The last few months have been a remarkable and – though we’re not the first to say it – unprecedented experience. With no clear answer to how the Coronavirus pandemic ends, the most important skill we have learned of late is how to adapt.
Fortunately, VAKOTA has been flying the flag for agile working for some time now – so when it came to moving our existing projects to a remote format, we were already reasonably well equipped. Our data storage was already cloud-based, and our phone system and drafting program internet-based – while our team are experienced with remote working.
However, a new challenge we began to face was how to bid on new projects, without being able to meet potential clients or visit potential job sites. But as we move forward into what seems to be our ‘new normal’, we’ve started to crack that, too.
Our newest project is the complete renovation of a private townhouse in Brooklyn. The owner’s mother is going to be moving in, and as such we have been brought in to restructure the floorplan and refurbish the building. What currently sits as a basement and first-floor duplex, with an apartment on the second floor, will now be flipped. The duplex will sit on the first and second floors, with a separate apartment for Mom located on the lower level.
The project was referred to us by a contractor that we regularly work with. Usually we would begin the process by meeting the property owners and visiting the job site – neither of which are currently available options to us due to the lockdown and social distancing.
Instead, we conducted a virtual walkthrough via video call. The owners gave us a digital tour of the space and explained the brief, and we used Google Maps street view and the NYC Zoning and Land Use website (ZOLA) to tour the area and see the space within which we’d be working. We then shared ideas, similar project designs and outcomes via screenshare. The owners loved what they saw – so we moved on to stage two.
We briefed them on the exact measurements we needed to commence the schematic design work, and from there we were able to get a real sense of the size and shape of the house. This, combined with our understanding of a ‘typical’ 3-level Brooklyn townhouse, helped us to begin coming up with design schemes – without once having to visit the property.
We’re now creating design drawings that we can share digitally. As we continue to build the digital design, we will be able to share live 3D models with the client, and mark-up and make changes to these drawings in real time during the virtual client meeting. For physical context we’ll be ordering sample materials and finishes to both ourselves and the client which we can then review together via video call.
The most surprising learning from this experience is how efficient the process has been. As mentioned above we are able to make changes to drawings while in the client meeting. More surprising is that with travel time reduced to zero, we’ve not only been able to continue to kick off projects despite the current crisis – we’ve also been able to turn bids and designs around quicker, thanks to the time we’re saving.
We’ve found virtual meetings far easier to schedule than a traditional face-to-face meet. Scheduling around a client’s day job or childcare has become much swifter now that finding the time to travel and meet at a mutual location is no longer an issue.
If nothing else, we’ll be taking some strong learnings on efficiency forward into whatever our ‘normal’ turns out to be in the coming weeks and months.
