2e Architects Featured For Cutting-Edge Design Methods And Business Innovation
Baltimore, Maryland (PRWEB) May 05, 2015 -- Peter Twohy, principal at 2e Architects located in Towson, Maryland, is featured on two recent episodes of “The Business of Architecture”. “The Business of Architecture” is a popular podcast produced and hosted by California architect Enoch Sears. The show is downloaded thousands of times every week all over the world. “The Business of Architecture” stated goal is to help architects improve the business end of their practices so that they can focus more energy on design. In this way architects can create practices where money, art, and social responsibility can peacefully co-exist. A recent guest, Frank Harmon FAIA, said it succinctly, “it is impossible to create great design if you are worrying about the account receivables.” “The Business of Architecture” produces a 30 to 45 minute show every week and has created more than 100 shows.
Peter Twohy’s firm, 2e Architects, celebrated its 10-year anniversary of creating distinctive homes in the Baltimore region in April of 2015. The office is near St Joseph’s Medical Center on York Road in Towson. His work over the years has appeared in many local publications and also in national magazines.
“The Business of Architecture” chose to interview Twohy for several reasons. The first was the unique way that Twohy opened his firm. Sears also wanted to explore the extensive way Twohy incorporates 3D Drawings into his practice.
The first show – Episode 92 – relates the creation of 2e Architects. Essentially Twohy opened his office within another local architect’s office. Bruce Finkelstien had more work than he could do but did not want employees, but was willing to share his experience and become a mentor. Sharing office expenses, with no increase in liability, improved his bottom line. Twohy paid a percentage every month of his income. “For me,” Twohy says, “the huge advantage was walking into a situation where the business half of the equation was already figured out. Many architectural firms go out of business, not because the architects fail at the architecture half, but rather because they fail at the business half.”
The show also talks about Twohy’s email marketing campaign – “One from 2e”. “One from 2e” is an email sent once a month, with one photo and one caption. The idea is to send a beautiful photograph of a recent residential project that people can then click to see more photos of that project. 2e Architects has sent approximately 700 emails every month for the past 2.5 years. While “One from 2e” helps to keep 2e Architects top of mind, its main purpose is to give its followers ideas so it feels more like inspiration rather than like spam.
While the Episode 92 will probably appeal more to fellow architects, the second half of the interview – Episode 94 – will appeal to both the general public and architects alike. In this episode Twohy talks about his innovative use of 3D Drawings to help his clients better visualize their design. He makes a 3D model of every home in the computer and is able to generate an unlimited amount of 3D Drawings or Renderings per project. “Somewhere between 15 and 25 is normal and between 40 and 50 was the most to date. I do not know of any other firm at any size that offers anything similar. The funny part is that my goal was never to be innovative, rather it was simply to solve the age old issue that all architects’ face. The issue is architects use traditional 2D drawings to convey to their clients the design ideas, but the clients do not fully understand the drawings. It is easy to understand why they do not, the clients have zero training with architectural drafting. Even if they do understand portions of the drawings, as indeed most do, in my experience they do not understand nearly enough of the drawings to have complete confidence to make the decisions required with every project. Therefore, 3D Renderings are extremely helpful, really much more than helpful, essential.”
Twohy’s interview with “The Business of Architecture” gave the architect a forum to share the innovative techniques that have worked so well in his practice with other architects from around the world. “One of the most interesting aspects of the interview process was simply that right before my interview, “The Business of Architecture” interviewed Robert Ivy – the President of the AIA and Thom Mayne – one of the most famous architects alive. I love Thom’s work and studied it in college. It was an honor to be approached by “The Business of Architecture”. The response to the interview has been amazing, architects from all over America and several other countries have contacted me to continue the discussion. In the end, I am very glad I had the opportunity to be on “The Business of Architecture” because I know that the model I used to open my office, while unique, is very repeatable and offers benefits to both parties. And I am also glad to talk more about the 3D Drawings because it is the future of residential architecture.”
Peter Twohy, 2e Architects, http://2e-architects.com, +1 410-583-2112, [email protected]
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