Architecture in a Flat World

While every architectural design firm has its own unique attitude towards work, it is highly important for you to seek services of either an architecture firm or a residential architect that matches your needs. You have to be precisely sure about your needs and home design goals first. Then upon, you have to scrutinize the market and select the most appropriate architectural design firm. This approach will certainly get you the architectural design services that you require.

Certain key questions that you should answer yourself before beginning the hunt for a residential architect are talked hereafter. You first need to estimate the amount of space you need? Then, it would do good to judge the type of activities that you wish to do in that new space? Obviously, the architectural design will be based upon it. Further, you also have to make sure about your budget size and financing options? Then, you sit down with the architectural design services team and choose different elements for your project.

You will need to build a list of architecture firms that deal in the type of building design you want. Let suppose, you want to build your home in the modern architecture style. You have to start building a list of architecture companies that specialize in the category of construction you need. You can begin by looking for architectural design firms in your locality. Otherwise, contact the American Institute of Architects (AIA) or search the web for the best provider. After all, it’s a flat world today. The web can return you a list of top architecture design firms of either your locality or even overseas.

Modern convergence technology has so flattened the world that it doesn’t matter which point on the globe architectural design service providers belong to. In fact, a little web search can also give you an idea about specialized architecture designs like minimalist design, organic design, Bauhaus design, post-modern design, etc. It should be taken into consideration that green architecture is catching up very fast around the world.

With growing awareness regarding global warming, resulting out of ecological instability, more and more people are opting for green architecture building design. Architectural design services too are showing an increased inclination towards green architecture solutions, as a means of putting lesser burden on the natural resources of our planet.

Another architectural design style is vernacular architecture, where modern buildings are built in the older native designs. In fact, good architectural firms use locally available and naturally manufactured building construction materials.

After you come up with a list of decent architecture firms that you might want to consider, begin from the top of the list and start rounds of interviewing. You will most certainly be able to smell out the chemistry with the right architectural design firm that seems to you to possess the requisite skills and experience. This means that, the architectural design services provider should be able to answer all your queries regarding your customized home design.

Computerized Architectural Drawings Take the Edge

Architectural drawings are indispensable to the design industry of the present day. They perform a crucial function in executing architectural projects. Well crafted architectural working drawings form the backbone of every successful construction project. Modern technologies like CAD (Computer Aided Design), BIM (Building Information Modeling), and 3D rendering are commendable architectural drawing tools. They are not only superior to conventional paper drawings in terms of finesse but are also easier to manage, make changes, store, and transfer. Besides, they give a 360 degree view of the proposed construction unlike the flat block-diagrams that paper based drawings can best afford.

Urban designers and town planners, with help of the computer, now finish off complex landscape architectural drawings in a few days, which earlier took weeks or even months. Similarly, architects dealing in residential apartments and housing can design their house architectural drawings within a few weeks. Architectural drawings that were done on paper not only consume a lot of time but also they may turn out to unusable after repeated use for sometime. Therefore, computer based design came as a rescue from the disaster of losing vital drawings. All hurdles that were faced with paper drawings could be overcome with a breeze.

Computerized designs can help you pre-visualize your office building or house interiors, before any work on the actual ground begins. Architectural rendering gives you a virtual photo of the real building that would come-up after the completion of the construction. Computerized architectural drawings also help engineers in overseeing the construction activity more proactively because any conflict in the design can be noticed and rectified, as and when it arises. Therefore, the margin of error is drastically reduced. Similarly, engineering drawings help in other construction activities like ship-building, aircraft manufacturing, automobile assembling and other generic industrial machinery production.

BIM softwares are a class apart among the family of architectural drawing tools because it can put a building in true graphic display, with flexibility of visualizing it an extensive choice of colors, textures, construction materials, etc. The other benefits of architectural renderings are that architects and builder companies can showcase their construction projects better in terms of real-world graphics, thus alluring prospective clients.

Architectural drawings, like many other things in the world, have passed through successive stages of evolution. But, their jump-over to the digital or computer platform marks a momentous leap in progress. The clientele that benefits from architectural drawings range from architects, builders, and contractors to homeowners and interior designers. Architectural drawings form the foundation upon which the AEC industry rests.

CAD for Better Design

Computer aided design involves the use of software and sometimes specially designed hardware to help architects, engineers and other design professionals design better and with ease.  CAD design deals with a wide variety of computer operated tools and applications that are created with their specific purposes in mind. They are used to facilitate the automation of the design process to make it more accurate, quicker and efficient. CAD drawing helps architects and engineers create drawings and design with accurate measurements and dimensions. They do not necessarily require expertise in drawing and drafting. Thus, engineers who do not possess the necessary skills for drafting can communicate their ideas effectively through CAD drafting. This eliminates the need among small organizations and manufacturing units for hiring a specialized drafter.

Architectural firms and CAD outsourcing services providers offer CAD services such as CAD 2D drafting, CAD modeling, cad conversion and paper to cad conversion. These business organizations have incorporated CAD as their mainframe system. The fundamental use of CAD lies in the design and development of various products, such as consumer goods. CAD also finds use in the manufacturing industry, as it is used to design and develop an assortment of machinery related products and manufacturing inputs and outputs. CAD is used for the drafting, 3D modeling and designing of machine parts. It is also extensively used in the field of aerospace engineering, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, automobile engineering and solid modeling. In the field of architecture, CAD is used for architectural drafting, drawing and development of a variety of buildings. Architectural outsourcing services providers expertly provide architectural CAD services.

CAD services can provide a third dimension to objects/images of any kind – JPEG, GIF or BMP. 3D modeling images using CAD design gives images depth, height and width making them seem alive. Carrying your business image in this dynamic image would create a sound impact on clients and others. CAD conversion helps in the conversion of bulky paper documents and drawings into easy digitized format. These converted, digital documents and drawings are easier to store, share and edit. They do not require to be redone to be edited, stored in storage lockers or rooms and transported from one place to another to be communicated to all involved.

Outsourcing CAD services has increasingly become a viable option for those involved in industries that require the use of CAD extensively. CAD outsourcing services are provided by specialized business organization in a well-maintained environment. Your CAD design projects are handled by CAD technicians and professionals who guarantee quality CAD services.  By outsourcing CAD services, one can get various advantages such as lower cost, enhanced performance, as well as, security and reliability.

Being an Architectural Drafter

Putting things into perspective graphically or visually are the essential skills required for architectural drafting. Visualizing items and placing them at right angles and dimensions are also added advantages in architectural drafting. Used for architectural, engineering and other technical purposes, technical drawings are exact replication of items, objects and structures used in these disciplines. Simply put, technical drawings help communicate one person’s idea or design to another by way of visual or graphic explanation. Technical drawings are traditionally made using manual methods such as paper, pencil and a drafting table or it can be computer aided drafting. Architectural design drafting firms the world over are adopting computer aided drafting to provide paper to cad drafting services, residential drafting services and more.

Being a drafter requires you to be well versed with technical drawing. You might need to draft the simple parts of a piece of furniture or create comprehensive, complex drawings architectural drafts of an entire house. With the advent of computer-aided drafting, drafting services have become easier and less erroneous.  Nevertheless, certain clients still prefer the traditional paper drawings to computer aided drafting services. Sharp mathematical and calculation skills are also necessary for an architectural drafter as you might be required to perform calculations. Your draft must be an accurate representation of the design. Computer aided drafting and design help in the simplification of calculations and accurate representations of architectural drafts. Since calculations and measurements are carried out automatically computer aided architectural drafting is more accurate and technical sound.

Architectural drafters are required to be involved in the planning and execution stages as well. Since any changes that occur to the design during these stages have to be effectively incorporated within the design drafts, the architectural drafters are required to be aware of any and all, slight or drastic change to the design. In the field of engineering, there is a higher demand for drafters as engineers can develop highly innovative ideas but are generally not equipped to draft and visually explain this idea. In the absence of this accurate and comprehensive visual and graphical representation, they fail to impress the clients and create the right impact of their idea on them. Hence, drafters are required to create complete and precise drafts of the design/idea to explain and communicate the same to the clients.

Air conditioning detail, steel work fabrication, electrical detail, concrete detail and architectural detailing come under the ambit of a drafter. Demand for drafters is driving more and more people towards the option. You can land a job with council groups, engineering consultancies and manufacturing units.

Fluent in communicating ideas, quick with calculations and expert at technical drawing? Then drafting services could be the place for you.

CAD Drafting Software

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer based software to advance the design of a product. CAD originally referred to Computer Aided Drafting because it replaced the traditional methods of drafting. CAD is the precursor of computer animation. Computer Aided Design, or CAD, is employed in a whole lot of things right from designing to modeling and producing technical drawings of samples. CAD drafting proves to be a great amalgamation of creativity and technology.

CAD is used to create designs, upgrade and optimize products. CAD is a vastly constructive tool with reference to design-oriented fields, for instance architectural drafting design, mechanics and even interior design. CAD has gained much importance in comparison to other Computer Aided services, as it provides benefits such as reducing the over all cost of the product, improved product quality and also curbs the time constraints associated with the designs. CAD allows the designers to outline and develop their designs with the help of their computers, subsequently print them out and store them for future processes, saving ample amount of time. CAD has also facilitated the interaction amongst designers. Various designers and engineers can exchange ideas and work on the same compilation at the same time. Thus the team-work propels the task of designing at a much faster rate.

The potential of modern CAD systems has enabled it to perform various tasks, which have made remarkable contribution in the field of architecture drafting. These tasks include:

• 3D drafting – simulating a design without constructing a physical sample.
• creating wire frame models
• 3D parametric solid modeling
• supporting visualization with shading, rotating, hidden line removal, etc;
• verifying of designs against codes and specifications
• using solid models to create Engineering drawings
• Insertion of programming code in a model
• Design Optimization
• visual analysis of routines
• enabling packaging of electrical workings required and many more.

Above all CAD helps you preserve your treasured paper drawing. CAD software allows carry out paper to CAD conversions. It can be done in various ways such as Automatic change using software, Manual conversion by draftsman, precision redrafting, scanning and storing. CAD has turned out to be instrumental in design, maintenance and documentation.

Architectural Rendering

Inclusion of architectural rendering software and techniques in architectural design has led to a radical age in the process of marketing and visualization of architectural designs. It breathes new life into design by bringing in new designs to 3D life. Architectural 3D rendering enhances design value and communication. It helps clients, shareholders, contractors and others involved in the design and execution process to better understand the intent and beauty of the design. Creating rendering of an architectural design is a more comprehensive way to explain and/or sell your design. In the schematic design phase, architectural renderings can serve as effective and aesthetic tools to communicate the intended design to the client or stake-holder as it would look after it has been built.

You can effectively incorporate realistic tools like vegetation, people, color, texture and lighting to your renderings to help them seem as closer to life and reality as possible. 3D architectural rendering using software such as RenderCity and Atlantis are of critical use to builders, real estate developers and house builders to create a hype and virtual representation of their proposed developments. These architectural rendering are used as marketing and promotional material in advertisements and brochures. These 3D architectural renderings hence, give a virtual insight into the layout and proposed look of the design to prospective tenants and home owners.

Traditionally architectural rendering entailed the artistic representation of the reality of the architect’s design. Now with digital technology and advent of rendering software, more accurate and realistic future reality of an upcoming building can be created. Hand drawn renderings are thus, being slowly phased out of the architectural design environment except for being used by architects and designers during the preliminary stages of planning and design development and primarily for their own use. For the purpose of expressing their designs to clients, stakeholders and others interested architects and designers are increasingly relying on architectural rendering technology to create digital, virtual representations by way of a photo-realistic visual 3D architectural rendering or a full scale architectural walkthrough.

Uncompromised quality, accuracy in fine details, and an ability to allow multiple vantage points are some of the quantifiable advantages of 3D architectural rendering. Varied arrays of architectural rendering techniques are in use today. Concept visualization focuses in realistic color renderings, exterior renderings, floor plan rendition, interior renderings and site plan walkthroughs. These could be colored, textured rendering or black and white conceptual sketches.

Architectural Engineering

Architectural Engineering, basically, can be defined as the incorporation of the knowledge, principles and technology of engineering to architectural design and building construction.  Architectural engineers can be defined as engineers in the structural, mechanical, electrical, construction and other engineering related aspects of building design and construction. They sometimes practice structural engineering as an aspect of architectural design closely working with other architects and engineering specialists. Architectural engineering sometimes includes conducting MEP work on the design as well. Though when engaged in building design mechanical and electrical engineering specialists known as MEPs are called in.

Architectural engineering jobs are titled differently in different countries. Jobs in architectural engineering in the US require a licensed engineering professional who has graduated from an architectural engineering university. In some other countries, providing architectural services is often referred to as architectural engineering. The profession of designing, planning and monitoring the construction of a building forms the professions of architecture. This is sometimes synonymous with building engineering as in Japan. Building or architectural engineering jobs are held synonymous with architecture. In Korea and other countires the word for architect literally translates to architectural engineer. In countries such as Germany and Austria architecture graduates are awarded an engineering degree. In certain universities students are required to specialize in a particular area of Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, fire protection, electrical, lighting, transportation, and structural systems. Whereas, some universities award students a general Architectural or Building engineering degree.

Architectural engineering entails the inclusion of architectural, structural, mechanical and structural components. Each of these have their own educational requirements and hence can be fulfilled by way of an degree after completing a university program. As opposed to traditional engineering, architectural engineering wields a multi disciplined approach. This sets it apart from single, integrated fields of study. The field seeks to integrate building systems within the framework of overall building design by way of study and appreciation of architecture. It includes the design of buildings taking into consideration various components and facilities such as Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, fire protection, electrical, lighting, transportation, and structural systems.

New Opportunities with Structural Design Software

The advent of computers and technology has created drastic changes in almost every field of human functioning. For those involved in the designing of building, bridges and other structure, computers have created wider and bigger opportunities. Structural engineers and draftsman have benefitted greatly from the use of computers and technology in the design process. Structural design can be called a blend of art and science. Structural engineers and draftsman can leverage the flexibility and quality offered by computer drafting technology to improve design processes and add value to their services.

Structural drawings describe the details of an object’s supporting members that are designed by the structural engineer such as columns and beams. These drawings are especially useful for structural engineers for communicating with contractors, fabricators, and regulatory bodies. Used mainly for developing architectural and complex machine designs and drawings, structural design software is equipped with all the primary features available in typically used engineering software. This software comes with tools that allow designers and drafters to demarcate different components in different color combinations. This becomes the most prominent characteristic of this type of software as it allows users to differentiate components of a design with different color combination provided in this software.

Thanks to structural design software, structural analysis and structural drawings are now created and effectively coordinated by teams separated by thousands of miles, within time schedules, more accurately and much faster. Manual, paper structural drawings are difficult to store, cumbersome to view and edit. This leaves engineers, architects, and draftsman in constant apprehension about the well being of their drawings. These drawings are critical to the construction of buildings, ships, aircrafts, tunnels, bridges, mines, retaining walls, subways, automobiles, and infrastructure projects. Structural drafters create structural drawings to communicate the design specification required for the execution and construction of the design.

Talented structural drafters under, the auspice of structural engineers in charge of the structural design, convert the engineer’s sketches into automated, digital CAD drawings and ensure that the design conform to the requisite statutes and building codes. Structural engineering support services providers provide a range of services from designing to building information modeling. A constructive blend of featured modeling, drafting and presentation solutions make drafting software an obvious and much more efficient alternative to manual paper drawings. Structural engineering services such as civil and structural drafting, architectural structural construction documents, 2D/3D modeling services can be achieved faster, more accurately and cost/time effectively by using structural cad software.

Structural drafting software facilitates the creation of 3D elements such as I-beam, by way of advanced 3D software tools. Merely enter the dimension of these 3D elements and instantaneously create 3D items in your structural drawings. In addition, rotate, edit, and join these 3D elements with other elements on screen. The realistic characteristic of this software simulation cannot be ignored. After drafting an entire structure from individual elements, the drafting software can mechanically create a bill of materials. If the drafter attaches the costs the drafting software can also create an itemized estimate as output as well. Shorter turnaround times, better accuracy and time efficiency in the production of drawings is the direct corollary of this automation provided by drafting software.

Structural drafting software saves drafts and drawings in the electronic format. Advancement in network communication allows for paperless communication from one node in a network to another. This communication advancement has spread to the whole world and now allows structural drawings to be transmitted between countries.

Sourcing Options for Architectural Design, Construction and Real Estate Industry

Outsourcing became a business phenomenon in the 1980s. Introduced initially as a process to delegate non-core business functions to an external entity that specializes in that function, outsourcing has changed the way to do business today. Traditionally, organization leveraged the expertise and experience of external organizations for performing functions that were linked to but not intrinsic to their mainframe services/products. Payroll, billing, accounting, sales, distribution, and data entry are some of the functions that were outsourced. These were efficiently, time and cost effectively achieved by outsourcing service providers, as they possess dedicated infrastructure, technology and talented and trained personnel.

Today the outsourcing industry has received a facelift, as there are only a few avenues of the different industries that are not outsourcing. The scope and influence of outsourcing has widened like never before. It helps organization not only save on costs but also leverage expertise and knowledge from trained professionals, as well as, external infrastructure investments. These outsourcing service providers provide the advantage of supplementing your existing workforce, thus adding to your teams and helping you take on more and more challenging projects. Previously, organizations outsourced their non-core functions to focus resources on more profit and revenue critical functions.  Nowadays, organizations are opening up to the idea of outsourcing revenue critical operations in part or as a whole to utilize this cost and time efficient opportunity to the maximum extent.

Companies are constantly in the search for professional qualified workforce to work for lower costs at global locations. India has emerged as leading outsourcing destination due to its abundance of technically qualified professionals with effective language skills, low cost conditions, government policies and technology and infrastructure investments. Other leading outsourcing options include China and the Philippines with India leading the foray of sourcing destinations. Companies should make intelligent and strategic decisions about outsourcing projects to locations that offer a blend of opportunities from a social and regulatory perspective, as well as, cost feasibility. Lower costs should not be the only decision maker for organization. They must make the decision of choosing a sourcing provider based on factors conducive to the organization’s growth.

The construction and real estate industry has also jumped onto the outsourcing bandwagon for reaping its obvious benefits. Architectural drawing, architectural drafting, construction documentation and 3D modeling and visualizations are some of the aspects of architectural design and construction projects that can be effectively outsourced. 3D modeling or rendering of previous and future projects provides a great advantage to the construction and real estate industry. With the aid of architectural 3D visualizations, you can render a future project even before laying the first brick. Realistic animation, materials, vegetation and other tools help stakeholders, potential buyers and other visualize how the project will look in its actual setting after completion.

Using the latest software and architectural 3D modeling techniques, these 3D renders will create a lasting effect on the viewers. Hiring an in-house designer for designing architectural 3D models is a most often a futile attempt as most people are not specialists in 3D modeling and lack the design acumen and necessary technical skills. Architectural 3D rendering outsourcing helps you coordinate this work with architects, civil engineers, and designers of your service provider’s team. In addition, hiring a service provider to handle 3D architectural rendering is much cheaper that hiring a full time professional designer.

For small architectural firms, it is not a feasible affair to allocate resources to 3D modeling tasks as they lack the technical and economic resources required to maneuver entire teams. Also for companies whose mainframe business is construction and not 3D design, hiring dedicated resources for 3D architectural rendering alone is a problematic affair.

For this particular purpose, many organizations that specialize in the various fields of architectural design such as architectural drawing, architectural drafting, construction documentation, 3D architectural rendering have emerged in sourcing locations around the world. They provide significant benefits to architects, remodelers, builders, and construction companies as their architectural expertise and design acumen can be used to create 3D models and architectural visualizations that can be used on websites, brochures and presentations. Investors are given the opportunity to virtual visualizing what they are investing in.

Many architects, architectural firms, designers, interior decorators, remodelers, builders, and construction companies have turned to the outsourcing option and greatly benefitted. It’s about time the others wake up to new opportunities, as well.

3D Architectural Home Design

You have finally found the ideal site, saved up enough money and the design of your dream home is vivid in your mind. All this might not be help you convert this design into a tangible home for you and your loved ones. You might need an architect, a landscape designer, a kitchen designer and an interior decorator to realize the beauty and usability of that cherished design of your dream home. A good architect will analyze your requirements, plan an architectural home design and determine a sound design direction for your dream home project. This would prove quite beneficial to the returns that you would gain from investing in an architectural design and construction project. However, this advice and expertise does not come cheap let alone free. An architect’s expertise becomes dearer as their experience grows.

A cheaper and yet effective alternative would be comprehensive 3D architectural home design software that allows you to design your own dream home just like a professional architect, interior decorator or landscape designer would. This 3D architectural design software include applications and features that help in enhancing your knowledge and expertise regarding architectural designs. These applications help in architectural home design and decoration, as well as, designing landscape such as gardens, patios and swimming pools. Most 3D architectural home design software comes in suites that include –

Home design suite – This 3D architectural design software helps you design home floor plans and some interior aspects. They help you design dimensions and specification of the home itself. Some suites might include some aspects of interior design and landscape design (swimming pools, yards and gardens)

Landscape design suite – If your interest lies in designing your walkways, yards, gardens, patios, swimming pools and fences then this is the software suite for you. Various components and features of landscape design included in this sort of software helps you bring your dream gardens and landscapes to reality. This software suite is more comprehensive regarding landscape design than the standard home design suite. However, the home design suite does include some features of landscape design.

Interiors/Home design deluxe suite – This software suite is best suited for those people who are looking to design/redo their kitchen, bathroom or interior design. As people’s needs vary their design ideas and requirements will also be different. This understanding helps this software cater to every individual’s unique needs. Whether you are concerned about interior decoration, wall color, matting, lighting or furniture placement home deluxe suite 3D architectural design software can provide solutions for each of these needs.

These home and landscape design software provide effective solutions that fulfill individual’s home and garden design needs effectively. Also, they are cheaper alternatives to hiring a full-fledged architect.