A leading architecture studio equips its design professionals with Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise.
PLP Architecture’s, team of architects, designers, and thinkers value the transformative role of ideas and the capacity for architecture to inspire. The latest digital technologies, including parametric design, are integral to the creative process and the collaborative and enquiring design approach of the studio.
PLP Architecture has long worked with Adobe creative software as part of the varied range of creative software helping its design teams and specialist groups to evolve ideas and deliver successful presentations; from visualization artists who specialize in renderings and animations to 3D modelmakers and graphic designers who realize a wide range of communications material.
“Adobe software, particularly Photoshop CC, is at the center of our multiple creative workflows,” says Mark Shattock, IT manager at PLP Architecture. “Adobe software is an important tool used at all stages of the design process and to effectively present our innovative designs to existing and potential clients, consultants, planning authorities, and to both the architectural profession and the wider community.”
Imperial West Technology Transfer Building; White City, London, UK. Client: Imperial College London and Voreda Capital
Mainstay software for an expanding design studio
Having typically purchased traditional Adobe creative software packages, PLP Architecture was faced with the issue of making sure everyone had the relevant software solutions to successfully fulfill their design activities.
The studio, limiting the number of software installations in relation to the number of licenses, had to track licenses for the software that moved from machine to machine while remaining aware of the specific applications to which the architects, interior architects, landscape architects, and urban designers had access. At the same time, the practice, having grown significantly since its inception in 2009, repeatedly acquired additional licenses that also needed to be tracked and managed.
Following a period of momentous growth in relation to a number of new UK and international commissions, Shattock considered this need for further software licenses as the opportune time to introduce a concurrent license model with Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise, rather than continuing to purchase earlier versions of the desktop software.
“The launch of Adobe Creative Cloud offers multiple advantages such as the ability to give everyone access to the necessary software,” says Shattock. “We upgraded the entire practice, at a key time, to Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise.”
Customizable creative software packages
PLP Architecture realized that Creative Cloud for enterprise would provide the organization with simple and easy access to a broad range of creative desktop applications and services, along with license management tools and enterprise-level technical support. Creative Cloud for enterprise also allowed flexible license true-ups to simplify software-tracking and financial management tasks.
The Creative Cloud Packager allows the IT department to customize and make available software for various design groups depending on their requirements, responsibilities, and tasks while maintaining centralized control of and transparency into software licenses.
“The ability to use Creative Cloud Packager to customize software packages for different groups based on their needs is very convenient,” says Shattock. “From an IT perspective, Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise makes managing our practice systems much simpler.”
Broad access fuels creative success
Nova, Victoria; Westminster, London, UK.
At PLP Architecture, Adobe InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, and Photoshop CC are go-to tools for illustrating projects and design proposals and are used by the graphic design team to present project-specific and communications material, combining a wide range of digital and print media.
The visualization team frequently finishes renderings using Photoshop CC, and produces and edits videos and rendered animations using Adobe Premiere Pro CC (noted by Richard Woolsgrove, head of visualization, for the seamless referencing of After Effects CC files, which makes working with the two products particularly efficient) and Adobe After Effects CC.
Additionally, the software is immediately available through the enterprise license when individuals or a design team wish to explore new applications for particular activities, for example Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC. “When our graphic design team recently requested to work with Adobe Muse CC, we were able to provide the program without having to negotiate a new purchase or manually install the software,” says Shattock.
Nova, Victoria; Westminster, London, UK. Client: Victoria Circle Limited Partnership (Land Securities and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)
Promoting growth, controlling costs
The enterprise agreement has made it easier to set current costs and to forecast future expenditure on software. New members of staff may be equipped with the most suitable package and costs reconciled at the end of the financial year.
Everyone uses the same version of software, so there are no issues with collaborating and exchanging files, adding to the benefits. “The flexible license model provided with Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise helps the studio respond to the different requirements of our projects and is much easier for the IT group to manage than traditional desktop software,” says Shattock. “With Adobe Creative Cloud, we always have the most current software versions and no longer have to purchase a piece of software and upgrade later. Ultimately with our enterprise agreement, we know what we spend on Adobe software each year and are able to budget in accordance with the studio’s current and projected workload and activities.”
Read the PLP Architecture case study.