3d Architecture Programs have Increased the Use of Curved Forms
Perhaps the most evocative shapes in the AEC Industry is the curve. It is the most common form existing in the world. In reality the straight line is solely a man-made concept created from the search for effectiveness. The line is essentially a restriction imposed upon us by the selection of construction materials. Without a doubt, the usage of a sharp, crisp, line or edge can stimulate strong feelings and can be a fun expression of form. But there's something about the soft, natural feeling that an arched wall or roof form can induce.
Of course curves have existed in architectural design from nearly the very beginning. Beginning with the straightforward, round domes of nomadic huts, the geometrical easiness of the Roman barrel vaults, thru the skyward reaching arches of the gothic cathedrals, and the twisting organic curves of Art Nouveau iron ornamentation, curved forms in design have been utilized to elicit emotions in the spectator. But the architecture rendering tools of the times, the t-square and compass, limited how free flowing the designers of the past could be when putting their concepts down on paper. But today's fascination with complicated curved and twisted forms seem to be born out of the technology of the PC. The multiple curves and complicated geometry of Gehry's museum in Bilbao, would've been almost impossible to imagine and fabricate without the mathematical precision that modern PCs and architecture programs have made possible.
Now to be sure, the architecture programs used to form the complex, curved forms at Bilbao, Catia , was a product of advanced aircraft industry technology and was not the average house design software. But in the years since that ground breaking example of modern architecture, the architectural drafting software being utilized by the average architect has developed a large part of the form design technology that made Bilbao attainable.
Modern home design software free the architect to depart from typical building materials and create designs with more flexible materials like ICF forms. With these materials in mind it is possible not only to explore and model the various variations of geometrical or organic curved forms, but also send those models straight to shop fabrication machines without the intervening paper documents. When diagrams are needed there are now a number of desktop 3D printers available from the market that may reproduce with relatively good precision computer models. Some examples of architecture programs currently being employed to produce these designs are Solidworks , Revit , ArchiCAD , and even Google's free Sketchup .
It has still to be seen whether today's interest in complex, geometric and organic curves and forms is a passing technology prompted trend or a more enduring movement in architectural design thought. And anyway, there isn't any going back to the parallel rule and french curves of only a few decades back. The ever advancing technology of house design software, floor plan design software and even landscape software of today keep providing us with fresh methods to explore the many possible forms that will shape the built environment of the future.
About the Author:
John F. Benware, Jr. AIA is the Industry Director - Architecture, Design & Construction at UsersUnite . He had has over a decade of experience in the AEC Industry , including the handling of CAD standards and drafting. You can contact John at john.benware@usersunite.com and read his blog at UsersUnite.