ArchiCAD Helps Create Home for Urban Arts in San Diego

Boston, MA — July 31, 2009 – San Diego architect, Scott Glazebrook, is using Building Information Technology (BIM) to create a cutting-edge performance “laboratory” for creative exploration for a local performing arts group. 

Sushi Performance & Visual Art recently tapped Glazebrook to completely redesign what was once a downtown dairy building into an innovative performance and exhibition center for contemporary urban arts. Glazebrook’s firm – the Open Architecture Workshop – utilized Graphisoft ArchiCAD to create an unusual, flexible performance space that allows ever-changing ways to engage the audience.

Sushi is a San Diego-based non-profit multi-disciplinary presenting organization that cultivates alternative visual and performing arts. The group has been presenting contemporary urban art for the past 28 years, including performance, dance, music, visual art, spoken word, film/video by San Diego, national, and international artists.

The clever internal architecture of the new Sushi building creates a fluid and transparent space where the audience becomes part of the performance. The art experience is personal, intimate and unexpected.

According to Glazebrook, the use of BIM technology enabled him create and explore different design concepts with the client quickly and easily, while keeping the project within its tight budget requirements. “ArchiCAD helped me immensely in quickly studying alternatives as the project evolved through the initial design phase and the following budget-induced reductions in scope. It allowed me to show our client what to expect for their completed project clearly and efficiently, to co mpare the different versions of the design, and to ultimately create a design that that I knew we all would feel would meet the initial project's spatial and aesthetic program,” he said.

For example, Sushi wanted “raw” and durable features incorporated into the design. With ArchiCAD, Glazebrook was able to design virtual 3D spaces showing strong materials in their natural state, including concrete, galvanized metal and steel, with much of the infrastructure fully exposed.
“ArchiCAD's internal rendering engines along with BIM tools permits a designer to more fully explore project opportunities and then turn them efficiently into drawings to have the project built,” Glazebrook added.

The BIM technology helped maintain tight control of the documents for construction, especially when using the model as the seed and ArchiCAD's "Trace" functionality to generate two-dimensional sections and interior elevations. This ability was especially crucial during construction because an error in construction layout in a project with such a tight project parameters needed to be followed through the project drawings. Quickly moving the ArchiCAD model components and using the "Trace" function permitted Glazebrook to quickly and economically revise and re-issue the construction documents within hours of the error being identified. This design efficiency limited scheduled delays, as well as helped maintain the original design intent while making the changes without any additional cost to the client.

Due to a tight construction budget, the design relied heavily on donated building equipment. The majority of light fixtures were donated left-overs from other projects. Using ArchiCAD's parametric light objects and built-in rendering engines allowed the architect to study how these fixtures (which were not ideally suited for the project) could best be used to provide the necessary lighting; and more importantly how to use the fixtures in the most aesthetically pleasing ways to highlight the unique design of the space. Considering the significant number of north and east-facing windows, daytime lighting studies of the interiors combined with the available light fixtures helped to create an overall lighting design approach that would create a dramatic light quality reflecting Sushi's avant-garde image while helping us to design a light switching plan that would conserve the most energy during daylight hours without sacrificing light quality.

The project’s Construction Documents made significant use of Linked Markers and other automatically-updating tools within ArchiCAD to assure quality control. Inserting the Linked Markers was easy, and thereafter the data would automatically update no matter how the drawings sheets were organized and re-organized. Layouts Books enabled quick and easy creation of multiple project drawing sets that can use the same model and drawings for different purposes - from fund-raising to building permits, from planning presentations to marketing - all of which was simultaneous. Requests for updated project data, updated drawings, and revised renderings were always able on a moment's notice to the client, project consultants, and general contractor.

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