With so many different creative minds under one roof, we all organize our work in different ways. I spoke with the members of our Visualization Team about their work space and flow. Our Visualization Team collaborates closely with our design teams and bring ideas to life through realistic renderings and interactive experiences.
At PAYETTE we have an open plan office with similar table/desk setups for everyone (including our Principals!). This setup facilitates collaboration and a culture of learning. We have the ability to make our workstations mobile – moving to a new station should be seamless with rolling filing cabinets (many equipped with cushion tops to make a quick stool) and the same resources available at each station. Since our Visualization Team works collaboratively on each project, it is essential that the team sits together in one hub to easily bounce ideas off each other, share files and give quick updates on the status of their models, renderings and sections.
Though they all sit feet away from each other, the team also utilizes Google Chat and always has the application open. This way they can quickly share an image to the whole group or can communicate if someone has headphones on.
During a project interview or competition, the team shifts into “all hands-on deck” mode. The production timeline is often tight as the team develops graphics of design ideas that are often still being iterated. While talking with the team, I learned that all they need to get the bones of a model started is a rough sketch and the floor-to-floor heights of a building. Luke Gehron and Jeff Novak start building the model in Rhino, which is then passed on to Raha Ahmad and Dave Hamel to layer in the details, color and activity of a building scheme in Photoshop.
And of course, each person has their unique items on the desks that help them during the work day. Dave always has his gum, pistachio nuts and a picture of his three daughters.
Raha is known to have a half-eaten chocolate bar, which I learned she can make last a week(!), and her headphones.
Luke positions his monitor to the very edge of the desk, and Jeff keeps one headphone in to listen to music while also being able to hear what’s going on in the office and keeps a LEGO-themed pen holder handy.
What are you “must have” items for your workplace?
Sandrine Héroux, Sophie McKenzie, and Emily Chowdhury are each members of our in-house Fabrication team. Their day-to-day work centers on a simple question: what changes when design becomes something people can physically test?
These women challenge the notion of fabrication as a support service, framing it instead as an essential component of architectural authorship, a way to test ideas, share agency, and widen the boundaries of what architectural practice can include.
In our most recent blog, they discuss their individual paths in architecture and reflect on their experience using fabrication as a tool for fostering shared agency, community engagement and broadening the role of the architect. Link in bio!
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