Mackenzie delivers professional design services throughout the Pacific Northwest, catering to diverse market sectors from their offices in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle and Vancouver, Washington. The company specialises in architecture and interior design; structural, civil and traffic engineering; land use and transportation planning; and landscape architecture.
“Our company statement, ‘Design Driven. Client Focused’ traces back to the values of our founder. He started in the 1960s and was driven by the belief that ‘attention to detail, hard work, a respect for budgets, an insistence on quality, and a relentless focus on clients’ would lead to success,” says Rusty Gesner, associate principal, director of CAD/BIM, Mackenzie.
“We still focus on these values today as we design projects that contribute to economic vitality, environmental liveability and inclusive diversity.”
Streamlining Revit workflows with Ideate Software applications
Autodesk Revit is one of the tools used by Mackenzie to bring ideas to life. According to Gesner, they use Revit to develop high-quality designs, and Ideate Software to streamline workflows. “They are easy to deploy, manage and use,” he explained.
Ideate Software allows Revit users to have unprecedented control over their data and solve persistent problems in Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner (AECO) workflows. Ideate Software solutions enable Revit users to save time, increase accuracy, improve project deliverables, and elevate design.
Mackenzie uses all of the Revit productivity applications developed by Ideate Software. “Ideate Software sets the bar high for quality as well as responsiveness,” said Gesner who also described Ideate StyleManager as “another winner from Ideate”.
Ideate StyleManager addresses problems that occur when styles associated with content load into a model along with the content, or users create non-standard styles. Managing those unwanted styles reduces publishing errors and end-user confusion, but the management process in Revit can be time consuming and risky.
“You’ll appreciate Ideate StyleManager if you’ve ever been frustrated by: 1) searching and drilling down to determine if and where styles are used, 2) making sure there won't be collateral damage if you modify a style, 3) cleaning up the issues caused by importing and exploding a DWG, or 4) combining duplicate styles,” said Gesner.
“It’ll save you a lot of time by ensuring your efforts at cleanup and standards maintenance don't cause inadvertent side effects.”
Shaping Ideate Software
“We appreciate Rusty and the entire Mackenzie firm,” said Glynnis Patterson, director of software development at Ideate Software. “Not only do they use and promote our solutions, they also participate in beta testing, helping us achieve our goal of developing software that solves persistent problems encountered by BIM professionals in architecture, engineering, construction, and building owner workflows.”
