Do you still use a rotary phone or have you upgraded to a smartphone? Do you use a map while driving or GPS? These may seem like funny questions as it may seem silly to continue using obsolete technologies for reasons other than nostalgia. Why is the design and construction industry still using 2D drawings to relay ideas to clients?

Our design and build industry has been business as usual for the past couple hundred years.  Clients are shown 2D drawings to understand their home or structure and then build based off of 2D drawings. Why is this?

Michael Rath, CEO of Trilogy Partners, asked himself this question in 2008, he was fed up of the old ways where clients had an architect, builder and designer all essentially speaking different languages and not communicating to each other. This old model of how to build leads to projects being over budget, over scheduled and not the exciting and satisfying process that building your dream should be. He decided that it was time to break the mold and figure out a way where he could bring everyone together in one efficient working process. Michael found the 3D Modeling program SketchUp and he knew that this was how he was going to change how things would be done.

Michael wanted to create a collaborative process where everyone works from an exact 3D virtual model of a structure that is to be built. Where everyone involved, especially the client, knows exactly how the structure will look, feel and that every design and construction detail, down to the last nut and bolt, is answered for ahead of time. Ahead of any expensive mistakes! And so, Project Management Modeling was born.

Project Management Modeling (PMM) is a residential BIM (Building Information Modeling) solution combining project management, interior design and BIM that creates the most transparency and best results for our clients while saving money every step of the way.

“I love technology, I love being creative, I love collaborating with my clients and my subs and my engineers and I wanted to create an environment where everyone can do the best work possible and show it with everyone else in a collaborative open environment.” Rath

In most design and construction, especially in the residential genre, an architect will take the project so far and then usually hand it off to the engineer who hands it off to the builder. And then an interior designer steps in and you realize your Grandma’s heirloom bed wont fit into the guest room! The client is looking one way and then the next while those disciplines are not talking to each other. Everyone is separate. “It’s not well integrated. It is frustrating!” There wasn’t a BIM alternative for residential projects and something had to change. For Michael, the clients are the most important thing. “It’s my job, my duty to create the best possible house for them.” And so it was important that he would create a solution in order to achieve this.

It is time for our industry to change. We need to take advantage of technological advances and have a little fun doing it. “We have VR now!” The subs, the builders, and the clients can “walk around” the model of the house to be built and see how it will look. They will witness where they need to make changes as if the structure is already built. This allows for changes to be made quickly and without any cost involved.

By utilizing the latest technologies we are able to avoid costly mistakes, be more efficient and sustainable but also be more creative and trying things we wouldn’t have been able to do before. Can you image having a waterfall in your living room? You don’t have to imagine, we can show you in a 3D Model. If you love it, we can build it! Trilogy’s Project Management Modeling is giving you the ability to try new things, to make a custom home truly unique for our clients. If we have the technologies to achieve great things then why not take advantage of this? At Trilogy, we are capitalizing on these technologies and we want you to join us on this exciting adventure.

To find out more about our Project Management Modeling that combines project management, interior design and residential BIM you can click here or contact us directly. We would love to chat to you.

Trilogy Partners is to attend The American Institute of Architects Conference in Orlando this April 27^th-29^th. Trilogy will be the guests of SketchUp at the conference, where they will be demonstrating and talking about Trilogy’s Project Management Modeling and how this process complete with SketchUp software is changing the way homes are designed and built across America. Trilogy wants to educate the industry and market about their process, and the close relationship Trilogy has with SketchUp is helping them achieve this.

Michael Rath, CEO of Trilogy comments “Trilogy Partners is thrilled to be invited to the 2017 American Institute of Architects convention to present our Project Management Modeling process to 25,000 architects and industry professionals. We are excited to share our process that puts clients as the center of a project while showing every design detail of a home’s exterior and interior, all while being more efficient with time and materials. We think PMM is going to blow the roof off of AIA!”

From all of us at Trilogy we would like to say a big thank you to our friends at SketchUp for your continued support of our Design Build firm in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Please see our recent interviews with SketchUp on their website.

Part I 

Part II 

Are you waiting with bated breath for July 15^th, when the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter movies, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”, comes out in theaters? If you answered YES, you’ll want to continue reading our post.  We recently came across a great piece in Architectural Digest about the set design for the latest film. AD takes fans inside the mind of Academy Award–winning production designer Stuart Craig and gives glimpses into the brilliant scenery that will be lighting up the screen for the final Harry Potter movie.

Architectural Digest. Photo: Jaap Buitendijk

Architectural Digest. Photo: Jaap Buitendijk

Architectural Digest. Photo: Jaap Buitendijk

Architectural Digest. Photo: Jaap Buitendijk

Craig tells AD that “I love architecture, and I regard myself as a kind of architect—an architect that works in plywood, but nothing more substantial than that. We try to get the detail absolutely right. In a building as complex as Hogwarts, however, the mix of periods is absolutely permissible. We used the great Gothic cathedrals as locations in the early days. They date from the 12th to the 16th centuries. Even 19th-century Victorian Gothic elements were added. So there was no constraint in being true to architectural detail and respecting the history and form of it.”

For most homes a living room needs to be a very versatile space. It needs to serve as a place where one can kick back and relax after a long day at the office or a place where one can host a large number of people. Either way a living room should reflect your style and taste as well as be comfortable.

To get inspired Architectural Digest has featured some of Hollywood’s biggest stars’ private quarters. Take a look below.

Architectural Digest- Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher.

“I didn’t want a living room that looked off-limits,” says Moore. “I wanted rooms that were elegant but inviting—for kids, dogs, and everyone.”

Architectural Digest- Jennifer Aniston

“The making of the house was as significant to me as the living in it,” says Jennifer Aniston.

Architectural Digest- Gerard Butler

Trilogy Partner's home for Trey Parker

What do you look for in a living room?

Today we wanted to focus our Team Trilogy series on founding partner, John Rath. John, along with his brother and sister, started Trilogy in 1998. John journeyed to Breckenridge, Colorado after leaving his life producing movies in New York City behind. His love for the Colorado Rocky Mountain Region began in 1983 with his first trip out west. John along with the rest of our Trilogy Team has achieved much success thanks in part to our collaboration with our clients, designers, vendors and sub-contractors. Together we have built homes and communities in which we can be proud of.

Photo Credit: Summit Daily/Mark Fox