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AN recaps the inaugural Tech+ expo in New York

Tech+

AN recaps the inaugural Tech+ expo in New York

“If you took GPS out of people’s phones now, they would die.” That was the bold claim Google’s Aaron Luber made at the inaugural Tech+ expo today. Hyperbole? Maybe, but Luber made the point of how dependent we are on technology to navigate the built environment. Moreover, how else does technology impact our surroundings? 

Presented by The Architect’s Newspaper, the inaugural Tech+ expo saw 500 architects, designers, and tech experts head to Metropolitan West to get the low-down on how technology is shaping the built environment. The day was shaped by industry professionals discussing and showcasing technology that is developing a role within the design process of numerous firms and enhancing client-architecture relationships.

Luber estimated that by 2018 almost all Android-based cell phones will be running software called “Tango.” This software, he explained, when used with another software package called “Trimble,” allows GPS to work in-sync with programs such as AutoCAD to allow clients to view their projects live on-site. Luber called this a “visual positioning service,” which, for all intents and purposes, was an augmented reality machine.

As for virtual reality, however, a host of VR firms, including Iris VR, Insite, and NVIDIA was present at Tech+ with their stalls showcasing their latest products. VR has, for a while now, been used to enhance the client-architect relationship through walk-throughs and other demonstrations. Despite confessing to being trained in “analog fashion,” Keynote speaker Hao Ko of Gensler said: “Maybe the days of drawing plans and sections are gone now, we don’t need 2D drawings anymore.” Technology, he went on, has enabled us to present more coherent representations to clients. Before architects had to make physical models to enhance the experience, and these models were made at larger and larger scales—something Eero Saarinen was very familiar with, as Ko displayed a picture of the Finnish-American architect’s legs sticking out of a model of the TWA terminal.

Plans and models, though, can work together too. Graphisoft demonstrated how its software amalgamates section and plan drawings into 3D models, allowing both architects and clients to read what they see at the same time. Using ArchiCAD and exporting to Graphisoft, architects can also share 3D models with those using iPhone’s too.

Likewise, LERA demonstrated that tuning off layers can reveal construction sequences, among other things.

What to take from all this? Ko summed the event up in his keynote: “To make the most of the future, we have to live in it,” he said, before going on to describe the NVIDIA California office complex designed by Gensler. “Technology does not wait, and neither should architects.”

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