Architosh Staff ([email protected])

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Editing Color Key

Orange = Need clarification/restatement

Green = New last section. Needs full review by you guys. See below

Editor Notes are in brackets with instructions or questions. Also, Can you send forth full names of all participants in the discussions. Also note, the transcription was done by someone other than myself (a first here) and many of David's comments are actually listed under Jeff. I will review the tape and fix this soon, at this point I want the actual content correct so we can smooth it out and improve it, the attribution problem is minor the big picture.

Flansburg Associates Interview

Background

AFR How long has Flansberg Associates been in existence?

Jeff Since 1963. It was founded by Earl Flansberg originally in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

AFR Has the firm always focused on educational work?

Jeff It has always been an emphasis along with residential and other things.

AFR What other types of projects do you do?

Jeff We have done interiors in the past and offices. Our focus now is in K-12 public education and private and public university work. Now I am going to let you speak with Don

AFR Have you found that technology over the last decade is driving school work? Is technology a major factor? Is it driving the market, the business?

Dom This is partially true. Most of these public schools are in a bad physical state and are in need of renovation or to build new.

Jeff Are you asking if technology generates a school board to come forward and build?

AFR Sure.

Jeff It mostly is because of many years of deferred maintenance and over crowding. Technology is treated more like icing-on-the-cake. They know if they build a school they will get all of this technology but they don't build the school to get the technology.

Dom There is a technology component to get the funding. There is a number that fluctuates around $1200 for technology use.

Jeff The number can fluctuate. It is not a sure number. This technology funding is over above what they used to pay for school construction. So that's a change in the past couple of years.

Dom Each school cap should have at least five (5) drops for computer use by the children and then one (1) for the teacher in all K-12 schools. In high schools they are different. The high school problem is based on the academy that we learn and use in the projects. There are assigned computer rooms, science rooms which all have computers while most of the general classrooms do not. And some of the schools are going wireless.

The Design Process

AFR Now moving onto a design process questions. When you guys are working with the schools and meeting with the principals, teachers, superintendents and so forth are these discussions about wireless infrastructure/computer infrastructure, part of your planning process?

Dom Absolutely.

AFR Are you involved with the recommendations in terms of the actual methodology of bringing computer technology into the classroom? Are you advocates of wireless technology like Apple's AirPort technology?

Don Yes, we do but often it is the bottom number that drives the end result and they [the clients] talk about wireless technology but we haven't done a wireless school project yet.

Jeff No one has taken the plunge but it is getting close. It is sort of a back and forth process. We interview them to find out what they want and then we come back and suggest to them what they ought to have. We use some very good technology consultants to work out the details, to determine what is the state of the art on the market at that time. We are constantly updating that. Every school has changed especially the schools we have just completed. {Editor notes: Is this correct?}

AFR What educational consultant do you use for IT technology?

Dom We use John K???? Educational Consultants ..... {Editor notes, Dom the name is not clear on the tape.}

Jeff In terms of technology we use CCR, TMP does some technology consulting.

AFR So these are educational specialist in terms of computer technology?

Jeff Some are just technology consultants and others focus on the educational market.

The Use of Technology in the Architectural Process

AFR In the interview process and the process of being selected as architects are you using computer technology to seduce the prospective client?

Don We send images of what we think is the language of the solution. This is where you get to know your client. Some clients do not want to engage in the solutions but they want to be part of the design process. We produce boards for the clients. {Editor notes: Dom, this part of the conversation got very unclear, and I could not make out some things on the tape. Can you simply rewrite the best response?

AFR So are you producing your graphics on boards, not using projector base presentations?

Jeff That is actually taking off a great deal. Just in the past year we are doing Power Point presentations. We are upgrading our graphic capabilities. The client expectations are getting more sophisticated. Every interview we go to there is something new that we haven't done before so this has been the biggest year for change in presentations in terms of the quality of the boards.

AFR Can you give me an example of how your presentation has changed in the past year?

David In December we brought in a new graphic designer to do more three dimensional models that we hadn't done before and I know for two or three projects he has provided walk-throughs and more advanced 3D view still images.

Dom We use FormZ for this type of work.

AFR Are you saying that the Design Team is engaged in 3D modeling from the beginning?

Dom They design over a wire frame....Some buildings get molded from outside in. {Dom, again words were unclear on the tape}

Jeff It has a double benefit. While we are getting early massing studies for design solutions, the client understands it a bit better since clients don't read elevations and plans well.

AFR What are other 3D or CAD programs you are using?

David We use FormZ, Electric Image for animations and rendering, and VectorWorks. VectorWorks is pretty easy to get 3D out of because as you draw the plan you can develop it in 3D at the same time. FormZ is for more advanced work.

Dom We have extreme deadlines so there is not a lot of time. It is important for us to find the time to do these things.

AFR Are your teams lead by principals who are making decisions how to use these computer tools to get the job done?

Dom We are somewhat unique in the work we do and how much time we have. We are a team of ....The team makes the decisions. The decisions are not made by one person. We have mentor roles. The work is spread out. Many who work here have worked in some high end firms and they were looking for something new. {Dom, I am not sure all of this wants to be said here. Can you rewrite a different answer?. I think the next question is key in that this answer ties into that question about learning from others.}

AFR How are other members from other teams learning these tools?

David We try to train people in the summer. We do training every time we get new software in. Software shows up on everyone's machines on Monday morning, the previous week they had training on it. FileMaker Pro, some utilities that we have we have had training on. Other than that we have a standard protocol of training during orientation for new employees. The new employees run through VectorWorks and the Mac OS system.

Dom One of the biggest challenges we have being over 100 people is the informal side of training where someone is a real whiz on a particular software and he knows some tricks which he shows the person next to him, then they tell someone else. This isn't going to cut it in such a large firm. We have to have a conscious effort and method to share these things.

AFR Do you have an Intranet here to distribute learning and other things?

David Yes we do. It's more for dispensing information that employees need, notices, announcements, etc.. We don't have a forum yet but we are looking into it. We have a quarterly news letter and we have a company calendar for employees on the Intranet.

AFR What programs do you use for the calendar on the Intranet?

David The calendar really isn't dynamic so its not updatable by everyone. It's more of a static page. We use GoLive for a lot of the design elements and we are using FileMaker Pro.

AFR And what about making that calendar dynamic?

David Combining Lasso with FileMaker Pro will do this. This would allow people to update their specific areas. It's hard because Lasso isn't the easiest program to learn but it will be very beneficial to the firm once the Lasso/FileMaker project is done.

AFR Are you using FileMaker Pro with contacts, CA and sharing information?

Jeff or David? No not really. We use it for time-sheets, standard forms, and PA. Project administration uses it heavily on the ....blocks. We have looked into Portfolio as a product for this. {Editor notes: Dom, this part seems a bit confusing. Can you or Jeff clarify exactly how you are using FileMaker, or have David write this part? }

Dom We have a lot of paper work at the management level that contains information that is in a bunch of places. We would like to use FileMaker to tie it all into one database. So if you wanted to find out the average cost of something in the school system you could go there, if you wanted a different piece of information you could go there. Right now all the information is not in one place.

AFR It's a very big challenge most firms have and I think FileMaker is key.

Use of Apple Hardware in the Architectural Process

AFR Let's talk about laptops in the architectural process. I see a lot of iBooks floating around here.

Jeff I use them constantly. The nature of architecture means that there is a lot of overtime. I go home at a reasonable hour, have dinner, have a life, then open up my laptop to do work at home. This makes it feel like you aren't living here as much. I used to only use a laptop for paper work. Now I use it for design tasks in VectorWorks which works pretty well on a laptop.

Dom I type my project meeting minutes at home which used to take half a day because of all the interruption from team members or phone calls. Now it only takes about half an hour at home on a laptop.

AFR What types of laptops does this office use?

David We use iBooks, and G3 or higher PowerBooks. We have four (4) loaner iBooks, about 15 people use laptops on a daily basis. These people do construction administration work mostly.

AFR Your construction administration staff do work in the field on iBooks?

David Absolutely.

AFR What type of programs are these people using in the field?

Jeff FileMaker Pro and some Microsoft Office.

AFR When you get people coming from the PC side having experience with Autocad and the Windows world how do they adjust to this big Mac-based firm?

David It comes down to training. During the training I try and relate the two programs, Windows to the Mac OS. If someone is computer literate then they know all the concepts behind CAD and operating systems and they can pick it up pretty quickly. The Mac is very easy to learn.

Jeff I have found, since the past, that things have become a lot better. I don't know if there are a lot more similarities [ between VectorWorks and Autocad] or what but people who start on my team pick up VectorWorks within a few days.

Dom It really depends on the individual.

David It seems to more of a question of attitude now when before it was about technically difficulties or incompatibilities.

AFR Autocad has finally caught up with VectorWorks on some levels. Are you finding that these people from Autocad are picking up the Mac OS operating system as easily too?

David I think there are a lot of similarities between Macs and Windows now in terms of how files are stored, so when it comes to network things and common things they are similar. We make it easy for people to log on to the network so they don't have to go deep into the OS.

AFR Do you keep your files centrally stored or are they stored on individual machines?

David They are all stored on a central file server. Everyone has a work folder which at one time, in the past, put back onto the server each day. Now people work off the server these days.

AFR Are you using a Mac server?

David Yes. We have a one G4 server.

AFR With over 100 employees you are getting good performance with just one G4 server?

David Yes.

AFR Do you back up your server every night??

David We use Dantz Retrospect and an Lacie LC TX 2000 is our primary storage system. {Editor note: can David confirm this stuff?}

Dom, This is where I am in the editing, as of 2pm Friday afternoon. I need to attend to some other things right now, so look for more happening on over the weekend and next week we should be able to rap it up.

As i said in the email. This is NOT the layout for the article. It will look similar to other Firm Profiles. The purple below will need more work. I will have to really get into the tape over the weekend.

- AFR

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OK, this section is now ready for review. AFR - 10/14/01

Why Macintosh in Architecture?

AFR Have you always been a Mac firm?

Jeff I am told in the distant past, before I was here, it was not a Macintosh-based firm.

Dom In the beginning, there was some other CAD program, being used by an Interiors group. And there was Autocad...some Autocad use. Eventually it became all Mac.

AFR Was there pressure back in 1996 and 97', in Apple's darkest hours, to switch over to PC's?

Jeff There was some serious discussion...

David Yes, were were talking about it a lot.

Dom From a business perspective, the cost of the hardware, the training, the network, etceteras, etceteras, the cost just was prohibitive. Plus we were effective on the Mac.

AFR So your decision to stick with the Mac back in 97' was based not only on prohibitive switching cost but some other things. What were those things?

Jeff, Graphics..

David, Graphics...yes, graphics.

Jeff At that time (1997) VectorWorks (then known as MiniCAD) was a much better sketching tool than any other architectural CAD product out there. It was so easy to use and to come up with many options quickly, far better than what Autocad could do.

AFR How happy are you with Apple and the tools that you are getting for the Mac these days? Can you speak to that?

David I couldn't be happier. I think the machines they are putting out now are pretty amazing. I am looking forward to Mac OS X and the abilities we are going to have there...and a more stable system.

They have done a pretty good job over the last few years -- not just with the style thing but in terms of keeping up with PC's in capabilities, even outdoing PC's in many areas.

AFR Are there any discussions about whether these machines are fast enough...you know with the megahertz disparity and people not understanding how chips really work?

Jeff It comes up often.

David Yea they do. We actually just started a program this year, it's a benefit, where employees get money from the firm toward the purchase of a computer for home and one of the questions I get most often is, "why buy a 500MHz Mac when I can get a 1.2 GHz PC for the same price?"

That's the only time I really hear that. And when people really understand how to compare Macs versus PC's then we don't have that issue. When people actually work on Macs they come to learn that Macs are really fast, regardless of the MHz thing.

AFR And how do you equalize performance across such a large office?

David When it comes to the CAD stations we really try to keep everyone above a minimum, where everyone is working on a G3 or higher -- actually most are on a G4 now, but also working with the same amount of RAM and so forth.

Dom People are doing more with the machines they have, working on many applications at once, in the background...

David We find that the more power people have, the more work they do, or the more they push the envelope with their work. Trying to do work with bigger files, higher resolution images, and more complicated digital work.

Since we work in teams, we really try to make sure the teams are equal in terms of their computer abilities. So the most advanced user in a team will always have a 500MHz G4 tower, while the newest member or the least advanced CAD user will have something less but still powerful. You know they are working on the same files, so everyone needs to have enough power. I think we are doing a better job now of balancing this.

AFR It's always tough trying to keep things equitable.

David Ya...especially when you are growing so fast and you keep getting all these new machines.

Jeff One year I got three new machines handed down to me, each more powerful than the first. It was like, 'hey cool', more speed.

David In the past we just had two people doing 3D modeling, so those people always got the newest, most powerful machines because they needed it. For Mark [editor's note: Marks is their dedicated 3D person] we've thought about actually getting him a second machine so he can render on one while he models on the other.

At the moment, my budget for IT just keeps us up with meeting demand with all the new employees and major items, but with employee hiring slowing down and major items being fulfilled, the budget will allow us to do some special things.

AFR What has been the office's thought been about the transition to OS X?

David Uhm...it's something that only Brian and I have discussed. [Ed's note: Brian is the other IT guy, they just have two for 120+ employees]. It is something we are definitely going to do. When it comes to upgrades, there are some programs that we do right away, and other where we wait.

For example, with VectorWorks, we've always waited about six months. That's are primary program, so we have to wait until all the bugs get worked out before we initiate a full upgrade. With OS X, it's not ready yet in terms of the software that is available. We need VectorWorks up and running on it, we need Microsoft Office -- which will be done in the Fall -- and we need all of our core graphics programs, Adobe's products and FileMaker Pro, which will be ready soon. We need all of those before we can make the switch.

Hopefully these will all be ready by end of 2001. Then in the summer of 2002 we may start to make the switch.

[Editor's note: Since our June interview, FileMaker Pro and MS Office for Mac now supports Mac OS X, as well as some Adobe software. VectorWorks, we were told, would be ready in the October-November time-frame.]

AFR What about the Apple machines that might be coming out with OS X pre-installed? How will you deal with that?

David Yea, we've gotten a lot of machines with OS X on them, but we keep everyone booting into [Mac OS] 9.1. Again, we try to keep everyone at the same level and we push a lot of software (network installation) from a server in our area.

AFR You do 'network installations'?

David Yea.

AFR OK, what about wireless networking. That's cutting edge.

David We're doing wireless. We have one AirPort network up here and we are building in wireless on the forth floor -- our new office space there -- with enough AirPort Stations to get full coverage. It's really only for laptops, like for Brian and myself. And for people who have purchased laptops for home and bring them to work. Instead of providing additional fixed network ports for them, we can more cheaply give them network access via wireless.

We actually have two people down stairs and two up here who have purchased AirPort cards for their own laptops so they can login to the network. All our future laptops will have AirPort built in. I love being able to take my laptop just to a breakout space or into a meeting space, couple it with a projector and being able to access the network wirelessly.

It's much more convenient. Less cables is always good.

AFR OK. Well, that just about wraps it up. Why don't you guys show me some of your work.

David, Jeff, and Dom. Thanks...that would be great.