Get ready for an exciting dive into the world of architecture and design technology with our upcoming podcast episode featuring Jay Reyhons! In this episode, we explore the cutting-edge software and tools revolutionizing the industry. Join us as we delve into fascinating discussions on the utilization of AR and VR technologies as integral parts of our design process. From immersive experiences to digital modeling and beyond, Jay Reyhons shares his expertise and insights, revealing how technology is shaping the future of architecture and design.
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Episode Transcript
Skyler: Welcome back to another episode of Laying the Foundation. I'm Skyler, and today I'm joined by Jay. Jay is one of our designers, but you've also got a lot of our tech stuff that you handle as well, right?
Jay: Yeah. I've added a few extra hats of going from just being a registered interior designer to now managing most of the technology for CMBA.
Skyler: Awesome, awesome. And thankfully, you're the expert on the topic talking to us today about technology and software when it comes to architecture and design. I definitely work with a lot of technology and software, but it is completely unrelated to architecture and design, so I know nothing about what that involves. So please enlighten me on what kind of stuff goes into what you guys do every day.
Jay: Sure. It's changed a lot. I've been doing interior design since '98.
Skyler: Oh, wow. Okay.
Jay: And about then I was starting to just get into computer drafting, that kind of thing. Before then it was all old-school. If you watched The Brady Bunch you see Mike Brady drawing on this big paper and pencils and T squares, that's what everyone did. But then once computers kicked in, like I said, the past 25 years, it's gone a lot from just pen and paper to virtual reality at this point. So it's pretty amazing the leaps and bounds it's gone through over the years.
Skyler: Absolutely. And I know that virtual reality especially has been a really big topic within ... I think we've already done maybe two or three blog posts as it is, just talking about architecture and design when it comes down to the capabilities of VR and how that is going to influence things. What thoughts do you have as far as how VR is already maybe incorporating into architecture and design and what you think could be possible with that?
Jay: Yeah. I mean, right now it's mostly been I think as a design tool. When you talk to, whether it's a CEO of a hospital to someone who's just a local shop owner, when you're trying to explain to them what their space is going to look like, that if you just show them a black and white piece of paper with an elevation, a floor plan, with notes saying, "This is going to be this kind of carpet and this is going to be this kind of color paint," they can't grasp that sometimes.
So having that rendering capability, that virtual, they actually get in the space and see it, that's been the biggest game-changer for I think the design world, of it's that better communication between us as designers and our clients.
Skyler: As somebody that I can't even go and grab a shirt off the rack at the clothing store and look at it and be like, "Okay, I can imagine myself in this," I can totally understand how a client, obviously they look at a piece of paper with all this stuff on it. For you guys, who made it and designed it, it makes sense. But for them it's, like you said, hard to grasp.
Jay: Yeah. The technology is also making it easier to work with the client. Back in the day it was, okay, you drew something up, you showed them the pictures. They may say, "Hey, let's change this." You got to go back to your desk. A few weeks later come back with another design. That takes time to redraw something.
Whereas with 3D rendering, 3D modeling, you're sitting there in a meeting, they say, "Hey, can we add a window there?" Boom, you throw a window. They can see exactly what it's going to look like. Or, "Can we change that wall color?" Or, "Can we move some things here and there?" Whereas you're saving that time and expense by just saying, "Okay, let's work this out together. Let's get it done." It's what they're seeing what they want it to be, and it is a lot faster.
Skyler: Absolutely, absolutely. And from CMBA's perspective, what kind of VR technology or how have we made use of it specifically so far?
Jay: Primarily been with VR goggles. I know we have a couple of pairs throughout the different offices, where right now it's mostly set as the kind of goggles where you have to be at a computer.
Skyler: Sure.
Jay: It's one person can see it at a time. But technology is changing that now we have software where we can put a, maybe not necessarily a full model, but we can have ... When you go house for sale sites.
Skyler: Oh, yeah.
Jay: And they might have a walk through, you're not seeing the whole building but you go step by step. "Here's a spot in the kitchen." You can spin around. You can go to the living room, spin around. We can do that with our 3D models.
Skyler: Awesome.
Jay: And then with a QR code, anybody in the meeting can scan that code and be live in the model together. So everyone can see, rather just one person seeing than everyone have to take turns with goggles. That's one of the newer technologies that's just ... It helps everyone in the meeting be involved.
Skyler: Absolutely. So when it comes to the process of getting a space that we've designed and putting it into the software, what does that look like, how do we ... I mean, is it really just a matter of putting pieces together within the 3D software?
Jay: Not to that point. I mean, if you ask any of our clients, say here's the ... Sometimes they expect the big red magic button-
Skyler: Sure.
Jay: ... that pushes the button, and it magically all happens. Now it takes time to first off getting, at least if they have an existing site, getting that documented. We've got a 3D laser scanner in the office now that we've passed around from office to office, that before in the old days, if you want to measure, "Okay. How far are these windows apart, how far are these walls apart," you got a tape measure. You can still be pretty accurate, but if for some reason you missed a dimension and the job site is two hours away, you're not going to go back [inaudible 00:06:30] you need to go back and double-check that measurement.
Skyler: That's great.
Jay: Where the scanner, you put it in a middle of a spot. It sends out thousands and thousands of laser measurement points. And within fractions of an inch it can tell you exactly every wall, every window, every column, down to every floorboard in the floor sometimes, it gets that detailed.
Skyler: Wow. Oh my gosh.
Jay: And that's some of the newer technology we're striving for right now. It's kind of, you put it in one spot, it scans around, it gets what it can there. Now there are cameras out that you just walk around and it just keeps scanning continuously.
Skyler: Really?
Jay: So it's a lot faster, a lot more accurate. We've been to conventions where they now have the same camera but they put it on a drone cam, like a flying drone-
Skyler: Really?
Jay: ... or even a dog. They have some of those, I want to say robot dogs, so they can just send that in to a large facility.
Skyler: Wow.
Jay: It goes around, scan everything, comes back and now you have an accurate 3D print-
Skyler: Laser.
Jay:... of existing-
Skyler: 3D scanning, plus robot, that's kind of-
Jay: Yeah. And having that information has certainly helped from us so that we're not ... Things can get missed of, "Hey, we didn't realize this wall is over this much farther," but if you have exactly where everything's at currently, it's much more accurate. You don't have surprises. Hopefully there's no surprises when construction time comes.
Skyler: Right. That always kind of pops up in there.
Jay: Yeah. And then once that's in, then we just start using our Revit software and start modeling, put in the walls, putting in the windows. And again, that's gone from being just ... The old days were just lines on a page, to now it's full walls. It can be smart technology, so you'd be click on a wall to see exactly how many square feet of wall it is so the contractors can say, "Okay, we got this many square feet of walls. It's this much per square foot." And you get a much accurate estimate so you keep the budget numbers closer to what your design is, versus being less of a big guess sometimes.
Skyler: Sure. Well, that's pretty incredible, seeing how all those pieces in the ... obviously the movement of technology and software, to really save clients time and money by copious amounts.
Jay: Yeah, a lot of it is really just driving to make the design process easier, and like I said, ultimately faster, so that we're not spending time designing it. And just get the design made, make it accurate, and make it faster for our clients.
Skyler: Absolutely. And of course, like you said, the real-time adjustments that can be made thanks to the software, which is pretty incredible as well. That way, again, saving copious amounts of time.
Jay: Yeah.
Skyler: Awesome, awesome. Out of curiosity, just since it's a big topic right now and I don't know if it's been integrated too much, but what about AI? Has AI been something that we make use of yet, or do you see some ways that it could be used?
Jay: I've seen some areas where ... Again, I think it's still new, but it could branch into anything. Autodesk has come out with some software that it'll help. It won't necessarily generate your site, but it has intelligence to help you design a site, saying, "Okay, I've designed a building, now how much daylight's it going to get?" And it'll figure in, okay, it's daylight, this kind of space. The AI will figure that part in for you.
Skyler: Okay.
Jay: Will it get to the point where an AI can completely design a space or building? Who knows?
Skyler: Sure.
Jay: It comes down to there's some personal, I don't want to say belief into it, but people have to think about what's this color going to work with this color. It's more not necessarily just straight up thinking of a final product, but it has to relate back to the client of what do they want it to look like, what do they want it to feel like, and have that personal connection. That I don't know necessarily. AI can do.
And also we found that, okay, we have software that can create ... We have our specification, so it's just all text. And we can say, "Okay, write a specification for drywall for our section." And sure enough, it can come up with a pretty ... At least a good starting point. Now it hasn't got the point where it's going to put our spec writer out of business, but but I think there's certain areas it could make life easier.
Skyler: Okay, awesome.
Jay: But I don't [inaudible 00:11:33]. It might be a while before it gets to the full ... I think we've got job security for a while.
Skyler: Okay. All right. Fair enough. That's good, that's good.
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Skyler: To learn more about our available positions, visit the Careers Page cmbaarchitects.com and apply to join the CMBA team.
Okay. We talked about the 3D modeling, being able to show clients, not only just show them the drawings and the layout and everything else, being able to put them in that space. We talked about the drafting software that we've used. We've talked about the potential as far as AI. We've talked about the hardware with the laser scanner. What else goes into what the architects and the designers are doing?
Jay: With the VR we're also getting into some AR, augmented reality.
Skyler: Oh, yeah.
Jay: So we could take a model potentially, and if we're on a existing job site where it's just brand new site, no buildings, anything, that we could put a model geolocated on the site, and then as people hold up these iPads-
Skyler: Really?
Jay: ... they could virtually see roughly what their building may look like on the site.
Skyler: Wow, okay.
Jay: Or if they have an existing space, they could say, here's the existing space and here's what it could like, like with both the original that's staying and new, that's changing.
Skyler: Yeah, okay.
Jay: Those are some of the areas that are probably still a little bit newer what we're working on, but it's-
Skyler: Yeah, absolutely.
Jay: ... again, the future of where things are going.
Skyler: Yeah. Yeah. You could just hold up a screen. I mean, everybody's got smartphones these days. You could just hold up your phone, and like you said, just see what it could look like in real-time, right there in front of your eyes. That's pretty incredible honestly. The applications of that are absolutely astounding, I mean, with what could go into that. Absolutely.
Jay: Yeah. Again, it's more for the client of understanding. And you can show them a picture of what it could look like on their site, but again, if it was that realistic they could feel, they could judge the scale of how big of a building it is standing next to it. And that will certainly help them understand it and understand what the final product is going to be once it's built, to not having that, "Hey, I didn't expect this to be this color or this size," that you could ...
Skyler: You can swap it out.
Jay: Because "Here's exactly what it's going to look like. And in the end, hopefully, that comes out looking exactly what you thought it was to be."
Skyler: Like you said, there's always those little possibilities of, "Oh we're going to adjust that."
Jay: Oh, yeah. There's never been a project that hasn't had some sort of surprise popup change.
Skyler: Old buildings, they've always got something in the [inaudible 00:14:39]-
Jay: Exactly.
Skyler: ... that you're like, "Oh-oh, wait a minute, I wish they hadn't done that."
Jay: Oh, yeah. "Where did this column come from?"
Skyler: Yeah. Fair enough. Wow. It's kind of cool. So from my perspective, not seeing the technology as it's developing because it's not the area that I work within, per se, it's pretty cool to see what I would imagine as science fiction almost happening right in front of what we're able to do. Being able to put people inside of spaces. Like the way you just talked about with the AR, being able to actively compare spaces through a screen right there in front of you is pretty mind-blowing, for sure.
I know when someone first told me about the laser scanners, they gave me a quick brief overview and I said, "Okay, so it's like one of the Alien movies," where some guy had these little orbs and he throws them up into the air and they just scanned this entire tunnel system.
Jay: [inaudible 00:15:32] scanner.
Skyler: And he's like, "Yeah, pretty much." And I was like, "Okay, this is interesting. I never would've thought about that." So that's pretty cool, that's pretty cool. I mean, at the end of the day you definitely couldn't say that architecture and design is, I don't know, behind on technology or anything like that.
Jay: No, that's certainly-
Skyler: This is the forefront of what everybody's working on and doing stuff within with AR, VR and that kind of stuff.
Jay: Yeah. And once it gets out of our hands and obviously goes on to the contractor and bidding, that's probably the area I see as some of the, I don't want to say slowdown of technology as ... Once we come up with a drawing, come up with a model, we make a full 3D building, is then we essentially flatten it back down to sheets or documents, big pages of flat documents, and give that to the contractor to say, "Hey, now you build it. Here's your instruction. Here's your recipe."
Skyler: Sure.
Jay: That's still been the way for ... It'll probably be for a way for a while, because building contractors and installers, getting more on the technology set on their side, that they're starting to say, "Okay, instead of giving me this flat two-dimensional drawing, can I be part of that 3D model?"
That way they can get into the model, they can see what, again, what we're visualizing [inaudible 00:17:02] sheet shows as, they can see what it looks like. They can see also, "Hey. Okay, in the model we have a duct going through a window." Hopefully we should have had that fixed to begin with, but if something changes, like I said, if there's a column and something has to move, they can get into the model als, and everyone's on the same page of here's where everything's at.
Skyler: That frustration that like, "I can show this to the client and they can approve it," but obviously passing it onto the next step in the process, which is actually building it, and them not quite having, I don't know, you'd say as much access, I guess in a sense.
Jay: Yeah. So we want them to be able to not have to decipher what we're designing, we want them to know exactly what we want it to look like, what the client wants it to look like, so that everyone sure comes out the same result. And I've seen examples of on the contractor side where they also can have a augmented reality. I've seen at conventions where they might have a augmented reality helmet, kind of like the Google glasses or those kind of things.
Skyler: Oh, okay.
Jay: And if they look at a wall, like an actual built drywall, cover up wall, it'll overlay, okay, behind that wall is where these pipes are going.
Skyler: Oh, okay.
Jay: So it is kind of like x-ray vision, but really all they're seeing is the model
Skyler: Really?
Jay: ... of what should be in there. Or they can look at, as it's being built, they can see, "Okay, here's where a duct went. Over here's where it should have been."
Skyler: Oh, okay.
Jay: And so you see those connections of where disconnects and connects have come.
Skyler: Wow, okay.
Jay: Technology has been growing a lot-
Skyler: Sure.
Jay: ... from start to finish, from everything on the design world.
Skyler: Wow. That is incredible. For sure. X-ray vision, I like that. That's a good ... If it's called that, it should be called that.
Jay: Yeah. I mean, it is pretty cool. You're just looking around and all of a sudden, like I said, it's like the sci-fi movies where you're seeing something, "Oh, that's right there, how did you ..." You know exactly where it's supposed to be.
Skyler: That's right.
Jay: The plumber knows where the pipe's supposed to go, so they can see exactly where it should be.
Skyler: So awesome. Very cool, very cool. Well, is there anything else that you wanted to mention that I haven't maybe asked about or thought of yet, or?
Jay: No, Eric said, a lot has changed in even just these short few years, and then it's exciting to see what the future is going to hold as far as how much more of this virtual reality gets into play with things.
On certain projects we'll have what's called a Lean 3P system, where we might do a full mockup of a hospital suite. They want to coordinate exactly where every gas wants to go, where every switch wants to go, so their staff knows exactly. They have a process they need to follow to help the patient. They want to know exactly down to what's going in what drawer.
Skyler: Oh, wow.
Jay: But right now, we basically build that all out of cardboard and templates, and it's a very manual process, that, if we can get into more of a virtual world, like I said, with the design side of it's a lot faster to change it out. And if okay, we want to move the gas's cart from this side to this side of the bed, it moves over there. Or it's a different size bed. Or if we want to turn the whole orientation to the room 90 degrees for [inaudible 00:20:39] fit the room better.
Skyler: Rather than having to replace all the cardboard.
Jay: Yeah. And also, it's green, you're saving a lot of cardboard.
Skyler: That's also true. Yeah.
Jay: But again, the same kind of thing, it's growing the technology and understanding it, and obviously getting staff to understand, train on the software, train on the programs. So it's very exciting.
Skyler: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I'm sitting here, like I said, it sounds very sci-fi, which is pretty exciting for me, as is a big nerd that I am.
Jay: Yeah. That's why I got into ... Again, from being on the design side, I also want to help on the technology side because of that geekiness of-
Skyler: Absolutely.
Jay: ... Okay, what cool new things you are out there. Find new software, find new apps, find new devices that we can help us.
Skyler: Yeah, absolutely. Getting to be at the forefront, the front seat of being able to see and participate in that, that'd be-
Jay: Still working on figuring out how to make my own holodecks. We can have just a big room, walk in and-
Skyler: Yeah. With the tape on it, and yeah, absolutely.
Jay: Just walk in and have a whole full immersive virtual reality.
Skyler: You wouldn't even have to go on location. You would just do it from right there. That'd be awesome, that'd be great.
Jay: That's the stuff they're working on at Iowa State.
Skyler: Oh, okay.
Jay: At some point they'll-
Skyler: Figure it.
Jay: It'll come out eventually, but it's all money.
Skyler: You've heard it here, folks. Jay is expecting the holodeck. We won't give them a timeline, but we will give them the expectation that we're waiting. We're waiting. Awesome, awesome. Well, Jay, thank you so much for being on the show.
Jay: No problem.
Skyler: Really appreciate it. This has been amazing information. I'm sure anyone out there, even outside of the architecture world, has to be excited about some of these amazing sci-fi things that are happening right in front of our eyes, so awesome.
Well, thank you all so much for listening. This has been another episode of Laying the Foundation. Of course, you can find us anywhere podcasts can be found, whether that be Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and everywhere else. Of course, you can always head over to our website, cmbarchitects.com. Check us out there, see some of the projects that we've worked on, including stuff that Jay's been involved in of course. See some of the cool technology side of some of what we worked on and maybe some of the renderings. I don't know if we have any 3D models on the website necessarily, but.
Jay: I thought we should, because it's very easy.
Skyler: Awesome. Perfect. Yeah, so you might be able to find some of those on there, all kinds of great stuff. Of course, if you're interested in architecture and design, and maybe you're a student or maybe you're currently a professional within that field that might be looking for a position or an internship, definitely make sure to check us out there as well. We've got a whole career page with all kinds of resources for you. And once again, you can find us also on social media, so Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This has been another episode of Laying the Foundation.
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May 18, 2023