It’s Official!

ProRepro has been awarded the 2010 International Green Reprographer Award

Sustainability: is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing

During the annual IRGA show in Palm Springs, CA on May 19^th  ProRepro was selected as the winner from a pool of qualified entrants who submitted applications via Océ website. Océ, a leading international provider of digital document management technology and services, has made sustainability a key practice. This award is based on the business practices and efforts that have assisted their customers to meet their own sustainability goals.

The award is based from an independent panel of judges including Denise Gustavson, Editor of Wide-Format Imaging magazine, Robert Cassidy, Editor-in-Chief of Building Design+Construction magazine, and Ed Avis, principal of imaging industry, and author of The Green Reprographics Handbook, selected ProRepro as the winner based on its company wide dedication to sustainability.

The panel of judges cited ProRepro’s use of ENERGY STAR® rated reprographic equipment, conversion of 99% of its equipment from solid toner to cartridge free technology, FSC certified or 30% poster consumer waste recycled paper usage, Sustainable Reprographics Solutions (SRS) ® program, the developed alternative sustainable solution to replace Gatorboard or foam core, and ProRepro’s active participation in the 2010 Project Playhouse Fundraiser.

The Green Reprographer Award is a great honor to ProRepro and we give thanks to all the support from the clients, industry, and community!

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. What have you done to show thanks for the Earth?

Here are 10 easy ways to show appreciation to Mother Earth, save a little money, and become more environmentally understanding:

1. Use compact fluorescent lamps to reduce your carbon footprint.
2. Go see Disney’s Oceans and Disneynature, Disney’s filmmakers, will make a donation to save our coral reefs.
3. Choose your detergent wisely. A lot of brands use phosphates and petroleum products. Phosphate promotes algae growth, which can have an adverse effect on the eco-system. Petroleum can be hard on the planet and increase the need for oil. Using concentrated detergent saves energy because it takes less spaced and fuel in its distribution. The saves energy and promotes a healthier environment. Also avoid using the dryer. Use a clothing line to let clothes air-dry.
4. Carry a cloth bag instead of a plastic one. Grocery stores everywhere are starting to adapt this simple alternative. These bags are inexpensive and provide an easy way to decrease plastic bag use and provide consumers with reusable item.
5. Park your car for the day and walk. Save money on the gas and take in your surroundings. Also, walking promotes a healthier lifestyle!
6. Skip the bottled water. Bottled water is expensive and generates a large amount of container waste. Use a water filter and a reusable bottle.
7. Buy from local farmers. Buying from a farmers market cuts the transportation fuel and pollution caused by goods shipped from overseas.
8. Go Paperless! Pay as many bills online as possible.
9. 10 minute showers-make it a goal for yourself!
10. Lastly, the most widely known green principle: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Separate recyclables from your regular trash. This takes little effort and is a no-brainer. Recycling aluminum cans for instance takes as little as 5% of the energy we need to manufacture virgin aluminum.

Color has become the standard for everything these days. We use colors to communicate textures, locations, warnings, and ideas. It’s safe to say that color is one of our most important communication tools. Although the AEC market has not made it the “official” standard to plot in color there have been great advances in color printing technology. In fact color documents can help reduce errors and increase understanding.

Many in the AEC industry perceive color plotting to be too slow, more expensive due to coated media, messy, and time consuming. Color toner has now been introduced for plotting and does not require the use of inkjet. This technology boasts faster speeds and a price point comparable to monochrome printing.

As projects continue to grow in complexity and building codes become more restrictive the costs of mistakes and delays keep increasing. In a USP AEC market study firms were asked to identify the consequences of their failure cost. All responses were double digit and ranged from 82% less profit/more cost to 29% for jurisdictional consequences. Firms were also asked if serious actions would be taken to reduce mistakes and delays on projects. Many of the large firms responded yes to taking action to reduce these risks, while many small firms responded they may or may not take action. One inexpensive way to start is to use construction documents plotted in full color. It is a low-risk/cost approach to reducing critical margins for error that could see a high return on the investment.

Peter Lawrence, AEC document workflow guru, makes a pointed statement in reference to color becoming an industry standard. “There is paradigm shift taking place right now, and the sooner we embrace it, the sooner we can start reaping the benefits.”

Pro Repro is participating in this paradigm shift by taking the next steps into the color-plotting era by providing our clients with the tools and advice to reduce errors and enhance communication among their projects and teams. By working with our clients to showcase the benefits of switching to color we soon hope the changes will become universal throughout the AEC industry.

Between work, association meetings, church, and the family it is so easy to forget to go along each day with the right attitude. As crazy as life gets people tend to get wrapped up in the moment forgetting the wonderful life we have been blessed with. With the rough times that we have made it through, I believe that the attitude should always be one of gratitude.

Attitude is very powerful thing; it is contagious. It is no recent idea that being positive and grateful adds to a longer life span. Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health. Having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. It’s also thought that positive optimistic people live healthier lifestyles – they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and have reduced rates of smoking and alcohol consumption.

One of the incredible truths about gratitude is that it is impossible to feel both the positive emotion of thankfulness and a negative emotion such as anger or fear at the same time. Gratitude births only positive feelings –love, compassion, joy, and hope. As we focus on what we are thankful for, negative feeling simply melt away.

A quote by John Welwood, “Attitudes are the underpinnings of action.” Welwood implies you can’t change on the outside until and unless you transform your thinking, the way you imagine yourself, and your reality. The good news is that you really can decide to see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, and that decision will have profoundly positive effects not only on your happiness and that of those around you, but on the way your whole life unfolds.

Here at Pro Repro the “attitude of gratitude” is one of the key foundations that our company is built upon.  We are grateful for our clients and the privilege to work with them as their technology partner. Using the attitude of gratitude in our work and daily lives the people of Pro Repro hope to impart the idea of being happy, healthy, and enjoyment of life.

Growing up what would your perfect playhouse looked like? Would it have been a giant baseball, a motorcycle shop, or how about a hockey inspired playhouse complete with miniature rink? Playing on the idea of anything is possible Home Aid Orange County presents the philanthropic event, Project Playhouse.

Project Playhouse debuted in 1992 and has raised more than five million dollars to aid homeless families by building and maintaining of dignified housing. Project Playhouse has become such a success due to the hardworking building and design teams who donate their time and money and for the cause. These playhouses come equipped with working electrical systems and include things such as flat panel screen TV’s, fireplaces, kitchen appliances, and entertainment systems.

The Irvine Spectrum Center will hosts this year’s Project Playhouse to showcase the beauty and design of these unique structures.  The playhouses, complete with landscaping, will be on display for six weeks starting Saturday July 31, 2010. The event will end with a live public auction where the proceeds go to help rebuild homeless families’ lives.

This year Pro Repro has teamed with LPA, Turner Construction, Wahoo’s, Fuscoe Engineering, Tangram Interiors, and Mi Ocean to design and build one of these fantasy playhouses. For what is surely to be a memorable event the excitement has begun to “build” at Pro Repro in anticipation…stay tuned for updates.

As blogging and social media are becoming a commonality between companies today, I decided to pick my top 10 favorite architecture blogs. These blogs give advice, tips, and great insight into what the current issue and trends our in the Architecture industry. There numbering does not relate to any ranking, but listed alphabetically.

1. A Daily Dose of Architecture: John Hill, an architectural student in New York, covers a pretty daily architectural journal from America’s mid-west. His well-written blog attracts many designers and architects.

2. anArchitecture: Vienna, Austria resident Christoph Wassmann blog  is a auditorium for the latest links and opinions that are focused on architectural thinking.

3. Archinect: Bringing together different disciplines from all over the world, Archinect allows the openness to discuss new ideas hitting the industry.

4. BLDGBLOG: Geoff Manaugh, editor of BLDGBLOG provides a interesting and exciting arena for “architectural conjecture,” “urban speculation, and “landscape futures.

5. Inhabitat: Inhabitat follows the new and developing technologies, practices, and materials that allow architects insight to the sustainability movement.

6. Interactive Architecture: Editor Glynn Ruairi covers emerging architectural and artistic practices. He teaches at the Bartlett, UCL and is an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martin College, UAL.

7. Revit3D: For all you Revit users out there! Gregory Arkin, Revit evangelist, shares his knowledge with tips and advice on using the Revit software.

8. Revit-Bim: Squidoo host a collection of Revit/Bim related blogs with information, insights, and tips on what is currently going on with the popular program.

9. Revit: David Light, currently employed as the Revit specialist from HOK London, Light focuses on building smart design principles. With tutorials, tools, and tips Light points the direction on Revit.

10. Super Colossal: Sydney based Marcus Trimble is a design tutor at the University of Sydney. Trimble offers insight into architectural insight also providing archives at his former site.

“Revit Renovatio”

By: Justin Davis

The relationship between Revit and 3-D printing has proven its potential for generating a worthwhile Architectural model.  Autodesk began supporting, with the release of Revit Architecture 2010, a plug-in that outputs the .STL (Stereo Lithography) file format that is commonly used in 3-D printing and rapid prototyping.

Even though the potential for 3-D printing from Revit exists, that isn’t to say that the “art-form” of 3-D printing has lost any of its “artsy-ness”. Although, the industry would like to be able to simply output an .STL file from Revit, hit the print button, and get results – that is often times not the case. However, with the right tools and file preparation process, 3-D printing a Revit architecture file can yield some favorable results.

Architectural form, typically, is easily translated from three dimensional space into a three dimensional model. The difficulty in printing an architectural model lies in the details; “the devil is in the details”. Interpolating and translating architectural details from a BIM modeler such as Revit requires a simplification process that must be approached with the utmost care so as not to destroy any of the Architect’s vision. It is at this point that 3-D printing becomes an art.

The following model was created in Revit entirely from “scratch” in roughly ten hours using a set of not-to-scale plans and hand sketched exterior elevations. Some input was provided by the architect via telephone the following was achieved.

Even though the timeframe wasn’t ideal this model project was started on a Friday morning and the model was delivered the following Monday. The model printed over the weekend. Allowed more time, imagine the possibilities of this technology.

 “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

This quote may pertain more to the garage sale lovers,  however it’s a fitting gesture for the principles of sustainability practices. Professional Reprographics recycling program, Sustainable Reprographic Solutions, SRS, provides clients a method of turning their trash into cash.

SRS, is a on-site site based recycling program. SRS provides client based receptacles, regular pick-ups, sorting, and transportation to the recycling centers for reimbursement. Using the SRS program allows the client the flexibility to decide the usage of the funds to a charity of their choice. Not only do the advantages consist of ease of use and flexibility but also firms are then able to become a part of the environmental movement.

The more trash that is collected and sorted the more money goes to benefit organizations around our community. Taller House San Jose and Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach are just a few groups that have benefited from the SRS program. 

Doing your part to become a member of the environmental movement has never been this easy. I have enjoyed seeing different organizations benefit from this simplistic system. I look forward to see what the future of these organizations will be with the help of Professional Reprographics and our clients.

Welcome! Welcome to the official, auspicious, ever popular, Professional Reprographics blog-a-torium; or so we hope. Dear readers, it is with immense pride and excitement that Professional Reprographics presents you with the latest in trends, technology, and forecasting as related to our industry. As a visual communications company Professional Reprographics strives to be the industry leader in communicative innovative technologies. With this blog Professional Reprographics will attempt to investigate the evolving reprographics industry and what that means for the future. With the aid of advancing technology the future of communications appears to be on the cusp of revolutionizing how the world interacts.