We don’t tend to use SketchUp that much, as we tend to want to give meaning to the designs of our buildings at a pretty early stage.
Yes we use Rhino and others but the backbone of our company is Bentley Systems’ tools. “We choose our tools on a project by project basis. I asked Robin about his practice’s approach to the conceptual stage of design
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The software both delights and frustrates but I have seen some amazingly detailed models created in it.Īt this year’s Council on Tall Buildings and Habitat, held in London, Martyn Day caught up with Robin Partington of Robin Partington Architects (RPA) and formerly of Foster&Partners, where he was most well know for his work on London’s Swiss Re building, aka the ‘Gherkin’.
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While there are a number of established conceptual design tools, the new ‘point of entry’ for creating masses is Autodesk’s FormIt, which is both an iPad/tablet application, as well as a full ‘in-browser’, free modelling tool. The more advanced (expensive) PC-based sketching systems enable freeform sketching and will take these to create Class A surfaced models, ready for generating car bodies and beautifully sculpted forms. The advantage of having a digital sketch means it is easier to display and share wherever you are and possibly use as a start point for massing. Judging from some of the work done by customers, the quality of output that can be created rivals anything I have seen on paper, it is just a question of adapting to the tool set and having the time to experiment. There is a great app called Paper and Wacom’s Bamboo Stylus (I think it is the best one out there) comes with its own drawing application.
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Autodesk has SketchBook Pro and SketchBook Ink, Adobe has Photoshop Touch. There are many, many 2D sketching apps available. However, the pen displays are not cheap and find themselves now competing with the new smaller tablets, such as the iPad. These displays are very common in automotive and product design. Products like the Cintiq moves the computer’s monitor to a reclined drafting position, adds touch sensitivity and provides a powerful digital sketching tool when combined with industrial design sketching software and products like Alias and SketchBook Pro from Autodesk. Just as CAD replaced the drawing board, could the latest touch interfaces and styli replicate the drawing process?Ĭompanies like Wacom led the charge with its pen tablets, pen displays and styli for mobile tablets. Mightier than the pen?ĬAD software developers are looking to digitise the pen. I do not expect an architect like Frank Gehry will ever migrate from his pen and paper models but new recruits and future signature architects may well adopt a computer-aided approach. To some degree, any significant move towards digital concept design is also going to be a generational issue, with younger minds more willing to experiment with the latest technology. Autodesk Dynamo is a visual scripting (plug and play) tool for Vasari and Revit enabling points to be placed, manipulated and geometry created based on variables and equations.