Will Architects Be Cleaning Your Home In The Future?
One day you may call an architect to come discuss your expansion plan as well as clean your home!
Architect = Maid?
The New York Times published an article recently about how your “Roomba May Be Mapping Your Home, Collecting Data That Could Be Sold”. Wow I love that. I am not one who typically enjoys an item in my home watching me and reporting to the world of my activities. I am always wondering what my “Alexa” is telling people about me. She seems to always be listening in and frequently unexpectedly interrupts my conversation.
So you may ask, why would I embrace this invasion of my home? As an architect I would love to go to a client’s home and have some quality time with them discussing their needs, whether it is an addition or an alteration to open up some rooms and reconfigure the existing layout, while simultaneously my Roomba is cleaning up their home and gathering floor plan information. I would be so popular, the Architect who cleans your home as he discusses your future expansion! Not such a bad marketing plan. That is full service.I think I would clean up!
But seriously I am always looking for ways to cut down my time in a client’s house. On average, a 3,500 square foot home takes a good four to five hours to sketch up plans and document the existing conditions. I have managed to reduce my time on the exterior through the use of Spike by Ike a nifty gadget that attaches directly to my iphone. This technology is not a robot but it allows me to snap pictures of segments of the house and when I get back to my desktop computer I am able to take the images and grab any dimension I need. I recently tested the Leica BLK 3D, hopeful that this new gizmo would substantially cut down my in the field time. Disappointedly it did not perform as hoped but still dreaming of the day when an affordable technology becomes available.
Architects should embrace technology which allows us to streamline our services and give a great product in an expeditious manner. We all used to use a 100 foot tape for exteriors and a 25 foot steel tape for interior work. You had to do acrobatics at times to measure in a room full of furniture and breakables and it was a two person job because you needed someone to hold one end of the tape. Now we have the laser and it has become a one person job and the time has been easily cut in half! Being a sole practitioner any tool that can eliminate a helper is a blessing! There are some very expensive gadgets out there that will save you time but I just cannot justify the payback on this technology, so I will continue to wait for the ideal product.
Do I ever fear a robot taking over my job? My response to that is absolutely not! Every architect has their own unique perspective and problem solving techniques and design ideas. I find it unimaginable for a robot to take in all the data required to solve a homeowner’s unique issues. I do believe they will aide in a variety of ways, such as code compliance, zoning compliance and just all the nitty-gritty details that are important but not to the extent of imagining the end user’s space and formulating it for them.
I have an architect friend that truly believes the use of the pencil (or just drawing by hand) as a tool for architects is on the way out. This is just not acceptable to me. I personally will always use some form of hand drawing in developing my design ideas. I need to feel the lead on the paper as I freestyle through the process rapidly coming up with solutions.
So for me I hope one day, in the near future, to come clean your home as we discuss your expansion ideas as I sketch them out before you eyes!
Become a Community Contributor.
