Curious why more than 3 million AECO professionals worldwide use Bluebeam to finish projects faster?

By combining Bluebeam’s digital tools with a commitment to Indigenous partnerships, Modern Fire Protection is setting new industry standards

Australia-based Modern Fire Protection is a family owned and operated fire protection company that has been providing high quality services since 2015. Delivering comprehensive, cost-effective fire protection solutions, Modern Fire Protection works alongside its partners from concept design and supply to installation and ongoing service and maintenance for any size project.

Recognized as a Certified Supplier for Supply Nation, Modern Fire Protection has developed a range of partnerships with other Indigenous-controlled organizations and is focused on developing a culturally safe and capable environment. 

“We are continually striving to increase our Indigenous workforce and the employment of women undertaking apprenticeships,” said Bill Hockley, the company’s managing director.

With extensive experience across diverse requirements such as high-rise residential buildings, shopping centers, major commercial buildings, mine sites and complex special hazard installations, Modern Fire has a broad footprint across southeast Queensland. Robina Shopping Centre, Sunshine Coast Plaza, Brisbane Airport, Logan Hospital and Brisbane Racing Club are among the sites its expert service has helped protect.

A trusted solution

Trust is central in a business where its stock and trade is building safety.

Modern Fire ensures its trusted reputation is backed by accreditations and industry certifications, and that its workers are all suitably qualified in their roles.

Alongside its strong team presence, the organization is firmly focused on implementing tools that enhance its reputation through increased transparency, accuracy and productivity, including Bluebeam.

Crossing the digital divide

Modern Fire first deployed Bluebeam tools in early 2023. “Before Bluebeam we printed everything out and used highlighters,” Hockley said. “It meant that after the bid was developed, the project manager didn’t have easy access to all the information he needed.”

Deploying Bluebeam not only built time and accuracy improvements into the bidding process, but it also meant digital information was accessible when projects came to life.

“Bluebeam has revolutionised how we operate; it is one of our foundational tools,” Hockley said. “Through using its tools we minimise redundancy, boost accuracy and expedite critical tasks—all of which cultivate trust with our customers.”

Designing success through Bluebeam

Construction Manager Dan Sawyer implements Bluebeam from the inception of the design process.

“I use if for everything I touch—I live in it,” he said. “When competing for tenders I am able to save the detailed drawings and all detail that underpins our bid development. We then use this detail to inform and develop an accurate project plan when we win the contract.”

Bluebeam offers a plug-in for Revit that enhances the design process by integrating 3D components with 2D drafting annotations. This tool facilitates coordination with design teams and streamlines the development of design solutions.

Managing multiple and diverse priorities with ease

Project Manager Josh Hall considers real-time collaboration as key to his successful delivery of multiple and concurrent priorities. “The simple fact is that Bluebeam does exactly what I need it to do—it makes my job easier to do and do well,” he said. “It should be a non-negotiable tool across all organizations in the construction industry.

The key tasks Hall deploys Bluebeam for include:

– To communicate clearly using AEC-specific tools to mark up contracts, drawings, photos and documents.

– To complete drawing overlays and dimension planning up to scale.

– To review detailed planning and information and confirm project delivery requirements.

A long-term Bluebeam user, Hall joined Modern Fire on the condition that the product was a key tool he could access. “I’ve been using it for five years across various roles and it underpins my success in delivering optimized outcomes in project delivery,” he said.

Modern Fire Project Administrator Hanna Greaves first began harnessing the capability of Bluebeam and its tools six months ago.

“I do all of the quantity takeoffs for tender submissions—it’s a critical tool to ensure accuracy,” she said. “It is relatively straightforward to use and quite intuitive—it was easy to self-teach and to build my skills in unlocking the Bluebeam tools as I go. Before this everything was printed out and counted out using a highlighter. Time saving and accuracy has been a great outcome for me—in particular thanks to the search tool capability and categorization tools.”

Looking toward the future

“Tools such as Bluebeam mean we are better able to position Modern Fire Protection as a trusted and permanent force in the industry,” Sawyer said. “It provides the opportunity to embed better systems and processes and reinforce the foundation of our business as we head into the longer term.”

Bluebeam is a tool that is deployed prolifically among Modern Fire’s project partners.

“When working across projects such as staged medical or shopping center precincts with multiple partners, we are all able to talk to a common language, so to speak,” Sawyer said. “These tools enable real-time agility and responsiveness—enhancing our professionalism and elevating our position in the industry. It underpins our value and supports our future growth.”

New to Bluebeam? Give it a try!

With more than 56,000 TikTok followers, Furlong shares Bluebeam tips, career advice and personal insights from his journey through civil engineering

Musician, author and civil engineer Griffin Furlong knows what it’s like to prioritize education. In 2014, Furlong became his high school class valedictorian after overcoming a history of homelessness throughout his childhood.

Perhaps it was this experience that led Furlong to his passion for sharing his knowledge with others. Although he has more than enough work to keep him occupied, Furlong devotes time to educating college students on the ins and outs of Bluebeam via a surprising medium: TikTok.

An engineering background

Furlong has been a professional engineer for a year now, but he’s been working with Bluebeam much longer. “I’ve been a civil engineer in the land development industry now for about six years,” he said. “I had three internships prior in the industry, and ever since I was an intern, I’ve been using a lot of Bluebeam.”

As a civil engineer, Furlong is passionate about the complexity of his chosen career. “Land development’s very intricate,” he said. “We’re constantly working with a large team of environmental scientists, geotechnical engineers, lawyers, counties, municipalities—so we really bring a whole project to life. We’re usually the first step in a civil engineering process of designing everything under the ground. So, if you have a residential neighborhood, you need utilities, stormwater infrastructure—that part’s on us.”

Throughout his career, Furlong said Bluebeam has been instrumental in his ability to accomplish critical tasks. “AutoCAD and Bluebeam, in my opinion, are industry standard nowadays,” he said. “Bluebeam is really important, because we’re constantly marking things up. It’s just such a clean and easy way, especially in this day and age of PD, FS and electronics.”

Furlong appreciates how Bluebeam has brought his processes into the 21st century. “It used to be old school, all handwritten stuff, red lines—there’s a certain process there,” he said. “But we’ve moved into a different age and Bluebeam has allowed us to be a little bit more efficient with markups and communicating ideas on a plan set to a contractor and vice versa. Technology has played a big role, especially Bluebeam.”

Bringing Bluebeam to a new generation

Furlong knows firsthand how critical Bluebeam can be to career success, and he’s made something of an online career sharing his knowledge with others. Across a variety of platforms, Furlong shares entertaining videos on topics like how to become a civil engineer, humorous skits about working as an intern in the AEC industry and, of course, Bluebeam.

“I’m probably the biggest on TikTok, and I get so many questions about Bluebeam,” he said. “A lot of it is college students.” With more than 56,000 followers on his TikTok channel, Furlong’s latest video on Bluebeam tips has racked up nearly 20,000 views, with commenters chiming in asking for tips and support.

Inspired by his audience’s curiosity, Furlong decided to host a workshop on Bluebeam, which drew a rapt audience. Clearly, young people understand the importance of this software—and there’s a real appetite for the type of knowledge Furlong has been motivated to share.

“I was so surprised that there’s a lot of students out there that really want to learn Bluebeam,” he said.  “But it makes sense, because it goes beyond my industry of land development. Bluebeam can be used in any industry, so it wasn’t just civil engineers that were logged into the workshop.” Speaking to a diverse group of young people just starting out in the AEC world, Furlong gave a helpful walkthrough of his Bluebeam expertise.

As his platform continues to expand, Furlong hopes to increase his educational impact. “The age group ranging from my audience is typically 18 to 30,” he said. “There’s a lot of concentration between ages 18 to 25, so most of my viewers are either college students or interns.”

Within that audience, Furlong said interest in Bluebeam seems to be growing stronger. “I feel like I make a Bluebeam video every other week,” he said. “Bluebeam is a program that I would definitely recommend.”

Sharing his wisdom

When asked what advice he had to share with college students preparing to go into civil engineering or construction management, Furlong had a lot to say.

“I was once an intern that was completely lost,” he said. “I had no idea what I was doing.

“And there were nights after work where I would be really down on myself. I just feel like sometimes it really is all part of the process. It’s about how you’re able to take those difficult situations and move forward instead of just getting down in the dumps and not thinking that you’re worth anything.”

Furlong wants the students who come after him to know that self-doubt is normal. “If I have anything to say to anyone, it’s ‘you can do it,” he said. “It really is a matter of how you want to control that journey that you’re about to face. But I promise you, I’ve been there before where I’ve been lost at my desk, not knowing how to do something.” Ultimately, Furlong said, professional success comes down to the people you surround yourself with. “My message is to just stick with it and find the right people. The people who you work with are actually everything.”

New to Bluebeam? Give it a try!

Life-size LEGOs offer the potential for building that’s faster, cheaper, stronger and greener

Probably everyone in the building industry has looked at LEGO® blocks and wondered why no one makes life-sized versions.

Engin Yesil, a serial investor from Turkey, was watching his son play when he decided to make it happen, creating blocks of renewable composite (Renco for short) made of recycled glass fibers, recycled plastic, resin and stone. He quickly gained approval to build with the new material in his native country. In the United States, however, he faced a massive obstacle—the International Building Code (IBC) didn’t approve construction with anything but concrete, wood and steel.

To get IBC certification for use of the Renco system, Yesil partnered with Thomas P. Murphy Jr. and Kenneth Smuts, co-president and former vice president, respectively, of Miami firm Coastal Construction. Smuts, a licensed professional engineer and now president of Renco, spearheaded the research and development of the Renco Structural Building System and, over a decade, codified and secured approvals under the IBC.

Exhaustive evaluation backs up the Renco building system

Although Renco attests that its blocks are 23 times stronger than concrete, the fiber-reinforced mineral composite weighs only 20% as much. Injection molding means the material can be formed in whatever shape is needed—blocks, roof beams, joists or flooring—that can all withstand 275 mph winds and are rated for a Category 5 hurricane. The composite is completely water-, mold- and even termite-resistant, as well as ANSI-certified for structural performance. Tweaking the composite achieves the required fire ratings. That’s not as much of an issue for single-family residences where homes are 10 feet apart, but for multi-family, blocks must pass rigorous one- and two-hour fire tests.

A critical decision was how to hold the blocks together. After opting for adhesives rather than metal fasteners, the team investigated possibilities and settled on methyl methacrylate, a bonding agent used in marine, aerospace and trucking products. The adhesive works well with wood, steel and composites.

To compare the carbon footprint of the Renco structural system with others, Renco worked with Vancouver-based consultant BAS Carbon to produce the environmental product declarations for linear components, joists and decking. The results show a smaller carbon footprint compared with reinforced concrete and structural steel buildings. Assembling the building doesn’t require heavy cranes, power tools or big machines, so construction is also more energy efficient.

Sizes, shapes and colors make designing easy

In Turkey, the Renco block is a nominal 4”, which meets many US requirements. For example, Smuts grew up in New England, where most wall thicknesses are 4” to 6” depending on whether framing uses 2” x 4” or 2” x 6” material. But in Miami, construction is predominantly 8” masonry to achieve the strength needed in high-velocity hurricane zones. As a result, Renco manufactures two sizes of blocks—8” commercial and 6” residential. Consistency helps with construction planning, setting the stage for efficient execution. “We wrote a prescriptive evaluation report,” Smuts said. “We determined the design loading and the compressive, tensile and flexural capacities of the blocks and floor decking. We also developed joist tables and span tables for the joists and decking. We have a cookbook for our process that’s easy to translate and share with others and adapt as well.” When designing a structure, architects can simply grab different shapes and sizes in CAD, then copy, cut and paste them to represent the building’s components.

Color coding also makes it simple for a nontraditional workforce to quickly assemble a building, a plus in an industry plagued by labor shortages. Workers can look up the colorized scheme on a tablet or roll out a set of plans and see that a gray block is 8” x 8” x 16” or a blue block is 8” x 8” by 48”. “Labor picks up the color control system in an hour or two and knows exactly how the blocks fit together when they proceed with building,” Smuts said.

Given that Renco manufactures only the pieces needed for a structure, the construction process supports a cleaner environment, with no need for garbage bins or cutting and minimal waste. Although every type of material is expensive, the ease of construction and lack of waste with Renco blocks can save developers 5% to 10% on project costs.

“Developers focus on what brings them the highest return for their efforts,” Smuts said. “It’s the same amount of work whether they’re building a couple-hundred-unit apartment complex or a 500-unit high-rise condominium. Workforce housing often gets ignored, but building with Renco can still mean a nice ROI.”

Timing is everything

After years of comprehensive testing, Renco secured approval from IBC in 2019—right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Supply chain and port issues quickly escalated, and the cost of shipping just one pallet of Renco blocks to the United States rose from $3,200 to $15,000, according to Smuts. The price jump wiped out much of the economic advantage of building with Renco blocks, making it clear that US construction could no longer use material imported from Turkey.

That explains why Renco has completed only one project, the 96-unit Lakewood Village apartments in West Palm Beach, Florida. The recently completed complex was built in eight weeks by 11 unskilled workers using mallets and glue guns. But Renco also began building a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Jupiter, Florida, that will come online soon.

“We’ve started to build a book of business commensurate with that opening,” Smuts said. “So now the product will be built in America with American labor in an American facility.” Renco is targeting housing starts in Florida, Texas and Arizona to accelerate the sale and implementation of Renco products.

The system has also earned worldwide recognition, including first place in the 2024 JEC Composites Innovation Awards, the Best Construction Product Design of 2023 at the BLT Built Design Awards and the Gold Award at the International A’Design Award & Competition. Seems everyone recognizes the value—and appreciates the innovation—of using LEGO-like bricks for construction in the real world.

New to Bluebeam? Give it a try!

From recycled telegraph poles to community-driven design, WHBC Architects crafts eco-conscious buildings that capture the imagination of millions

Although based in Malaysia, WHBC Architects has garnered attention from fans of design and building around the globe. Shared on social media from Instagram to TikTok and beyond, the firm’s viral approach to design tells a compelling story.

Whether it’s a house on a tropical island constructed from reclaimed telephone poles, a design-forward dog hotel, a durian collecting shed or a communal bath built for the indigenous people of Malaysia, the structures the firm completes are always as unique as they are inspired.

But WHBC’s work goes beyond the viral moment. Drawing on local vernacular techniques and inspired by nature, its work uses unconventional materials and eco-inspired design choices to create structures that are truly one of a kind.

A background in building

“I grew up watching my dad repairing and making all kinds of things at home, from toys to giant clocks,” said BC Ang, who runs the firm with his partner, fellow architect Wen Hsia Ang. “I guess that naturally made me want to be a maker/inventor.”

Born, educated and married in Malaysia, the Angs were inspired to found WHBC Architects around 2007. Although their ambitions are lofty, the pair completes their impressive slate of projects from a tiny two-person office.

“We believe design is an act of balancing—utility, technology and emotions in its specific place,” the pair wrote in a joint statement. “All condensed as a problem-solving idea in equilibrium.”

In practice, Ang says this means creating design that truly feels holistic. “It is my belief that good design should not only have a good idea, but it should be also built well; therefore, the conversation with materiality and its accompanying building techniques are very important.”

Ang says the firm’s flexible, open mindset means it’s ready to take on any creative challenge, no matter what the client needs. “We have completed a number of works the past few years which we have not had the time to share yet,” he said, “including a timber farm building and quarters built with a single module of reconstituted timber, a few houses, a meditation hall, a toilet and EV charging highway rest stop.”

Grounded in client conversations, the inspiration the natural world provides and a commitment to thinking differently, the firm’s designs are often founded in that homegrown, ranging curiosity that Ang found so inspiring in his childhood. Perhaps this is why, when asked to name the most inspiring projects of his career, he said, “It was actually a short teaching stint at SUTD in Singapore; it was a chance to guide young adults to see design and making differently.”

Creating new ways of seeing and responding to the world, Ang aims to design structures that illuminate and inspire.

Unconventional materials, striking results

One of WHBC’s most striking social media successes is a house the firm built on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, which was constructed in its entirety from reclaimed wood—including a framework made from recycled telegraph poles.

Ang says he’s unsure why the house has resonated so deeply with audiences around the world. In addition to its success, the house was one of the signature projects that got the duo behind WHBC nominated for the prestigious Royal Academy Architecture Prize. Years after its construction, the structure continues to inspire conversations around creative reuse and materiality.

But when asked about the sources of inspiration for this creative home, Ang was pragmatic. “We just had to make projects (residential or otherwise) that come into the office the best we can,” he said.

That pragmatic approach ended up being the key to that fascinating project. “In Malaysia, we noticed old timber telegraph poles were being replaced with concrete poles,” Ang shared. “When our client requested to build a timber house on the island of Langkawi, we explained that if we were to use freshly logged timber, we could not guarantee the source of the timber or whether it is dried enough.”

Seeking a creative solution, the Angs came up with the idea of reclaiming the materials from those discarded telegraph poles. “We proposed the idea to build with these old poles,” he said. “Compared to freshly logged timber, the durability of the poles is time tested, dry, stable and has a beautiful patina, which only time can give.”

Together, the two visited timber recycling yards to collect hardwood poles that would pass their structural performance tests while also having their preferred aesthetic qualities. They then drove a steel pin into groups of four poles, which acted as a termite shield while turning the poles into a column.

Using the poles as a frame, they created a striking modernist take on a traditional Malay house, honoring the time-tested timber architecture the region is known for—which is becoming increasingly difficult to build due to material constraints.

The result is a building both striking and simple, a perfect marriage of history and modernity.

Where nature and culture meet

Ang says the telegraph pole house is emblematic of the duo’s open-minded approach to creating new spaces. “The source of material, the weather and our culture shape all vernacular building … it’s all around us; we are inspired by all these then and now,” enthused Ang. “We always consult our clients on the most important matters, but our clients appreciate that we are there to make clear decisions on their behalf.”

He said that centering nature and building structures that respond to their surroundings remains essential to the duo’s work. “Respect nature, like how we would respect an elder, understand its power and wisdom, try your best to make appropriate decisions even if it’s not popular, and try not to make nature angry,” he said.

In the past, adhering to these lofty ideals had been easy. But now the Angs find themselves facing their greatest challenge yet. “We are currently building a home for ourselves,” he shared. “I think building your own house is the most difficult job an architect can do. Like a surgeon who tries to operate on themselves. I wished I had an architect with no unnecessary baggage to make a clear decision for me!”

New to Bluebeam? Give it a try!

Bluebeam’s tool for real-time collaboration, Studio Sessions, and its tool for document storage, Studio Projects, are both invaluable to any construction project, but there are particular ways to use each—and both together—for optimal productivity (from 2022)

Illustration by Jonny Ruzzo

Ever since Bluebeam Studio Projects, which allows construction workers to store and share project documents, and Studio Sessions, which allows for real-time markup collaboration, came on the scene, the industry has benefitted from the numerous ways each tool bolsters productivity.

Still, there are particular instances on a construction project when using a Session makes more sense than using a Project—and vice versa. Moreover, there may be times when workers in the construction, engineering, architecture and operators (AECO) industry may think using one vs. the other makes sense for a specific workflow—when in fact the opposite may be true.

Here are some examples of when to use Studio Sessions, when to use Studio Projects and when to use both.

When to use Studio Sessions

Studio Sessions in Revu has established itself as a go-to tool for document collaboration. Sessions allows users to mark up documents with other users in real time, no matter their location. So long as the Session is created by the administrator, people can jump in and out at any time and mark up documents while also leaving comments for other collaborators. 

This digital collaboration can save a project major time and money by replacing the physical need to transport paper documents between stakeholders. It also eliminates the primitive digital process of emailing marked up PDF documents to several people, then having to manually consolidate each person’s revisions afterward.

The power of Sessions, however, can sometimes lead users to over rely on it or use it in ways that make it less efficient over time. Each Session, for instance, should have a clear time window—one or two weeks per round of revisions. Although it may be tempting to keep a Session open for the project’s duration, the tool is most effective when used in revision-by-revision increments.

Think of a Session as a replacement for a meeting, with collaborators sitting around a virtual “desk” with documents, marking them up and discussing revisions. Once the meeting ends, so should a Session.

Bluebeam Resource Hub

Browse case studies, watch webinars, and see what’s new with Bluebeam.

When to use Studio Projects

Studio Projects is a powerful way to store, organize and share documents. For the largest construction projects that require thousands of documents that are accessible to many stakeholders, Projects is secure and effective.

Because of its heft as a storage tool, however, it’s not uncommon that sometimes Projects is used when a Session may be more appropriate and effective.

If a Session is a meeting, where people gather to collaborate in real time, Projects is the office, where everything is centrally located. Documents in a Project can be checked in and checked out, like a book in a library, and when documents are checked out, markups can be made if the proper permissions allow, before being checked back in. Document version history is also carefully recorded in a Project, so everyone knows who did what to a document and when.

This check-in/check-out system works best when there aren’t multiple collaborators. One collaborator may check out and make revisions to a document in isolation, before checking it back in for the next person to see at a different point in time.

But if there is ever a need for multiple collaborators, checking in and checking out documents in a Project becomes overly cumbersome—and potentially confusing. This is when initiating a Session makes sense. 

How to use both

Both Sessions and Projects, to be sure, are ultimately meant to be used in tandem, despite the fact that each has individual elements that make them useful on their own.

The best example is using Projects as a library of documents, which can be made available to any stakeholder who needs access to them. Individual documents can be checked in and checked out, downloaded, etc. Also, Projects can store any Windows-based file—so even Microsoft Word or Excel documents can be stored, checked out, worked on in their native application and checked back in—as well as images and DWG files.

Sessions, conversely, should occur within a Project when stakeholders need to hold specific, collaborative reviews of a document(s)—and those documents are only in the form of a PDF. Documents in a Project can be uploaded into a Session, and for a specific period of time collaborators should be invited to go in and make markups and comments before the Session is ended. What’s more, all changes made in a document in this scenario are saved back in the Project for all to view.

Both Projects and Sessions, furthermore, have the ability to carefully control who has permissions to documents. It may be wise, however, to maintain access to a Project only to stakeholders with ongoing and direct involvement in a build. Sessions, meanwhile, can be used to facilitate input on a document to an external third-party that doesn’t require full access or permissions to all documents.

While most construction workers might gravitate to one or the other, depending on the specific needs of a team or their role, using Bluebeam Projects and Sessions in tandem creates a special type of efficiency that is unmatched in construction technology.

Read more Bluebeam Tips & Tricks.

Century-old Fisher Body 21 has been a plant without a purpose for more than 30 years—but it could become the poster child for repurposing industrial buildings around Detroit and elsewhere

Nailhed, a website dedicated to exploring abandoned and decrepit buildings, once described Fisher Body Plant 21 as “one of the coolest hangouts on the Detroit ruin porn circuit.” Trespassers gain a firsthand view of the factory’s decay but also of the city’s manufacturing past in a structure included in the Piquette Avenue Industrial Historic District. Since 2004, this hub for automobile body production in the early to mid-20th century has been on the National Register of Historic Places.

Now, Fisher Body 21 is taking on new life. The plant often described as “blighted” and “eyesore” is the focus of a $134 million redevelopment to create the multi-use Fisher 21 Lofts, combining mixed-income apartments with retail and co-working space.

The development team sees the project as a way to transform an emblem of Detroit’s decline—located at the can’t-miss intersection of Interstates 75 and 94—into a symbol of the city’s revitalization. The metamorphosis of the 600,000-square-foot plant fell to McIntosh Poris, an architectural firm with a long history in Detroit and a wealth of experience in adaptive reuse.

Pursuing place-saving as well as place-making

Finding new purpose for Detroit’s old structures has been on McIntosh Poris’ radar for more than 30 years. Although rebuilding the city has moved slowly, the firm has completed several notable projects, including recasting a 1925 bank building into the techno nightclub Panacea and the Detroit Fire Department headquarters into the boutique Detroit Foundation Hotel.

Southside Aerial view, Rending courtesy of McIntosh Poris Architects.

“We work to keep these buildings intact and delay the wrecking ball as much as we can,” said John Skok, principal at McIntosh Poris. But he cautions against starting adaptive reuse with a rigid idea. “You have to do the due diligence to analyze the building’s condition, place and context before you impose a new use on it. We also engage in a community benefit interaction with the city’s planning department to ensure a project will be a catalyst for development in the neighborhood.”

From custom-crafted to steel-stamped

A look back at the plant’s history shows it was one of the first poured concrete structures in Detroit, with walls of windows that brought natural light to deep recesses. Soon after its 1919 completion, the auto industry shifted from using wooden bodies meticulously assembled by skilled carpenters to steel bodies stamped out by unskilled laborers working a hydraulic press.

During the Great Depression, the plant served as a soup kitchen and homeless shelter, then retooled to build artillery and airplane components for World War II. From 1956 until General Motors closed the factory in 1984, the plant produced Cadillac limousine bodies. After a few paint companies used the structure, it sat empty for decades.

The façade crumbled, vagrants broke out windows and a fire partially collapsed an elevator shaft. Although numerous potential developers considered the building for everything from a manufacturing facility to a nightclub, it took a perfect storm of city, community, developers and architects to find a reason for the structure’s existence that would pencil out. The financing relies, in part, on historic tax credits that require Fisher 21 Lofts to retain the building’s original character.

Slicing up a 3D grid to add a fourth dimension

The redevelopment started with structural testing and environmental reviews—along with remediation to remove lead and asbestos—to ensure the plant can be safely converted into housing. When this phase is finished, the team will have an open canvas in three dimensions, with huge concrete slabs, ceilings and columns creating a rigorous geometry. But a fourth dimension comes into play as well.

“In multifamily, you really can’t have long, deep units, so a key was bringing light and air into the building,” Skok said. That led to the decision to insert three atriums to break the massive floorplates into more accessible pieces. Cutting holes in the building required permission from the historic district and National Park Service, but fortunately, there was precedent in other projects that used historic tax credits to finance an adaptive reuse project.

 West Atrium View, Rendering courtesy of McIntosh Poris Architects.

Design that improves lives

In 2015, Detroit was named the first North American City of Design by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, making it one of more than 40 cities worldwide recognized for using design to improve the lives of everyday people. That includes ensuring a more equitable and sustainable future for residents.

Fisher 21 Lofts reflects these goals. For example, 20% of the units will be offered to income-eligible residents at below-market rates. And adaptive reuse is inherently sustainable given the carbon embodied in the original structure. Revitalizing the Fisher Body Plant represents an enormous reduction in emissions compared with constructing a new building of the same size.

In addition, the project achieves a long-held idea of what historically and culturally sensitive restoration in the city should be. Back in 1995, Michael Poris and then-Mayor Dennis Archer met to discuss downtown development strategies. Their second agenda item described “an environment that tells not only where Detroit is going, but where it has been, and why this is important to who we are today.” Fisher 21 Lofts is the embodiment of that vision.

New to Bluebeam? Give it a try!