Graphisoft Envisions November/December 2003

Graphisoft EnVisions November/December 2003

These are exciting times for Graphisoft. In this edition, our CEO, Dominic Gallello, gives you his insights into the future of architectural design, with particular regard to the widening use of IFCs; on another note, Dwight Atkinson, Canada's Funniest Architect, opines on ArchiCAD and hotels for aliens!

The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed the change of name. We are now Graphisoft EnVisions, replacing the old QuickNews. We hope you like the new name and the features we're introducing over the next few months. Those of you receiving the newsletter for the first time, welcome to the Graphisoft Community

There are a host of ArchiCAD user tips. JT Burk of CADeshack has written a tip especially for Graphisoft Envisions, and this is a venture we're keen to continue in future editions.

There's a profile of Henry Deane Plaza, a superb project by Rice Daubney, a very successful, Sydney-based, architectural practice. It's just one of the many great buildings they have designed.

ArchiCAD-Talk, the ArchiCAD user forum has been updated and relaunched. We tell you why and how it has changed, and introduce you to the people who run and moderate it. It is the place to go to exchange ideas with fellow ArchiCAD users and to join the huge and expanding worldwide ArchiCAD community.

Another change you may have noticed is that this is a combined November/December 2003 edition. This doesn't mean that an edition has been omitted, just that we're now going to publish near the beginning of the month in future, rather than at the end. You're getting this a week or so later than previously. Following editions will be released around the same time every month.

If work's getting too much for you, why not take an ArchiCAD-themed vacation? ArchiCAD University is holding two such events over the next few months aimed at doing just that. Details below!

There are also all the usual features and more. We hope you enjoy them. Feedback is always very welcome, so contact me, the editor, if you have anything to say about the content, style or format of the newsletter or if there's anything you want to see featured.

Andy Harvey
Editor

On the Road, with Dominic Gallello, CEO, Graphisoft

A "new role" or a "new requirement" for architects

Recently, I spoke at the AIA conference in San Francisco. The conference was dedicated to the subject of Building Information Modeling. The topic especially related to large projects where many disparate disciplines are creating, and merging model information together. The big issue was: “How is the architect going to embrace the trend of building models?” The fear is, of course, that if the architect does not take a different and more proactive role in creating and coordinating building model information, the profession will be marginalized in the long run.

To me, a clear conclusion of the conference was that building modeling has switched from “if it will happen” to “when it will happen”. An unusual thing about the conference was there seemed to be as many construction companies at the conference as architects. Why was that? The answer is simple; construction companies have a huge amount to gain by employing a building model. The model helps construction companies win business and make cost estimation faster, easier and more accurate; it makes construction planning and work task sequencing easier, and helps identify interferences before the actual construction process. The result is a significant improvement in project predictability and huge savings in cost and time.

I participated in a vendor panel. What came out loud and clear from the audience Q&As was that interoperability between the different types of data in the design and build process is still an incredible pain point. Users were almost emotional about the need for vendors to offer open systems, where data is not “locked up” in the design tool. I recall 20 years ago being on a panel in New York City that users were similarly as emotional about the fact that their data was locked up in the design authoring tool they were using. I have to say that it really has taken the industry the past 20 years to finally agree on a means to unlock the data. This has been done through the Industry Alliance for Interoperability's (IAI) Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). Today, IFCs work and they are producing the seamless integration benefits that everyone has been hoping for.

IFC Logo

There were 8 case studies presented by various groups regarding building modeling. Six of the case studies found ArchiCAD at the center of the process. ArchiCAD data became the foundation of energy analysis, structural and mechanical discipline integration, clash detection and cost estimation. IFC data exchange helped make the interoperability happen. One case study was the use of ArchiCAD and NavisWorks to model and check interferences on the George Lucas Studios’ new, $300M campus in beautiful Presidio at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. This process of using the building model saved the construction company hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost by catching design errors “before building”.

My prediction? The real beneficiary of the building modeling evolution on large projects will be the building owner. Soon, that will leave several kinds of architects. The first type will be those who will proactively become “information architects” and drive the benefits for their client. The next group will be the reactive “information architects” who will only transform themselves after their customers demand this new type of information. In Darwinian terms there will be another group of architects who will simply cease to exist.

Henry Deane Plaza, a Rice Daubney Project, Sydney, Australia

"We use ArchiCAD, which we believe is currently the most advanced CAD system for architects." Graeme Smith, Principal of Rice Daubney.

Rice Daubney

Located in the South of Sydney's CBD, between Central Station and Railway Square is the new Henry Deane Plaza commercial development design by architects Rice Daubney, consisting of three seven to nine-story commercial buildings, grouped around a large plaza.

All three stages of the development were designed and documented solely in ArchiCAD. ArchiCAD's flexibility as a CAD system, one that allows easy and instant changes to the design, gave Rice Daubney the opportunity to create different design schemes and make alterations, while still keeping up with the tight deadlines.

Rice Daubney worked closely with Sydney City Council and the State Government to achieve an innovative urban design solution, incorporating the major pedestrian thoroughfare. The development has revitalized the Railway Square precinct, and become a landmark in the southern gateway to the city of Sydney. The complex has high exposure to over 40,000 pedestrians converging on Central Station daily.

Henry Deane Plaza was a finalist in the Property Council of Australia (PCA) Rider Hunt Award, 2003; won the Master Builders Australia 2001 National Environment and Energy Efficiency Award for Commercial Buildings; and was runner up in the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme Leadership Award.

"We use ArchiCAD, which we believe is currently the most advanced CAD system for architects." Graeme Smith, Principal of Rice Daubney says "we aim to ensure that our clients receive information on market trends, design and technological advances that are at the forefront of global thinking. Using ArchiCAD, we construct a Virtual Building for all projects to test and develop our designs, which helps our clients to fully visualize and explore the building; this then follows straight into our documentation."

A fuller description of Rice Daubney and the Henry Deane Plaza Project can be found here. Entails a large download for low-bandwidth readers.

Graphisoft sends its thanks to Maurizio Nannetti and Mario Mazzitelli of
arkiTech for facilitating this profile.

Rendering of the Month Competition, October 2003

Our congratulations go to Hani Nijem of Rainforth - Grau Architects, Sacramento, California, USA. Hani's winning images of various educational projects were modeled in ArchiCAD ® 8 and rendered in Artlantis 4.0, and won a high quality competition.

Click on the thumbnails to view the full-size images. Visit our Gallery to see all of Hani's fantastic images and those of past winners.

Winners, who receive a Graphisoft t-shirt, are awarded monthly, based on user entries submitted to the gallery.

Do you think you can produce work of this quality? Would you like to see your work displayed in our online gallery? We welcome high quality submissions from all ArchiCAD users. See contest details.

ArchiCAD 8. 1 Availability

The following versions of ArchiCAD 8.1 are now available from your local reseller:

• International English (metric)
• US English (Imperial)
• German
• Austrian
• Swiss-German
• New Zealand
• French
• Spanish

Contact your local reseller for further information.

TechTip of the Month Winners

Our congratulations go to Mark Burginger, our TechTip of the month winner for September. His tip is on Using the Context Menu in PlotMaker.

Congratulations are also due to Karl Ottenstein for his tip on Limiting the ports that WIBU scans, which wins our October TechTip prize.

Learn great tips from your fellow ArchiCAD users in the User Tech Tips section of the Graphisoft website. Got a great tip to share? Submit it to techtip@graphisoft.hu for the chance to win a free T-shirt!

IRON Insights by JT Burk

Graphisoft EnVisions is pleased to announce that JT Burk, an architect, principal of CADeshack and an ArchiCAD stalwart is going to provide readers with valuable ArchiCAD tips directly to our readers. You may have seen some of his great tips in caddigest.com already, but we are going to receive more tips fresh straight from his drawing board in future.

JT's first tip for us is Creating a Custom Door Panel. The great thing about tips like this is that they're so beautifully illustrated that it really becomes child's play.

CADdigest ArchiCAD User Tips

An increasing number of really useful user tips featuring ArchiCAD are appearing in the emagazine, CADdigest. The following have all appeared in the last few weeks:

David Pacifico has written two tips recently, both expertly illustrated; the first is on Creating a Roof Sweep in ArchiCAD.

David's other tip is a tutorial about Total Custom Windows.

JT Burk has also written a fully illustrated tip about Creating a Grid With Beams, Columns, Markers and Dimensions.

Ensure you receive all the latest information about the world of CAD, including great ArchiCAD tips like these, by subscribing to TenLinks.

ArchiCAD-Talk User Forum Relaunched

ArchiCAD-Talk, the ArchiCAD Knowledge Exchange Forum, is the user forum for every ArchiCAD user, anywhere . It has been up and running for almost five years. To provide more features for users, the site was recently updated and relaunched. The breadth of features is much wider and deeper. ArchiCAD users from all over the world can exchange ideas, tips and wishes with fellow users. Got an idea for improving ArchiCAD? There's even a wish list to add your killer idea to.

We spoke to Ákos Pfemeter and Péter Kis of Graphisoft's TechSupport department to gauge their and users' initial feedback on the new forum.

Péter Kis	&	Ákos Pfemeter
ArchiCAD-Talk Forum Administrator		Team Leader, Technical Support

Read what they have to say about running the site before and since relaunch and future developments here.

Being the moderator of a user forum is never easy, but Graphisoft is fortunate to have Djordje Grujic as moderator for ArchiCAD-Talk.

Djordje Grujic

Djordje is a committed, long-term user of ArchiCAD and is based in the UAE. So, how does Djordje see his vital role? We put some questions to him about the sometimes thankless work of a moderator. Read Djordje's comments here.

A Profile of Canada's Funniest Architect, Dwight Atkinson, arch ArchiCAD illustrator

Dwight in his studio with Peeper.

Or, how ArchiCAD changed Canada's funniest architect

into an author, an artist and, mainly, a believer in the building information model.

Dwight Atkinson is a curious persona. Living in the centre of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada's funniest architect has pursued interests from art and sculpture to stage performance and radio broadcasting.

"Once ideas are digitized within the computer - where they become comparable - the relationship between sound, word and image becomes more evident."

He is a long-time ArchiCAD user now focused on artistic aspects - art proposals, experimenting and illustration. The distinctiveness of his work sees him involved in usability testing and in authoring the essential and entertaining book "Illustration in ArchiCAD."

Dwight is unique, so read the whole profile here.

Gebäude (Building) Manager Interview with Wolfgang Reinecke - ArchiFM Maintenance

Wolfgang Reinecke, Director of Facility Management, Graphisoft Germany, was recently interviewed by the influential German FM magazine, Gebäude (Building) Manager about the latest release of ArchiFM Maintenance Version 8.1.

Reinecke goes into detail about the great success of the product - not just in Germany. The latest version's new features are discussed in the interview, which can be read here.

ArchiCAD University West, California, March 2004

Building on the success of ArchiCAD University Europe, ArchiCAD University WEST will be held in Southern California next March. This three-day, two-night event will host some of ArchiCAD's most skilled practitioners on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona, to bring you all the latest technologies and methodologies for making the most of ArchiCAD. With representatives from Graphisoft and some of the most popular third party vendors, you will be sure to have access to the latest information possible.

The program will consist of a Keynote Address with some of today's most prominent users of the Virtual Building. This inspirational evening will open your eyes to the possibilities of this technology. In addition, each day will feature a major lecture by Dwight Atkinson on creating great illustrations with ArchiCAD, and Duane Valencia on making your Construction Documents look fantastic, as well as many workshops to build on your skills in 3D architecture. This event will have something for everyone; architects, 3D modelers, interior design and anyone interested in digital architecture.

Visit the ACU-West website for further details.

ArchiCAD University Europe, Winter School, 17 - 24 January 2004, Austria

     

The ACUE Winter School on the Feuerkogel mountain in 2003 was so successful that it is being repeated!

Ski or snowboard during the day, then talk ArchiCAD in the evenings. Ski tuition is available during the week for beginners. 2 to 3 days is all you need to use the slopes with some confidence. The ArchiCAD plenaries are in English, the workshops mostly in English, with a few in German. The delegates are a mixture of ArchiCAD users from Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany and Austria - and a few were from even further afield in 2003, e.g. Norway, Sweden and the USA!

The ACUE Winter School is organized by the ArchiCAD University Secretariat and the ArchiCAD User Association, Austria. For further information, visit the ACUE website.

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