The Near Future Archives | Page 3 of 4

Could a 21st century pencil be the better tool Architects are looking for?

August 6, 2013

There are a lot of architects, designers, and drafters out there that aren’t convinced by my ruminations on better tools. Either they refuse to be persuaded or just feel the pencil has some ineffable qualities about it. Ineffable doesn’t cut it for me. And I don’t like stubbornness when it comes to expanding our understanding of what it means to be an architect in the 21st century. I’ve already tried

Improved IFC / ArchiCAD Connection Add-In for Revit 2014 Applications

August 5, 2013

Jared’s note: read the beginning of this very closely. The Add-on is for Revit MEP, Structures, and Architecture (aren’t they all sort of one program now?). In previous versions of this add-on it was just for MEP and Structures. The day of easily going between Revit Architecture and ArchiCAD natively via save as .RVT or .PLN isn’t here yet (maybe it will never get here because of non-technical reasons), but

Beyond Haptics

August 1, 2013

In my post about haptic feedback and architecture tools, I really wanted to go beyond haptics, but the post was already long enough. Haptic feedback is great and I am confident it is coming. But we can go further than that, and sooner. Right now we interact with BIM software through keyboards and mice. In the next few years we’ll be able to use touchscreens as well. Maybe some people

Architects are really just asking for Haptic Feedback

July 31, 2013

I spend a lot of time thinking about architects and their tools. Why? Because architects struggle to separate themselves from their tools. We see this regularly withÂ job postings that stress software knowledge over process understanding. I find those postings extremely frustrating because it cuts out applicants with the wrong product names on their resume, limiting the potential hiring pool by the wrong criteria. That mindset is disappointing, but I don’t think

CLOG SCI-FI ready for Pre-Order (and guess who’s a contributor)

July 17, 2013

One of my goals this year was to write articles for places other than Shoegnome and BIM Engine (though I love writing for both those places, and you’ll start seeing new posts by me on the GSNA blog hopefully next week). I wanted to expand to both other places online and to print. I’ve had some success. And there are a few more in the works. Equally importantly I wanted

My house has a better website than your Architecture Project

May 21, 2013

This post is going to bring together a bunch of themes on the future of architectural documentation that I’ve been writing about recently on both Shoegnome and BIM Engine. If all the hyperlink, URL, and QR Code talk doesn’t make any sense, read these posts. And if by some chance you’ve missed all my posts about going digital, catch up here. My house has a better website than your Architecture

Generation Y Unfolding – DesignIntelligence Article

April 26, 2013

In addition to all the posts on Shoegnome and BIM Engine, I’ve had the pleasure to write for some other venues this year (both print and digital). I’m proud of all of those articles, but there are two that I’m exceedingly excited about. One’s not out yet, so I can’t say anything about it (other than that it’s awesome); but I can tell you about the other. I am thrilled

Do you love your BIM software too much?

April 11, 2013

The recent announcement of Google killing Google Reader has me thinking about dead software, over specialization, and the dependence on software companies. My readers who use Autodesk products might feel a little uncomfortable for a moment… are you too dependent on the whims of a mega-corporation that is clearly less interested in architects than they were when their flagship product was AutoCAD? Click on that link and count the number

Revit 2014, the Great Convergence, and impatience until June

April 7, 2013

So Revit 2014… have we all had time to digest yet? Here’s a great rundown of some of the highlights of Revit 2014 from David Light, a Revit Pro. Laszlo Nagy, one of the moderators over at ArchiCAD-Talk, gives some interesting perspective on Revit 2014 as it relates to ArchiCAD. You can read his full comments and the related thread here. Below are main points: Project Browser can have tabs:

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