GRAPHISOFT Company®, a leading manufacturer of BIM solutions for architects and designers, today announced the release of a new version of its flagship product ARCHICAD 21. This release features a brand new Ladder Tool using GRAPHISOFT's patented Predictive Design technology.
“Intuitiveness, usability and efficiency have been the hallmarks of ARCHICAD that our users love from the very beginning. - says Péter Temesvári, Director of Product Management at GRAPHISOFT. - The new Ladder Tool does all the hard work in the background for the user, verifying compliance with applicable standards and allowing architects to simply enjoy their creativity. We've also enhanced ARCHICAD 21's OPEN BIM interoperability features to improve the level and reliability of interdisciplinary communication.”
New in ARCHICAD 21
New Ladder & Railing Tools
Designing stairs is one of the toughest architectural challenges as stairs must meet stringent regulations and standards. The new Ladder Tool, introduced in ARCHICAD 21, takes into account thousands of possible options and suggests the most suitable design solution. By performing these routine tasks in the background and verifying stair compliance, this tool makes it easy to create even very complex stairs.
ARCHICAD 21 empowers architects to design stairs creatively: just define the path, then choose the best design option. If several solutions are possible, then the program will suggest the one that is most suitable in accordance with the given trajectory and the standards used. Intuitive graphical editing methods make it easy to customize the shape of the stairs, as well as their designs and finishes. With the new Railing Tool, you can create any railings associated with stairs or other building elements with just one click. All the constituent elements of the railing can also be adjusted individually or at the level of the entire element.
Updated CineRender Engine
Built into ARCHICAD 21, the updated CineRender renderer enables architects to create high-quality, photorealistic renderings of BIM projects. The newest version of this mechanism allows the use of Blending Light and Additional Global Illumination, which increase the speed and realism of rendering.
Element Classification
The ARCHICAD model can be thought of as a centralized database that contains all BIM information and provides interaction for all participants in the design. In previous versions of ARCHICAD, only a limited set of Feature Classifications could be used. ARCHICAD 21 has a flexible element class system that supports any classification standard. These classifications can be transferred between projects in XML format. In addition, Element Classification, which is the foundation of OPEN BIM's intelligent interoperability, enables incredible interdisciplinary data exchange.
Reference IFC models
External structural or engineering IFC models created by related specialists can be imported into ARCHICAD 21 projects as edit-protected links. Filtering models allows you to restrict data transfer by category, structural function, utility networks, or simple selection of elements. Imported IFC models can be easily updated, providing full two-way interaction for all design participants. When you break the link, the resulting elements can be edited like regular ARCHICAD elements.
Collision Detection
As BIM design develops, so does the amount of information architects receive from related professionals. The new Collision Detection feature between two groups of user-defined elements is designed to help architects maintain their role as prime project coordinator.
In addition to these features introduced in ARCHICAD 21, special attention has been paid to improving productivity and user experience. To learn more about ARCHICAD 21 and to register to video feed the worldwide ARCHICAD 21 presentation, please visit
About GRAPHISOFT
GRAPHISOFT Company® revolutionized the BIM in 1984 with ARCHICAD® Is the industry's first BIM solution for architects in the CAD industry. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the architectural software market with innovative products such as BIMcloud ™, the world's first real-time collaborative BIM design solution, EcoDesigner ™, the world's first fully integrated energy modeling and energy efficiency assessments of buildings and BIMx® is the leading mobile app for showcasing and presenting BIM models. Since 2007, GRAPHISOFT has been part of the Nemetschek Group.
