Marilyn Walton, Herman Miller’s manager of advanced office development, envisions the company’s Second Life presence operating on several levels. First, the virtual world is “an environment where people can learn and then leave our island inspired about what they might do themselves,” she explains. Moreover, the virtual space can be used for collaborating, both internally and with clients, on design projects and product development. Finally, the 3-D platform provides a vivid showcase to present and sell merchandise— after all, you have to furnish your home and office in both the real and virtual worlds.
Still, Herman Miller isn’t ready for a permanent public presence in Second Life just yet. This October, the company expects to launch an island for private corporate events and internal business meetings, but without access for the general public. Meanwhile, Herman Miller will open a storefront space on another island selling virtual classic furniture designs for Second Life homes and offices.
For Autodesk, the leading provider to architects of digital prototyping tools, selling design software surprisingly wasn’t the main driver behind launching its Second Life island in May. “Second Life is a big science experiment, and we wanted our customers to have the opportunity to experience it,” says Phil Bernstein, Autodesk’s vice president for industry relations. A virtual world where users design and create their own structures “is the kind of place where we want to be,” he explains.
At the moment, you can’t design anything on the Autodesk island (that feature is under consideration), but you can visit two so-called zones: one includes billboards with information about products and industry news; another has a theater where an avatar can watch a video on issues like design and technology. Autodesk also hosts live events and discussions on hot architecture topics, such as sustainable design.
The island, notes Tatjana Dzambazova, Autodesk’s 3-D experience manager, “lets architects join together in one place to listen and ask questions.” Sort of like an endless AIA convention in real time on your computer. But Dzambazova thinks design-oriented companies need to be firmly planted in Second Life. “It is a new way of thinking, a new world, like the first mobile phone,” she says.
Setting up shop in this new world is Jon Brouchoud, an architect and founding partner of Crescendo Design in Cleveland, Wis. Because his real office is “in the middle of nowhere,” Brouchoud says, he uses his firm’s presence on the Autodesk island to take clients who live far away on tours as their projects progress through the design stage. “They can stay as long as they like and test out paint colors, furniture, and landscaping, or suggest moving a wall,” Brouchoud says. Unlike in the real world, he adds, virtual designs are “like a cardboard model you can walk into.”