CC Jul-Aug 2021

SOFTWARE review
Silver service
Graphisoft introduces the 25th version of Archicad, setting new levels of growth despite the
ravages of the pandemic
We are so used to seeing the
pace of technology
accelerating every year that it's
a shock to realise that one of the front
runners in architectural 3D design
software and a proponent of BIM for
many years, Graphisoft, is now 39 years
old! The company has also just released
the 25th version of its well-known
application Archicad.
But more of that later. The pandemic
may have caused many construction
companies to temporarily halt their
projects but the design, construction
documentation and collaboration
amongst project teams has gone on
unabated. Despite many people having
to work from home, the ability to share
models and data with partners and other
team members has proceeded
seamlessly, so much so that Graphisoft
has met the challenges that the
pandemic has wrought and recorded
increased growth by empowering
dispersed teams.
The introduction of free emergency
licenses enabled users who had difficulty
working at home to access their
company's office based licenses, and
free access to BIMcloud as a service
gave remote architects and designers
the ability to work together as a team.
This was sufficient to persuade non-
Archicad users to come on board, and it
appears that many who made the switch
are still happily using Archicad.
ARCHICAD 25 PRODUCTIVITY
Those who made the switch during the
pandemic will be delighted to see the
latest version of Archicad tweaking
productivity and adding more
functionality and enhanced collaboration
tools to the software, and it is interesting
to see faster modelling workflows feature
as the headline announcement of
Archicad 25's new capabilities. This is
attributed to the ability to unify navigation
commands between 2D and 3D views.
As a design progresses, an architect
switches repeatedly between 2D plan
views and associated 3D models,
homing in on individual elements in very
large models. Now, an item can be
selected on a floorplan, sections or
elevation, and by right-clicking on it the
user can bring up the context menu,
where they can click on the new Switch to
3D command. Switching to the 3D model
view locates the architect at the desired
element. In reverse, the same action is
enabled with a new Switch to Floorplan
command in the Context Menu.
A further refinement allows you to
select, say, an MEP component, which
you would like to see in situ. Selecting
Switch to 3D View might show you where
it may be, but it may be hidden by a wall
panel. Graphisoft has a highly pro- active
user base (hence its popular support in
our annual Hammers awards), and the
inclusion of quantity estimation in the
new release underlines its increased
relevance to Archicad users. Quantifying
materials in a structure, however, whilst
encouraging them to adopt more freeform
methods of design, puts architects
in a bit of a quandary. This has largely
been resolved by allowing architects to
create custom shaped openings using
plain polygons in either 2D or 3D
environments, allowing them to define
more precisely its volume and material
components and to produce more
accurate components schedules.
I am also quite intrigued to find the
familiar stair design tools being updated.
It's a regular feature to each and every
software developer's arsenal of upgrades.
I don't think local design standards have
changed much over the years, and there
are only so many ways you can create a
flight of stairs. Graphisoft appears to
have honed in asymmetric stair alignment
for this release.
3D PARAMETRIC AND FREEFORM
DESIGN
Many design projects incorporate
increasing levels of interior design,
particularly now that a greater emphasis
on space allocation is more critical in
22
July/August 2021