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Architects tune in to internet to speed up and green up specification process
May 4, 2008Matthew Duder
Just twelve months after its launch, online architectural product library eboss today registered its 6000th subscriber. The rapid take-up from New Zealand’s design professionals reflects the architectural and construction industries’ willingness to embrace technology that not only streamlines the way they work but encourages environmental sustainability.
The Kiwi-developed eboss site has been intuitively designed to save both time and resources. Providing information for a variety of architectural drawing programmes, eboss allows architects, designers and engineers to browse and specify from a user-friendly library of reliably up-to-date product manuals.
With over 5000 technical details this online availability also serves to reduce the heavy environmental impact associated with the mass production of printed manuals and catalogues, traditionally needed to fill individual practice libraries up and down the country.
“Until recently paper was still king in the world of design specification for all manner of products, spanning cladding to tapware, roofing to kitchen appliances,” explains eboss general manager, Matthew Duder. “eboss has dramatically and rapidly changed this.”
eboss’s 6000 subscribers include over 70% of New Zealand’s registered architects. And while product information is generally available on individual suppliers’ websites, eboss’s appeal to the architectural community lies primarily in the comprehensive nature of its product library.
“The simplicity of the eboss website allows fast and easy access so there’s no time wasted searching individual suppliers’ websites for the information we need,” explains Brent Hulena, owner and principal of Hulena Architects in Auckland.
eboss, which also publishes a monthly online product magazine, has already established itself as an important communication vehicle between supplier and specifier.
“The eboss mechanism provides a simple, easy-to-use and, most importantly, up-to-date environment where specifiers can obtain electronic information in various formats for direct insertion into their drawings,” says Shane Walden, marketing manager for leading architectural supply firm APL. “eboss allows us to release new product ranges and disseminate the information widely and quickly.”
Offering encouragement to small or start-up enterprises, Duder points outs that eboss provides a genuinely level playing field for all Kiwi manufacturers and suppliers to compete on, irrespective of size or marketing budget.
“Given the vast number of individual architectural and interior design practices in New Zealand, for many smaller suppliers, getting new product information and updates in front of their entire target audience had become a prohibitively expensive exercise. Now all this information is available online and in one place, allowing boutique operators the opportunity to showcase products to their target market alongside more established product suppliers, and providing specifers with a much wider choice of products.”
The willingness shown by architects to embrace the eboss system will also play a significant role in the wider construction industry’s concerted effort to go green.
“A conservative estimate would equate the number of technical manuals in architectural offices across the country to over 15,000 trees,” suggests Duder. “Given the move towards environmentally sustainable design, online specification allows both supplier and specifier to address this anomaly and reduce their impact on the environment.”
This is a view endorsed by Wellington architect Ashley Cox. “A paperless office has always been an ideal,” he explains. “Although I’ll always hang on to some hard copies of key documents, eboss is helping me make that a reality.”
ABOUT EBOSS
Launched in May 2007 to provide design and construction professionals with updated online access to product information, eboss has a current membership base of 6000 users. The eboss model of combining online library and e-publications has generated interest from other industries, including automotive, medical and pharmaceutical, in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
eboss is a New Zealand company, with six private shareholders including Eftpos NZ co-founder, Mark Thomson, and is presently located at Auckland’s business incubator, The Icehouse.
For more information or comment from eboss, contact Matthew Duder directly.
Matthew Duder
General Manager, eboss
T 09 308 6229
M 021 675 960
E matthew.duder@eboss.co.nz
Posted on May 13, 2008 - 08:05 PM
Just twelve months after its launch, online architectural product library eboss today registered its 6000th subscriber. The rapid take-up from New Zealand’s design professionals reflects the architectural and construction industries’ willingness to embrace technology that not only streamlines the way they work but encourages environmental sustainability.
The Kiwi-developed eboss site has been intuitively designed to save both time and resources. Providing information for a variety of architectural drawing programmes, eboss allows architects, designers and engineers to browse and specify from a user-friendly library of reliably up-to-date product manuals.
With over 5000 technical details this online availability also serves to reduce the heavy environmental impact associated with the mass production of printed manuals and catalogues, traditionally needed to fill individual practice libraries up and down the country.
“Until recently paper was still king in the world of design specification for all manner of products, spanning cladding to tapware, roofing to kitchen appliances,” explains eboss general manager, Matthew Duder. “eboss has dramatically and rapidly changed this.”
eboss’s 6000 subscribers include over 70% of New Zealand’s registered architects. And while product information is generally available on individual suppliers’ websites, eboss’s appeal to the architectural community lies primarily in the comprehensive nature of its product library.
“The simplicity of the eboss website allows fast and easy access so there’s no time wasted searching individual suppliers’ websites for the information we need,” explains Brent Hulena, owner and principal of Hulena Architects in Auckland.
eboss, which also publishes a monthly online product magazine, has already established itself as an important communication vehicle between supplier and specifier.
“The eboss mechanism provides a simple, easy-to-use and, most importantly, up-to-date environment where specifiers can obtain electronic information in various formats for direct insertion into their drawings,” says Shane Walden, marketing manager for leading architectural supply firm APL. “eboss allows us to release new product ranges and disseminate the information widely and quickly.”
Offering encouragement to small or start-up enterprises, Duder points outs that eboss provides a genuinely level playing field for all Kiwi manufacturers and suppliers to compete on, irrespective of size or marketing budget.
“Given the vast number of individual architectural and interior design practices in New Zealand, for many smaller suppliers, getting new product information and updates in front of their entire target audience had become a prohibitively expensive exercise. Now all this information is available online and in one place, allowing boutique operators the opportunity to showcase products to their target market alongside more established product suppliers, and providing specifers with a much wider choice of products.”
The willingness shown by architects to embrace the eboss system will also play a significant role in the wider construction industry’s concerted effort to go green.
“A conservative estimate would equate the number of technical manuals in architectural offices across the country to over 15,000 trees,” suggests Duder. “Given the move towards environmentally sustainable design, online specification allows both supplier and specifier to address this anomaly and reduce their impact on the environment.”
This is a view endorsed by Wellington architect Ashley Cox. “A paperless office has always been an ideal,” he explains. “Although I’ll always hang on to some hard copies of key documents, eboss is helping me make that a reality.”
ABOUT EBOSS
Launched in May 2007 to provide design and construction professionals with updated online access to product information, eboss has a current membership base of 6000 users. The eboss model of combining online library and e-publications has generated interest from other industries, including automotive, medical and pharmaceutical, in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
eboss is a New Zealand company, with six private shareholders including Eftpos NZ co-founder, Mark Thomson, and is presently located at Auckland’s business incubator, The Icehouse.
For more information or comment from eboss, contact Matthew Duder directly.
Matthew Duder
General Manager, eboss
T 09 308 6229
M 021 675 960
E matthew.duder@eboss.co.nz
