HOK designers from around the globe are able to collaborate and interact in real time in the fi rm’s new Advanced Collaboration Rooms. The high-tech videoconferencing spaces allow users to display (in high defi nition) and mark up multiple project-related documents simultaneously. |
9. HOK Takes Videoconferencing to A New Level with its Advanced Collaboration Rooms
To help foster collaboration among its 2,212 employees while cutting travel time, expenses, and carbon emissions traveling between its 24 office locations, HOK is fitting out its major offices with prototype videoconferencing rooms that are like no other in the U.S.
HOK's Advanced Collaboration Rooms (ACR) combine Cisco's TelePresence high-resolution, interoperable videoconferencing technology with PolyVision's Thunder Virtual Flipchart System—a sort of digital easel pad that allows HOK designers to sketch ideas and "virtually" hang them in multiple ACRs so the entire team can collaborate in real time.
Thunder allows users to display images, video, documents, and even live views of computer desktops. Using a series of projectors and flat-screen TVs in each ACR, multiple ideas and documents can be displayed at one time, and all meeting notes can be saved, printed, and emailed instantly to participants.
"The ability to bring HOK's best creative minds together in these ACRs is a powerful new tool for our virtual design teams," says HOK CEO Patrick MacLeamy, who led the effort to develop the ACR concept. ACRs are currently installed at seven HOK offices, with six more installations planned this year.10. More AEC Collaboration Solutions
Collaboration tools are big at AEC firms. Architecture firm Perkins Eastman links its 13 offices worldwide through its award-winning proprietary intranet system, ORCHARD, which stands for "Online Resource for the Creative Harvest of Architecturally Relevant Discovery" (catchy, isn't it?). ORCHARD unites the firm's Practice Area Communities to share best design practices, insights, and lessons learned. More on Perkins Eastman's ORCHARD
Over at AEC giant Heery International, "e-communities" enable partnering between the firm's offices around the country. Interior designer Judy Peterson used the e-community to get feedback on whether a project should use LEED-CI alone, or LEED-CI with LEED for Core & Shell. The decision: CI only. More on Heery's e-communities
Engineering firm Walter P Moore created its "Communities of Practice" in 2008 to share expertise across its 13 offices. The "COPs"—in its healthcare, sports, aviation, parking consulting, and tall buildings practices—are staffed on a voluntary basis. The healthcare COP, with 27 volunteers, formed its own Medical Equipment Task Group to inventory medical equipment used in hospital projects. "It's great, because the folks in Houston and Florida who have seen every MRI known to man can pass that along to our new offices in California," says Kurt Young, PE, LEED AP, leader of WPM's healthcare COP. More on Walter P Moore's Communities of Practice
       Â
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Nov 29, 2020
Top 155 Architecture Firms for 2020
Gensler, Perkins and Will, and HKS Architects top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2020 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Nov 29, 2020
Top 100 Architecture Engineering Firms for 2020
Stantec, HDR, and HOK head the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2020 Giants 400 Report.
Government Buildings | Nov 25, 2020
New Indiana Toll Road headquarters creates unified environment for staff
New LEED Gold facility consolidates operations for tollway authority.
Architects | Nov 24, 2020
AEC Leaders share lessons from past downturns
Positions of passivity and cost-cutting run counter to the key lessons from AEC leaders who successfully navigated their firms through past market downturns.
Smart Buildings | Nov 20, 2020
The Weekly show: SPIRE smart building rating system, and pickleball court design tips
The November 19 episode of BD+C's The Weekly is available for viewing on demand.
Transportation & Parking Facilities | Nov 13, 2020
BIG and Kilo-designed Pegasus Pod transports first Hyperloop passengers
The pod achieves Hyperloop travel at speeds over 1000km/hour.
Government Buildings | Nov 13, 2020
Tax shortfalls nip government projects in the bud
Federal contracts are proceeding, but states and cities are delaying, deferring, and looking for private investment.
AEC Tech | Nov 12, 2020
The Weekly show: Nvidia's Omniverse, AI for construction scheduling, COVID-19 signage
BD+C editors speak with experts from ALICE Technologies, Build Group, Hastings Architecture, Nvidia, and Woods Bagot on the November 12 episode of "The Weekly." The episode is available for viewing on demand.
Museums | Nov 5, 2020
The Weekly show: Designing cannabis facilities, Bob Borson's Life of an Architect, museum design
BD+C editors speak with experts from Cooper Robertson, Life of an Architect, and MJ12 Design Studio on the November 5 episode of "The Weekly." The episode is available for viewing on demand.
Multifamily Housing | Oct 30, 2020
The Weekly show: Multifamily security tips, the state of construction industry research, and AGC's market update
BD+C editors speak with experts from AGC, Charles Pankow Foundation, and Silva Consultants on the October 29 episode of "The Weekly." The episode is available for viewing on demand.