Archinect - News

How the New York Times' 3D model of the Surfside condo collapse came together

2021-09-09T12:23:00-04:00

But, it was a challenge, Ms. Singhvi said, to understand the architectural drawings without interviewing the original designers. So she and Mr. Baker spoke with experts including structural engineers, architects, geotechnical specialists, professors, lawyers and contractors, who answered questions about what the journalists were discovering and helped confirm they were reading the plans accurately.

The Times' 3D reconstruction of the collapse was very popular online as journalists and investigators dig over records of the original 1981 building by the now infamous William Friedman, who died in 2018.

"Being able to read the design drawings helps enormously,” graphics editor Mika Grondal, who trained as an architect, said. June 24th's collapse killed 98 people in total. The site is already being listed for sale, although a local judge has insisted the proceeds should go exclusively to the victims' families.

Digitizing old architectural plans into BIM or CAD software can be fairly time-consuming. The Times has more on its innovative new tool here.

This mixed-reality hard hat connects with Microsoft's new HoloLens 2

2019-03-04T16:12:00-05:00

Microsoft will allow businesses to customize HoloLens 2 before purchasing a fleet of headsets. Trimble, the owner of 3D modeling package SketchUp, has already modified the headset so that it can be worn like a hard hat in construction sites and other potentially dangerous locations. The rebranded version will be called Trimble XR10 and is set to launch alongside the regular HoloLens 2 later this year.

One of the first 'working-in-the-field' customizations of Microsoft's newly unveiled HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset is a hard hat by Trimble for construction workers that pulls up holographic CAD data on the worksite.

Image: Trimble/Microsoft

"It will have all of the same specs, performance, and functionality as the new HoloLens, including improved sensors and processors, a significantly larger field-of-view, 10-finger gestures, eye-tracking, a flip-up viewscreen, and more," promises the manufacturer's description.

The hard hat headset connects with Trimble's suite of spatial computing software and will be available later this year for a slick $4,750 a piece.

AutoDraw, Google's newest A.I. Experiment, guesses what you're trying to draw

2017-04-17T13:29:00-04:00

You simply start drawing your best version of a pizza, or house, or dog, or birthday cake and the algorithms try to figure out what it is that you’re trying to draw. It then tries to match your squiggles with drawings in its database, and if it finds any possible matches, it’ll show them in a list at the top of your virtual canvas. If you like one of those options, you simply click on it and AutoDraw replaces your amateurish creation with something a bit slicker.

The new AutoDraw tool is part of Google's A.I. Experiments sandbox and pairs machine learning with artist drawings from a growing, crowd-sourced library. "AutoDraw’s suggestion tool uses the same technology used in QuickDraw, to guess what you’re trying to draw," states the tool's About page. "Right now, it can guess hundreds of drawings and we look forward to adding more over time."

While simplicity and intuitive accessibility are the striking features of this early version, AutoDraw—and a universe of variations—show a lot of potential for architectural sketching and prototyping.

E Ink introduces display and new PocketBook tablet for use on the construction site

2013-12-03T11:38:00-05:00

"Our goal was to develop a device to be used on construction sites. We created a highly portable large format display device with a rugged and weatherproof case that could hold all the CAD drawings a team needs. This makes designs available virtually any place and any time,"

E Ink announces the 13.3" Fina E-ink Display in conjunction with Pocketbook announcing the new PocketBook CAD Reader. Utilizing the Fina display and running Android 4.04, the larger tablet was explicitly designed to display CAD drawings and be utilized in the field for construction. It utilizes touchscreen and a Wacom stylus input and is designed to be integrated with existing AutoCAD based applications. A case designed to withstand the stresses of construction. The tablet has a 1 Ghz dual-core processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB of storage, WiFi and 3g modules, and an 8000 mAh battery.

The tablet will be on display at the Autodesk University event in Las Vegas, NV, on December 5th.

IKEA's New Catalogs: Less Pine, More Pixels

2012-08-27T12:14:00-04:00

"It's a clever way to save money," Anneli Sjogren, head of photography at IKEA, said during a recent interview at the company's sprawling photo studio in this sleepy southern town. "We don't have to throw away kitchens in the Dumpster after the photo shoot." Instead, sets for entire rooms—spanning kitchens to bathrooms to porches—can be mocked up and created on a computer screen without the help of a single camera.

SketchUp acquired by positioning and engineering firm Trimble

2012-04-26T18:18:00-04:00

On April 26, 2012, Trimble announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SketchUp® from Google. SketchUp is one of the most popular 3D modeling tools in the world. As part of the SketchUp platform, Trimble will also partner with Google on running and developing SketchUp's 3D Warehouse, an online repository where users can find, share, store and collaborate on 3D models.

As pointed out elsewhere around the web, the development of SketchUp's core has not progressed very much since being acquired several years ago by Google. This move, which includes the entire SketchUp team, puts product development in the hands of a company that is already embedded in the planning/engineering fields while maintaining collaboration with Google. At the moment it appears that there will be no changes to the current pricing model (free/pro).

Trimble's statement | Press release | FAQ about the acquisition and transition

FLATCUT-ACADIA Digital Fabrication Winners Announced

2011-07-18T14:48:29-04:00

The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA), in collaboration with Brooklyn-based fabrication house FLATCUT_ have announced winners of this year’s ACADIA 2011 Design + Fabrication Competition.