Essay

As an architect, it is important to guide your tools in a way that helps you see deeper into your designs. Yes, using 3D visualization tools do help you to make your initial design vision more tangible. But how can you go beyond this, to use technology to better formulate and analyze a concept during your design process? It helps to think creatively about different technologies as  they can become critical tools helping you to solve for particular design problems. The following are the 3 top ways to leverage technology when designing:

• ‍See deeper into your site analysis: Have you ever thought of using drone photography to help you experience your site from different perspectives? This is a simple, yet effective, example of how technology can be used to help you gain more profound  insight into the context of your design project. Furthermore, you can use such photography to create augmented reality fly-through animations. In this way, you can present "before and after" visualizations to better communicate your design concept ideas that tap into sensory design leverage points. 

• ‍See deeper into your concept design: Have you ever thought of trying a totally different design tool to better analyze your concept idea? Perhaps this means switching from hand-drawing to 3D computer visualization, or from 3D computer visualization to full-scale modelling? Sometimes as designers, we become overly dependent on one particular tool --- without realizing that it is constraining how we see a design problem and its solution. By freeing yourself to work with different tools, it can help you to see things differently. After all, certain tools require certain ways of thinking. When you switch technologies, you may be pleasantly surprised at the new insights you derive.

• See deeper into your occupant's narrative: Have you ever wondered how you can better understand your future building occupant? In other words, how can you discover the true strengths and constraints in your occupants' lives as you construct their narrative? Well, wearable technology can help with this by giving you a "window" into your occupant's activities, habits, preferences, and so on. Perhaps an occupant narrative creation phase within your concept formulation process is just what you need to better detect those critical patterns for which your design will solve.

In the end, the key is for you to guide technology by using it as a tool by which to design smarter. Be creative about how you integrate such technologies. After all, a design breakthrough could be awaiting the right tool by which it will be discovered.

Image Credit: © Kantver | Fotolia