Inside a meeting space on the second floor of Walbridge’s Detroit headquarters sits a new space where ideas are hatched, schedules are improved and teams develop new ideas for clients.
The WIN Lab space is an interactive room where participants can actively engage in “a room without boundaries.” It’s an area where collaboration and innovation combine with technology to help out clients and employees. With an extended Hoylu Tech 18-foot screen that features 680 dots per inch, digital pens that are down to the pixel, the room can showcase updated photos, BIM models, schedules, timelines and more.
“(It’s a room) where all the tools would be available to develop and explore ideas, leveraging our vast experience through improved access to data and resources,” said John Jurewicz, Leader of Technology Innovation for Walbridge.
From presentations with clients and internally to engagement of project teams, users have provided much praise for the space.
“This is a way for teams to look at something from a visual perspective,” Eric Twigg, Walbridge Vice President, said. “The ability to capture a wide-variety of ideas and deliver a new way to collaborate and provide solution is incredibly useful to all that use the room.”
The key to the room: a large display that’s completely interactive. In short, if you want to change a schedule, you could walk up and with a simple movement of the pen tool, it will be changed.
So what are the takeaways from user groups already? Here’s some of the responses:
- It’s easy to learn and use
- The room has immense flexibility – it can accommodate small groups or large group as big as 24 people
- It can be used for teaching, formal conferences or simple meetings
- Great use for schedules, planning and strategy sessions
- Easy to share ideas with external uses or bring in expertise from the outside
What’s more, the room will continue to grow in use. With implementation of continuous new technology, the room is certain to provide a space for continued collaboration and new ideas.
“We shouldn’t look at this as a one-time renovation,” Jurewicz said. “It should be viewed as the beginning of a process of how we need to transform and evolve. The WIN LAB should be ever-changing.”