Migrating from Archicad to Sketchup

Architects now can design any 3D objects using various software such as Archicad, Revit, Rhino and Google Sketchup. Personally, I used to discuss a number of articles that are related to the design of floor plan for a small house using Archicad. This is really a great product from Graphisoft. Even though it is a very good BIM software for architectural design, it consumes a lot of disk space in my notebook PC. For more complicated designs, my computer runs slow. So, I was thinking of using smaller software that can be used to design 3D objects without consuming much of the memory inside my computer. For designing simple objects such as windows, doors, or a wooden bench, a light but powerful solution such as Google Sketch up is more suitable. I am now learning how to use this software. My first object that I have just designed is a wooden bench. I hope that within a few weeks, I will be able to create more complicated designs such as a house or even a boat. If I am able to do that, I will present them in this blog.

Can Archicad be used in ship design?

Can I use Archicad to design marine structure such as cruise ship the Oasis of the Seas? Archicad is a BIM software that is usually used by architects for designing houses, and buildings. The latest version is Archicad 14. I personally used to try the software to design simple floor plan for a small house. What I really like about this cad software is that we can create 2D drawings simultaneously with the 3D drawings of the house that we are designing. To visualize our concept house from 2D to 3D, we only need to click view in 3D and within a few seconds we can see how the house will look like. Archicad also has a lot of items in its library from furniture items such as tables, chairs and beds to home construction components such as windows, doors and stairs. Another software that is the competitor of Archicad is Revit Architecture. Revit is developed by Autodesk a giant CAD software company whereas Archicad is by Graphisoft.
After studying the Archicad tutorials for a few months, I conclude that this BIM software can only be used for visualising the interior of ship. It is not suitable for designing hull form due to various technical aspects such as resistance and propulsion, hydrostatic and stability calculation that Archicad does not have. Archicad can calculate how much material that will be needed, for example, for building a wooden house in cubic meter. But it cannot calculate that center of gravity of the ship and center of buoyancy of the submerged hull of a vessel. Although Archicad can create very beautiful interior design of a suite room of a cruise ship such as the Oasis of the Seas or the Allure of the Seas, it is lack of features that are vital in ship design.
So, if you are asked to design the interior part of a cruise ship, then it is ok to use Archicad. But if you are asked to do the basic design of a hull form including her hydrostatic and resitance as well as propulsion properties, then I must recommend other software that can do the job for you. They are Maxsurf, Delfship or CATIA. If you don't want to spend money on buying the license of the software, an alternative solution is Freeship. Delftship and Freeship have similar interface. The professional version of Delftship has more complicated features for calculating damaged stability of a ship. I personally have used Delftship and written some tutorials or explanation in this blog. You can find them in this blog. I like Delfship because although its size is small it can be used to create hull form complete with the hydrostatic feature of the ship.  by Charles Roring
Also read:

• Designing Simple Bedroom with Archicad
• How to draw floorplan with Archicad
• Archicad 8

Earthquake resistant houses

Most home builders in Manokwari city of West Papua must take into account earthquake resistant structures when constructing houses. The use of steel profiles or steel rods for pillars for multi-story buildings is highly recommended. Although metal buildings are strong and suitable for earthquake region, they are not fully popular due to aesthetics consideration. Home owners in Indonesia still prefer wooden framed houses with concrete walls as the most affordable and beautiful constructions.  The department of public works (called DPU or Departement Pekerjaan Umum) stipulate that all houses with two floors and above must have structural strength calculations done by architects and civil engineers who design the buildings when submitting their works to the department for obtaining their approval.
For small one floor homes, the use of hard wood for house frames is a common practice in this city. To hold the concrete walls, the construction workers hammer big nails along the wooden pillars and girders along the sides where the bricks of the concrete walls will be built. When earthquake hits the city, these nails will hold the walls from falling onto the ground and hit the occupants of the houses. The distance of the pillars has also been reduced to a maximum of 4 meters for family homes with two or three bedrooms.

Building materials for the foundation of the houses are granite stones or hard corals that are mined from the mountains. The mining of corals from the coastal area has been banned due to its destructive impact on the marine environment.
Although Papua is rich of timber, some home buyers in Manokwari still orders prefab building or wooden houses from Woloan village in North Sulawesi. These earthquake resistant wooden house of Minahasa, after being dismantled and shipped to Papua, will be reassembled and constructed on sites that have been cleared for them.

For Papua and Indonesian islands in general, wooden houses or concrete houses whose pillars are made of wood are the most recommended constructions. The use of wood is cheaper than steel frames. To prevent the wooden blocks and planks from deteriorating or decaying due to the changing weather, anti termite and base paints have to be applied on their surfaces. These kind of coatings will protect the wood for tens or even hundreds of years to come.
I used to study Archicad, a BIM modeling software for architects and home designers. This is a very powerful software for designing homes and big buildings. Although it has the ability of calculating the number of materials needed by the designed houses, it lacks features for strength calculation that is very important for houses that will be built in earthquake region such as Indonesia. Architects still need other software such as SAP 2000 to do the structural strength analysis. by Charles Roring
Also read:
Tropical wooden houses
Archicad and Home Design
Houses in earthquake zone
How to design roof with Archicad

Archicad 8

Today's architects have a lot of choice of BIM softwares to help them in modeling the concept houses which they want to design. Several years ago, engineers used Autocad to draw floor plan of houses. Autocad users need a lot of steps in designing for instance a two-bed room house. But for BIM software users, they only need a few clicks, and drags of mouse to visualize the house in 3D views including its 2D floor plan view. One of the most popular software in house design is Archicad. This powerful architectural software is developed by Graphisoft. The latest version of Archicad is 14.

For home designers who want to design a simple house for their neighbors, the tools and features of Archicad 14 might be too complicated for them. Archicad 8 may be more suitable. Another software is Sketchup which anybody can download for free from the internet. This is not a new version of the Archicad but this is still useful in helping home designers in modeling the house which they want to create both in 2D floor plan and in 3D view. For example, if we are currently in the floor plan view, we can easily see the building design that we are working on in 3D view by right clicking the computer mouse and choosing the 3D window in the context menu.

I personally have not explored in details the tools and features of this old building design software but I think it is much simpler than the latest version 14 that is now available on the market.
Although Archicad of Graphisoft is a very good architectural software for home and building design, it is not suitable for naval architecture. Ship designers usually use Maxsurf or Delftship to design the hullform, calculate the displacement and all of the hydrostatic properties of a ship. Archicad might still be useful for example in designing Oasis of the Seas rooms or the interior of passenger ship and cruise ship in general. But it is not a recommended software for naval architects.
Also read: 
Archicad and Autocad
How to design roof with Archicad
Designing round wall room with Archicad

Wooden house design of Losmen Amberimasi

The wooden house that you see below is located in Amberimasi village of Numfor island, the Republic of Indonesia. This small house has three bedrooms, with one kitchen at the back of the house. I stayed in this losmen (or you might call hostel) from 23 to 24 November 2010. I really like its surrounding area which is still covered with green vegetation. The house is supported by wood pillars to protect the whole construction from wet ground. Because it is just a stone throw away from the beach, the ground where the house is built will always be wet from the intrusion of sea water. I don't know who designed the house but the architect or the home designer of this losmen probably did not use sophisticated BIM software such as Archicad and Revit.

I think he designed this house manually by drawing some sketches of the floor plans and then drafting one of the best floor plans into a final blue print. The house builder in Numfor island did not use teak wood which are mostly used by contractors in Java. Here in Papua, the most famous wood or timber for home construction is merbau. House made of wood such as what you see in the photograph is quite cool during a hot sunny day. Wooden house is the most recommended home construction in tropical island of Papua whose climate is hot and whose land is regularly hit by strong earthquakes.
Although today's architects have used Archicad and home design solution in modeling their design ideas into a 3D model, architects living in a small island such as Numfor still manually use pencil and sketch pad to visualize the house which they have imagined into a 2D concept house on a piece of paper.

Adding Doors and Windows in Archicad Home Design

Archicad of Graphisoft is a great tool for house design. Architects who have mastered it will definitely recommend it to their friends. This Building Information Modeling software (BIM) is easy to be operated. In addition, Archicad provides various construction elements which home designers can use to accelerate their work. One of the elements is door.

In Archicad, doors and windows have similar behavior and handling properties. Before we add doors or windows to the floor plan drawing, we must remember that we can only use them if we have drawn walls for them. When we put a door or a window into the wall, Archicad will cut or create an opening into the wall.

To add a door into a wall, click the Door in the ToolBox. Then click the Door Default Settings located below the Toolbar to choose the type of door and to modify it. You can select the types of the doors, change its material or its color.

On the following floorplan view, I have added 4 doors and 7 windows into the walls of the drawing. This is a small house with one bed room, one living room and one toilet room. You can see the floor plan of the house which I have made using Archicad below.

To visualize the design in 3 Dimensional view, just press Ctrl + F5. The floor plan which I have created is then presented in the following 3D view presentation:

It seems that the doors are closed. To change them to be in Open representation, with the doors on the floor plan selected, click again the Door Default Settings. Then click open the Parameters. Activate the 3D representation and change the Opening Angle in 3D to 80 degrees.

After you have clicked the OK button, press F3. The 3D representation of the small house is now showing that the doors are open as you can see in the first picture above. by Charles Roring

Units and Drawing Scale in Archicad

Archicad is a very powerful Building Information Modeling (BIM) Software from Graphisoft. It is increasingly being used by architects around the world. In this article I am going to explain a little about how to set units and scale prior to designing a house or a building.

If you are an Architect who lives in India, you will use SI units as project preferences for your design. But if you live in the United States, you might prefer to keep the default settings which are in Imperial Units. As a new Archicad user, you might be confused about how to change the units from the Imperial System to the International System. If this is your case, don't worry. Take a look at my following explanation:

With the Archicad BIM software running on your computer screen, locate the Option menu. After you have found and clicked it, you will see such list as Element Attributes, Element Snap, Auto Intersection, Magic Want Settings, Add-on Manager, Project Preferences and Work Environment.

Click the Project Preferences, you will see Working Units and Levels, Dimensions, Calculation Units, Construction Elements, Zones, Layout, Miscellaneous. Click Each of them to set your desired units of measurements.

After setting the SI units, you can continue to setting the drawing scale. It is very easy. Click the Document menu and then the Floor Plan Scale… You can change the scale of the drawing which is suitable for your design project and the printer or plotter size.

Archicad and Home Design

The following articles discuss Archicad tutorials and home design for architects and interior designers. At the moment the latest release from Graphisoft is Archicad 13. It is introduced with Graphisoft BIM Server to support model based team collaboration. As the number of users of this home modeling software is going up, there is a need or demand for information on how to use it. What I provide below are not meant to replace the official explanation presented by Graphisoft - the official company which has created the Archicad rather they are my personal journals which contain stories of how I study this great software.

I hope that by sharing some of the following articles, new Archicad users especially on the introductory level may find them useful for their own personal studies. I am not sure if I am able to provide more step by step Archicad tutorials in the future.

I write about anything in this blog from earthquake resistant wooden house to how to protect our tropical rainforest which is facing rapid deforestation. So, when you come again in this blog and find out that there are no new articles about Archicad then I suggest that you visit the official website of graphisoft.com There, you will find various information that is more suitable to your needs.

If after reading the following posts, you find that there are some mistakes, then please use the comment form to write some of your opinions which are very important for the corrections or improvements of these tutorials.

Before I finish this post, I would like to recommend other similar products created by Autodesk which many architects from around the world use in their home or building design projects. They are Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and REVIT Structure. Because the three BIM softwares are made by one company, they are more compatible for one another. As every software has its advantages and disadvantages, every new user of REVIT or Archicad must consult his or her needs with experienced users of each of the software to assess the right solution for his or her design needs.

ArchiCAD and Autocad

Archicad a powerful home design software

Drawing Scale and Units in Archicad

Adding Doors and Windows in Archicad Home Design

How to design roof with Archicad
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing round wall room with Archicad
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design

Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer

ArchiCAD and Autocad

This afternoon, an architect came to my bookstore asking if I sell AutoCAD 2009 books. I said I have some AutoCAD books. While he was reading the titles of the books on the computer bookshelf, he came across with Archicad. Then he came to my desk. He asked, "Do you know the difference between AutoCAD and Archicad? Which one is better?"

Well, it is difficult for me to answer his question. AutoCAD and ArchiCAD are two different things. They may look similar but they are different. Which one is better? Better for what? For designing complex building, I might say that ArchiCAD is faster in meeting the needs of architects. For designing machinery and their elements, individual work piece such as a bolt or a car frame or a table, I will say that AutoCAD is more flexible. Yes, you can design such things with Archicad but you need more steps and extensive knowledge of GDL programming language.

The better way to compare Archicad with its right counterpart is by comparing it with AutoCAD Architecture or Revit Architecture. These are the softwares which provide features that are similar to Archicad. Revit has even been released in three forms, i.e. Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, and Revit Structure.

I am not an expert of Revit Architecture or Archicad so I dare not compare them. For me, both of them are good for designing homes and buildings. I have used Archicad for some three or four months and I feel that I am comfortable with it. I just need to practice more to find many features the software has. When I have mastered Archicad, I will write more tutorials about it in this blog.

Archicad for AutoCAD Users

If you are an experienced user of Autocad and are now thinking of using Archicad for building design projects, you can begin to explore the tools available in the BIM software by buying a book entitled ArchiCAD for AutoCAD Users. The book was written by Scott MacKenzie and his friends. This book is suitable for architects or designers who want to study Archicad for the first time. I personally learn to use ArchiCAD directly by designing a simple house using the software. I also watch the tutorials provided by Graphisoft, the company that develops this great BIM software. I can say that ArchiCAD is a very easy to use software. It helps architects in modeling their designs into a three dimensional concept that can be presented to house or building owner. AutoCAD users may feel that ArchiCAD is not as flexible as AutoCAD but with more practices they will know that anything can be designed in ArchiCAD.

In other words, it may not be suitable for experienced users of Archicad who want to deepen their skills with advanced techniques. Another book that is also good is Introduction to ArchiCAD: A BIM application.

Also read:

Archicad a powerful home design software
How to design roof with Archicad
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing round wall room with Archicad
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design

Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer
Wooden house of Minahasa an earthquake resistant construction
The ceiling and windows of a wooden house

Recommended book for home building technology
Houses in earthquake zone
Earthquake resistant wooden house of Minahasa

The Ceiling and Windows of a Wooden House

When designing a ceiling whether manually or automatically using such software as Revit Architecture or Archicad of Graphisoft, an architect must think both the function and aesthetic appearance of the ceiling. Ceiling is an integrated part of every house.

It can be made of wood, metal sheets or composite and other fiber material. On the ceiling, we have lamps, fan, loudspeaker and fire fighting equipment. The following pictures are ceiling of a wooden house. The surface of the ceiling is not flat. It is made of many smaller wooden boards that are artistically arranged.

To balance the dark color of the wood, the surrounding side of the ceiling and the walls are painted with leaving the contrast look of the house. The exterior of the house is also similar to the interior one. The ceiling and the windows are made of wood. The owner of the house does not apply brighter painting to them. Instead, he painted the wall white to balance the dark brown color of the wood.

To protect the house from theft, steel frames are installed at the window openings separating the interior and exterior of the house without blocking the sunlight from entering the interior. This house was designed and constructed by the owner alone in Manokwari of West Papua following the typical design of the Minahasan wooden house in North Sulawesi.

The use of wood as the main material of a house will not threat the tropical rainforest as long as the practice is done in sustainable way. It means that after cutting the trees, people have to replant them with new trees. Tropical rainforest is important not only for the animals living inside it but also for human beings who need clean air and water as well as coral reef that lies deeper under the sea. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia Also read:

How to design roof with Archicad

Archicad is an easy to use CAD software which many architects use to design houses and buildings. Whether you want to design a complex building like malls or a simple house, Archicad provides many tools and feature which you can deploy to accelerate the design process. The latest release made by Graphisoft is Archicad 13.

Archicad is now getting more and more popular in Indonesia. On the following explanation, I am going to describe how to design house roof using Archicad. Roof that I want to design here is of a simple form that follows the form and size of the slab floor which I have created.

To design the roof, double click the Roof Tool on the tool box of the Archicad. Roof default settings window will appear on the screen. Locate the roof slant angle and change the default figure from 45 degrees to 30 degrees. I chose that figure so that the roof will not look too steep. After that, click the Geometry Method: PolyRoof. The icon is located next to Geometry Method: Dome or Barrel Vaulted.

After clicking the PolyRoof icon, you can begin drawing the roof following the boundary lines of the slab floor which are outside the walls of the house. Your drawing on the floor plan view should look like the following picture.

On this view, you cannot see how your roof looks like. To better visualize the roof, you need to see it in 3D view. Right click your mouse and choose Show all in 3D or Press Ctrl + F5. Now the roof which you have just designed with Archicad should look like the following picture.

Roof protects the people living in the house and the house construction from extreme weather condition. After following this step-by-step tutorial, you might feel that it is too simple and you want to explore more about this BIM software. Actually, I have written a number of articles related to Archicad tutorials but I honestly have to say that they are not enough for you if you are serious in learning this BIM software. You need to have some books which can help you explore the tools and features of this architectural software. If you are still a beginner then I should recommend you Introduction to ArchiCAD: A BIM Application. Another reference that I can suggest is the book entitled Discover Smart BIM: An Interactive Guide to ArchiCAD. You can also try the book to study ArchiCAD. This book is a little more expensive than the previous one but it is a very good reference for architects who want to master the software. 

The best way to master this BIM software is trying to design a simple house directly inside the ArchiCAD platform. The more you practice, the better you'll become. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia.

Also read:

ArchiCAD and Autocad

Archicad a powerful home design software
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing round wall room with Archicad
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design

Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer
Wooden house of Minahasa an earthquake resistant construction
The ceiling and windows of a wooden house

Recommended book for home building technology
Houses in earthquake zone
Earthquake resistant wooden house of Minahasa

Archicad a powerful home design software for eco-house

Archicad is powerful software that many architects use to design houses. Yesterday two architects came to my bookstore. They were looking for books on CAD software for house design. I recommended Archicad books. Archicad has been around for quite a long time in Indonesia. But architects in West Papua just began to learn about it.

Why is Archicad so powerful? As CAD home design software, it can simultaneously be used to design floor plan and 3D drawings of a house or a building. I personally have tried the software and I liked it a lot. I can easily design the rooms, add objects such as chairs, bed, table, doors and window and after that see them in 3D view.

If I want to modify the rooms by changing their sizes, removing the locations of doors or windows, this modification is automatically reflected in all drawings and sections including the 3D view.

The Archicad library provides extensive selections of objects and texture of walls or wood panels in various different colors and materials. If I want to expand the capability of Archicad, I can visit Graphisoft website. I used to see how a home designer use a plug in called Archicad MEP to design the piping and electrical installation of a building. I think the software is still open for many developments.

In the future, Architects want to see the inclusion of structural analysis capability in Archicad software so that the whole design process of a house or a building can be done using Archicad. Also read: How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad

How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft

Archicad is powerful BIM software, created by Graphisoft, that helps architects or home builders in designing buildings or houses. It has been used to design simple houses to complicated buildings. On the following tutorial, I am going to tell you how to design a simple floor plan of a house using some drawing tools Archicad has.

First, launch your Archicad software. Then, create a new project. Click the wall tool on the left tool box and draw floor plan of a simple house like the following picture.

After drawing the walls of the rooms, you can continue by drawing doors, and windows using the drawing tools on the left tool box. Archicad has a number of standard doors, windows and other object which you can use to design the house.

If you have finished designing the simple house, you can see the three dimensional form of the house by pressing Ctrl + F5. Your house should look like this.

by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia

Also read:

ArchiCAD and Autocad

Archicad a powerful home design software
How to design roof with Archicad
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing round wall room with Archicad
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design
Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer

The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia

Archicad is an easy to use and powerful Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools that is getting more popular these days in Indonesia. This architectural software is especially produced by Graphisoft for architects or building designers. The latest release, Archicad 12, has many new features which are useful in accelerating the design process of a house or building. Features such as curtain wall, hotlink module management, and 3D document can be found in the latest release.

These features make Archicad more attractive compared to other similar BIM tools software. More students who study architecture in Indonesia learn Archicad. In addition, the representative of Graphisoft in Indonesia has opened training centers for those who want to study Archicad in many universities in Indonesia.

I often visit a home design consulting firm. Its name is Flexika. The company is located at the back of my house. Architects there have been using Autocad 2007 for years but they are now beginning to learn Archicad under the guidance of their senior home designer Mr. Eddy Rachmat. He has used Archicad for years. In his opinion, he can design houses and buildings fast. The process of the designing 2D and 3D documents can be done simultaneously with relatively free of errors.

The increasing number of Archicad users is also caused by the availability of Archicad books in many bookstores around the country. The architects who currently use Archicad hope that in the near future Graphisoft can add new features such as Archicad MEP and Archicad Structure in the next release of the software.

Indonesia is a country that is located in the path of "ring of fire". It is an imaginary ring that signifies the meeting of earth layers around the Pacific region. There are many volcanoes in the ring of fire. As a result, Indonesia and many other countries in the ring of fire often face tectonic and volcanic earthquakes. Architects in Indonesia must seriously analyze the structure of the building which they design to prevent structural failures after the building has been built. Also read: How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad of Graphisoft

How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad

Earthquake has been the major natural disaster that causes many damages to man made structures. Concrete house which is not strengthen with columns and beams can be vulnerable to earthquakes. Archicad of Graphisoft is very robust software. It has features such as column and beams which we can customize and use to design an earthquake resistant house. In Archicad, we can set the size and height of columns and beams as well as their color and material.

To design an earthquake resistant house, first, we need to know its technical requirements. When earthquake occurs, it moves the house on reciprocating horizontal direction. The concrete structure of the house has to withstand such movement. Concrete material can withstand great pressure but cannot with stand tensile stress. Architects need to stiffen and reinforce concrete walls with beams and columns which are reinforced inside with steel frames or reinforced bars and rods. I am not going to discuss in detail about how to determine the size and number of the steel bars but I only want to show how to add column and beams to strengthen the walls of the designed house using Archicad of Graphisoft.

After launching the Archicad, open a file or make a rectangular room such as the one below:

Usually, home designer add columns to every corner of the house. Click column in the toolbox of your Archicad to activate the tool. You may probably need to set certain parameters of the column, to do that, double click the column tool. A window will show up. You can adjust the size, and height of the column as well as the material it composed of. Look at the following floor plan drawing above. The columns have to be tied to the steel structures of the house foundation.

After installing or adding the columns to every corner of the house, you can then add beams on horizontal direction above the walls. Similar to the column tool, if you want to do some adjustment to beam's size, location and material, you will need to double click the beam tool. Then, draw or trace the beams along the top edge of the walls. Your designed house or room should look like this on South Elevation.

You must remember that an earthquake resistant house has many designed factors which we have to adhere to. Some of them are the type of the foundation, composition of the mortar, bricks and sand; the size and depth of columns, the beam; and the joints of walls with the columns and beams of the house. Steel rood and wire mesh can be used to tie the walls with columns and beams in order to prevent it from collapse during earthquake.

After adding column and beam to your house in Archicad, you can see it in 3D view by right clicking your mouse and select the photo rendering projection option. Your design should look like this.

by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia

Also read:

ArchiCAD and Autocad

Archicad a powerful home design software
How to design roof with Archicad
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing round wall room with Archicad
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design
Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer

Wooden house of Minahasa an earthquake resistant construction

An earthquake resistant house designs have been a compulsory construction for home owners living in the ring of fire areas such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philipine and Japan. Just building a concrete houses will not be enough. Architects who design earthquake resistant houses must add steel frames inside the concrete beam and columns to reinforce them. A building information modeling software such as Archicad and Revit must equip themselves with structural analysis features. So far, only Revit from Autodesk that has got the structural features which can help architects design and analyze the structure of buildings.

For traditional wooden houses, the material which is mostly used is of course the wood. Wood if well preserved and dried is one of the best construction materials for houses.

In Minahasa of North Sulawesi, people build houses mainly from wood. Minahasa is a region in northern part of Sulawesi island. There are a number of active volcanoes which often erupt and cause earthquakes. So, the house construction there is mostly made from wood.

The kinds of wood which Minahasan people use are coconut, lingua, cempaka and sometimes besi or merbau. Old coconut tree which is not productive anymore in producing palm oil will then be cut and converted into home building material.

The wooden house of Minahasa looks beautiful in terms of their architecture. Architecture is the art and science of buildings. Although the traditional builders of Minahasan wooden houses have never taken any formal education, their designs are really environmentally friendly and united with the nature. Tourists who visit Minahasa often buy these wooden houses in Woloan village. This village has exported their knock down wooden houses to many countries around the world.

Wooden house can be one of the best home materials due to its earthquake resistant properties but it is not fire resistant. To minimize the risk of burning, architects must apply new design approach to their wooden house by applying fire resistant materials to some parts of the house. This can include fire resistant drapes and wall paper, as well as kitchen room made of ceramic materials.

When the new approach has been applied to the design of an earthquake resistant Minahasan house, it will be able to enter wider market of worldwide wooden house trade. I hope. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia, blog directory

Wooden house and alleyway of Kyoto

Japanese have been famous for their house design for years. Whether you are an architect who designs a house by drawing it manually or drafting it with Archicad 12 of Graphisoft, when you design an earthquake resistant house, you need to learn more about Japanese wooden house. The style of the house is simple. Its construction does not have rounded wall. Most of the walls are straight ones with partitions from thick white paper. Temples have rounded or curved roofs. The floor is covered with special mat made of rice straw and dried woven grass called Tatami. When we walk on the Tatami, we will feel that these Tatamis are soft. The tatamis are aligned on an arrangement that forms T joints and not the Cross joints.

If you are interested in learning how Japanese build and arrange their houses, I recommend that you visit Kyoto. It is a traditional city of Japanese empire. NHK, a state owned TV station, frequently aired programs about that city, one of them is about the alleyway of Kyoto. There thousands of alleyways in Kyoto. They are narrow and bring neighbors closer. We cannot drive car through narrow alleyways. If we want to pass through them, we need to walk or ride bicycles.

People must respect their neighbors' privacy by not playing music too loud. They have sushi bars and café where neighbors sit together to share stories and experience. I think one day I have to go to Kyoto to see how the style and design of the Japanese wooden house. Besides the wooden house and the alleyway that fascinates me, the public bathroom is also something unique in my own perspective. It is where Japanese take a bath. The public bath is divided into two main rooms, one for men and the other for women.

So, if you plan to go abroad this spring, maybe you can put wooden house and alleyway of Kyoto as your next travel destination. You won't regret if it is your choice. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua of Indonesia

Dimensioning of Round Wall in Archicad of Graphisoft

After designing the round wall in Archicad, now you can continue by applying dimension to each segment of the round wall and windows. To apply dimension, click the dimension tool in the tool box of your Archicad program. Then, click each point of the wall segment, from the left most point of the wall to the first window, then from the next point of the window to the next point of the window. Continue clicking the segment until you arrived on the end point which is the right most point of the round wall. The points of dimension that you click on the round wall should look like the following picture.

After that, double click the right most point or the end of the round wall and bring the cursor to the outer side of the building or the house. You will see a symbol of hammer shown up to you. Click there and you will see that the points which you applied to each segment of the round wall have become the dimension of the round wall.

You can do the same to the straight wall or other round wall of a house or a room. Applying dimension to a room is very easy. You only need to click the dimension tool and click the points where you need to know their distance or dimension. Archicad is very powerful building design software. It can help you apply dimension even in three dimensional view of the building. I will explain it to you in my other article about Archicad tutorial. by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia.

Also read:

ArchiCAD and Autocad

Archicad a powerful home design software
How to design roof with Archicad
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design

Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer
Wooden house of Minahasa an earthquake resistant construction
The ceiling and windows of a wooden house

Recommended book for home building technology
Houses in earthquake zone
Earthquake resistant wooden house of Minahasa

Designing round wall room with Archicad

by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia

Archicad is software which many Architects around the world use to design houses and buildings. It is easy to use and powerful. One of the features which Archicad has for home design is round wall. Classic and contemporary houses have rounded walls.

In this article or Archicad tutorial, I will show you how to design a room that has a round wall at its front. The room that I design is a simple one, not part of a building or a house. It is only used as a study case for the round wall design. OK, the first thing that you need to do is starting the Archicad from your computer. Then, start a new project. After that, make a slab floor with the size of 6 meter x 9 meters. Your Archicad should look like this.

After creating the slab floor with the Slab tool provided by Archicad, you can now proceed to designing the walls. The walls from point A to D should be the straight one. Wall AB is shorter than wall CD. When you have finished creating the straight wall of the room, you can continue by clicking the round tool as shown on the following picture. You need to click three points to create the round wall, i.e. points D, E, and A.

If you have finished creating the walls, straight and curved ones, you can add door and windows. Click the door and window tools on the left of the Archicad window which is located in the toolbox. The windows which you add to the curved wall will adjust their contour according to the curve form of the wall.

Now you have made the simple room of a house which has a round or curve wall at the front including its door and windows. To visualize the room that you have just created, right click your move and select view in 3D. Your designed room should look like the picture below.

If you want to read more Archicad tutorials from me, you can

Also read:

Archicad and Home Design

ArchiCAD and Autocad

Archicad a powerful home design software
How to design roof with Archicad
The number of Archicad users is rising in Indonesia
Designing simple bedroom with Archicad
How to draw floor plan with Archicad of Graphisoft
How to add column and beam to a house using Archicad
Dimensioning of round wall in Archicad of Graphisoft
Creating a rounded corner wall with archicad 12

Archicad and revit for house design

Archicad promotion in indonesia
Archicad 12 the best choice software for architects and interior designer
Wooden house of Minahasa an earthquake resistant construction
The ceiling and windows of a wooden house

Recommended book for home building technology
Houses in earthquake zone
Earthquake resistant wooden house of Minahasa

Designing simple bedroom with Archicad

Archicad is a building information modeling software that is getting more and more famous at the moment. It is created by Graphisoft for Architects around the world. Designing a house or a building using Archicad is easy and fast yet many people still do not know many of the powerful features of Archicad.

In today's article, I am going to tell you about how to design a bedroom using wall tools and objects of Archicad. First, launch the Archicad from your desktop or laptop. If you do not have the software, go to Graphisoft.com and download the trial full version or the free educational version and install it on your computer. On your window screen, after launching the Archicad, create a new document. Then you have to locate the Wall tool located in the tool box. Draw a bedroom with the size of 5 meters by 5 meters as shown in the following picture.

When you have finished drawing the walls, you can continue by adding door and windows to the bedroom. You can select various kinds of objects provided in the Object tool.

Because it is a bedroom, you need to put a bed, a cupboard and some chairs and a table. All of them can be taken from the object library in the Object tool. When you can the objects, you might find that the position of the objects is not right. If you want to rotate it, right click your mouse and select the Move and then Rotate. Click the object which you want to rotate and rotate it.

Now, you have designed the bedroom using Wall and Object tools of Archicad. You can see the 3D view of your bedroom by right clicking your mouse and select View all in 3D. The inside of the bedroom should look like this.

You need to study more features of Archicad if you want to design a better finishing for the bedroom.

This Archicad Basic Tutorial is written by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua - Indonesia