Top-Ten Swedish Firm Switches to Archicad

Faced with compulsory AutoCAD upgrade, Liljewall opts for flexible Virtual Building solution

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN/BUDAPEST, September 6, 2001 – Liljewall Arkitekter AB, one of the largest privately owned architectural firms in Sweden, has upgraded its CAD system from AutoCAD r14 to Archicad 7.0.

Users of Autodesk and POINT products for two decades, Liljewall worked closely with Lasercad, Graphisoft’s Sweden-based distributor partner, to evaluate Archicad. “Their staff had increased, so they were looking for a CAD solution that would support and promote their expansion,” explains Jan Björs, head of Lasercad’s Gothenburg office. In addition to a five-site Archicad license, Liljewall received extensive feature demonstrations from Lasercad, and a consultation from a competitive firm using Archicad.
“Archicad 7.0 is intuitive and easy to work with. The interface is simple to understand, and there are only a few buttons to handle,” says Christer Liljewall, co-owner of the firm. “The way that values are input for wall thickness, height, floor slab thickness, material, colors, etc., is similar for all tools; therefore, we’ve been able to get up to speed with the program very quickly.”
“The company could see that with Archicad there was great potential in allowing the entire staff take an active part in projects from an early phase,” reports Björs. “After the trial period with a five-site license, they purchased 25 copies of Archicad 7.0.”
The firm is considering to purchase 15 additional sites in the near future.

In business since 1980, Liljewall is now one of Sweden’s ten largest privately owned architectural companies. Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, their projects include large office buildings and interiors, as well as schools, government buildings and medical laboratories.

Based in Malmö, Sweden, Lasercad has offices in the major Swedish cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm as well as Copenhagen, Denmark and Budapest, Hungary. Lasercad has been a distribution and development partner of Graphisoft since 1988. They focus on Archicad sales, service, training and API development, and ArchiFM sales. Lasercad is also a world leader in the production of GDL object-based building product catalogs.

Graphisoft is a leading provider of building design and management software solutions for the architectural profession and building industry. Founded in 1982, Graphisoft is ranked today among the largest AEC CAD software developers in the world, with 12 offices worldwide in addition to its headquarters. Graphisoft’s products are used by nearly 100,000 architects and building professionals all over the world. Shares of Graphisoft are traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Neuer Markt (GPH) and on the Budapest Stock Exchange (GRAPHI). More information about Graphisoft is available at http://www.graphisoft.com/.