Archinect - News

Your next role could be at an Airbnb co-founder's housing startup

2024-11-27T12:19:00-05:00

Following our previous look at an opening for a Compliance Director at AKAM, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an architectural designer at Samara.

The open role calls for an individual who will join Samara’s Project & Design Team “as an inspirational force for creating new ways of living.” Among the responsibilities for the role will be participating in the conceptualization and development of new product design work, the iterating of design concepts, and producing 2D and 3D representations of projects.

Samara's Backyard range. Image credit: Samara

Why the role interests us

In the same week that our Meet Your Next Employer series profiled the work of Cover, the open role that Samara offers us the opportunity to profile another California-based housing startup focused on delivering prefabricated housing. As we previously reported, Samara is led by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and former Flex chief executive Mi...

Checking in on Jony Ive’s San Francisco plans post-Apple stardom

2024-09-27T15:56:00-04:00

But for Mr. Ive, Jackson Square also represents personal reinvention. Few people walk away from their profession’s premier job. Even fewer start over again. A self-professed control freak, Mr. Ive decided that he had fretted enough over the snugness of each iPhone box, the layout of every Apple Watch component and the curve of every iPad corner. He wanted something new.

The former Chief Design Officer at Apple, Ive, is fresh off a $100 million-plus real estate buying spree in San Francisco’s Jackson Square, where a large-scale redevelopment is now planned for 2025. Clients of LoveFrom are paying up to $200 million for his services, per the Times. Ive formed the company in 2019. Lots of projects are still veiled in secrecy, including the development of an AI-powered computing experience that is "less socially disruptive than the iPhone."

Architects develop new AI visualization tool for architectural rendering

2024-07-03T06:23:00-04:00

Gendo, a new AI visualization platform, has launched today following a $1.1 million investment into the product created by London-based architectural designer George Proud with the help of his colleague and software engineer Will Jones.

The platform claims to convert 2D drawings, sketches, or text-based inputs into life-like visualizations.

Image courtesy Gendo

Zaha Hadid Architects, David Chipperfield Architects, and Benoy are among the beta testers of the software. It is being promoted as a way for firms to reduce costs and labor and gain an advantage in project and design competitions.

George Proud stated that, unlike mainstream generative image platforms such as Midjourney and DALL-E, Gendo allows generated visualizations to be edited, offering architects greater detail and precision.

The announcement follows closely last week's launch of another AI-driven platform called Treasury.

Can modular housing startups be saved at a critical time for the industry?

2024-01-18T14:08:00-05:00

The notion that factory-built modular homes can serve as the salvation to America's vexing housing crisis has increasingly come under scrutiny, a report summarized recently in Business Insider.

A crippling lack of widespread success for modular housing startups can be attributed to state and federal manufacturing regulatory barriers, a lack of builders’ experience, investors’ overconfidence, local building codes, persistent social stigmas about prefabricated homes, and an overall lack of demand. The inflexibility of the prefabrication process for single-family designs is another factor hindering many businesses as well, according to the article.

Katerra and, more recently, Veev are perhaps the best-known examples. The once $1 billion Bay Area ‘unicorn’ shuttered its U.S. operation in November after constructing 170 units total in 15 years. Veev's failure can be boiled down to a fla...

This startup is hiring an architect to ‘lower the entry barrier to overseas real estate investment’

2023-11-29T12:57:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for an Emerging Scholar in Design at the University of Texas at Austin, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Architect/Designer at Build Block.

The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an individual who can “prepare architectural drawings for new construction and remodeling,” and “assist in tasks related to land, use, and other building permits.” The role also demands expertise in modern architectural software such as AutoCAD or Revit, and a strong background in sustainable design principles is preferred. The ideal candidate would be fully proficient in Korean, due to the company's increasing collaborations with Korean investors and businesses, with up to five years of experience in the profession.

Why the role interests us

The open role at Build Block offers us the opport...

A Tesla-inspired housing startup is hiring in Los Angeles

2023-08-24T15:01:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Construction Manager at Skystone Foundation, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an opportunity on Archinect Jobs for a Junior Architectural Engineer at Cover.

The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an individual who will sit “at the center of innovation, bringing groundbreaking architectural vision to a future with abundant housing for all.” Among the requirements for the position are a degree in architecture, architectural engineering, or similar from an NAAB-accredited program and proficiency in tools such as Rhino, 3D Studio Max, VRay, and Photoshop.

Image credit: Cover Technologies, Inc.

Why the role interests us

The latest opening at Cover offers us the opportunity to explore the background of a firm that spoke with Archinect in 2021 on its creation and ethos. Founded in 2014 by Cooper Union graduates Alexis Rivas and Jemuel Joseph, the company describes itself as one that offers “a turnkey s...

Gensler and CIVILIAN team reimagines abandoned Detroit book depository as startup hub for mobility innovation

2023-04-28T11:55:00-04:00

A team including Gensler and CIVILIAN has completed the adaptive reuse of an old book depository in Detroit. The new center will serve as the headquarters for Newlab, a technology collective hosting startups in the field of decarbonization, energy, mobility, and materials.

Image credit: Jason Keen

Newlab’s headquarters sits within the wider Michigan Central campus; a 30-acre center advancing mobility-focused technologies and the vision of Ford executive chairman Bill Ford. On the campus, Newlab will create what the organization calls a “center of gravity for startups, entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists to build breakthrough companies in Detroit.”

Image credit: Jason Keen

Image credit: Brian Ferry

The 1936 Albert Kahn-designed building housing Newlab was originally built as a post office and mail-sorting facility, before being used as the Detroit Public School’s Book Depository. The art deco building will now serve as a 270,000-square-foot center with purpos...

An MIT-born startup is pitching their idea for green roof additions to the Parisian skyline

2023-04-05T16:45:00-04:00

A new startup born out of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning has developed a green roof concept aimed at improving the quality of life of Parisians while addressing a host of environmental and urban health concerns for the ancient city of 2.1 million.

Roofscapes is the brainchild of Master of Architecture students Eytan Levi, Olivier Faber, and Tim Cousin. The trio all hail from France and met while studying as undergraduates at the EPFL Lausanne. Together, they see the concept as a way to “unlock” the potential of the thousands of pitched roof structures throughout Paris that have for centuries gone unused.

“We knew we wanted to have an impact on the built environment that was different than what a lot of architectural firms were doing,” Faber told MIT News for a recent profile of the venture. “We were thinking about a startup, but mostly we came to MIT because we knew we’d have a lot of agency to grow our skills and competency in adapting the built environment to the cli...

Born out of SHoP, a startup aiming to disrupt high-rise construction is hiring

2023-02-08T11:18:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Architectural Design at the University of Hong Kong, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a VDC Coordinator at Assembly OSM.

The successful candidate will join a team of approximately 30 people in the venture-backed company, who grew out of SHoP Architects with the goal of creating high-rise urban buildings with greater speed, quality, affordability, and environmental credentials that the wider market. The role, based in New York, calls for an individual skilled in 3D modeling to “construct and maintain fabrication-level Revit models for use throughout each product’s lifecycle, from design to fabrication and assembly and eventual operation.”

Why the role interests us

The role at Assembly OSM offers us the opportunity to explore how one startup in the AEC space is seeking to carve a new path toward the design and delivery of hi...

Move over, Google Earth: Swiss tech startup uses enhanced aerial photography to create better 3D models of cities for urban planners

2022-12-19T17:06:00-05:00

A new approach uses aerial imaging to generate 3D models of cities and regions with advanced precision, enabling urban planners to incorporate full-scale designs of all types of architectural and urban structures.

Tech start-up Uzufly operates out of the Le Garage space located inside the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL)’s expanding Innovation Park. "The company's 3D models incorporate a wide range of urban-planning data and can accommodate any type of architectural design at full scale," reports Tech Xplore's Sandy Evangelista.

Previously on Archinect: Scientists are using deep learning data to map structure damage from wildfires

"We basically use the same technology as Google Earth — that is, aerial photography," Uzufly co-founder Théo Benazzi explains. "But while Google uses airplanes to take huge numbers of pictures at high altitudes, we use drones that have smaller cameras and capture images much closer to the ground. That's why we can generate 3D models at the level of a neighborhood or an entire city."

The team is currently working with the EPFL's Arts of Sciences Laboratory (LAPIS) and the Swiss National Science Foundation to produce a digital twin of an unnamed Egyptian...

'Inflatable' concrete homes are coming to the market thanks to this startup

2022-10-11T15:29:00-04:00

A new solution to America’s multifaceted housing frustrations is blowing up in New York’s Hudson River Valley thanks to a startup called Automatic Construction.

The company says it has invented a new technique named the Inflatable Flexible Factory Formwork (or IFFF), which, with the help of an air pump and compressor, can inflate first the unrolled PVC formwork for the residential structure before a concrete mix reinforced by drop-stitch fibers is poured inside to settle.

The pouring process itself takes only about an hour to complete. After the concrete has cured to around 70% strength, shoring is removed while the membrane remains in place as a means of providing waterproofing for the structure. Drywall, doors, windows, and cladding are added to complete the structure, which, for now, is finished off with rebar that CEO Alex Bell says may come pre-installed in the future.

Image courtesy Automatic Construction

"The prefabricated forms are built in our factory with reinforcement in ...

Company that projects life-size plans for client walkthroughs is coming to the U.S.

2022-10-06T11:20:00-04:00

A company that projects architectural plans at a 1:1 scale is planning to expand its operations to the United States. Lifesize Plans, headquartered in Australia, describes itself as "the world’s first patented projection system allowing clients to walkthrough their building project in life-size before construction begins."

The company was founded in 2017 by Chris Ghaleb, whose early days included an appearance on the television show Shark Tank. In their large showrooms across Australia, Lifesize allows any project to be projected at a 1:1 scale, while also providing real furniture, household items, partition walls, and decorations to offer clients a deeper understanding of their proposed scheme’s spatial qualities.

Image: Lifesize Plans / Instagram

"With the use of state of the art technology and tailored programs we are able to show your complete dwelling – including upper and lower floors, backyards, swimming pools and entertaining areas, along with driveways and parking spaces to...

Recipe-as-a-service AI concrete startup raises $4 million in seed funding

2022-09-29T12:54:00-04:00

AI concrete startup AICrete has announced that it has raised $4 million in seed funding led by venture capital firms CLEAR Ventures and VoLo Earth Ventures, along with Cortical Ventures.

AICrete is a recipe-as-a-service platform that optimizes materials for cleaner and more cost-efficient concrete. The company responds to the wastefulness of conventional concrete production that often relies on “intuition” to craft mixture recipes. However, the resulting concoctions aren’t always necessarily the most cost-effective or environmentally friendly option. This under-optimization leads to waste and sustainability issues in a trillion-dollar industry responsible for 8-10% of carbon dioxide emissions globally.

Previously on Archinect: ETH Zurich’s 3D printed foam uses 70% less concrete than traditional formworks. Image by Patrick Bedarf for ETH Zurich

AICrete addresses this issue by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and domain knowledge to create more optimal concre...

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann is getting into the housing market with a new startup

2022-08-16T18:49:00-04:00

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann is once again making waves with the announcement of a new startup called Flow that’s being funded by early Airbnb investors Andreessen Horowitz and is promoting itself as a real estate startup that aims to revolutionize the residential housing industry.

The $350 million deal is said to be the largest in the Silicon Valley fund’s 13-year history and brings Flow’s initial evaluation to exactly $1 billion, a pittance when compared to the $47 billion figure WeWork received in 2019 thanks to SoftBank. The company’s operation will officially begin next year, according to the New York Times’ DealBook page, which first reported the news late Monday.

“We love seeing repeat-founders build on past successes by growing from lessons learned," Marc Andreessen stated, referring to Neumann's well-documented past. “The successes and lessons are plenty.”

Neumann has repo...

Prefab construction startup Vantem plans 15 U.S. factories

2022-07-18T15:50:00-04:00

The company, which just raised a Series A round of investment from the Bill Gates-founded firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures, builds homes using panels with a proprietary design that sandwiches an insulating layer between two structural boards.

Vantem announced it would use the recent funding from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Quadrant Management, and TEM Capital to build 15 factories for prefabricated modular housing units across the U.S. by 2029. According to the company, its proprietary panel system has already been deployed in over three million square feet of residential space globally, including Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and the Caribbean.

"Affordable housing is a global need that must be addressed," said Vantem CEO Chris Anderson, adding, "but if we build with traditional methods, we will solve one problem only to worsen another."

One year after ambitious construction startup Katerra went belly up, the market for modular, prefabricated construction is getting increasingly crowded with several players seeking to establish early dominance and disrupt the conventional model, including Vancouver-based ...

Startup raises $155 million to become ‘rising star’ in prefabricated construction

2022-06-28T09:00:00-04:00

One year after the failure of the ambitious construction startup Katerra, another construction technology company is seeking to pick up the mantle as a leader in sustainable, modular, prefabricated construction.

Based in Vancouver, Nexii Building Solutions has been described by The New York Times as “a rising star in the expanding green building industry,” combining a patented modular system with a reliance on 3D modeling software and third-party verification of its sustainability metrics.

Nexii's panels are fabricated in the company's two Canadian manufacturing plants. Image: Nexii/Twitter

Founded by entrepreneur Stephen Sidwell in late 2018, Nexii became the fastest company in Canadian history to reach a valuation of more than $1 billion, doing so in 31 months. Having recently completed its seventh round of funding, the startup has raised more than 200 million Canadian dollars, or 155 million U.S. dollars.

As described in a recent feature in the Times, Nexii’s patented building s...

Disruptor design-build architecture firm raises almost $600K in crowdfunding

2021-12-13T12:39:00-05:00

HOKO Design, a UK-based startup seeking to use technology to transform the role of the architect, has raised $590,000 in a crowdfunding campaign. The company, which describes itself as “the homeowner’s architect,” focuses on integrating virtual reality, real-time client feedback, and a streamlined administrative process for clients, all with the aim of becoming “the first household name for residential architecture.”

Since its founding in 2019 in Glasgow, the company has grown to over 30 employees across the UK, which has worked with 246 clients to date. The company now holds a pre-money valuation of almost $20 million.

HOKO Design differentiates itself from the traditional architect role through a series of client features throughout design and construction stages. At concept stage, these include unlimited design revisions for the client, VR and video flythroughs, a cost analysis before planning stage, and a client dashboard with live updates on the project, including an abili...

Architect-turned-Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp is leaving for Jony Ive’s new design studio

2021-11-04T15:27:00-04:00

Architect-turned-tech entrepreneur Evan Sharp is leaving the company he co-founded after 11 years to join former Apple design chief Jony Ive’s secretive new design startup called LoveFrom.

Sharp worked with Ben Silverman to develop what eventually became Pinterest in 2011 after studying at Columbia’s GSAPP, from which he graduated in 2008.

Sharp spoke with Archinect about his education and continued inclinations toward architecture as part of our Working out of the Box series in 2012:

“I do miss a lot of things about architecture: materials, the third dimension, the human scale of the work,” he said at the time, adding that he felt studying at the GSAPP helped him “learn how to approach design problems generally.”

“The value of iteration, and working very long hours on the same problem to find the right solution — having that diligence is something that architecture school teaches you. It also forces you to look at everything spatially,” Sharp told Archinect's Paul Petrunia. “Archi...

Ambitious construction startup, Katerra, finally folds after a challenging run

2021-06-02T14:12:00-04:00

An executive told employees on a video call that the firm didn’t have enough money to pay severance packages or unused paid time off, a person who attended the meeting said. The executive said the effects of Covid-19, as well as rising costs of labor and construction materials, contributed to its latest cash crunch.

Katerra, a closely watched startup founded 6 years ago, had a vision to reinvent the massive construction industry. After a few years of challenges and bailouts from investors, they've announced this week that they will shut down.

The CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, indicated that Katerra and WeWork were among the investment firm's biggest failures to date. Greensill, one of Katerra's lenders and another major investment of SoftBank's, also recently announced bankruptcy, making it even more difficult to save the company.

Katerra will be cutting thousands of jobs, possibly without severance or owed time-off pay, and is expected to abandon construction jobs previously contracted to Katerra.

To follow the rise and fall of Katerra, check out the related articles below...

Construction start-up Katerra receives major bailout from SoftBank

2021-01-05T20:50:00-05:00

Since our initial coverage of the Silicon Valley-based construction start-up, Katerra has experienced several ups and downs over the past few years. While the company has grown significantly since it was founded in 2015, financial issues continued to rise.

Katerra's CEO Pall Kibsgaard shared with the Wall Street Journal, "I think we underestimated the complexity of executing self-perform projects at a large scale, including manufacturing and material sourcing and managing our own labor."

In 2019 Katerra faced flopped overseas expansions as well as layoffs and cutbacks for the company. However, their relationship with Japanese investment firm SoftBank continues as the company invests $200 million to bail out the start-up as they enter 2021. SoftBank is one of the earliest and largest investors in troubled co-working company WeWork.

Katerra's goal to revolutionize the construction industry, specifically with mass timber and modular construction, continues to make headway. Kibsgaard...

Berkeley's housing innovation center launches cost-saving startup lab

2019-05-24T20:15:00-04:00

A growing number of entrepreneurs are leading the way, challenging our antiquated housing system and creating new ways for housing to be more equitable and affordable across the board. However, they need support navigating the complex policy environment and accessing the necessary capital. The Housing Lab will advise promising ventures while they evolve their business models and connect them with the industry leaders and capital to achieve greater scale.

In California, the collapse of proposed statewide legislation that would have eliminated single-family zoning and could have boosted density along transit corridors has left housing activists scrambling.

While state legislators regroup to tackle the structural issues, like zoning, underpinning California's housing crisis, the Terner Center for Housing Innovation is putting its money on...well, money. This week, The Terner Center, a partnership between the College of Environmental Design and the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, unveiled the nation's first housing innovation startup lab focused on lowering the cost of housing. The group has partnered with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and is currently accepting applications from existing housing innovation ventures that are ready to be incubated to success.

Applications for the inaugural cohort are due June 10th.

California-based construction start-up Katerra valued at more than $4bn with help from Japan's SoftBank

2019-01-16T14:38:00-05:00

In just four years, the Silicon Valley start-up Katerra has grown from a sizable construction firm to one of the industry's biggest disrupters. Now, with support from one of the tech industry's biggest investors, the California-based construction company has announced plans for another investment round that will have it valued at more than $4 billion.

SoftBank, the billion dollar venture capital firm helping to bankroll companies such as Uber, WeWork and the indoor farming start-up Plenty, is expected to lead the $700 million round of financing for Katerra. This comes less than a year after the Japanese holdings company invested a prior $865 million into the company.

In Katerra, SoftBank is backing a revolutionary approach that promises to redefine the $12 trillion construction industry. The company's aim is to make the building construction process cheaper and more efficient and while Katerra is not unique in this quest, it is remarkable for its end-to-end design-build process whi...

From an All-Women-Led Collective to a Multi-Billion Dollar Startup; Miguel McKelvey Shares His Story

2018-06-28T18:08:00-04:00

Last Wednesday, on the eve of the AIA National Convention, I had the pleasure of talking with Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork.

The conversation was held in Midtown Manhattan, in the Project 6 by AF showroom to an invited crowd of 75 architects. The event was co-hosted by Project 6 by AF and Designer Pages, and sponsored by Graff, Julien, Geberit, Kaldewei and Wetstyle.

WeWork Paddington, London, photo courtesy of WeWork

For those of you unfamiliar, WeWork is a co-working startup currently valued at somewhere between $20B and $35B, with almost 400 locations scattered around the world in 69 cities. While WeWork wasn’t the first company to enter the coworking space, they approached it in a very different way, focusing on creating physical environments that connected with workers and business owners, while crafting a culture of super-dedicated members.

WeWork Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, photo courtesy of WeWork

WeWork Montes Urales, Mexico City, photo courtesy of WeWork

Migu...

Startup Katerra wants to revolutionize the construction industry

2018-06-27T15:18:00-04:00

A Menlo Park company called Katerra announced that it had acquired Michael Green Architecture, a 25-person architecture firm in Vancouver, British Columbia. On June 12, the company revealed that it had bought another, larger architecture firm, Atlanta-based Lord Aeck Sargent. This comes five months after Katerra raised $865 million in venture capital from funders led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which has also invested heavily in the co-working startup WeWork.

Startup Katerra looks to revolutionize the construction industry through streamlining the entire process with their design-build model. The company has acquired Michael Green Architecture, known for designing tall wood buildings, and Lord Aeck Sargent.

With these two firms obtained, Katerra will now consolidate by designing and building its products in house. Michael Green Architecture's influence can be seen as Katerra is developing a catalog of mass timber products for residential and commercial building projects. Uniquely Katerra has also created a system to guarantee price early on, a rarity in the industry.

A call for cities to own the curb as transit startups invade the streets

2018-06-15T17:14:00-04:00

With more options that ever for getting around cities, and finite space, the question of how we use this infrastructure, and who controls it, is more important than ever. By regulating how these new transportation options evolve, cities can potentially bring about a more sustainable, multimodal, and less car-centric transit future.

Our city curbs are transportation battles for space in the flow of traffic. While private tech startups are producing popular transportation solutions, such as Bird's electric scooters, the city is the one paying to build and maintain these public spaces. An upswing in dockless vehicles has far reaching potentials for cities to achieve sustainable goals, if they can reassert their ownership.

Shared housing startups prepare for big business

2018-05-23T15:54:00-04:00

A Crunchbase News analysis of residential-focused real estate startups uncovered a raft of companies with a shared and temporary housing focus that have raised funding in the past year or so. This isn’t a U.S.-specific phenomenon. Funded shared and short-term housing startups are cropping up across the globe, from China to Europe to Southeast Asia.

Crunchbase reporter Joanna Glasner takes a look at the new crop of shared and short-term housing startups that have recently raised millions of dollars in funding, such as Common, Starcity, Roomi, Ollie, HubHaus, and others.

Startup pharmacy space in Brooklyn designed by Sergio Mannino Studio

2018-03-27T17:42:00-04:00

Sergio Mannino Studio recently completed a pharmacy retail project in Brooklyn. The space is a flagship for Medly, a healthcare startup offering a more efficient and enjoyable way for the community to order prescription medicine via an app.

Medly pharmacy designed by Sergio Mannino Studio, located in Brooklyn. Image: Sergio Mannino Studio.

Medly's goal for the waiting room was to encourage face-to-face consultations between healthcare professionals and the community rather than long lines to collect medication.

Medly pharmacy designed by Sergio Mannino Studio, located in Brooklyn. Image: Sergio Mannino Studio.

Two large vinyl leather and chrome benches occupy the waiting room, each seating four people.

Medly pharmacy designed by Sergio Mannino Studio, located in Brooklyn. Image: Sergio Mannino Studio.

A corrugated, perforated screen runs along the rear wall to partition off the administration area, where the prescriptions are sorted. In total, the space measures 1,900 square feet.

Med...

UNStudio's new tech start up, UNSense, launches with smart city and solar brick innovations

2018-03-14T19:50:00-04:00

UNSense, a new arch tech startup based in Amsterdam, is being launched by UNStudio. Operating as an independent sister company to UNStudio, the company will explore and develop new integrated tech solutions specifically designed for the built environment.

UNSense explores new technologies related to the built environment. Image: UNSense.

The new tech innovation boasts a wide range of collaboration with data analysts, algorithmists, neuroscientists, policy makers, students, municipalities, sociologists, economists, data architects, business case modellers, financial specialists, architects and more.

CitySense will collect data through sensory digital infrastructure. Image: UNSense.

Initial technology solutions include CitySense and Solar Brick. CitySense collects data through sensory digital infrastructure in order to design experiences improving life in the city. Trials are currently running in South East Amsterdam and a number of other Dutch cities.

Solar Brick allows for massive ...

This AI-powered & LiDAR-equipped robot could soon help detect construction errors early

2018-02-23T15:39:00-05:00

Using lidar-equipped robots, Doxel scans construction sites every day to monitor how things are progressing, tracking what gets installed and whether it’s the right thing at the right time in the right place. You’d think that construction sites would be doing this by themselves anyway, but it turns out that they really don’t, and in a recent pilot study on a medical office building, Doxel says it managed to increase labor productivity on the project by a staggering 38 percent.

"You could send in some humans with lidar backpacks, but that would be more expensive," IEEE Spectrum explains. "The company is also using drones in a limited capacity right now, since they require human supervision, but it’s easy to imagine how much more efficient this process could get as robotic autonomy improves."

Don't blame the tech bros: SF's housing crisis is bonkers because of zoning, not startups

2016-04-26T13:02:00-04:00

strict zoning laws in the Bay Area make it almost impossible to significantly expand the housing stock there. [...] As a result, the tech boom simply means that housing gets less and less affordable for anyone who doesn't work in tech or already own a home. A lot of people are blaming the tech boom itself for the Bay Area's housing problems. But the technology boom is only a problem because the region's housing markets are functioning so poorly.

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