Architosh

Vectorworks Design Summit: Wrap Up and Details

We have already provided some initial thoughts on the Vectorworks Design Summit held last week in Philadelphia. In this report we’ll cover a lot of terrain at a high level to give folks an overview of the event. I have personally been to many events and conferences, and this event stands out as one of the better planned, programmed and orchestrated conferences I’ve attended.

Here’s what impressed me. The three-day conference struck a near perfect balance between information, inspiration, and networking fun. The information part included direct Vectorworks training for attendees who wanted to dig into the tool and gain skills. This took part the first day only and folks brought their own computers. Files were supplied so folks could follow along with the instructor.

The other side of the information coin included the type of learning that took place in the wide variety of sessions over the 2nd and 3rd day. These were time-efficient, 1-hour topical sessions with learning unit options, typical of the type of session one encounters like at the AIA National Convention. Keeping the sessions to one hour meant participants could experience a wide variety of new information and speakers. It also kept folks moving a lot (and awake!) This lively pace of activity was “bookended” with major keynote addresses on both days. More on the actual keynotes on the 2nd page of this article.

01 – The new point cloud support in the upcoming Vectorworks 2016 produces some stunning graphics. (image: Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. All rights reserved).

These keynote addresses contained the meat of the inspirational aspects of the event. After a walk back through time with Vectorworks’ CEO, the design keynote speaker, architect Leo Van Broeck, founder of BOGDAN & VAN BROECK, gave an excellent talk that people were continuing to talk about for the next day and a half. The final day had the morning future of Vectorworks keynote and closing design keynote by Adrian McGregor, managing director of landscape architecture and urban design firm McGregor Coxall.

Each day, except the last (3rd), featured a party with dinner and they gave participants time to network, make friends and generally unwind. One final note. All of this activity, with the exception of the dinners, took place within the intimacy of a business-class hotel with excellent facilities. If you got tired and needed to recharge (or recharge your electronics) your room was just an elevator ride away.

In terms of press attending or invited? From what I could tell there were three publications in attendance—Architosh, Tenlinks, and CAD User from the UK.

Mini Expo

One of the more delightful aspects of the Vectorworks Design Summit was that they had a mini expo hall, an area just outside the large keynote presentation room. As attendees exited the major keynotes they poured past small table booths showcasing products and services related to or belonging to the larger Nemetschek Vectorworks ecosystem. Companies present at the event included:

As you can see there were more than 10 different companies showing well over a dozen products and services options for all attendees at the Design Summit. This is a really big number for a small event. At the AIA National Conference next week we expect to see just about twice that number, yet thousands of attendees.

Design Summit Sessions

As we mentioned above, a core component of the Design Summit were its sessions. These struck an interesting balance between directly applicable to Vectorworks learning and sessions spotlighting notable architects and designers and their work and supporting workflows.

02 – Vectorworks CEO Sean Flaherty discusses how far the program has come, and technology in general, with regards to 3D visualization. Here showing representative work from the first version of MiniCAD and the latest version of Vectorworks.

A sampling description of the sessions include items like “Creating and Managing Libraries” by trainer Jonathan Pickup, author of several Vectorworks training manuals. Panel and moderated sessions included items like “How Vectorworks Gives 3 Designers a Competitive Edge”, moderated by the Vectorworks folks and features three noteworthy users.

Some sessions took place in the main keynote room due to their anticipated popularity. One such session was “BIM Planning of the Swissfel Project” by Marc Pancera, Architekt MSc. ETH Arch. of Itten+Brechbühl AG. These guys were so fascinating we have a feature interview planned on the firm and their work on this linear particle accelerator project.

next page: Photo Gallery and Notes on Keynotes

Notes on Keynotes

Vectorworks Nemetschek CEO Sean Flaherty gave the opening keynote address. The one-hour talk went back through time and covered highlights of the company’s 30 year history, including many illuminating tidbits, one of which was mentioned in our first post on the summit.

1999 was the year that the company changed the name to Vectorworks, from MiniCAD. Flaherty noted that during Apple’s darkest days he really felt that the company was going to not make it. Smartly, MiniCAD was made for Windows during the late 90’s and it led to an explosion in sales. He noted that it was the only true cross-platform general CAD product in existence, and that set Vectorworks apart.

03 – Nemetschek Vectorworks CEO Sean Flaherty during his opening keynote. This image shows the global distribution of Vectorworks.

In 2000 Nemetschek AG acquired Diehl Graphsoft (Vectorworks). At that time annual sales were $8 million USD. From that time until now the company has grown eight fold (8x), with profit growing ten-fold (10x). With over a half million active users around the globe, Flaherty said their next tasks is to grow the company 4x or reach 2 million users. He didn’t elaborate in detail in how the company intends to do that but painted a strategy in broad strokes, including supporting the next generation of designers.

This open admission of size targets was interesting, but it was coming from a company that clearly sees itself accelerating based on its most recent trending. Flaherty noted that part of the problem in the CAD world is that the press and users alike put software solutions into segment categories or “silos.” In other words, are you a BIM program or a CAD program? Are you AEC or CAID? Noting that Vectorworks doesn’t fit neatly into these segment silos, Flaherty discussed how the company’s messaging needs to refine and evolve in order to persuade users to understand that the company cares about and understands “Design.”

04 – Customer Appreciation Party at Vectorworks Design Summit, held in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

05 – Expo Hall at the Design Summit. A dozen vendors were in attendance.

06 – The Philly Art Museum steps were made famous in the Oscar-winning movie “Rocky.” They are a popular workout spot for locals.

Innovative design has to cross silos and be fluid, he noted that “architects know that segments don’t really exist.” Many of its most noted users don’t fit neatly into segment profiles but have a diversity of capabilities. Flaherty stated that Vectorworks is the only tool in the market that can combine best-of-breed BIM, site design and design CAD all in one package.

Finally, in discussing the company’s outlook, Flaherty said that Nemetschek Vectorworks is opening up an Atlanta, Georgia, software development office. This office will be situated directly across the street from Georgia Tech, which it has partnered with. Georgia Tech has one of the world’s leading BIM research programs. It is also one of the US’s leading colleges for computer science majors. The company also has a dedicated research and development team and has hired several PhD’s to support these endeavors. Architosh will get deeper into that in an upcoming feature.

Design Keynote

The design keynote was delivered by architect Leo Van Broeck, of BOGDAN & VAN BROECK. A Belgium based firm, he gave an enlightening talk centered on the theme of densification and sustainability.

07 – Leo Van Broeck’s talk was the opening Design Keynote. On this slide the MAD (media arts design school is shown. It reused an old coal mine factory site. This was just one of several really noteworthy projects shown in Leo’s talk.

Van Broeck’s firm has a talent for the adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings, lots, and complex brownfield sites. While it took nearly two thirds of his talk before the audience could see the firm’s creative output, most, including myself, were already deeply impressed with the research-led discussion. Van Broeck spoke about architects being “doctors of space,” when it comes to reversing the negative impact of buildings on our natural world.

During his talk he dropped several stunning statistics, including that the average pet dog in Europe has a bigger carbon footprint than the average human being in Africa. It was also noted that a super energy efficient single family home, for example, out in a rural setting or deep in suburbia—a car dependent location—has a carbon footprint two and a half times (2.5x) that of an old-style apartment in the city. Van Broeck argued very convincingly that when it comes to achieving lowering the carbon footprint of Man, mobility itself is the problem.

Architects can, of course, make a big difference—one building project at a time. But for Van Broeck, “compacting” should be part of the solution, if not the central part, to sustainability in the wider context.

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