Sneak peek into an architect's mindset | Rayon x beMONDO — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hi, my name is Jean Sebastian Bordage.
2. 0:03I'm based in Montreal. I'm an architect
3. 0:06and urban designer and co-founder of
4. 0:08Bimando, a think tank where we merge
5. 0:12wellness and real estate and as well a
6. 0:15director of innovation at BC2 which is a
7. 0:18strategic group of planning, urban
8. 0:21design and landscape architecture.
9. 0:24>> How would you describe your design style
10. 0:25or approach? Uh my design style is
11. 0:28inspired by the design thinking approach
12. 0:31where we start uh project and start
13. 0:34always with empathy where we really try
14. 0:36to dig uh deeper into the context the
15. 0:41need and uh the vision of either whether
16. 0:44it's the client the stakeholder the
17. 0:46users its location and all that. So
18. 0:48that's really where we initiate the
19. 0:50design process. After that, we'll do a
20. 0:54very collaborative approach where we'll
21. 0:56test out some scenarios in a very agile
22. 1:00manner. So, this is this is very
23. 1:02collaborative and it allows us to be
24. 1:05agile and the outcomes as well. And uh
25. 1:09another thing that is quite important is
26. 1:11the approach to around human- centered
27. 1:14design and biophilia. So how can we
28. 1:16bring art whether it's architecture,
29. 1:18interiors, urban design that will
30. 1:21enhance the human experience and also in
31. 1:24the long term benefits to the
32. 1:27environment and weave back biodiversity,
33. 1:30the joy of meetings and socializing and
34. 1:34all that is very important for us and
35. 1:36our approach.
36. 1:37>> How do you understand and meet clients
37. 1:39needs?
38. 1:40Well, we start often I work with clients
39. 1:43that very early in the design process.
40. 1:46So I would say the needs are not fully
41. 1:50fledged out. So we will have a discovery
42. 1:52stage where we'll really look into the
43. 1:55future of what the project can be and
44. 1:58we'll do our best to unlock new
45. 2:01opportunities as well. So we we work in
46. 2:04finding out synergies between the
47. 2:07context, the program, the expected
48. 2:09return and we hope to go even beyond
49. 2:12that and so the project can actually
50. 2:14live on its own and be scripted by the
51. 2:16user in the future. So we we really try
52. 2:18to initiate uh the proper condition for
53. 2:22the project to get its own life cycle.
54. 2:25So that's one thing and also using
55. 2:28scenarios this process of multiple
56. 2:31scenarios that's where we need actually
57. 2:32a very agile tool and collaborative
58. 2:35tools to work around that where um we'll
59. 2:38uh and and also how the project can
60. 2:41survive a lot of criterias and and you
61. 2:45know there will be meeting with the
62. 2:46cities they will be meeting with other
63. 2:48users or stakeholders. So there's a lot
64. 2:51of definition that happens over the
65. 2:53course of the design process. So it's
66. 2:56very important for us to stay lean and
67. 2:59agile and be able to to go back and be
68. 3:02iterative in the design process.
69. 3:04>> Describe typical type of project that
70. 3:07you do.
71. 3:07>> I'm a strong advocate on design and I
72. 3:09approach multiple scale of projects.
73. 3:12could be from interiors like a wellness
74. 3:14spa or a medical clinic where we'll do
75. 3:18our best to not only provide better work
76. 3:21environment for the staff so that we'll
77. 3:23attract and retain the professionals but
78. 3:26also make it a more joyful and calm
79. 3:29experience for the user. But I can also
80. 3:31jump scale into a mixeduse project
81. 3:34district or uh new city neighborhoods
82. 3:39where where the in the end what weaves
83. 3:41all these different scales together is
84. 3:44really is the human experience how and
85. 3:46the sequential of the the movement
86. 3:48through those spaces and how we can
87. 3:51enhance those spaces can enhance the
88. 3:53well-being and also the the programming
89. 3:56is very important. So how can different
90. 3:58program could could work within the same
91. 4:01space. I think it's very important in
92. 4:02these uh days where things are changing
93. 4:05so fast and it's very hard to predict
94. 4:07the future. So we need to to embed this
95. 4:10this component of agility into a project
96. 4:13but also it's safe keep the investment
97. 4:16that is done and all the effort done to
98. 4:18to make a project successful. In Canada
99. 4:21there's a lot of urban renewal as well.
100. 4:24we call it uh build the city on into
101. 4:28onto the city. So the existing urban
102. 4:30fabric often need to be revitalized and
103. 4:33and reconsidered. So which is great cuz
104. 4:36we need to stop this urban sprawl that
105. 4:38to go beyond into natural environment.
106. 4:41So now there's a lot of repositioning of
107. 4:44uh land real estate existing asset from
108. 4:48previous generation.
109. 4:50So that that could be from interior uh
110. 4:54repositioning all the way to a whole new
111. 4:56neighborhood that can be uh rettaught.
112. 4:59So that's very exciting times. Uh as we
113. 5:02try to densify our city, but as we
114. 5:05densify our city, we also need to make
115. 5:07them more human and more generous on the
116. 5:10landscape uh and and nature within the
117. 5:13city. So we it needs to come with a buy
118. 5:15in that as you you try to make uh more
119. 5:18people to collectively live closer
120. 5:21together and let the space itself need
121. 5:23to be more interesting. Another thing
122. 5:25that is uh quite compelling is we all
123. 5:28live now with a new competitor is the
124. 5:30the virtual world. So we could spend
125. 5:32more more time in front of our screen.
126. 5:34So that's why I think the physical space
127. 5:37needs to be even more compelling, even
128. 5:39more um also adaptable for for future
129. 5:43need. Well, my specialty is uh is mostly
130. 5:45to be involved in pre-esign the
131. 5:48programming phase, the concept and the
132. 5:51vision. So how to align all those those
133. 5:54conceptual guidelines that will have a
134. 5:56tremendous impact later on on the
135. 5:58project and the whole existence of the
136. 6:01project further on. So I think that's
137. 6:04where Ryan come was very handy for me
138. 6:07when I discovered Ryan because it's a
139. 6:09lean uh tool. It's easy to learn uh and
140. 6:13and also is a bit what you see is what
141. 6:15you get. It has a very interesting uh
142. 6:17visual appeal. It's clear and I think
143. 6:20it's important at this stage to to keep
144. 6:22it simple but keep it also impactful and
145. 6:25enjoyable for everybody to take part in
146. 6:27that collaborative effort. So I really
147. 6:30enjoyed that tool when I discovered it.
148. 6:32It brought back basically the joy of
149. 6:35drawing um also to investigate plans
150. 6:38because that's the risk sometime now
151. 6:40with a lot of renderings. We're quite
152. 6:42used to do that. There's generative AI
153. 6:44and there's a lot of visuals that could
154. 6:46come up but we might lose a good old
155. 6:48school approach of a good plan. That's
156. 6:51where uh that's what we learn at school.
157. 6:53That's what the teachers say. You start
158. 6:55with a great plan. So go back to basics.
159. 6:58And I think that's what got me into
160. 6:59rayan at the beginning was this promises
161. 7:01of making it simple and and easy to to
162. 7:05approach. Uh fun story actually even
163. 7:09though I work on large scale project at
164. 7:12time and neighborhood or new cities I
165. 7:15discovered rayan when it was actually a
166. 7:18friend of mine was asking for help for a
167. 7:21layout of his basement. So I thought
168. 7:24sure I'll help but at least I'll have
169. 7:26some fun. So why don't try this new
170. 7:28software and uh gave it a shot. It was
171. 7:31you know it gave great result was fun.
172. 7:34There was a trial version and then soon
173. 7:36then you guys really helped me out as
174. 7:38well on a onetoone uh basis to to walk
175. 7:41me through when I had question and then
176. 7:44next project I took Rayan on a on
177. 7:46another spin where I was working on a
178. 7:49whole new um urban development for 2,000
179. 7:52people and it also worked greatly at
180. 7:54that scale because I could it has to you
181. 7:57know in urban design you have to weave
182. 7:59it back into the neighborhood the
183. 8:01context show it to the
184. 8:03in a in a collaborative manner to get
185. 8:06their their their buy in or their
186. 8:09insights and I think again uh the
187. 8:11software was was quite useful there.
188. 8:13>> How has Ren improved your design process
189. 8:15compared to tools you used previously?
190. 8:18>> I would say Ren improved my design
191. 8:20process by by having this clarity at the
192. 8:23beginning. Um, also to to be able to
193. 8:26have this almost one pager canvas where
194. 8:29you can bring references, other
195. 8:31sketches, you can really create a mood
196. 8:34board with it. So, it's quite compelling
197. 8:36to to stay in the zone, stay in in one
198. 8:39software instead of jumping into
199. 8:41multiple using multiple tool. You can
200. 8:44you can more focus on the design. And I
201. 8:47would say that extra time I saved
202. 8:49allowed me to actually enjoy drawing
203. 8:51more. So sometime for example I was
204. 8:54doing a multifamily plan like a whole
205. 8:57layer and uh then I thought oh what
206. 8:59about if I I could just start sketching
207. 9:02and rayan an elevation of the corridor
208. 9:04for example or or you can you have more
209. 9:07time to ponder some details that usually
210. 9:10you would you might lose that that spare
211. 9:12that time trying to work or jump through
212. 9:15saving files or jumping through tools. I
213. 9:18think that's where um it it you actually
214. 9:20gain valuable time and the workflow is a
215. 9:22bit smoother. I enjoy that. The idea
216. 9:25also to make it collaborative where
217. 9:27others can log in and comment on the on
218. 9:31the plan as well in real time really
219. 9:33makes it easier as we we work a bit more
220. 9:36remote and uh we have more collaborative
221. 9:38session online. I think it can work well
222. 9:40because you do share screens so
223. 9:43everybody's almost immersed in the
224. 9:45workflow a bit more but but we really
225. 9:48need to make it more compelling to
226. 9:50collaborate and more visually satisfying
227. 9:52as well.
228. 9:54[Music]