CONVERGENCE

At CONSTRUCT 2011, CSI’s Joy Davis opined that social media are converging. That’s not all the convergence that’s going on.

Convergence of TV and Internet:  Google TV and Apple TV will soon turn TV and the Internet into one experience.

●      Old way with separate media, and separate apparatus.

●      Future, with access to both TV and Internet through TV sets. Apple and Google have both been working on this for years now, and it’s just a matter of time until one or both of them finds the right way to make it a hit with consumers.

Convergence of Spec Writing, Word Processing, and File Management:   This has already happened.  These tasks used to be performed by separate people. Now spec writers need all three abilities in their skill set.

●      Old way, with spec writers doing the editorial work via hard copy markups, secretaries doing keyboarding and managing files.

●      Current way, with spec writers responsible not only for editorial and technical content of specs, but also for  word processing production and file management. For me, file management has been particularly challenging, what with multiple reviews, multiple bid packages, addenda, and issued-for-construction sets.  In addition, most of us now are responsible for turning spec word processing documents into bookmarked combined PDFs for distribution on CDs and/or the Internet.

●      Future:  See below.

Convergence of Specs and Drawings:  Specs and drawings will eventually converge into the BIM model.  Since I haven’t yet had a chance to work on BIM-linked specs, I don’t have a clear picture of what’s possible or practical.  I’ve got a lot to learn about here.

●      Old way: Separate people produced drawings and specs, using separate production tools and separate production tracks. Users (builders, and then owners) have to refer to sets of drawings and volumes of project manuals to learn about the buildings they build and own.

●      Present and near term future: Software interoperability used mainly (I think.  Please correct me if I’m wrong) as a coordination aid in producing specs and drawings.  Linking software (at least BSD’s Linkman-e) isn’t part of the deliverable construction documents.  It doesn’t appear that there’s an industry consensus yet about how much specification data really belongs in the model. 

●      Future:  Hard to say exactly how it will work out, but as a minimum, graphic files and data files will be linked for ease of use by builders in building, and later to aid owners in managing the buildings.

And if that’s not enough convergence for you, check out futurist Ray Kurzweil’s fascinating website Accelerating Intelligence and his book The Singularity is Near, in which he posits (I think) the eventual merging of humans and machines.

Hang on. Everybody in the AEC business is in for a wild ride the next few years.  We will NOT be bored!

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S S. C. JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION BUILDING

Last Saturday, several of us from Larson & Darby in Rockford went on a trip arranged by the employee committee to Racine, Wisconsin to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1939 masterpiece, the S. C. Johnson Administration Building.

Like every architect, I had seen still photographs of the Johnson Wax building countless times.  I read accounts of its design and construction and Wright’s tussles with the building code officials.  I reread the passages about its design and construction in Friedman and Zellman’s fascinating book about Wright, The Fellowship.  I viewed videos of the building on YouTube the day before the trip.

None of that prepared me for the real experience of being in the main open office area of the building, the great space where all the dramatic photos are taken. 

The space Wright created in the Johnson Wax Administration Building is sumptuous and complex.  High ceilings, low ceilings, balconies, custom office furniture, the richness of Cherokee red brick, kasota stone, and that gorgeous glass tubing!  The room is breathtaking.

The character of the light flowing through the glass tube-glazed clerestories and skylights is unlike anything I have ever seen elsewhere.  It glows and sparkles at the same time, however improbable that may seem.  It also provides great lighting.

The SC Johnson Company deserves lots of credit as a patron of the art of architecture. It can’t be easy or cheap to maintain such a unique 70+ year old work of art, but the Johnson Company keeps the Administration Building in pristine condition, with no discernable alterations to Wright’s design.

SC Johnson’s company history, and incidentally their business commitment to sustainability, is showcased in another great building on the campus, the soaring and exquisitely detailed LEED Gold Fortaleza Hall, designed by Norman Foster and finished recently. 

The SC Johnson tour guide personnel are super knowledgeable and passionate about the buildings.   

If you appreciate great architecture, you owe it to yourself to experience the Johnson Wax campus.  Make plans to visit Racine soon.