Goings on at the BWC Architecture Studio
We're happy to announce our new domain, www.becausewecan.design.
It's a much more fitting place for our company to reside, don't you think?
Don't worry, everything on the .ORG will still work too, so your old bookmarks and RSS feeds remain intact.
But from now on we're using the www.becausewecan.design domain for everything, and we'd love for you to do the same!
As an Architectural Design-Build Studio, We love leveraging technology in unique ways to make our latest designs into real, physical pieces. While we've developed a decent amount of in-house software and tools over the years, we're still very excited about our latest software toolset BecauseWeDynamo. We have mentioned this tool set before on our blog, but with the latest project we've completed, some great edits and changes have been made, so it is worth mentioning again.
BecauseWeDynamo, in case you didnt catch it the first time, is an ever changing design rationalization product focused on taking complex models to fabrication. It is a set of custom ‘nodes’ for Dynamo, which is a software program created by Autodesk as a ‘functional visual scripting language’ for creating, manipulating, and automating all sorts of design data by non-programmers. (And we have released our code openly on Github!)
Rather than write code from scratch where the ‘flow’ of the program is abstract and non-visual, or call on existing libraries, and produce a stand-alone application like a software developer might, tools like Project Dynamo let you ‘draw’ your program and lets us easily create one-off workflow solutions to automate small repetitive tasks and model impressively complex objects. This is perfect for visual designers like us! By connecting various ‘nodes’ together, we can ‘wire’ together a solution for project-specific problems, iteratively working our way through designs as the code runs live, seeing the immediate results.
Most recently we used this tool set to create a sea of complex, faceted furniture for one of our recent projects: The Port Workspaces at The Kaiser Center. The sea of 'Icebergs', as we came to call them were very complex, and each one completely unique.
The Icebergs, designed and fabricated using white laminate, were created to provide a combination of lounging, sitting and standing meeting & work space. No two of these units are the same. We designed the brackets inside the units so the clean form is all that is visible. Using our scripts we were able to quickly make changes to these forms as the fabrication & design iterations progressed to allow for an organic building process. We modified the designs as we built the units, fixing and foreseeing issues with a “just in time design” building process.
This project, like most of our projects, was designed and fabricated in our in-house design studio and fabrication shop using our robust BecauseWeDynamo tool set combined with our CNC machines. The video shared here (at the bottom of the post) shows one of our CNC machines numbering the pieces before cutting them out. Our ongoing goal with this Dynamo project is to make the fabrication of elements easier and more efficient, thus empowering all designers to be able to make great things like we do!
One thing our custom programming helps do is parse the design model, label every shape, lay them all out flat, and then export them to digital fabrication production. For this particular project, it created the brackets and numbered them for location placement. It made short work of these laborious tasks, and helped us fabricate these wonderful and complex designs efficiently and effectively.
Within BecauseWeDynamo you’ll find programs for part labeling, DXF exporting (with proper true curves!), mesh topology walking, edge labeling, and even our own custom old-school line-based pen-plotter style font suitable for CNC production. We’ve even got some auto-sectioning tools (like 123D Make!), and are currently working on Nodes to help automate shop drawing production and development of complex surfaces.
Releasing our code openly on Github allows others to experiment as we are, and the code will come back to us with improvements and ideas that we would not have thought of ourselves. Our toolset can be found through Dynamo through the Package Manager as BecauseWeDynamo, and the open-source code is hosted here on GitHub, which allows anyone to use it, change it and share it again, as an ever evolving tool set. You’ll find on the GitHub site some great working examples, and we’ll be developing more samples & how-tos.
The Oakland based co-working space we finished renovations on in June is highlighted in this weeks SF Chronicle, the Sunday addition. A project that we completed in early summer of this year, The Port Workspace is three floors of awesome co-working.
Working closely with our client, as we always to, we renovated this empty shopping mall in the heart of Oakland into a vibrant co-working space. The project is open now. You can see more on The Port Workspace Broadway location on our projects page.
We are very excited to have just returned from Nantes, France, where The Serpent Twins were one of the main attractions at this years Maker Faire in Nantes, France.
July 7th & 8th, 2016 Maker Faire Nantes was hosted at Les Machines de l'île, and the Serpent Twins from Oakland were one of the main attractions!
Les Machines de l’île, self explained as a "crossroads of Jules Verne’s "invented worlds", of the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci, and of Nantes’ industrial history, on the exceptional site of the former shipyards".
We are so excited to have been part of this amazing group of artist fabricators and that a piece we worked on was among such amazing company.
Here is a great video from Saturday night at the Faire -- the amazing 'dance' of The Serpent Twins with Kumo, the spider....
And our front set up for The Serpent's resting spot, with signage and lanterns...
From 5 PM until 8PM or so, we'll open our doors and fire up our new robot arms to celebrate the summer. We'll be showcasing some recently completed projects and raising a glass to all the great people we know and work with.
We'll be dancing (with robot arms), drinking, snacking, talking, and showing off. It's a great time to drop by and talk shop with us, if you want to learn more about what we do and how we do it.
Kids welcome, but it is a shop and a party. Lots of sharp corners around here. And they might learn some interesting new words!
2500 Kirkham St
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 922-8846
Click here for the Google Map.
Here are two really cool articles about The Interval at The Longnow done by Dot & Bo. The first post is a photo tour with descriptions about the bar itself and the objects within it. It is called tour the mechanical wonders of The Interval.
The second one is a photo essay interviewing us and the The Longnow foundation about the space, what it's for and what it means. This essay is wonderfully named: The secrets behind San Francisco's mechanical cafe.
Both of these are fun and worth a read.
We are proud to announce our latest project in Oakland has just officially opened!
Though they have been operating for a while, under construction, their big opening party and ribbon cutting by Oakland's own mayor Libby Schaaf was in early June.
A 60,000 sqft campus and three floors of really cool work space, we have spent the last year working on the designs for this space and fabricating some really great pieces.
Our project page is just up on our website, so you can read all about the specifics there.
But a few highlights include: Tiki Bar, Iceberg Seating, Astroturf Hills, Really Big Fountain, Shipping Container Conference Rooms, and some Awesome Murals.
Really Cool Murals!
IceBerg Seating Units
Shipping Container Conference Rooms and Rope Wall
Astroturf Hills!
And for those who would like some details on the project: here is an article from the San Francisco Business Times on the new space.
Thanks to HOK and Ideate for inviting us. The event is free, and you can register here.
We are honored to be among the judges for the The U.S. Department of Education CTE Makeover Challenge!
'As part of President Obama’s Nation of Makers initiative, The U.S. Department of Education (ED) invited schools to enter the CTE Makeover Challenge by submitting a design for a CTE makerspace. All eligible schools were invited to participate in the CTE Makeover Bootcamp, a 6-week program that provided resources and expertise in makerspace design and planning. $200,000 in cash and other prizes will be distributed to a maximum of 10 honorees to turn their vision for a makerspace into a reality. Honorees will produce and submit a video tour of their constructed makerspaces and compile an online portfolio of materials for use in the CTE Makerspace Showcase, which will take place at the World Maker Faire in New York City in October 2016.'
We are excited to be a part of this push for more hands on learning in schools!
The Interval at The Longnow continues to be a vibrant and ever growing venue. (And it continues to get tons of praise from the press!)Being the Architecture, Design-Build studio behind the venue, we are happy to be an ongoing part of their success as we come up with creative ways to support their needs. Most recently we installed removable chalk board and walnut framed mirror pieces that hang over the back bar shelving.
On the wall next to the bar we also created a plaque that explains their donor bottle program, as well as a few shelves to display the coffee beans they sell.
Keeping with the aesthetic of the space, all the pieces were made from locally felled walnut with hand made metal details and modeled in the latest 3D CAD software. Combining the best of the old and the new.
We're getting really exited about this years Bay Area Maker Faire..... looks like a great line up of fun stuff to see!
And now there are things to see related to Because We Can on both Saturday & Sunday!
To add to an already fun filled day, BWC's metal fabricator Alice Hopkins, will be on a panel Saturday at The Make:Live stage.
She'll be talking about working in the metal fabrication industry and answering questions. Come on by!
The next day wing over to Center Stage at 11:30 AM to see Jeffrey's talk on programmatic designs, and how we are doing them at BWC!
And then Jeffrey & Jillian are on a panel at the end of the day Sunday on living and working together.
We hope to see you all there!
We are excited to be presenting at Maker Faire again this year!
Meet us this Sunday at Maker Faire on the Center Stage as we present our latest projects using generative design.
We're excited about our talk! You can check out the write up here.
Center Stage at 11:30AM
Jeffrey & Jillian will also be on a panel later that day about Maker Couples: how we live & work together.
Center Stage at 4:30PM
Maker Faire is Saturday & Sunday
We hope to see you there!
We are happy to share that we're the featured artist for this week in the Functional Art section of the Blink website.
You can see our main page on the Blink site here, where we are currently showcasing our project with The Longnow and our Google shipping container project.
Thanks Blink!
Sometimes, as it happens, we are hired to create designs and even physical pieces that, for one reason or another, never come fully to life.These designs tend to get filed away, sometimes brought out again, but mostly just logged and stored in their client folder, rarely to be looked at again.
Our 'Forgotten Fridays' series is a place for us to showcase and celebrate the most interesting forgotten designs; parts of which may someday again breath life!
This table design was part of a larger office renovation project, turning an existing building into the main headquarters for a company in Southern CA. We did all the architectural designs and the interior design to revitalize the building and make the new space inviting, comfortable and practical for the company. As part of this renovation, we designed all the furniture for the interior as well. We typically design the interior finishes and furniture for our renovation projects, and often we build large amounts of the furniture that goes into the final building.
Here is one design from that renovation project that got cut out early on.
A large drawing / meeting / 'war room' table
With storage underneath for large format drawings as well as smaller storage for pens & such.
We did eventually design and build a similar table for the same client but in a different location that can be seen here, on our projects page. But this table with its cool floating top did not come to life. Perhaps it will one day!
Happy Forgotten Friday!
We're very excited that The New Kaiser Mall Entrance is looking this cool!A few more big things to go, but looking really great already.....
The large three floor renovation at the Kaiser Building on Lakeside in Oakland is feverishly underway for The Port Workspaces!We worked on the interior design layouts and concepts all last year. Since then we've been busy fabricating our designs and installing them in the new space. The project is looking awesome, and parts of it are already open!
Just on the first floor alone, we have been painting walls,
and painting huge murals! (mural work by GriffinOne
dying fun colors and games into the floor,
and building water features with bench seating.
We recently brought in huge shipping containers to build out into work spaces
and put up a fun rope wall corner to define the lounge area...
Check out this neat video of the rope wall going up!
This Thursday, February 11th, Jeffrey will be presenting several different projects we're in the middle of and our unique design-build studio's method of executing on them.
The talk takes place from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Chroma Gallery 312 S A St, Santa Rosa, CA 95401.
Would love to see you there!
Here at Because We Can, we work with a variety of robots and robotic tools. We've almost a decade of experience with it, and we've learned a great deal along the way. And we love to share what we've learned with you. We interchangeably use the terms 'robot', 'robotic tools', and 'automation' to all mean the same thing: whether by a physical robot, custom computer code, CNC tool, or some combination therein, you're automating some task such that it's not being done by the labor of a person.
When thinking about having a robot do a job, it's important to know why you're going to have the robot do something rather than a person. Robots aren't always better than people, and can be expensive to set up, so you run the risk of spending a lot of time and money with not enough return. Or actually making the end result worse by trying to automate it. Automating something doesn't automatically make it better, and robots aren't great at everything.
We've found that there are four levels of tasks one can give a robot, each increasing in complexity of what the robot can do versis a person. Each one has it's own challenges and risks, so it's important to know where the task you're looking to automate falls. Critically thinking of it in this way will help you from making a costly mistake, and make the best use of automation for your company.
This is a task where it doesn't really matter if the task is being done by a person or a robot. Packing boxes, sorting/loading parts, moving pallets around a warehouse, and other rather basic tasks are good examples what we call Same Job, Only Cheaper. It's where the only value added by doing the task with a robot is that, once the robot is setup, it can do the job cheaper than a person can. Maybe that's because the robot is able to work 24/7, maybe it's because automating the task frees up someone to do higher-value work, maybe it's because the robot replaces several workers and thus is just plain cheaper over time. But what's key here is that whatever the task is, it's not that the robot is that much better at it, it's really just a matter of economics. So when automating this sort of task, the setup and ongoing maintenance costs of the automation are really important to keep under control. Also it's important to remember that robots tend to be very non-adaptable, and can be expensive to re-tool when the task changes. So the economics of it might not work out if retooling costs keep eating up any savings from having a robot do the job instead of a person. People are smart, flexible, and adaptable. Robots aren't.
This is a task where a robot can do the task better than a person. Repetitive production welding, assembly line painting/assembly, basic CNC milling, and other tasks that depend upon accuracy and repeatability are good examples of tasks we call the Robot Does It Better. The value add is obvious, for here the robot is obviously better at the task than a person. But it's important to really understand the task, and if it's really true that the robot is better in this specific instance. While a robot can make a great production welder, being more consistent than a person, if the welding requires great finesse, lots of one-off situations (like repairing elements), or hard-to-reach locations, a person could still be better in the bigger picture. Because setting up the robots takes a non-trivial amount of time and money, it may be better for some tasks to be handled by a skilled person rather than a robot, even if theoretically the robot could do a more accurate and consistent job once set up. Skilled people can make amazing things, robots can only do exactly what you set them up to do.
This is a task where not only does a robot do it better, but it makes something that would normally be unbearably complex simple. Complex CNC milling, complex sheet metal folding / punching, complex assembly, and other tasks where every part is unique and there are many parts are good examples of what we call the Robot Makes It Easy. While it would be time-consuming and difficult for a person to cut out hundreds of different unique parts, it's trivial for a robot to do so. This is an area we here at Because We Can are very familiar with, as many of our designs would be far too complex to produce economically by hand. It's an exciting area where working with a robot can add a lot of value. However, while we cut out almost all our parts using robotic tools, we still hand-assemble everything. The key with tasks like this is to use the robot for what it's great for, and use the people for what they are great for. Because we're very rarely making the same thing twice, and we pride ourselves on our high level of craftsmanship of what we make, we've found that the combination of robot-cut parts and skilled assembly and finishing is a winning combination for the kind of work we do.
This is a task that can only be done by a robot, and simply can't be done by a person. Working in extremely hazardous locations, trochoidal milling processes, additive/subtractive combined manufacturing, and other tasks that are only possible by using a robot are good examples of tasks we call the Robot Makes It Possible. A great example here is the aforementioned trochoidal milling, A.K.A. 'high speed toolpaths', where a CNC machine moves in an incredibly complex and fast series of arc motions no person would be able to do, no matter how talented a machinist, to cut out complex parts significantly faster. It's not just that the robot is better at this task, it's that there is no way a person could even do the same task in the same way. This is an area where robots can add a significant amount of value, and in some instances can even be the basis for an entire company, invention, or industry. However these are also some of the most complex tasks to use a robot for, requiring either expensive software, talented engineers, or in many cases both. These tasks also require a great deal of vision, for much of the time it's something that's never really been done that way before. So these tasks can also require a great deal of creativity. However, thankfully, due to modern software, sometimes these sorts of tasks can be made accessible. For example, Fusion 360's CAM module does HSM toolpathing, and even makes the process very easy and accessible to even beginning machinists. So the real risk of these tasks is either trying to do them in a way that's too complex, or re-inventing a solution someone else already has that's better than what you came up with. If you think it's only possible with a robot, then you want to do your research and legwork, and find the very best way to only do it with a robot.
While automation is a powerful force, robots are totally awesome, and we dearly love our CNC tools, just like with any technology knowing when and how to apply it is the key to great success. We think that the real money is in empowering people, not replacing them, and that trying to fully automate everything quickly has diminishing returns. People working together with robots can make better, more amazing things more efficiently than robots alone ever could.
We hope our four levels are useful to your thinking, and we'd love to hear what you may have discovered working with these tools too.
A couple of our projects were just picked up for this article on the Coolest Office Spaces In SF. While we think that all of our SF office projects are the coolest, we'll take the good press!
This article calls out specifically one of our lastest projects done for the new Dolby Headquarters on Market Street in downtown SF.
It also calls out an older project of ours that was super fun to work on, the Three Rings Design office, also in downtown SF.
We're assuming they did not mention these cool shipping container lounges we did for the new Google office just a few months ago, because they are in MountainView.... so that would not fall under the same headline. We understand. But converting those shipping containers into amazing little office lounge spaces sure was a fun project. And they came out so cool!
And of course they could not know about the awesome new office spaces that we're creating for The Port Co-working in the Kaiser Building, Oakland.
That project has yet to be fully revealed, but the 3rd floor co-working office space and event spaces are open and looking great. Can't wait to reveal the rest of that project soon!
We are very excited about 2016 and some of our great projects that will open this new year!For much of 2015 we helped The Port WorkingSpaces open a new and ambitious project in Oakland by Lake Merritt.
The roof deck and 3rd floor co-working space there has been open for months. The other two exciting spaces will open soon in 2016!
We have been working hard to get those two final spaces done so we can show them off, as they are looking really great!
Meanwhile, here are some images of the completed 3rd Floor and roof deck comprising of co-working spaces with large communal tables, meeting rooms, lounges and event areas both indoor and out.
When you enter the 3rd floor and walk through the large double doors, you are greeted by this really cool space. Once a large restaurant, we kept all the
original molding and wood details wood, just updating the paint, carpet and lighting.
Some of the furniture we sourced, and the rest of it we designed made to have the perfect aesthetic and functionality for the space, like these large
walnut tables on rolling legs.
Big tube steel legs add a cool aesthetic and make for a very sturdy table on locking casters.
Some of the rolling tables were done in half rounds that can be joined together to add more diversity to the seating options.
For the indoor event areas of the 3rd floor we designed and made these hard wood Machiche tables.
The lounge area by the indoor event space we designed with these long, low bench seats.
Then finally, as you enter onto the roof deck you see that much of it has been covered in thick, soft astroturf with modular sofa seating.
We even got a Tiki Bar up there! With awesome hanging personal hammocks that add fun color and flair.
Go check out the space for yourself! The roof garden, event spaces, meeting rooms and co-working spaces are available for bookings, so you'll probably get invited to a party there shortly if you don't book one yourself!
