🌆 ACE Club Digest - Working in the Studio

Hey there!

The next ACE Club meetup is on March 19 at 6:00pm (location Midtown, TBD)

Sign up using the link below (this will help you get reminders as the event gets closer).

And what are your thoughts on Bluebeam?

Today I (Emma) attended Bluebeam’s virtual webinar, “Bluebeam for Project Managers: Strategies for Execution.” I chose this webinar because I’m interested in how technology can improve my efficiency, it was free to attend, and fit within my schedule.

I estimate that most readers are familiar with the technology, but if not, imagine if Adobe Acrobat Pro received a college degree in engineering, architecture, and construction management. It’s a ACE virtual toolbelt!

Today’s webinar walked through 2 offerings in Bluebeam’s document management platform: Bluebeam Studio Sessions and Bluebeam Studio Project. Studio Sessions allows for the live mark-ups of drawings, and to make a mark up, you have to Check Out (Yes, like a library) a drawing, preventing multiple versions from being created. Using Studio Project, one can share any document, even to those without a license.

I have exclusively used Bluebeam to complete project tasks; virtually and seamlessly at my desk, I review shop drawings, mark-ups, ordering, combining documents, etc.; however, Bluebeam is not an all-in-one solution. Using Bluebeam I could not easily translate site findings into drawings. I either (i) note what mark-ups need to be done or (ii) make the mark-up on paper and then transfer it to the PDF on Bluebeam later. Now I see how Studio Session closes that gap; my site team can mark-up a drawing (using the cloud version of the software) and save the changes in real time.

Bluebeam’s Studio Project competes with the beloved Procore and runner-up of document management programs (at least in my world), Plangrid. Bluebeam’s Studio Project surprised me, because I’ve yet to see Studio Project on a project. I definitely appreciate Bluebeam looking to fit the market of one-stop drawing markup and management and I'm glad I took a moment today to zoom out and learn more about this offering that's included in my license.

I’ll be interested to see how construction document management platforms diversify their product suite and which gain share in the market… does anyone know of an upcoming webinar for that? Am I not aware of other platforms?

Hope to see everyone at the meet-up next month!

Featured Member & Project

Have you worked on a project that you’d like us to feature? Tell us about it!

🖼️ Call for designs

• LF25 Commemorative Poster Design Contest - Beginning in 2025, Living Future will be producing an annual commemorative poster for our flagship event, and they are looking for a winning design. The designer chosen will have their byline printed on the back of the poster, along with the sponsor of the poster and Letterpress PDX. Submit by March 15!

👨‍🏫 Upcoming AEC Courses & Events

• (2/25) Master Conflict Resolution in Construction - register here

• (3/15) Design for Fire Resilience, a Reimagine Buildings Conference - register here

• (3/12-3/13) NY Build conference - register here

📰 Our favorite reads, listens & watches

• Visit the Queens Museum to their exhibit about the Worlds Fair held in New York

• Get JLL’s Outlook on Design Trends 2025, highlighting people-centric design and technology

Don’t forget to subscribe to ACE to get updates about meet-up and events

Until next time,

Emma & Sawyer