The Zurich-based startup Archilogic was founded by four architects in March 2014 as a spin-off of the ETH. The startup enables its users, such as real estate portals or private customers, to simply generate 3D models of flats, rooms and houses from 2D plans. The browser-based interactive 3D models can be used to walk through or furnish rooms online and can be shared as a link or included in websites and presentations. Recently the Archilogic team raised $ 1.5m in growth funding and is one of the Swisscom StartUp Challenge finalist. Learn more about them in the interview with Sunnie J. Groeneveld.
Tomas Polach & Adam Jasper of Archilogic
SUNNIE: What does Archilogic do?
TOMAS POLACH: We develop a web-based cloud for 3D content in architecture and interior design. Basically we take a floor plan and/or photographs and return it as an interactive online 3D model.
ADAM JASPER: Archilogic effectively does two things: First, there’s our back-end which makes very fast interactive 3D models of any interior space, using webGL, which is the same standard Google Earth uses. So with Archilogic you can explore 3D space as easily as you play with Google Earth. Unlike Google Earth though, we don’t generate our material from a camera (or a satellite!). Instead, we just need floor plans. So we start from really poor data. Because we can start from really poor data and build something rich and comprehensive out of it, we can produce interactive 3D models in a much more efficient and economic way than anybody else. Second, there’s our frontend, which is an intuitive user interface. Users can not only explore an apartment from any web browser, they can also furnish and rearrange them.
SUNNIE: When did you start working on Archilogic?
TOMAS: The founders, Frederic Schwarz, Pascal Babey, Kaspar Helfrich and I started 1.5 years ago. Adam joined us as one of our very first employees. Today, we count 17 people.
SUNNIE: Who are the main clients of Archilogic?
ADAM: At the moment, our most important constituency are people looking to sell, rent or buy an apartment. They have an immediate need to communicate spatial information with each other, and a 3D model of a property that they can seamlessly upload onto the web is extremely useful. We serve these users by teaming up with real estate portals who already have an established reputation, and it turns out that this works very well.
SUNNIE: What’s the vision going forward?
TOMAS: Our main aim is to empower everyone who interacts with space – architects, his or her clients, investors and real estate professionals – and give them a better tool to communicate about any type of built environment.
ADAM: To this day, architectural interiors are communicated in one of three ways: either using a photorealistic computer generated image (static), a floor plan (abstract and technical) or a photograph. When you suddenly have an application like Archilogic generating 3D interactive models, it changes everything. All of a sudden, everybody involved in a building project understands exactly how the space will look. It’s a huge leap in skills, especially on the non-professional side. It changes the entire conversation between clients and architects. It’s like going from learning how to play tic-tac-toe (Kreis und Kreuz) to being able to solve a Rubik’s cube in 30 seconds. Archilogic is at the cusp of a revolution that is essentially democratizing architecture.
As one of the ten finalists of the Swisscom StartUp Challenge Archilogic will now compete against the other startups in the pitch session on 14 August. In addition to the main prize – a Business Acceleration Program in Silicon Valley – the finalists also have the chance to be voted the public’s favourite. The startup with the most votes will win a VIP ticket to the Swiss Innovation Forum. Vote for your favourite now and with a bit of luck you could win an iPhone 6. Good luck!
On a regular basis Sunnie J. Groeneveld provides us exciting interviews with ETH Spin-offs. You find all interviews here.
