Posted: December 15th, 2011 | Author: Jared Banks | Filed under: Short Posts | Tags: ArchiCAD Firms, BIMx, Other Blogs and Articles | No Comments »
A very good article about how local Minnesota firm Wilkus Architects uses ArchiCAD.
This is definitely worth a read. Great images too.
Posted: September 13th, 2011 | Author: Jared Banks | Filed under: Long Posts | Tags: ArchiCAD Firms, Endless Path of Improvement, Production | No Comments »
 Zumbro Zen by Eric Odor, Jared Banks, & Courtney Kruntorad Photo: Troy Thies |
I’m particularly proud of this project. It’s the Star Tribune’s Home of the Month for September 2011 and is going to be on the Homes By Architects Tour in Minnesota on September 17th and 18th, 2011. I did the drawings back in late 2008 on ArchiCAD 11. You probably won’t see my name in the articles. I wasn’t the lead designer. But I shoegnomed the project. I often join projects after SD and much of DD is completed. The project was going well, but slow and Spring was approaching. The team needed someone to come and save them. When you work in Minnesota you’re either racing to beat winter or hurrying to be ready once winter ends. If you don’t start construction soon enough, the snow and cold arrive and you have problems. If you wait too long once winter is over, your clients will miss their first Thanksgiving or Christmas in their new home.
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While it’s awesome to win awards and share the home with the public, the main reason I am so proud of this project is that it was a paradigm shift for a coworker, Courtney (as a teacher and mentor, this is a great joy). Courtney had used ArchiCAD for a while, but wasn’t getting it. And honestly she wasn’t enjoying the program. She missed AutoCAD. She’d still revert to SketchUp to do 3D modeling. But the two of us working together changed that. We produced a tight set of well coordinated drawings, on time and within budget. By the time we finished this project Courtney was 100% committed to ArchiCAD and the BIM way. Later in 2009 when Courtney left SALA Architects and was doing various freelance projects with other architects she told me “I’m never going back to 2D. It makes no sense.”
 Not my greatest 3D image |
This project wasn’t the paramount of BIM. The contractor didn’t even have e-mail. Another critical team member had a cellphone but refused to use it. How do you push BIM with a team like that? The details were all done by hand, scanned, placed as PDFs, and properly linked within the model. The interior elevations had way more 2D on them than I would like. It was a teamwork project. Not Teamwork 2, but clunky old how-did-we-ever-work-that-way Teamwork 1. The client never saw the model, save for one 3D view on the titlesheet. We hardly even looked at the 3D model. There were no fancy renderings. But the project was a huge success; ArchiCAD informed the design and helped us make decisions. And it set both Courtney and I up to do some awesome projects afterwards.
Posted: April 6th, 2011 | Author: Jared Banks | Filed under: Short Posts | Tags: ArchiCAD Firms, Press Releases | No Comments »
Read all about it here. Then check out some of the other great projects by lead architect Tima Zoltán. My favorite is the Riverloft project: a really well done modern addition to an old brick and stone structure.
Want to know a little more about who Tierney Clark was? Enjoy.
Posted: March 27th, 2011 | Author: Jared Banks | Filed under: Long Posts | Tags: ArchiCAD Firms, Challenge, Endless Path of Improvement, Teamwork 2 | No Comments »
In the ArchiCAD LinkedIn group, Michael Scarmack, AIA, recently started gauging interest in a global experiment using the ArchiCAD BIMserver that he’d like to conduct. There’s a lot of excitement about this grassroots project and I think it will lead to some big things. What things? I don’t know. But it is entrepreneurial experimentation and group collaboration like this that will bring our industry into the future and prevent our obsolescence. I have already signed up and intend to blog about the process. Below is an abbreviated project description from Michael Scarmack, AIA. You can follow this link or the one at the end of the post to sign up and be apart of this awesome experiment.
The GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD Collaboration Interactive Training Guide says “…if offices are in different time zones, arrangements can be made allowing the Project to be worked on around the clock so it can be delivered by deadline. The Internet solution makes all these things possible and feasible.”
Project V V V (Virtual Visible Views) is designed to put this to the test, with a global reach, in a minimum of 16 time zones.
It really is a demonstration project, not to prove to Graphisoft something known to its staff, but to give us bright and useful paths to conduct our commerce, science & art, collectively in an accelerated mission. Given the recent advances in the GS AC 14 BIMServer Teamwork 2 there is a real opportunity to add accurate online resources on project documentation in our profession.
We are now creating a global network of ArchiCAD users to work 24/5, to restore and create sustaining architecture, 1 hour a week, for 8 weeks in all standard time zones, for an experimental worldwide project. No immediate compensation for the eight hour effort is anticipated.
The objective is to demonstrate that Graphisoft – ArchiCAD BIM Server firms will become the first choice of building owners and developers utilizing this accelerated, accurate, ecologically minded project approach.
This is not today a tried and true approach, it is a healthy solution for some building issues we are encountering today.
Thank you …. |:-)
Michael Scarmack, AIA
earth_architect
Want to be apart of this experiment? Sign up.
Posted: March 17th, 2011 | Author: Jared Banks | Filed under: Short Posts | Tags: ArchiCAD Firms, Press Releases | No Comments »
Cool fountain designed by Ondrej Cisler using ArchiCAD. I love that they modeled the whole square to better design the fountain. You can check out more of the firm’s work here. Both their designs and their ArchiCAD abilities are very impressive. There are some great examples of efficiently and legibly modeled urban sites. Also while you’re at their site, check out the Nikola Tesla Memorial. I know I’m a sucker for anything Nikola Tesla related, but their design is just awesome.
I think Ondrej Cisler’s work is a good compliment to our recent discussions at the usegroup on how to take better advantage of ArchiCAD’s capabilities. I need to spend a little more time on their website this weekend.
Wisdom from the Crowd