I agree with the comments put forward by Jared Banks, AIA. I have been using Archicad from v8. Currently using v23.
I was an early part of consulting group to Charles River Software, the inventor of Revit. The consulting group was called the Pioneer Program. I worked with them from v1 - v4. When they sold to AutoDesk, I moved on.
The opinion Jared makes is completely accurate. There are firms out there that can see the advantage of going to BIM as a part of their daily workflow. As an example, I was asked to work with a local high-end residential firm to produce a 20,000 sf house, 7,500 sf guest house and a 1,200 sf gate house. The architect had a contractual requirement to produce the project using BIM. At the time, they used AutoCad exclusively. I had previously consulted with the firm on other projects using 2D software. We often discussed them converting to a BIM platform. At the times we did this, Revit had been in the forefront.
Consulting on the BIM project, I built in seven months, six house models, two guest house models and one gate house model using ArchiCAD. The principal (and lone decision maker of the firm) had the light go realizing the benefits of using a BIM platform. Near the end of my consulting on this project, he went into the studio, announced as of that day they were dropping AutoCad and converting to ArchiCAD.
He purchased 11 licenses, bought iPads for the staff and they were off to the 3D world. They spent one month having the local reseller come in and educate the staff. At the end of the first month, three house projects had been modeled and using Google Earth, placed into the exact site location. The principal of the firm came back to the staff another month later and asked if they wanted to return to AutoCad. The staff unanimously voted no.
Those firms reluctant to switch have many reasons. But if the decision makers SEE for themselves how well the work flow goes and increases their bottom line, they would convert quickly.
I am primarily a commercial architect, but do residential work. ArchiCad has been used exclusively for religious buildings, hotels, additions and renovations and many other building types very successfully by my office. If you are curious you should look at all of the opportunities offered by BIM and pick the one that work best for your office. I can highly recommend ArchiCad for any building type including tall buildings and highly complex projects.
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Greg Burke, FAIA
President
Gregory John Burke | ARCHITECT, PA
Vero Beach, Florida
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 12:58
From: Jared Banks
Subject: ArchiCAD use
As for the Revit & Families issue, it's a problem that doesn't really exist in Archicad. The out of the box available Objects are more than good enough for the vast majority of projects and needs. Some users go down the path of building custom objects (either as dumb 3D elements or scripted GDL objects that are super powerful) or finding/purchasing 3rd party Objects, but the typical user never needs to bother with that.
Regardless of software, the need to better understand buildings while modeling is definitely a hurdle for younger staff. It's easy to draw some lines and not know what you're showing. Much harder to model a wall assembly or floor structure. But limited 3d content and the need to understand how a building goes together isn't what's holding things back.
I agree with James that owners and AHJs could transform the industry by demanding different output (permitting based off an IFC file for instance). Contractors could also be pushing it to, by being open to building off things other than black and white print outs covered in dirt.
BUT... the fault also lies with architects. There's very little financial incentive for architects to migrate from 2D to BIM. A firm that's making a profit off a traditional workflow has very little incentive to dismantle their business model and create a new one. We can all go on and on about the benefits of BIM, but if the typical firm doesn't understand how BIM will make them more money, then they are not going to switch. Many of us reading this of course know all the reasons BIM is more profitable, leads to better buildings, reduces errors, etc. etc. But the average firm hasn't been convinced that a transformation to BIM (and it is a transformation of a business, not just a switch of production methods) will make them more money. And why would a firm change what they are doing if they think it won't make them money?
Until that happens, the BIM revolution will continue to progress slowly as some legacy firms switch to BIM, others go out of business, and more new firms start out with BIM than not. Eventually that combination will create an atmosphere where the majority of architects and firms use and believe in BIM. But it's a long way off. Architects often don't hit their creative stride until middle age and work well past the time other people retire.
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Jared Banks AIA
Shoegnome, LLC
Seattle, WA
Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2020 09:44
From: Robert Conard
Subject: ArchiCAD use
Many Revit families have limited capabilities due to the user's ignorance of how to properly build and implement them. The technical knowledge required for proper modeling and creation is beyond many of us, at times.
How would ArchiCAD users rate its ease of use?
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Robert Conard AIA
HEALTH FACILITIES GROUP LLC
WICHITA KS
Original Message:
Sent: 07-03-2020 00:48
From: Dwayne Van Horn
Subject: ArchiCAD use
I have been using ArchiCAD for 25 years, starting with version 4, now using ArchiCAD 23 and would give it a 4.7 out of 5. I chaired the Baltimore ArchiCAD User Group for many years, where about a dozen firms would meet to share their experiences to see how others used ArchiCAD and solve problems and prioritize the list of fixes and wish lists to Graphisoft... some which resulted in the folder hierachy (aka: organizer/navigator) that is so important today.
Most of ArchiCAD's tools and "addons" are great, especially if you are starting a design from scratch and want to design on the fly and produce multiple schemes, and eventually turn the design into construction documents all in the same program.
I tried Revit and even took a series of classes along with others from my old firm, since they reasoned that it was easier to get more Revit hires than ArchiCAD users. By the time the classes were over, I think the professor was glad to see me go…. because I was constantly showing him and others how easy it was to do things in ArchiCAD compared to Revit.
Revit required too many steps to create and design on the fly…. For example, ArchiCAD allows stretching of an entire portion of the design across multiple stories and push/pull/stretch manipulation in 3D and even allows you to stretch a window or door to any size you want on the fly and even change grid/mullion patterns, materials, thickness from the same window/door… not like Revit that requires you to create a new "family member" of that window just so you can alter the width.
I think the best thing I saw from Revit was the stair tool for creating scissor egress stairs, but not custom stairs. Eventually ArchiCAD updated their stair and rail tool to make custom stairs which improved quite a bit, but still needs a few tweaks for simplifying editing. Like all programs, ArchiCAD has a few items that need tweaking like the Revision mark-up tool and being able to schedule the doors that are part of a curtain wall, but considering the intuitive nature of the tools and ease of use and some great features like solid element operations and profiler tool features that make it possible to quickly manipulate and create.
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Dwayne Van Horn AIA
dwayneVH@levinbrown.com
Levin Brown Architects
Owings Mills, MD.
Original Message:
Sent: 07-01-2020 18:42
From: Robert Conard
Subject: ArchiCAD use
My BIM/modeling career began with Architrion (about five years) and transitioned to using VectorWorks for about fifteen years. I have been with a firm that uses Revit exclusively for almost five years.
Probably most on this forum haven't heard of Architrion, which was an early competitor to ArchiCad and MiniCad (VW).
I would score Revit as a 4 out of 5. I like the application's capabilities and the resources that come with a larger user base. Referencing it against VectorWorks is partway towards an apples and oranges comparison, but I often missed the flexibility that VectorWorks had during my first few years of using Revit.
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Robert Conard AIA
HEALTH FACILITIES GROUP LLC
Wichita KS
Original Message:
Sent: 06-29-2020 17:32
From: R. Coco
Subject: ArchiCAD use
Currently on Archicad23, and only have a few years of experience with it. I find it much easier than Revit even where American manufacturer's don't seem very interested in supporting it like they do Revit.
I am curious; if you use Archicad how happy are you with it on a scale of 1-5? And if you use Revit how happy are you with it on a scale of 1-5?
Anxious to see user responses. Thanks,
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R. Coco AIA
Architect
Parkhill, Smith & Cooper, Inc
Midland TX
Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2020 19:40
From: Thomas Heinz
Subject: ArchiCAD use
Friday
26 June 2020
I have been using archicad for many years even for the first designing that I do, I don't have to convert anything once I get going on the actual working drawings. It is very good once you figure out what you want to use for walls and roofs, It can be changed mid-stream.
I was so used to is that the company used one of my designs on ArchiCAD 11 in order to teach others what I had learned in designing a plan that was based on equilateral triangles. It was a design that Frank Lloyd Wright had done back in 1950 that was for the original site just north of New York City on an Island in a lake. It was quite fun to take Mr. Wright's 5 original, preliminary designs an make them into something that would pass all the new requirements that are used these days. We just passed the energy code by a slight margin.
I still use the program and just get ArchiCAD 20.
Thank you,
Thomas A. Heinz, AIA