisting elements not to disturb the facade. Its woven likes shape comes from structural analysis. The diameter of each stripes transforms smoothly to follow structural internal stress.
Casting was the most efficient way to produce numerous parts, especially when its shape is complicated or decorative. Furthermore, of its rough and warm texture, Cast Iron suited the existing old timber structure.
Although it is the Cast Iron, it is very light, because of its extremely thin and light frame by structural analysis with the 3D parametric software (Grasshopper). The weight of the cast iron frame is only 55 kilograms, so it is possible to assemble by manpower.
*Store space is now rent for EDOKIRIKO glass shop.
Janet Echelman has completed her most recent aerial net sculpture in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. Made up of over 35 miles of technical twine woven into 242,800 knots, the sculptures adds a new ephemeral presence to the sky above the city’s new LeBauer Park. Entitled “Where We Met,” the sculpture’s form and composition were inspired by Greensboro’s history as a railroad and textile hub.
“When I was asked to give visual form to the history of Greensboro and the textile tradition of North Carolina, I began with research,” explains Echelman. “I discovered that Greensboro was nicknamed the “Gateway City” because six railroad lines intersected there, and I started tracing the railway lines and marking the historic textile mills that dotted the routes. These routes brought together people from diverse cultures and races, so I wove together lines of brilliant color that meet at the center, and titled it “Where We Met”.
The piece spans a 200 foot by 130 foot area between four 60-foot-tall masts, each capable of bearing up to 6 tons of force. Designed to withstand the effects of wind and sun, the fiber used to construct the net is fifteen times stronger than steel by weight, and has a 100 percent resistance to UV radiation.
Hoists built into the 30” diameter pylons allow the net to be raised and lowered, and a swiveling pulley at the top of each pylon allows the angle of the support cable to move as the sculpture sways in the wind.
“Where We Met” was commissioned through a $1 million grant to the Community Foundation’s Public Art Endowment, who selected Echelman to create a sculpture responding to Greensboro’s textile history. The project is part of a nearly $300 million masterplan centered around LeBauer park aimed at revitalizing downtown Greensboro and the surrounding community.
Another supertall tower for Manhattan is going ahead, now that legal proceedings stalling KPF‘s 1,501-foot skyscraper beside Grand Central station have been abandoned. (more…)
The “Gang of Eight,” an alliance of hardline Communists and military leaders, launched a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev twenty-five years ago this week, arresting the Soviet president on August 18, 1991 and then mobilizing the army for an old-style clampdown and housecleaning — a media blackout, flyers announcing a state of emergency, an order placed for 250,000 pairs of handcuffs and vacant prison cells. Within two days Gorbachev was able to reassert control, but the coup opened a significant crack in his already shaky initiatives for a new USSR based on increased decentralization and democratic freedom. Most analysts date the dissolution of the USSR to the “August Putsch” and wonder what Russia might look like today had it moved toward Gorbachev’s perestroika (reform) and glasnost (openness) rather than toward Putin and demagoguery.
In his just-published The New Russia, Gorbachev says that while he is still “stunned by the treachery of the people I placed in positions of trust,” he is not at all surprised by the “deluge of lies and libels” that continue to rain down from “the politicians now in power . . . looking for a scapegoat.” Nor is he repentant or apologetic:
Above all, what kept me going was the certainty that Perestroika had been and remained historically essential and that, having taken on a far from light burden, we were bearing it with the dignity it deserved. For all the mistakes and failures, we had led our country out of a historical impasse, given it a first taste of freedom, liberated our people and given them back the right to think for themselves. And we had ended the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
Whether orchestrated by Putin and his apparatchiks or not, the demonization of Gorbachev and his policies continues to have at least a degree of street-level support, says Svetlana Alexievich in Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets. The 2015 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Alexievich’s most recent book is in the same hallmark style as her earlier work, in which her witness testimonies and other oral sources are crafted into powerful emotional histories. Some of the “SNATCHES OF STREET NOISE AND KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS” from Secondhand Time recall the early days of perestroika as “a time of great hope — at any moment, we might find ourselves in paradise”; but many other voices reflect bitterness, disillusionment, and vilification:
I hate Gorbachev because he stole my Motherland . . . Yes, we stood in line for discolored chicken and rotting potatoes, but it was our Motherland. I loved it . . . Someone felt the need to put an end to it. The CIA . . . We’re already being controlled by the Americans . . . They must have paid Gorbachev a tidy sum. Sooner or later, he’ll see his day in court. I just hope that that Judas lives to feel the brunt of his nation’s rage . . . Happiness is here, huh? Sure, there’s salami and bananas. We’re rolling around in shit and eating foreign food. Instead of a Motherland, we live in a huge supermarket. If this is freedom, I don’t need it . . . Now our parliament is lousy with criminals. Dollar-rich millionaires. They should all be in prison, not parliament. They really duped us with their perestroika!
In his prizewinning The Invention of Russia: From Gorbachev’s Freedom to Putin’s War, Arkady Ostrovsky apportions most of the blame for what has befallen Russia not to any politician or economist but to the fact that the country is unusually “idea-centric” and easy prey for any leader or group able to use the media “to conceal facts and construct an alternative reality.” And while the Bolsheviks were also pretty good at marketing their revolutionary narrative, the current crop of media manipulators have mastered the art of invention:
They are sophisticated and erudite men who started their careers during Gorbachev’s perestroika and prospered in Yeltsin’s 1990s but who now act as demiurges — creators of reality. The purpose of the show they have staged is to perpetuate the power and wealth of Putin and his elite, of which they are part. In doing so, they have stirred the lowest instincts and intoxicated the country with . . . aggression, hatred and chauvinism.
The Barnes & Noble Review http://ift.tt/2b2cxP2
Sig Nordal 