Axel Beem of Personal Architecture

I'm Axel, and I work as an architect for Personal Architecture. After my studies, I first worked in VR for a while, then in the world of architecture. My passion for inventing and designing buildings brought me back to architecture, to really start designing buildings. Now I'm committed to using innovative techniques, such as virtual reality, but also techniques like 3D printing or iMapper. This allows me to work smarter, more efficiently, so that I can improve my work.

Your daily challenges?

In the Netherlands, a large part of the architectural challenges for the coming decades are the renovation and conversion of older buildings. So the majority of our assignments are existing housing. This means that we have to make measurements for each building. Now, this is a speciality in itself, but with the current shortage in the housing market, it is even more important that these measurements are done very precisely. Because literally every centimetre can make a difference to a design. Imagine you have a 20 m² studio, 5 cm in a bathroom becomes very important. The existing housing stock is also often quite crooked, the walls are not straight. This puts a lot of pressure on the measurements, it's a real challenge.

Why iMapper?

In our office, in addition to our work as architects, we're constantly looking for ways to do our jobs smarter, more efficiently and better. We often use the latest technologies, such as virtual reality. When we saw an advertisement for iMapper, our interest was immediately piqued. It seemed a smart and affordable alternative to 3D scanners. We wanted to try it out and see if it was what we were looking for.

What was it like to survey before iMapper?

We usually went on site with 2 or 3 people. For large spaces, we would measure them with 2 people. One of us would have the laser scanner and do all the measurements and the other one would write down all the measurements quickly on a quick sketch of a floor plan. After the main measurements, if we were 3 people in parallel, we would also measure other details by hand, including windows, decorations. Often we had to come back and take measurements again. Because something had been forgotten or to recheck measurements that are very important in the later phases of the project.

Often we had to come back to take measurements again. Because something had been forgotten or to double-check measurements that are very important in the later phases of the project.

What is it like now?

At the moment, we're still doing our surveys with 2 people. The difference is that only one person uses the iMapper and while the iMapper is busy, she takes photos. The other measures details by hand. We hope that in the future, after a little more practice, we'll only need one person to take measurements. The idea is that while the iMapper is running, the same person can measure the details. This way, only one person will be needed to take the measurements.

What would you say to companies to convince them to choose iMapper ?

On the one hand you can save time and on the other hand it offers precision and certainty.

First of all, iMapper offers a lot of potential, especially for architecture. If it fits in with your field of work, on the one hand you can save time, and on the other it offers precision and certainty. This allows you to avoid problems and create designs that are tailored to an existing situation. What made it an easy choice, for us personally, was the free trial policy. This means you can try iMapper for 30 days first to see if it adds enough value. If it doesn't, you can send it back and get a full refund of the purchase price. So, with these 2 elements combined, we really couldn't have a reason not to try it out.

We really couldn't think of a reason not to try it.