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Project Management Apps. Architect Paolo Sabbadin's Experience with Mela

Paolo Sabbadin is a brilliant architect and engineer. He is based in London, where he has founded PSAO, his own studio. He uses Mela to help him out in many different tasks: from managing and sharing project updates with the rest of his team to report writing – none of these tasks were ever done so quickly and efficiently!

01 Jun 2021 02 min Share

Project Management Apps

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Project management apps. Paolo Sabbadin is a London-based architect and engineer. In 2018, he started PSAO, an architecture studio focused on designing and redefining indoor spaces, both residential and commercial. His projects combine quality, esthetic appeal and functionality.

We spoke to him on the phone one evening, while - as he explained to us - he was looking over a series of photographs taken by his studio, showing the internal architecture of a historical building in Chelsea, London. A magnificent example of how clean lines and a contemporary style can match monumental architecture with harmony, creating unexpected solutions. Check out the spectacle below!

- Welcome to Old London! -

"My studio is made up of three in-house professionals plus a set of freelances, and is devoted to designing and performing internal and external architecture works, from the initial stages, where we develop the technical and administrative aspects of it, all the way down to their on-site construction" explained Paolo Sabbadin. "We work alongside the company in charge, and we take care of all internal finishes as well, determined by what the client demands".

- The architect Paolo Sabbadin - 

Project Management App. Sharing information between different countries across Europe

"Our field of action is focused mainly in London, but we have projects in France and Italy as well," he continues. "Because of this, the digital approach is essential for us: not just as a tool for making CAD-based designs, but also to communicate among us, or to share pictures and documents remotely with collaborators and worksites".

And that's not all.

Recording any changes in the project immediately

"Our projects, especially the residential ones, frequently deal with many changes as they progress. Between the project design stages, to the moment in which we actually build, we usually go through frequent modifications and adjustments" continues Sabbadin. "This means that many decisions have a domino effect, and end up involving the entire team, so to recover the original project, we often have to go back months."

"We have found the right response thanks to Mela. On site, we usually take lots of pictures and share them with the team. On a daily or hourly basis, we also share the different critiques or changes that may have arisen - or that are now preferable."

"For example, if we modify the original project and change the shape of an alcove, then we need to inform the workers immediately because they would now have an outdated blueprint on-site" explains the architect. "If we don't send them the new project immediately, then they will unavoidably make that alcove wrong!"

Because of this, it is essential to have control - in person or remotely through Mela - over the works being performed on-site and to communicate instantly with remote locations, even those abroad.

"At first, we used WhatsApp, but we always ran the risk of losing the information, plus the pictures were too large and slowed down our phones, or we would lose the order of the events," says Sabbadin. "Now, thanks to the Mela app we can avoid this risk altogether, and the phone's memory is always free thanks to the cloud storage feature".

Thanks to Mela, I can create reports quickly based on notes, pictures, and site documents

Paolo's work requires frequent meetings at different worksites, and minutes need to be taken to document the different works in progress or any possible modifications made on the original project, which can then be relayed to the professionals on the field or to the clients.

Before, sending a report required sitting in front of a computer, adding pictures and documents to a folder, copying all notes to a Word file, then adding an Excel spreadsheet for any calculations. This was very time-consuming!

"With Mela, I can do everything while I am at the construction site: I just snap a few pictures, take notes, and create reports on a letterhead directly" explains Sabbadin. "And every professional who is working on a specific project gets instant updates about everything that is happening, divided by topic: plumbing installations, electrical fixtures, carpentry works…"

Mela impresses the clients!

In January of this year, Sabbadin's studio was tasked with restructuring a marvellous, gothic-style monumental complex attached to a school in Norwood, London.

- Virgo Fidelis School, London -

“Dal momento che in un’ala dello stesso complesso si trova attualmente un’altra scuola, il Dipartimento di educazione statale prima dei lavori ci ha chiesto un report fotografico, per esaminare lo stato dell’edificio e assicurarsi che non ci fossero danni” racconta l’architetto. “Gli ho risposto: lo facciamo oggi, e lui mi ha guardato incredulo”

“Così, invece di chiamare un geometra che scattasse le foto e le importasse in un documento word, ho usato Mela e nel giro di poche ore ho realizzato un dettagliato report fotografico!”