It’s been a while since I updated my blog but as some of you know I have not been sitting still. Over the last 2 years, I met an amazing team from Iceland that were working on something really groundbreaking. Something that might redefine the way we architects design our buildings.

I made the trip to Iceland to find out more, where the team showed me an early version of a tool that would later be known as Arkio. A fully collaborative AR/VR modeling environment that has overlaps with push-pull modelers, parametric design, BIM and advanced auditing tools like Revit.

I was really impressed with what this small team led by Hilmar Gunnarsson and Haraldur Darri Thorvaldsson managed to pull off in a period of 2 years and when they asked if I wanted to join their team as Product Manager 1,5 year ago I was humbled and looking forward to help bring this ambitious new tool to our industry. As a strong believer in the potential of this technology for architects, I strongly believe in software developers joining forces will help change this fragmented industry for the better.

With Arkio we want to use immersive technologies like AR and VR to re-imagine what architectural design can be like when we are not bound by flat-screen devices. We want to make 3D modeling tools feel closer to physical modelmaking where you can pick up objects and slide or glue them together.

Make it easy for anyone to join in and be part of the design and idea generation wherever they are or from whatever device they prefer to work with. Where you could work at any scale and jump inside your model at a human scale to keep modifying your design based on how your spaces are experienced.

After working together on this project for a year we first showed Arkio to the public at NXTBLD in London this year. We got some amazing feedback on the tool and our plans. And I can highly recommend visiting this event if you are living nearby London. It offers one of the best selections of inspiring innovations and talks from our Industry. This year we were joined by Boston Dynamics, Enscape and Epic Games. We have since then been busy developing Arkio and visiting design technology events over the world to introduce and hear feedback from industry leader on this new way of designing.

We are currently testing Arkio in closed beta with firms across the globe so if you are interested to try Arkio with your team and give us your feedback on where we should take Arkio you can visit our website to learn more and sign up for our Beta access list.