In this episode, the Proving Ground hosts a live webinar to discuss remote working in he wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proving Ground has used remote working as a function of operating the business for 5 years and has been a 100% work-from-home company in 2020. The team shares their experiences and guidance on making a remote team successful and they take questions from the webinar attendees. Viewer beware: There are many memes at the start! Discussion topics: -Our first experiences transitioning to home offices. -Tips for maintaining a home office a productive experience. -Ways to create a fun culture with remote workers. -Recommendations for how to lead and manage remote teams. -Technologies that can help facilitate remote work. -Long-term business benefits for remote working.

The group discusses digital transformations taking place in architecture schools, the tension between academia and practice, women in architecture, computational feminism, alternate dimensions, and our reality being a simulation - wow, things got trippy this time! Discussion topics: 01:10 Steve has a theory... 01:41 What a way to start a podcast! 02:42 Shelby drove 2.5 hours to be here... for this? 03:21 Debate over who is a millennial 04:26 Old millennials remember a time before the internet 05:33 Traveling the world before smart phones 07:55 Problems predicting the future 08:19 Science fiction and predicting the future based on the present 09:14 The privilege of being without media 10:29 Transformations in communication 12:19 Informal communication and sending emojis to clients 12:56 "gif" or "jif" let's settle this - what about the peanut butter? 13:31 What is a scotcheroo?? 14:40 How did Shelby get into architecture? 16:49 Finding a niche with computational design 18:26 Is a "parametric moment" kind of like a "digital turn"? 20:12 Shelby talks about digital craft 22:22 Changes in the architect's deliverable 25:33 Shelby talks about teaching digital fabrication 28:03 The importance of trade knowledge 33:25 Ethical and moral implications of technology transformations 35:51 How did Shelby end up in Iowa? 41:41 Thinking carefully about the moments we choose to use technology 43:12 Technology is a hearts and minds game 44:38 It is important to understand the current state when preparing for transformation 47:46 Shelby explains that there is a myth that technology is somehow unknowable 48:28 Struggle to bring people on board with new things 50:24 Teaching methods related to computation 52:58 Maybe there should be a crumpled paper tool in LunchBox 54:46 Bringing in outside expertise into the classroom 55:52 What was the biggest challenge in starting the Shelby's ISU computation curriculum? 59:04 Discussion about women in architecture and equity 01:02:57 It is hard to not re-perform your own education in the classroom 01:07:21 Shelby discusses "Computational Feminism" 01:10:51 Data is not neutral 01:13:45 Challenges and over-simplification with "optimization" 01:17:17 The digital panopticon 01:18:29 What are the disconnects between academia and practice? 01:20:36 Architecture is not about singular authorship 01:21:34 Critique of the trades mentoring model 01:22:42 Shelby has a crazy good voronoi joke 01:24:13 Student loans suck 01:25:37 Shelby asks if there are things Proving Ground wishes students had coming out of school 01:27:54 The difficulty in teaching when things are changing so fast 01:29:06 WTF is post digital? 01:32:13 Nate is legitimizing post digital by always shitposting about it. The end! Byyyeee!

Nate sits down with Proving Ground's 2019 summer research interns Madhurya Udayakumar and Anna Lukens to talk about their experiences as architecture students, wrangling command-lines in Raspberry Pis, and why they got into architecture. Discussion topics: 00:50 Introducing Maddie 01:22 What does Maddie really think of Omaha Nebraska 02:13 Nate talks about flyover country 04:25 Introducing Anna 05:22 Interns have spent two months so far at Proving Ground 08:02 Jumping into the deep end with IoT 08:17 Proving Ground investing in research with internships 10:38 Within a week we had a DIY sensor and data collection workflow 12:12 The need for creative iteration and experimentation 13:19 Architecture programs with robot facilities 15:34 Anna and Maddie think academia could be doing more with digital processes 17:35 Why did Anna and Maddie get into Architecture? 19:40 Maddie started in Civil Engineering 23:17 Anna talks about learning computation 24:08 Nate reveals the dirty secret that no one really knows how to use Revit 25:12 What will they do after they graduate? 28:14 Brian Ringley doesn't offer any electives. Sad. 28:47 This is Nate's test to see if Brian watches/listens to this podcast 29:45 Maddie has been working on a design competition 31:21 Anna talks about preparing her portfolio 33:59 Discussion on apply for internships 35:20 Nate's experience at career fairs as an employer 37:15 How Nate vets intern applicants 37:53 Why did Maddie and Anna apply to Proving Ground? 40:20 Nate's goal for summer internships 42:28 Maddie's observations on how Proving Ground does business 45:07 Nate talks about creating an effective and impactful small team 46:10 Technology is not a replacement for having good team fundamentals 47:55 Changes in toxic business culture and growing talent in AEC has been a long time coming 49:52 Parting thoughts, thank yous, and why Nate is way behind on editing Shelby's podcast

The discussion explores a range of topics including specialization, skills gaps, privacy, hacking buildings, and the role of the architect in designing smart buildings. Discussion topics: Part 1: 03:20 - New tech discussion - http://Hypar.io and next gen computational design platforms Part 2: 01:09 Nate talks about quitting his first job. 03:05 Podcast format review 03:20 Discussing Hypar.io, next gen computational platforms 05:12 Architects and computational designers reinvent the wheel 07:03 Popularity of resources for free plugins 08:05 Challenges in bringing custom functionality "to scale" 09:54 What is the market for specialization? 11:38 Disruption fatigue in the design workflow 15:07 Letting people specialize 22:02 Organizations protective over IP - What are businesses willing to share? 27:00 The line between business logic and standards 29:50 What is the incentive to share functions with the community? 31:55 Why we don't see pull requests on our open source projects 35:00 Data deluge - the opportunities and problems with data availability 36:02 Architects are trained to understand "public" and "private" space - is the line blurred now? 37:02 Buildings are getting smarter and also more hackable 37:50 Owners making strides in using their building data 39:51 Zoom.... enhance! 40:52 The advantage of more data 43:51 Using data to building the architect and owner relationship 46:46 Extending the role of the architect into operations 47:40 Telemetry and collecting data about people in buildings 50:48 The danger of people becoming the "product" 53:40 The importance of specialization in architecture related to data 54:54 The number of sensors is growing and not going to go down 56:35 Do smart buildings need a EULA or Terms of Use? 58:00 The need for better standards in data collection for buildings 01:00:30 Smart devices in homes 01:02:21 Understanding the tradeoffs between privacy and convenience 01:04:57 Trusting the service provider 01:06:03 The scary future of public space 01:08:07 Are we directing or empowering? 01:11:27 Conclusions and the duality of technology

Rachel Riopel - Digital Design Managing Principal at HDR - talks with Nate Miller about change management, technology implementation, women in design technology, and using BIM and open standards to support benchmarking analysis. Discussion topics: 01:21 Weather attitudes, folks from LA hate the rain 02:12 Introducing Rachel 03:07 Change management in a big firm 03:47 What is the most expensive part of a technology implementation 04:34 Change needs to happen at all levels - not just the picks and clicks 06:40 Project managers have a lot to lose if something goes wrong 08:21 Creating allowances for changes in process 09:50 Big firms hesitant to change process - high risk, expensive projects 10:43 Rachel explains the components of her innovations strategy 13:27 Will we see computational design "standards"? 15:35 Digital assets and liability 16:47 How did Rachel get into Architecture? 19:49 Rachel discusses going to college for architecture. 20:57 Nate on getting burned out on computers in college. 21:34 Rachel was not a "tech person" in college 22:09 Misaligned expectations between college and practice 23:23 Rachel first hears about Revit 25:17 Rachel buys her own copy of Revit so she can learn on her own 25:54 Rachel discusses getting her license in parallel with athletics and technology learning 26:25 Nate discusses his decision not to become an architect 29:17 Rachel goes to Autodesk University, joins HDR shortly after 31:54 2008 recession, joining a new firm and betting on technology 33:37 Rachel discusses women in technology and architecture 38:21 The current state of BIM at HDR 42:57 Getting over the hump of talking about data in abstract terms 46:30 Nate can't stop with the cliches: Poking the elephant, cracking the nut, skinning the cat 46:58 Interoperability can't get any worse, can it? 48:42 Cleaning up the mess of data that we have 49:32 There is "standards aversion" in architecture 54:37 Rachel likes IFC, using it to support benchmarking 57:22 We need to be able to access unlock data amidst transforming proprietary software 59:08 Wrap-up discussion - what should a firm be doing?

Sarah Gudeman, a mechanical engineer with Morrissey Engineering, joins Nate and Kristen to talk about energy modeling, building performance, and sustainability workflows in practice. Discussion topics: 00:31 Have you ever watched unboxing videos? 01:22 Introducing Sarah Gudeman, Omaha-based mechanical engineer 01:56 The philosophy behind the Prove It podcast 02:26 Nate is getting social media and event fatigue 03:55 Designers and builders want to make better buildings 04:44 Highlight cool stuff happening in the Midwest 06:01 Lower incentives to change process when business is good and busy 06:50 What is good enough - letting perfect get in the way of good 08:28 Sarah's blog - WTH is Energy Modeling 13:29 The assumptions that go into a model - the art of energy modeling 18:14 Tracking deltas and metrics between stages of design 20:50 Approaches for demonstrating a track record and real-world validation 23:25 Weather - and weather files - as a variable 25:30 How is climate change affecting energy modeling? 28:26 Did you know it is hot in July? 29:00 Thermal comfort and the behavior of people as major variable 31:14 Andy Payne's smart fan prototype and personal comfort devices 33:34 Unprecedented data on the built environment 36:36 Commentary on Proving Ground's thermostat 37:44 Nate intentionally does not have smart home devices 39:20 Kristen discusses data collection and when ad targeting goes wrong 39:53 TIL about beards 40:35 Drinking water purification 42:07 How did Sarah get into engineering? 44:50 Sarah worked for an energy modeling startup 45:52 Startups filling gaps not covered by conventional practices 50:17 Sarah created voice narration to Omaha's plumbing code. 52:51 The benefits and risks of democratizing tools and knowledge for specialized knowledge 55:16 Technology and the disruption of professions - UpCodes and ICC legal troubles 58:51 Response and resistance to radical change and disruption 1:00:46 How likely is it that your job will be automated? 1:02:46 Technology and experts speaking up about positive change and benefits of technology 1:03:23 What work is exciting Sarah right now? 1:09:16 Sarah's advice to other engineers and professionals

Matt Goldsberry from HDR joins Nate Miller and Dave Stasiuk from Proving Ground in to discuss his career path and how computational design is being adopted as part of HDR's global architecture practice. Discussion topics: 00:25 Discussion on the podcast format 01:06 Why panel discussion formats don't work well at events 02:21 Introducing Matt Goldsberry, Digital Design Principal from HDR 03:27 Matt calls out Nate for having a really bad computer while in school 04:31 Matt and Nate discuss conventional academic studies 05:15 Matt discusses moving to Los Angeles and his semester at SCI-Arc 08:21 Matt goes to work in China 09:45 Digital trends in undergraduate school 10:29 Nate and Matt comment on the era's of SCI-Arc in the early 2000s 11:04 Acadmics and the interest in digital fabrication 12:39 Why isn't digital fabrication as big in practice? 15:30 Matt discusses trying a career path in the entertainment industry 19:21 How did Matt end up in Omaha, Nebraska? 20:41 Student loans - Architecture is expensive! 22:08 Hard to start a business when saddle with student loan debt 23:21 Matt joins HDR Architecture in Omaha 25:45Leveraging corporate resources of a "BIG SHIP" 27:08 A long process to establish a computational design agenda 29:33 Collaborating with the firm's data scientists 33:40 Conventional design services and digital transformation 35:36 Using data to benchmark design 37:47 How sophisticated are Building Information Models? 40:15 When did the lightbulb go off at HDR that the needed to invest in computation? 43:30 When did Matt make the shift from designer to computational designer? 46:10 Using computational design in workshops with clients 48:11 SketchUp as the "prototype" for presenting design models 49:52 Does Matt ever use "sketchy lines" in software? 54:11 Architects have the opportunity to be great storytellers with data 56:40 Building credibility for computational design at HDR 59:59 What is Matt's one piece of advice for starting a successful computational design initiative?

The beta test! We're trying out a new format, ironing out the bugs, and talking about technology - In the FIRST Prove It podcast, Nate Miller, Dave Stasiuk, and Kristen Schulte review recent AEC technology news and discuss the (over)hype vs. reality of the Generative Design trend in architecture. Part 1 - Technology News and Discussion Time: 02:46 - 26:35 McNeel's Rhino.Inside and Dassault's xGenerative Design Generative Design - History, trend, (over)hype, and reality Proving Ground's April Fools prank Nate gives an overview of podcast topics 02:46 - Discussion of McNeel's Rhino.Inside 06:53 - Discussion of Grasshopper with Rhino.Inside - Is it a Dynamo killer? 09:56 - Dassault's new xGenerative Design product 13:17 - Evolution of computational design tools and the trend of Grasshopper cloning 14:25 - McNeel is a consistently a step ahead 14:36 - Throwback to Generative Components! 15:56 - Growing a community starting with Explicit History - the first version of Grasshopper 16:46 - Skeptical about Dassault's platform approach 18:09 - Is Dassault's Catia platform too expensive for today's Architecture businesses? 20:08 - The potential for end-to-end building design and delivery with Catia 25:38- Architectural drawing and cultural shifts that have struggled to take hold with BIM Part 2 - Generative What? Time: 26:35 - 59:29 26:35 - Generative What? 30:34 - Dave on the emergence of today's Generative Design conversation 33:51- Why is "Generative Design" not really "Generative"? 35:26 - Historical context - the definition of Generative Art 39:17 - Discussion on pervasive marketing for Generative Design 39:46 - Observations of problems with over-hyping technology with marketing 44:31 - Discussion about the fragility and limits of parametric models 46:14 - Skepticism of using "generative" tools for space planning 50:10 - The marketing machine taking over the conversation 56:34 - Wrap up and conclusions