Archinect - News

Gensler works on new hybrid timber data centers for Microsoft

2024-11-04T18:48:00-05:00

A Gensler and Thornton Tomasetti-led data center project that highlights the enormous potential for similar environmentally-minded hybrid mass timber designs in the booming typology is on its way toward completion in the suburbs of Northern Virginia.

The firm is working with Microsoft to deliver a pair of new centers made using CLT materials. Microsoft says their presence will reduce the buildings’ overall carbon footprint by 35% compared to conventional steel construction, and another 65% compared to those made from precast concrete—an important step as such projects gain priority in the new data-driven economy.

Video courtesy of Microsoft

Microsoft has previously committed to becoming fully 'carbon-negative' in its construction footprint by decade’s end, developing a plan that has since seen setbacks due to the volume and pace of expansion and a subsequently high rate of 'indirect emissions' skyrocketing by 30.9% over just three years.

Another innovation meant to combat this i...

Microsol Resources' discusses 'Leveraging Digital Twin Technology' during upcoming TECH Perspective's online conference

2021-04-13T14:23:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Microsol Resources

On April 14, 2021, Microsol Resources is doing a spotlight on the latest innovations in construction and design at TECH Perspectives. This is a continuation of our TECH Perspectives conferences and now hosted online and brings together thought leaders at the forefront of building and construction innovation to discuss new and existing technologies that are reshaping the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry.

The first of TECH Perspectives’ online conference series is about Leveraging Digital Twin Technology.

Digital twins are quickly proving to be a key strategic accelerator for digital transformation, unlocking the value created by the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and analytics.

But what exactly is the buzz about? What is a digital twin? What elements define it? When can and should we apply this technology? What makes it so powerful? And how will its adoption influence our design proce...

Construction teams for Microsoft's new corporate campus outside Seattle use drones to update 100 BIM models in real-time

2019-10-10T17:30:00-04:00

Microsoft's new corporate campus in Redmond, Washington, designed by LMN, NBBJ, WRNS Studio, and ZGF Architects, is being built with a bevy of digital technology tools.

Construction Dive reports that the massive construction project will bring up to 1.3 million square feet of new development to the company's historic corporate office campus. The build-out includes 17 new buildings, each of which will run between 180,000 and 220,000 square feet in size, a Microsoft press release reports. The project includes bringing upgraded accessibility features to the campus while also integrating the development with surrounding landscapes. Berger Partnership will be the lead landscape architect for the development in conjunction with OLIN.

All of this is being brought into being through a data-driven construction process that includes the use of an autonomous drone surveying system that makes weekly passes over the site to create high-accuracy GPS scans of the construction progress.

The surv...

Microsoft, city, and county partner to preserve affordable housing units in Seattle

2019-09-26T12:45:00-04:00

Microsoft, King County and the King County Housing Authority will invest $245 million to provide affordable rents for more than 3,000 low- and middle-income residents through the purchase of five apartment complexes. King County housing authority will buy apartment complexes in Kirkland, Bellevue and Federal Way to ensure that the residents aren’t faced with skyrocketing rental costs seen across the region, the organizations announced Thursday morning.

The 1,029 units purchased in the deal are, according to The Seattle Times, located in areas rich in "naturally occurring affordable housing" that are also particularly vulnerable to displacement.

Microsoft loaned the King County Housing Authority. $60 million for the effort; The investment represents the first deployment of a $500 million pledge the technology giant announced in early 2019 to help preserve housing affordability in the Seattle region.

How BIM and Augmented Reality aid the construction of new dorms at UIC

2019-09-11T18:11:00-04:00

As many architects know, throughout each phase of a project, finding ways to streamline production and efficiency is vital, as are improving cost efficiency and project delivery times. Several construction companies are combining their use of design platforms like BIM with augmented reality (AR) applications to help achieve these and other goals. The future of construction is changing as a result.

Chicago-based Pepper Construction, for example, combines BIM approaches and Microsoft HoloLens to help design and construct their projects. Most recently, the firm applied these techniques to the construction of a new housing and academic facility at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

The construction team, in collaboration with UIC, American Campus Communities, and architects Solomon Cordwell Buenz, turned their job site into an integrative and interactive construction zone.

Harrison Hall Construction...

Graphics update for Minecraft has been canned...

2019-08-16T14:00:00-04:00

Minecraft has come a long way since its introduction a decade ago. It remains one of the top paid mobile games in Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, while Minecraft: Education Edition has become a popular way to teach kids things like computer coding, engineering, architecture, urban planning and math.

The popular sandbox video game, Minecraft, known for enabling players to craft worlds, structures, objects, and pretty much anything one can imagine within its framework, has been due for "a major update since 2017."

The "Super Duper Graphics Pack was expected to bring more lighting effects like shadows and fog, new motion for some game elements like leaves, and new textures...," but Microsoft deemed the endeavor to be "too technically demanding."

It looks like players will have to enjoy the game in its current state for the time being.

Microsoft plans to preserve cultural heritage sites through AI

2019-07-17T13:17:00-04:00

The plan is the fourth pillar in a five-year philanthropic effort dubbed AI for Good, which already includes previously announced target areas centered on the earth, humanitarian action and accessibility. The $10m cultural heritage initiative will focus on finding ways to celebrate people, language, places and historic artifacts,

Microsoft, a leader in the tech industry, has initiated a new extension to their $125M AI for Good program. The company aims to use artificial intelligence as a way to preserve cultural heritage. According to an announcement made by Microsoft President Brad Smith, "We want technology to advance, but we all want, and should want, to preserve timeless values around the world." Microsoft has teamed up with two French companies, HoloForge Interactive and Iconem.

Both specializing in 3D digital renderings to help recreate photo-realistic models of historic cultural sites, this new collaboration is exploring interactive experiences with 3D model making.

HoloForge Interactive used these 3D renderings to travel back in time by using the HoloLens augmented reality headset. Image courtesy of Microsoft

By preserving these sites, new opportunities for cultural exchange and interaction grow. Iconem's co-founder Yves Ubelmann shares, "3D digital models will allow people to travel not only throug...

This mixed-reality hard hat connects with Microsoft's new HoloLens 2

2019-03-04T16:12:00-05:00

Microsoft will allow businesses to customize HoloLens 2 before purchasing a fleet of headsets. Trimble, the owner of 3D modeling package SketchUp, has already modified the headset so that it can be worn like a hard hat in construction sites and other potentially dangerous locations. The rebranded version will be called Trimble XR10 and is set to launch alongside the regular HoloLens 2 later this year.

One of the first 'working-in-the-field' customizations of Microsoft's newly unveiled HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset is a hard hat by Trimble for construction workers that pulls up holographic CAD data on the worksite.

Image: Trimble/Microsoft

"It will have all of the same specs, performance, and functionality as the new HoloLens, including improved sensors and processors, a significantly larger field-of-view, 10-finger gestures, eye-tracking, a flip-up viewscreen, and more," promises the manufacturer's description.

The hard hat headset connects with Trimble's suite of spatial computing software and will be available later this year for a slick $4,750 a piece.

Microsoft’s undersea data center now has a webcam

2018-08-23T13:10:00-04:00

Microsoft has been experimenting with undersea data centers for years, and the current installation in the Orkney Islands will be deployed for around five years. There are 12 racks with 864 servers and 27.6 petabytes (27,600 terabytes) of storage [...] The data center is powered by a giant undersea cable that also connects it back to the internet, and the findings could mean the company will scale this project up to more powerful data centers in the future.

Microsoft has now installed a webcam by its undersea data center located off the shores of Scotland. The video stream is part of the company's efforts to observe environmental conditions of Project Natick, a research project aimed at determining the feasibility of subsea data centers powered by offshore renewable energy.

Check out the live video stream here.

Microsoft offers treehouses to connect their employees back with nature

2017-10-18T14:54:00-04:00

While Apple opens the doors to their new campus, and Amazon looks for a location for its second, Microsoft has gone in a different direction, building Wi-Fi tree houses so staff can connect with nature.

Microsoft's campus is comprised of 120 buildings spread across Redmond, Washington—a suburb of Seattle—and surrounded by 500 acres of woods. After a recent employee survey found many workers would like to work outdoors more, the tech company has added to their campus by rigging up three high-tech tree houses in Redmond's Pacific Northwest Douglas firs. The company is also currently working on other tech enable outdoor districts around the campus for their employees.

Pete Nelson of Animal Planet's "Treehouse Masters" was recruited to help create the new elevated meeting space. Equipped with Wi-Fi, electricity—every weatherproof bench has a hatch containing a power supply—an outdoor gas fireplace, and a shipping container that houses a barbecue restaurant, the company hopes to boost em...

Help fund this Kickstarter for 3D printed maps of Tokyo

2016-10-11T13:39:00-04:00

The confluence of Google mapping, 3D printing and the desire for inventive home decor has produced a Kickstarter for One Hundred Tokyo, a fully-fledged three dimensional map of Tokyo that is divided into 100 handy pieces. Pick your favorite palm-sized square(s) or collect all 100; it's up to you and your available display space. Nonetheless, these minutely detailed urban segments are cool/notable both for their immediacy and their accuracy; Zenrin, the same urban data providers that work with Google Maps and Microsoft, have "specially equipped vehicles" that compile the metropolitan deets used to produce the models.

What else is going on with 3D printing? So glad you asked:

NBBJ is launching its own VR platform with the help of ex-Microsoft entrepreneurs

2016-04-28T18:22:00-04:00

NBBJ and Visual Vocal will leverage current-generation VR and augmented reality (AR) systems, with a near-term focus on mobile VR platforms for optimal accessibility and scale. While a number of firms in the design industry have examined the promise of VR, this partnership marks the first instance of an established design firm incubating a VR startup inside its own offices and developing new tools to improve decision-making and remove waste from the design process.

Architects, get ready for the holographic design process: Microsoft just unveiled its HoloLens headset.

2015-01-21T19:31:00-05:00

Microsoft on Wednesday announced Windows Holographic, a feature in Windows 10 that will let users create their own holograms and print them out on 3D printers. Every Windows 10 device has holographic APIs enabled, Microsoft's Alex Kipman said. Windows 10 holograms are Windows Universal Apps. Users need the Microsoft HoloLens headset, which Kipman described as "the first fully untethered computer."

Images via Microsoft's HoloLens micro site.

Going up? The elevator of the future may know the answer before you.

2014-01-22T19:57:00-05:00

Microsoft researchers have enabled elevators in a company building to detect the likelihood that a person walking by will want to board it. The camera in a Microsoft Kinect — positioned in the ceiling — tracked for months the behaviors of people who got on the elevators vs. those who bypassed the elevators on their way to a nearby cafeteria. That data fed an artificial intelligence system, which taught itself to identify the behaviors indicating who wanted to board an elevator and who didn’t.

Microsoft Announces A New Smart Home OS

2013-07-23T20:47:00-04:00

Engineers from Microsoft have made a new operating system which could enhance the control of the smart home. The new software will become a platform for making apps for “installation” to flats and houses which are furnished with different electronics and household appliances.

This software is available at lab-of-things.com.