About

25:8 Architecture + Urban Design is an award-winning architectural firm based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded by architect Jay Lim. The firm is known for delivering thoughtful, high-quality design for residential, commercial, and public-sector projects across Canada. With an emphasis on community engagement, sustainability, and technical excellence, 25:8 has positioned itself as a leader in human-centered and forward-thinking design. Their core services include architectural design, feasibility studies, construction documentation, contract administration, and urban design consulting. Clients range from private homeowners and real estate developers to non-profits and municipal governments.

Project

25:8’s biggest internal bottlenecks stem from repetitive manual tasks and a lack of streamlined digital systems. Time-consuming proposal writing, repetitive email replies, and inefficient file handling reduce team bandwidth and create backlogs. With the support of the Future Ready program, 25:8 will undertake a hands-on 10-day AI training program tailored to architectural operations. The focus will be on upskilling the entire team—from junior designers to leadership—so they can understand, experiment with, and implement AI tools with confidence.

Impact

By the end of the project, 25:8’s team will have developed working knowledge of tools such as ChatGPT (for writing), Zapier (for automation), Google Vision AI (for classification), and Google Teachable Machine (for building simple ML models). These tools will serve as a practical introduction to AI, helping staff identify opportunities to digitize their workflow and think strategically about future tech adoption.  With the adoption AI tools, the firm anticipates a 10-15% increase in gross revenue and the need to hire 2-3 additional employees.