One Firm, Two Languages, and a Detail Library That Speaks Both
GKC Architecture & Design has spent more than sixty years building deep technical expertise in large-scale industrial, commercial, and office projects. Since 2020, the Montreal-based firm has expanded its reach, opening an office in Toronto and establishing a team presence in Vancouver while developing opportunities in the United States and delivering projects across Canada.
That reach creates a complex documentation challenge. GKC works in English and French, uses both metric and imperial measurements, and designs under building codes that vary by province. A detail created for a French-speaking team working in millimeters may later need to serve an English-speaking team working in inches, and potentially under a different set of regional requirements.
As BIM Director Alexander Kravec explains, “Right off the bat, you have four different ways of doing everything.”
GKC chose Pirros to bring those different contexts together. Rather than allowing decades of project knowledge to remain scattered across files, offices, and the memories of experienced architects, the firm created one shared place where teams can find, understand, and build on what GKC already knows.
Creating One Source of Truth
Before Pirros, designers looking for a construction detail often began by searching through previous projects for a similar detail. GKC maintained standards for common conditions, but those standards evolved in different directions as they moved between different projects and teams. A detail might be reused fifteen times over several years, with each version carrying slightly different decisions. This ate up valuable time, while risking inaccuracy and confusion during the construction stage.
“They all started with the same seed,” Kravec says, “but going through different silos became somewhat different details.”
Detail consistency was a symptom of a related problem — managing institutional knowledge. The firm had built up an enormous amount of project knowledge, but finding the most reliable version of a critical detail often depended on memory or knowing which colleague to ask. Pirros gave GKC a simpler way to preserve that history, while establishing one recognized starting point for future work. “I’ve got this detail,” Kravec explains. “It might not be exactly what I want, but it’s the only one, and when I have to update it, that’s the one I update.”
Information that once “used to be in drawers,” as Kravec describes it, is now searchable and available across the practice. Teams can locate relevant work without needing to know which past project contained it or who originally created it. As GKC continues to use the platform, each project strengthens the resource available to the next one, allowing the firm’s experience to become more accessible, without losing the context behind it.
Making One Detail Work Across Languages and Regions
One of the most unique features of GKC’s standards library is the way information is built directly into each detail. Rather than maintain separate English, French, metric, and imperial versions, GKC includes both languages and both measurement systems within the same master detail. Text is annotated in both English and French, while dimensions are shown in metric and imperial units. When the detail is used on a project, the team can display the language and units the drawing set requires.
This allows one detail to support teams working in very different contexts without creating four separate versions that must be updated and maintained independently. A French-speaking designer working in millimeters and an English-speaking designer working in inches can both work from the same approved content.
It also helps GKC keep its bilingual practice connected. French and English speaking staff are not working from separate bodies of knowledge. They are contributing to and drawing from the same library, with older content remains accessible as well.
Keeping Human Expertise in the Loop
After rolling out Pirros firmwide, GKC made a deliberate choice: download access of details would remain controlled for most users. Most staff members still use Pirros in reference-only mode, with permissions managed by senior staff and BIM leaders. They can search the platform, gather relevant details into a project stash, and flag content that needs attention, but nothing moves into an active project without approval.
For GKC, that safeguard protects what Kravec calls the “human factor.” The wrong choice is not always obvious, especially to a less experienced designer. “We might have two rooftop mechanical unit curbs that look identical,” he says. “Except if you have a keen eye, you’ll realize the insulation is different from the other, because one is refrigerated and one is a non-refrigerated building.”
Pirros gives the wider team access to what the firm already knows. GKC’s review process makes sure that knowledge is interpreted by someone who understands the building, the condition, and the consequences of choosing incorrectly. That balance allows the firm to share more without lowering the standard for how its knowledge is used.
From Early Customer to Long-Term Partner
As one of Pirros’s earliest customers, the firm has had a front-row seat to the platform’s evolution and, in some cases, has even helped shape the product. "One of the things I’ve noticed from Pirros is the reactiveness," Kravec says. "We'd make comments about certain elements, and we'd see them in the next release."
That level of responsiveness from Pirros’s customer success and engineering teams helped Pirros earn a lasting role within the firm. Rather than being just another tool in GKC’s technology stack, Pirros became a trusted partner that the firm could continue building around as its teams, offices, and project portfolio expanded.
