What Can AEC Learn From Manufacturing?

Another industry podcast joins the show today: Forging Manufacturing! Hosted by Dave Hampton and Jason Flores, we continue to bring different perspectives onto The AEC Disruptors. This dynamic duo shares a wealth of manufacturing industry knowledge and advice, as well as an in-depth look at how AEC and manufacturing are both converging and diverging.

Construction is the Antidote to Destruction

Rene Morkos, founder and CEO of ALICE Technologies joined us on this episodes and he has one of the most unique perspectives of any guest on the podcast. Earlier in his career, Rene was working for a company that did construction in Afghanistan. He said “construction is the antidote to destruction.” When you build something in this part of the world, you can see a huge tangible impact. If you are building a factory, it might be the first of its kind in the entire country. If you lose a bag of nails, you might be delayed for weeks because there is no market in which to buy another. The stakes are totally different.

Energy and Waste in AEC

Every heard of embodied carbon? It’s all the energy and carbon emissions associated with making and placing a material. Skanska’s Mark Chen sets the table in this episode for real goal-setting and goal achievement in sustainability. The secret is pretty simple: break down the larger sustainable goals into smaller pieces and start with what’s important to your company.

Data and Location Intelligence

What gives you a sense of place? Is it that intangible feeling of right-ness? This seemingly intangible feeling is becoming more quantifiable by the day with the advent of data intelligence and location intelligence. Sara Maffey describes her work at Local Logic as akin to creating a digital twin of cities. Thousands of factors like trees, walkability, parks, and more play a part in scoring different locations for real estate investment and consumers.

How Healthcare Design is Evolving

Healthcare design is moving towards functional scenarios. We are no longer just planning for the current space, but rather what the space could be in 5 or 10 years under an entire matrix of different scenarios. This is precisely where evidence-based design comes in. Architects in general are good at keeping information behind the curtain, but what if they were to publish their findings? Together we can grow the evidence base and elevate the practice altogether.