Success Story
Kahler Slater, an award-winning international architecture, interior design, environmental branding, and strategic advisory services firm, has been creating beautiful, functional environments to meet the needs of clients for more than a century. In a highly competitive environment, Kahler Slater was seeking technology support for customized design automation needs that would help them operate more efficiently, creatively, and sustainably -- and continue to drive results for clients. As part of an ongoing partnership, Kahler Slater has worked with Autodesk Solution Provider Microdesk for building information modeling (BIM) technology support.
Leveraging their creativity and efficiency to enable the best designs for clients, Kahler Slater’s goal was to develop and harness time-saving automation to empower its people to work in more efficient ways. By partnering with Microdesk, they aimed to develop customized scripts and workflows to automate routine tasks, support highly complex designs, allow creativity, and save time. A broader goal was to incorporate the technology and drive for automation through all levels of the organization, from the designers in the trenches to top leadership. Kahler Slater focused on training and empowering all team members, inspiring and retaining employees, and creating value throughout the firm, which ultimately translates to fulfilling the needs of clients.
Kahler Slater and Microdesk collaborated to analyze the current design processes and develop new customized automations that accomplish end goals in the quickest and most efficient way. Computational and generative design tools, Revit and Dynamo, were used to create individual scripts, combined for workflows, that automate repetitive processes, minimize human error, and ultimately make the design process more efficient. Custom developed scripts were created to simulate manual, repetitive tasks like placing walls, doors, and windows, and generating floor plans, elevations, 3D views, and renderings quickly and accurately. The Kahler Slater team uses these tools repeatedly, throughout the progression of the design to grow and enhance a project. The technology also streamlines documentation work, with instant revisions to plans, elevations, schedules, and sections as projects change.
Using these innovative, custom tools, the designers save time previously spent on tedious, repetitive tasks to be more productive, enabling more meaningful work and raising the level of creativity and innovative thinking. The time saved permits the team to focus not only on more interesting or innovative aspects of the job, but also allows them to better address specific client goals and needs.
Improving the quality of design models is another valuable benefit the Dynamo scripts provide. The technology helps the team evaluate how models are actually functioning, capturing quality issues, and improving the workflow. It also promotes consistent and reliable data across models used at Kahler Slater, which help teams become more agile, as they move onto different projects, and support each other’s work.
Together, the teams at Microdesk and Kahler Slater have worked closely and regularly to brainstorm and create customized scripts and workflows that have led to timesaving, creative solutions, and ultimately, successfully designed products that help drive results for clients.
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The Moth Wing to Sound Absorbing Acoustic Panels
The Biomimicry Alliance wanted to find an alternative method for creating sound absorption materials for application in open office work environments. They posed the question, “How would nature absorb sound?” Through investigation, they discovered the “Cabbage Tree Emperor moth” (Bunaea alcinoe) a moth species belonging to the family Saturniidae, native to Southern Africa. This unique moth can avoid its most notorious predator, a bat, and its “sonar” like ability to track its prey. The moth's wings are covered by overlapping scales that are less than (0.0098 inches) long and have a peculiar porous structure. This structure absorbs the "echolocation" sound of their predator, the bat, and thus helps them to camouflage themselves acoustically. But could The Biomimicry Alliance successfuly emulate the acoustical features of the moth’s wings and apply it to the design of acoustic panels?
Enabling a Common Data Environment for Streamlined Communications
PowerHawke, Inc. specializes in commercial electrical distribution systems with a focus on safety, preventive maintenance and renewable energy. As a subsidiary of Phalcon Electric, PowerHawke is able to draw on a variety of expertise across eight different companies including Harlan Electric, McPhee Electric, J. E. Richards and Ravex. As the organization expanded both physically and virtually, PowerHawke required a system to connect field and office personnel to speed project delivery, streamline communications and consolidate project data.
Large Greenfield Expansion 2
Hargrove is a multi-discipline Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firm that provides comprehensive on-site support to their clients in the energy generation, manufacturing, research and development, infrastructure, and process-heavy sectors. They have completed over 22,000 projects and served over 2,100 facilities since inception. Over the last several years margins on projects have gotten tighter and project timelines have become shorter. To meet these heightened demands, Hargrove began to realize that they needed to be able to communicate more effectively between engineering disciplines, field employees, subcontractors, and owners. Also, with the constraints imposed by the current Covid-19 pandemic, employees that are being kept out of the office are creating even greater challenges when it comes to sharing data across projects. Included in their desired enhancements is to automate data output during projects whenever possible.
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