Designed with ArchiCAD, a leading Building Information Modeling tool, the 45,000 square foot project is designed as a multi-purpose indoor/outdoor destination for retirees who wish to engage in a variety of active lifestyle pursuits. Designing the clubhouse in ArchiCAD enabled Irwin Pancake Architects to leverage all the productivity, collaboration and cost-cutting advantages of Building Information Modeling (BIM).
The firm was able to share 3D visualizations and fly-through renderings of the model with the owners and consultants remotely through the web to get immediate responses and to make changes to the design. Irwin Pancake Architects also used ArchiCAD to generate energy calculations and analysis and building lifecycle costing in addition to conflict analysis of building elements prior to construction. This avoids errors in the field.
“Working with an ArchiCAD BIM model made the process much faster,” said Chuck Good-Man, AIA. “We could collaborate with owners online, get immediate feedback, and make adjustments to the design in real time. This dramatically accelerated design delivery eliminated design conflicts and reduced consulting costs.”
Irwin Pancake made the switch to BIM about a year and a half ago, with the help of Graphisoft (ArchiCAD) reseller, Digital Vision. To help that process along Digital Vision provided an “embedded BIM expert” who worked directly with Irwin Pancake’s project teams at the firm’s office. This transition from 2D to 3D BIM took place while the firm grew from 15 to 45 employees in the same time period.
To learn more about ArchiCAD 11 go here.