Overnight we find ourselves involved in a very different situation than anything we have experienced so far. An unprecedented pandemic called COVID 19 has paralyzed the world. At this point there are two possible ways to face the reality of these days: defeatism or hope. We are among those who believe that a problem must be faced with solutions and optimism, so this can definitely be a good time for opportunity and adaptation.
Render4tomorrow, ready to perform at 100% from home
Could it be a good time to extend the number of hours teleworking?
One thing is clearest than ever to us: the future tends towards digitalization, and adapting to this reality as soon as possible will make us be at the forefront, and therefore more competitive.
In Render4tomorrow, as in many firms, we have had to adapt our way of working to a 100% virtual activity.
Two of the problems we had to face immediately were: How to keep the same rendering times as if we were in the studio? How to share efficiently both the working files and feedback that each team member is contributing to the image making process?
In the first case, we set up our render farm to be accessible from all the remote computers.
This provides us with the necessary speed to be able to obtain the rendered images in the same time as before, which is indispensable for a firm that exceeds a certain volume of simultaneous work.
Secondly, we researched the best tools and programs to share the material we use in the studio, so that it could be immediately available to the team. You can check out these tools in our previous article, "5 Apps for Architects Working Remotely At Home".
In terms of sharing feedback in the image making process, we combined Slack (for communication between team members, allowing the creation of independent channels to work on each project), with Milanote (where it’s so easy for each member to make their own notes on the same image).
We have always believed in the potential of an image and its ability to transmit, giving us that dose of emotion that a project needs for its effective communication. This is not possible without the contributions of the whole team and a fluid communication with the client, so creating an efficient network is crucial.
This setback has made us adopt many of the strategies and procedures used during confinement in our daily routine. It has given us the opportunity to experiment with this new way of working, adaptable and effective, and one thing is for sure: many of these implementations have come to stay.
Greener architecture and cities
More and more people are demanding to live in greener and more open spaces. This should make us think about the need that human beings have of two fundamental questions: the conciliation of family and the relationship with nature.
We have been forced to remain confined within four walls for several weeks, more than enough time to realize how important it is in our daily lives to be able to walk through a garden, a park or a forest.
Cities need to breathe, we need to incorporate nature into cities. The same applies to a smaller unit, the home. At this point the question arises: where should urbanism and architecture in cities be directed? Perhaps it is time to reorient our efforts to design spaces that are much more attractive to our senses and that allow us to reconnect with nature.
What do you think?
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