Professional Institutions should be part of the Metaverse
It’s 9:30AM. You walk into your office lobby, save for you- it’s empty. Just how you like it. You step into the glass and gold gilded lift and the rise 300 storeys into your 360 degree glass penthouse office space with Griffins flying outside the window. A moment to take it all in. This is how the other half live. You open your email and check your account balance- do these zeros ever come to an end? A message pops up- your bid on the new Banksy has been accepted. Kanye or Ye is losing his marbles because he had his eye on it. Ce la vie. The best man won. Sound like a dream? Well, it’s not. As the world readily embraces the digital world of bitcoin, NFTs and virtual real estate, this can be your world in the Metaverse.
The corporate world is changing. Gone is the dreaded commute to a sprawling open plan office.
The traditional model of being able to afford a house near your job quickly becoming a thing of the past. The commute once a necessary evil for many has reduced with the pandemic or gone forever. People are resigning from there jobs in their millions, reconfiguring their careers and moving away from traditional 9–5 office demands. With high levels of remote working, cities and towns are now competing for residents, why rent an expensive, often small city centre apartment when an ocean view and a garden is now possible? Digital is here to stay and there is a question around how long paper based money will last.
Now we have Bitcoin, the great reset.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is spending £20 million on Stage 1 of the refurbishment of 66 Portland Place in London, cited as a ‘transformation’ of a physical HQ, which is the home of British Architecture. Chief executive, Alan Vallance stated, “89% of staff want to continue working from home half the week”, but as you can see maintaining these physical professional institutions or institutes is an ongoing cost the membership has to bear, let’s not even talk about the heating bills.
As many of us know many professional bodies are made up from members, often many hundreds or thousands of miles away from these physical ‘learning palaces’ accessibility is often a barrier feeling you are part of your professional body. Regional and overseas councils do help as you can meet locally, but the pandemic has seen us move from physical meetups to virtual gatherings. It’s so much more efficient to logoff work and jump into a zoom meeting. The ICE, IstructE and RIBA do have digital offerings, ways of learning through online CPD and Journals enabled through a domain ownership, but it’s just a website; it’s very web 2.0 and so often a lacklustre experience.
But what if professionals embraced web 3.0 and joined the Metaverse? What regulation exists in such a digital sphere and do digital liberations even want any regulation? Do the professionals even understand what the benefits are of meta-services and how would regulation of meta-services even happen? Are your appointments and contracts, ‘smart’ and ‘meta-ready’ to cope with this virtual world? Protocols of engagement needs establishing.
Let’s start with what are the current problems with lack of regulation in the metaverse, well Louie B Rosenberg, a computer scientist from founder and CEO of swarm intelligence company Unanimous AI states, “In the metaverse, you will be covertly targeted by people who look and act like any other user but are really AI-controlled agents that have been programmed to engage you in “promotional conversation.” With access to your facial expressions and vocal inflections, they will pitch you more skillfully than any used-car salesperson, adapting to your emotions in real-time. So being genuine, being verified is very important, and this is where professional membership bodies could start to assist there professional members and create a digital validation blockchain (RIBA, ICE, IStructE & AIA etc) that is only given to professionals of those institutions, you need to know who you are engaging with and appointing, it gives some form of protection for the consumer. I am sure some will argue against regulation, saying consumers can simply opt-out of the metaverse if they don’t want to submit to being tracked and profiled. but these platforms will become so essential to how we access our world that opting-out no longer becomes a choice.
Architects and programmers must now work together and to build and create the metaverse and offer digital services. Design professionals are best equipped to enrich the creation of the metaverse and creating NFT’s is now going to be growing market of revenue.
Zaha Hadid Architects recently created a groundbreaking concept at Art Basel Miami. Defined as a fusion of architecture and social interaction in the metaverse, the interactive gallery gives users the opportunity to get to know a person in the world of the metaverse. The project mainly uses cyberspace, video game technologies and vast clouds. As a result, the project is so interactive yet unique. Moreover, it is available through many different devices.
Decentralad Architects claim to be the World’s Virtual Architectural Firm for the metaverse. In there words, “Decentraland is a virtual world that is built on the blockchain. It allows users to purchase parcels and plots of land using the in-game cryptocurrency Mana. Since its launch, the real estate market has been booming. We spotted an opportunity to service land owners and property developers by being a one-stop-shop for design and animation of the virtual world projects”.
However, are you ready to offer professional design services for this new lucrative virtual real estate market? Following the pandemic owners of physical buildings are struggling because tenants are either giving up office space or downsizing the size of the space. The rise of video conferencing companies has been rapid, they have achieved great success. Well one architect is already doing it, Voxel Architects, Leandro Bileca created Voxel Architects in 2019 as he could see that there is a market for having ‘architects’ designing the metaverse, it was previously designed by programmers. Voxel get 10–30 projects a week, it can cost up to $300,000 per project to create metaverse real estate and this is where professionals could become profitable in a less risky venture than building in the real world, it is also much less impactful on the physical environment.
The question for consumers is why would you use a chartered architect, civil and structural engineer in the Metaverse? Whatever you think of that question, if you can design well in the real world moving to the virtual should be a much easier transition, talented designers are always in demand. However, let’s look in more details at what does it mean for professionals who offer design services:
- You don’t always require a client before you begin as you can build your own reputation for your design ability through social interaction (build a following) and then clients can follow.
- You will need to develop new ways of storytelling which could mean gamification of 3D assets, motion design and animation design.
- Level playing fields exist for emerging and/or less represented professionals, setup costs are low.
- You don’t necessarily need to comply with building regulations/codes, giving you more design freedom.
- You spend more time designing, less time with doing paperwork and hopefully less time chasing payments.
- Designing in the Metaverse could help with diversity, the creator economy in the Metaverse could offer equal opportunities for emerging and/or less represented professionals regardless of your gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship and location.
- Entering competitions to win commissions will be easier, the removal of large professional indemnity insurance (PII) and collateral warranties may not apply when designing virtual experiences for brands and landowners.
- You can make money by creating NFT’s and selling directly to the market.
Clients may also want to take there BIM (digital model) into the metaverse to raise further revenue, imagine the Louvre in the metaverse? Photo editing and design software manufacturer Pixlr is bringing its extensive expertise and its 500 million strong global community to bear, with plans to create a decentralized art museum of NFTs named Pixlr Genesis. The ambitious goal is to rival the likes of the Louvre, MOMA, and the National Gallery but in the metaverse.
Look at the recent Ariana Grande concert, one of the first metaverse concerts, it was a live event inside Fortnite, imagine the ‘Meta O2 arena’ and the endless virtual concerts you could host.
Retail fashion brands such as Belenciaga, Gucci and Nike all have created Digiphysical Apparel, NFT’s for your avatar as a skin and are planning to open stores in the Metaverse, opportunities to create virtual stores will only continue.
Travis Scott and Fortnite Present: Astronomical was located on Fortnite island, the island owned by Epic was the stage. Scott moved around the island, while players could run across the water to catch a glimpse. As the tracks changed, so did the visuals, Fortnite’s net worth is now $2 billion and it can pull in the biggest music artists in the world and yes the best designers. You can see why Voxel Architects are creating virtual art galleries where you can sell your digital Non-fungible token (NFT) artwork for Bitcoin. Walk into “One BC Virtual HQ & Galleries”, grab a pre theatre drink at “Token Smart Lounge” before entering “Token Smart Amphitheatre”, able to house over 100 people, this unique amphitheatre can host all types of events, from parties to meetings, from music to poetry.
In simple terms the metaverse allows you to better communicate virtually you can conduct professional meetings and events, it’s much better than zoom as you are in a virtual room where you can walk around and access documents and send links in real time. Bill Gates says “the metaverse will host most of your office meetings within ‘two or three years”, the technology will need to improve though, as wearing a VR headset for long periods is not exactly a pleasant experience. For people without a VR headset you still have traditional video capability, you can have a blended approach.
Ericsson published a report suggesting the “dematerialized office” will take hold by 2030, which means folks will interact professionally completely in virtual spaces. Dismiss AR and VR at your peril as spending is increasing from $12 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion in 2024, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
With everything I have outlined the metaverse could bring more opportunities for architects and other professionals either fully designing buildings or having this as an additional service. Consideration of how you conduct your business, T&C’s, fee negotiations and how you get paid (bitcoin needs careful consideration), you may find your digital wallet increasing daily and one day you will pay your membership fees this way.
Finally does the RIBA, ICE and IstructE need to own land in the metaverse, the answer I believe is a resounding yes! It makes sense to have digi-land and a digital twin of the institution because professional services will invariably expand and into these profitable areas. In addition, members anywhere in the world will interact easier with a virtual HQ and could learn, participate in many more events, it could actually increase membership. Virtual land ownership is rising fast, with demand to own your virtual location in web 3.0 professional institutions shouldn’t waste time establishing a Meta presence.
Disclaimer: Views are my own and not that of any company I work for.