The Development Of KINetic™: How And Why It Was Created

Andrea Peters

By Andrea Peters, Director of Marketing,
Kingspan Insulated Panels North America

For both architectural professionals and students alike, there's no better way to connect with the individuals and groups that can benefit your career and educational endeavors, along with learning and mentoring opportunities, than KINetic™. Created by Kingspan Panels—North America, KINetic is the only social media platform designed to bring together students, architects, designers and Kingspan professionals to collaborate, discuss, and share architectural ideas.

Why was this unique collective developed? KINetic's overarching goal is to give this creative, dynamic group a platform for sharing, connecting, collaborating and learning from and with each other. Best of all, this free social media-based resource is available to anyone interested in architectural design.

Here's how it works: Members of the KINetic community post their design ideas, discussions, and projects in "clusters" and "spheres," which are depicted graphically on the site in colorful, dynamic circles. This lets users easily browse and search others' clusters and spheres to find the topics, projects, and inspiration they want.

One of the most unique aspects of these dynamic clusters is their ability to rise in influence and popularity within the KINetic universe. As a cluster increases its user following and comments, its influence increases.

Users can also regulate their exposure by choosing to make their clusters private or public. A public cluster can be searched, viewed, and commented on by anyone within the KINetic universe. On the other hand, a private cluster can only be viewed by the creator of the cluster and users he or she grants permission. Clusters can be changed from public to private at any time by editing the cluster and changing the status of the cluster.

KINetic clusters can even be shared on other social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin in architectural communities to name a few, making them an ideal resource for online networking. Students, professionals, and Kingspan innovators have made KINetic their virtual clubhouse, following fellow members and sharing architectural design ideas from coast to coast, and beyond. KINetic also features a Newsfeed that lets users quickly access and view recent activity from users they follow.

KINetic Also Offers Architectural Design Students a Winning Opportunity: GenK

Short for Generation Kingspan, GenK is a student architectural design competition created and sponsored by Kingspan. This online-based competition is open to design students (learn criteria here) who want to gain industry recognition, as well as peer and mentor feedback based on their project entries.

GenK entrants use the power of the KINetic network to showcase their entries, and to solicit feedback from fellow competitors and judges. In fact, unlike most competitions, GenK participants benefit from KINetic's social voting platform as well as a review by a juried panel of professionals.

GenK offers two ways to win: The first is through online voting via KINetic, and the second by a juried vote from contest judges who are industry leaders. Two winners will receive the popular social vote via KINetic and cash prizes, and three winners of a separate juried vote will receive cash prizes and publicity in prominent industry publications.

KINetic continues to evolve and will be featured in future renditions of GenK, as well as becoming a tool for project collaboration, promotion, and discussion. Be sure to visit GenK for updates on future competitions and check out KINetic here to learn more about the features of the application and sign up today to join the community!

About Kingspan Insulated Panels - North America

Kingspan Insulated Panels – North America is a business unit of Kingspan, a global company operating in more than 80 countries, with over 200 manufacturing facilities. Kingspan Insulated Panels – North America manufactures and markets three groups of products at its U.S., Canadian and Mexican facilities: insulated metal wall and roof panel systems for commercial/industrial construction; insulated architectural panel and façade systems for design-driven projects; and controlled environment panels and doors for cold-storage and climate-controlled warehousing. In addition to its commitment to quality and innovation, the company is on the leading edge of the sustainability movement, offering best-of-class products produced in state-of-the-art, eco-friendly facilities. To learn more visit  www.kingspanpanels.us.