Go-2-School Homepage

How would you re-design a client’s kitchen in 30 minutes? What if you couldn’t visit the house or work from drawings of any sort? I witnessed my business partner do just that at the AIA trade show in Miami. As School’s lead instructor, he should be handy with Skethcup, but this display at Masco Cabinetry’s booth was impressive nonetheless. A post on the Sketch This! blog called it “building kitchens from space!”. We call it Mike Tadros…and Google Earth and SketchUp.

“What’s your address?” said Mike as he opened Google Earth. The next 30 minutes passed by quickly: he found her house, turned it into a 3-dimensional model in SketchUp, and began to fly her through Masco’s cabinet catalog. She moved closer to the display screen, directing the installation of the particular KraftMaid cabinets she had just specified a moment ago and clearly enthusiastic about the virtual re-design. It was, hands-down, the best design meeting I’ve ever witnessed. Granted, Mike was only producing a conceptual sketch – but the interactive nature of the meeting was powerful.

For a more detailed recap, including pictures, please read Eric Shimelpfenig’s first-hand account.