Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)

18 Aug 00

Dot Com or Dot Bomb? Understanding the language of the Net

PHILADELPHIA - Paul Doherty, principal of the Digit Group and author of Cyberplaces, told attendees of the third Architects Technology Summit, "It really comes down to one equation and that is how do you become a dot com and not a dot bomb?" The daylong Summit was held May 3 in Philadelphia in conjunction with the American Institute of Architects Annual Convention. Co-hosted by CMD Group and The Greenway Group, the Summit offered architects an in-depth look at how technology is impacting the design industry and suggestions for preparing for the new digital economy. Doherty told the audience one of the challenges before them is to think in the language of their customers. And owners are talking dot.com. That does not mean an architectural firm needs to become a dot.com, but it does need to understand the language surrounding the Internet.

Internet language is being built around infrastructure, Doherty said. The infrastructure of the Internet says there are three levels: browser (accessing and requesting information), application, and database. "This is a world where the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet all converge," he explained.

Doherty said architects used to operate on two levels: client/server. "The world of client/server-of being chained to those applications-is gone," he said. "We're now in a world that says databases are more important, because you are going to be able to plug and play any applications that come down the field in the future. These are called modular solutions." Doherty added that applications have become a commodity.

Doherty told the audience that the architect's value is not in the delivery of paper but in the design. "Design is an intangible. If we've created it in a digital form it should be fluid. The reason why things like design-build have emerged in the marketplace is the understanding that the database-the fluid nature of how information ebbs and flows through a construction project-is the value. The person that manages that is going to win." It is a world of fluid information-of keeping information alive at all times. "wish I could put diodes in the minds of all you experienced designers and suck out your knowledge and be able to implement it when I need it," Doherty told the audience. "We need to learn how to pass on that knowledge."

Doherty said architects need 3-D visual containers that can map the process of how things are and are not done. "It's very laborious, but if we don't start here I don't know where we are going to start. We may have an entire lost generation that really knows how to use computers well but knows nothing about architecture," he said. Doherty added that help in this arena may come from companies such as AutoDesk, Bentley, and Bricsnet.

Groups like Revit Technology are doing something very revolutionary, Doherty said. They are taking CAD away from the production side and putting it into the design side, allowing 3-D environments to be created based on performance, time, and money. "Imagine seeing a 3-D object that has the synapse ready to take in all those different pieces of raw data off databases. They give you a browser. The application is the number crunching. The databases can reside in things like cost estimation from R.S. Means and product information from Architects' First Source that are already linked into the system via the Internet. So in real time you are getting real time information based on a real project."

The world of Extranets now becomes very interesting. "If you're in the world of 3-D objects, what happens when you throw e-commerce in there is that the object model becomes the router for transactions for a project, meaning that when a purchase needs to be made, it will reference the needs of the model in regards to time, cost and performance," Doherty said. It starts to take a look at two different models at the same time: Large scale buyers and sellers from all industries that are backing A/E/C dot coms and looking at the entire life-cycle of the project; and vertical sites such as e-steel.com and metalsite.com. Doherty concluded by talking about some of the issues facing the industry:

• twentypounds.com is a group of 20 of the largest general contractors in the United States who banded together to form a buying cartel that, combined, accounts for approximately $25 billion in A/E/C transactions. They will choose an A/E/C dot com as their preferred platform. "You're going to see more and more of this. People trying to band together to kick start an innovation," Doherty said.

• Architectural firms are huge hard drives of knowledge that have exquisite means of getting to and accessing different building types, different methodologies, and the right details. "That's your value, especially in the minds of these young people trying to learn. If you give them a shot at your knowledge map, you are going to assert yourself very well. It will be a magnet for your firm," he said.

• There is no one right project methodology in today's world, Doherty said. It is a world of integrated services and nested procurement. We are way beyond design-build, he added. He suggested integrating methodologies (design-build, design-bid-build, construction management) into one project. "Are there contracts made for that? No. But guess what, we are living that right now in real time with a lot of these dot coms."

• Architects are looking at the "design of people." Looking at their roles in the organization. The function is leading the actual physical facility. He concluded by telling the architects they are living in exciting times. "There is going to be a lot of change," he said. "Change is fun. It also hurts and is tough."

Report courtesy of CMD Group and Greenway Group.