These programs can be customized to the requirements of your organization and delivered at your location.

Intranets and Web Portals for Collaboration and Knowledge Management

As fast as the Internet has grown, private intranets and extranets have grown even faster. Organizations managing projects with multiple participants spread over several time zones have discovered the value of private networks. This course will consider how design firms are using secure Web sites to enhance their private communication within and outside the firm.

In the design business, one key to success is the ability to manage knowledge within the firm and among its partners and consultants. How much time are employees spending searching for information that is within the firm’s knowledge base but not available when needed? How often are problems solved again and again because there is no way to capture, store and reuse existing solutions?

Collaborative technologies such as intranets, instant messaging, electronic white boarding and virtual teaming can enable the flow of firm knowledge and reinforce the blending of intellectual and social capital – but understanding which tools have which effects is critical.

Participants interested in planning and implementing private networks will learn about the Web development process, security issues, document version tracking, using off-the-shelf versus homegrown systems, and the importance of training and evangelizing to clients, employees, and partners. This class is intended for design firm principals and managers—a basic understanding of personal computing and the design business is all that is required.

This course is offered at the Harvard GSD

Virtual Design/Build Organizations and the Project Information Manager

The virtual building model, which captures all project information and makes it network-accessible throughout the project lifecycle provides a great opportunity for architects. In this brave new paperless world of design, opportunities abound for those who control the flow of information. Architects can position themselves at the center of virtual design-build organizations by offering something clients really need: a project information manager.

A single building model or database, which captures all project information and makes it available on demand to all the participants, is widely seen as the Next Big Thing in the building industry. This new process of design and building allows us to centralize all data and make it fully accessible across the Internet. But what does it mean to the traditional roles and relationships that have evolved over the centuries? In this brave new paperless world of design, opportunities abound for those who control the flow of information. What if AEC professionals positioned themselves at the center of a virtual design-build organization and offered clients something they really need: a project information manager.

Project-based virtual organizations have been highly successful in many industries, from Hollywood film production to the Italian textile industry. This session explores how networked, virtual design-build organizations might be a perfect fit for the building industry.

Read about the project information architect

Web Sites for Participatory Programming and Design

Among the most important skills an architect needs is the ability to communicate with a wide array of stakeholders involved in every project. For many practitioners, the Internet is proving to be an excellent platform for just this kind of broad-based communication. Learn how architects are taking advantage of the Web’s interactive and multimedia capabilities to create communities of interest around their projects.

Building end users, neighbors, planning commissioners, and members of the extended community surrounding any new project all expect to have a say about planning and design. The architect’s ability to listen to and respond effectively to this diverse audience can make the difference between a project’s success or failure. Architects can help their clients and themselves by hearing objections early on or learning from building users what works and what doesn’t in proposed designs.

The Internet is a powerful tool for enabling community-based programming and design. Architects are making visual and spatial ideas accessible to a broad public by tapping the multimedia capabilities of the Web, and they’re using the Web’s interactive features to create a place for focused discussion and information exchange about specific projects and sites. The Internet can enable much wider participation by stakeholders and the public in such decisions than has previously been possible, supported by media-rich information about development proposals and the complex issues surrounding programming and planning decisions. This session will show examples of participatory Web sites from around the world and discuss how architects can easily add some Web development skills to their bag of tricks.

Geographic Information Systems

This session introduces architects to geographic information systems and explores the uses of GIS for planning and design visualization and expanded pre-design services.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a set of mapping tools for collecting, storing, manipulating and displaying data with a spatial component. GIS has many uses, from analyzing census information, to mapping cancer clusters, to finding the best location for a new restaurant, housing project, or shopping mall. As with CAD, GIS uses layers—called “data themes”—that enable users to filter information visually and to make connections between related data sets. A convergence is taking place between GIS and multimedia imaging that holds great promise for design visualization. Planners are beginning to harness GIS to map not just existing conditions but “what if” scenarios under different development options. GIS generated worlds can be realistic representations of cities or imagined terrain maps showing invisible geography.

In recent years, increasingly powerful personal computers have put GIS within the reach of individuals and small firms, and the Web provides the ideal vehicle for delivering GIS maps. An astonishing amount of public-domain information is already available from government agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey and the Census Bureau.

This session will introduce GIS to architects and explore how it might be a platform for expanded pre-design services.

Cool Software Tools for Designers

An introduction to the latest and greatest sketching, visualization, and presentation tools specifically for designers.

Most IT sessions for architects are geared toward the production end, so designers are not always well informed about the surprisingly intuitive, powerful, and easy to use products aimed specifically at designers. This session is an interactive, hands-on demonstration of such really neat products as Photoshop, Sketch-Up, Piranesi, Quicktime VR, and Architectural Studio. Bring back some of the creative fun that that drew you to design in the first place!

• Be introduced to software aimed specifically at designers
• Learn how to enhance design visualization and presentation with new tools
• Gain hands-on experience with the latest and greatest

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