Fellow Designer, Guest Interviews Second Studio LLC Fellow Designer, Guest Interviews Second Studio LLC

#418 - AUTODESK FORMA & INSIGHT

 

SUMMARY

This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design are joined by Ellis Herman and Ian Molloy from AutoDesk. The four discussed Autodesk Forma; how Forma works; Carbon analysis in Forma; Autodesk Insight; workflow and dashboard for Insight; adjusting parameters in Insight; challenges of incorporating analysis in design; accuracy of analytical tools; future of architecture software; and more. Enjoy!



TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Introduction.

(03:16) What is Forma?

(06:53) Forma project location setup.

(13:47) Forma building analysis and Forma Board.

(31:13) Carbon Analysis.

“I think “Actionable Prediction” is a great phrase to describe the challenges of [the design process]. You're drawing loose sketches and ideas [during the design phase], but you're also making  big decisions that set the project’s direction in terms of how it deals with the carbon, energy, wind, site conditions, etc…To design a building, you need some information to work with, but you also need to do something to have information. It's so difficult to get it right. I can certainly understand [the benefits of] software that’s easy to use and has standard tools so you can start working without having to ask many questions. Because when you're at the beginning of a project, you don't have a lot of information.” (44:48)

(58:53) Ian Insight introduction.

(01:07:21) Autodesk Insight workflow steps.

(01:17:25) Insight Dashboard and Embodied Carbon Detail.

(01:31:22) Adjusting factors in Insight.

“At the end of the day, all analytical models are imperfectly perfect. Meaning that they're imperfect, but they're perfect for the job that needs to be done now, which is at an early stage. I just want to know what percentage of roof I should use for PV, and how much I can get the client to pay for carbon offsets. It's perfect. You don't need anything more than that. The fact is there are so many different questions and so many ways to look at this data. Sure, you can use Excel or other tools, but they are all complicated. We want to create a tool that an average architect or engineer can get into with reasonable ease to help them understand and get started with building analysis. We want to encourage conversations between architect, client, and engineer around topics like “What are you assuming about this? Do you have a good rule of thumb for that?” (01:38:18)

(01:39:30) Challenges of incorporating analysis into design.

(01:45:33) Accuracy of Insight analytical tools.

“We have seen firms at every scale use it [Autodesk Insight] mainly because it’s accessible. It's already in Revit. We try to keep the barrier as low as possible, and it provides users with something useful. No, it doesn’t have every analysis you need. No, it's not going to do the LEED documentation for you. However, it allows people to be students and gradually learn about certain analyses and exchange their knowledge with colleagues. Eventually, they grow enough confidence to engage specialists and have productive conversations. The experts are also able to curate the way they believe analysis should be run at different stages in the process, for different project types and different firms, and that knowledge can be democratized a lot more easily.” (01:44:06)

(01:49:52) Future of architecture software.

“We're at the beginning of caring about and measuring embodied carbon. So, the data that [Forma] is trained on will be more easily accessible. It will become better and more consistent, which will allow us to create better predictive models more easily. As an industry, we are going to align more and more with reducing carbon intensity, which will make it easier to compare designs and therefore get answers to whether a design is good for the environment. That is a question that is hard to answer currently.” (01:51:12)


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#416 - JONATHAN SEGAL , FAIA Architect & Developer

 

SUMMARY

This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design discuss are joined by Jonathan Segal, FAIA architect and developer. The three discussed Jonathan’s early career; his car business; his career as a developer; his thoughts on being a developer; architect-developers; the challenges of being a developer; his future plans; and more. Enjoy!



ABOUT JONATHAN

Jonathan Segal FAIA & Development Company has been awarded six national AIA Honor Awards for their housing work.

They have been responsible for the design and development of over 300 medium to high-density urban residential, mixed-use, and live/work units totaling over 300,000 square feet of construction. 

Segal is considered one of San Diego, California's most successful and pioneering residential architectural/development companies and has a reputation for providing superior housing at a lower cost than comparable properties. Their focus is exclusively on urban projects, ranging from 80 to 160 dwelling units per acre. 

Segal has been the recipient of numerous accolades including 40 local, state, and national AIA awards for residential and Urban Design.

Over the past twenty years, Segal has created and modeled the unique practice of "Architect as Developer", a prototype in which the architect has the ability to become the owner, therefore eliminating the client and the general contractor from the design and building process.

www.jonathansegalarchitect.com


TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Jonathan's early career.

(04:10) Car business & business thinking.

(08:41) How Jonathan became a developer.

“The budget for 11 units is approximately $1,800,000. What do you think my permit fees are for that work? That's right, $300,000. I paid $300,000 to build 11 apartments that are 600ft² each. And the city of San Diego is wondering, “Why is it so expensive to live here?” If you go and look at some of the ‘affordable housing’ [that’s getting built], let's say up in LA, they are $1 million a unit. I'm building them for $294 per square foot, which I think is insane. So that's around $200,000 a unit for me to build these things because I just cut all the fat out. All those affordable housing projects have just fat, fat, fat, fat...So, they all have to be subsidized by the federal government.” (15:56)

(18:36) Thoughts on being a developer now.

“There's always going to be an opportunity. It's always going to be evolving and different. I think all the generations look back and go, “Wow, it's so much harder now than it was when they started.” When I was starting, the generations that were finishing or moving on probably looked back and went, “Wow, it's so much easier when there was just unlimited land we could just build forever.” In some ways, it's always going to be more difficult, and I think there's always going to be opportunities.” (19:13)

“I believe firmly that the most humane, livable product type is a three-story building. The bottom floor is retail with a two-story residential unit on top of it with exterior circulation, all parking on grade, and nothing underground. The daylight, openness, air movement, cross ventilation...this is the best way to go, versus an eight-story building with elevators and underground parking. It's just inefficient and expensive.” (24:33)

(26:37) Balance design principle and profit.

(33:51) Single-family vs multi-family development.

(49:41) Why aren't there many architect developers?

(56:31) Dealing with risks and liabilities as a developer.

(01:03:30) Construction and property management.

(01:11:14) Future plans for Jonathan.

“Start with building your own house. Start building four units and start working your way up the food chain. Start small and go through the whole process. What happens is that people will start. doing a project and when they get 50% through, they'll start the next one. But they haven't learned if the first one will succeed or fail. Then they both fail because they haven't seen…all the problems that happen and learn to resolve those issues.” (01:13:18)


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