Students-winners of the national stage of the Saint-Gobain international competition "Designing a Multi-Comfort Home-2018" about the convenience of working with the program.
GRAPHISOFT, which was a partner of the national stage of the Saint-Gobain competition "Designing a Multi-Comfort Home-2018" and the founder of a special nomination for the best project created in ARCHICAD, recorded an interview with students of the Samara State Technical University Marina Iglina and Olesya Matveeva. Their creative union has existed for several years. Together they have repeatedly become winners of various architectural competitions, consistently showing a high level of ARCHICAD proficiency. We talked with Marina and Olesya to find out what is the secret of the success of their tandem and what are the features of studying information modeling technologies at their home university.
Briefly describe the competitive project and its features, architectural solution
M. I.: The project was carried out within the framework of the international competition for students "Designing a Multi-Comfort Home" - ISOVER-2018. The assignment provided for the formation of a multi-apartment residential complex for the resettlement of residents of the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Here it was required to provide housing for the cultural workers invited to the country and the infrastructure necessary for people.
O. M.: Since the project was created for a city in extreme climatic conditions, it was necessary to use various architectural techniques to protect the territory and buildings from overheating and dust, develop recommendations for desalination of water and provide energy resources using solar energy and various engineering equipment, take care of acoustic comfort and fire safety.
M. I.: From the very beginning of the work, white was chosen as the main color of the facades, which contains many meanings. We have developed a complex consisting of three modules. When combined, they form four residential buildings connected by atrium spaces. The lower floors of the buildings are reserved for public premises. Underground - extensive parking and premises for engineering systems for air conditioning and water treatment. A concert hall is also provided in the structure of the microdistrict.
O. M.: On the third floor, all buildings are connected by pedestrian bridges for movement to one or another object. We extended these bridges as a promenade zone to the water area and proposed to place three office and hotel towers on artificial islands.
M. I.: To protect the premises from overheating, the residential buildings are designed by gallery buildings. Shading, air conditioning and through natural ventilation were used to ensure thermal comfort. Various layouts of apartments (from one to five rooms) were developed for various families of local residents, as well as two-level penthouses for cultural figures.
What tools, features of the ARCHICAD program did you manage to evaluate during the work on the project?
M. I.: We used almost the entire arsenal of various ARCHICAD tools: from drawing plans and arranging furniture to building 3D models. We used not only standard objects of the ARCHICAD library, but also those created by us. Since we worked together and divided the tasks, at one of the design stages, the function of exporting one ARCHICAD file to another helped us a lot: it allowed us to combine different parts of the project into one whole object.
O. M.: Why did we use ARCHICAD to do all of the work? First of all, because it is convenient to control various functions in it. This applies to the construction of objects, and to drawing projections, and to the formation of the exposure in terms of layouts. We made sure that the new versions of ARCHICAD allow us to carry out tasks related to the construction of architectural solutions that are unique in terms of geometry. For example, we applied floor-to-object transformations to detail a footbridge, embankment railing, and building façades.
How many times are you working together, how are roles and work on a project distributed between you? Tell us about each other's strengths and how the process of creating a project is being built …
O. M.: We are participating in the competition for the third time, and our permanent leader is the professor of the department “Architecture of residential and public buildings”, candidate of architecture Tatyana Yanovna Vavilova. It is she who coordinates our work. At the initial stage, we work together: we form a concept, develop and discuss alternative search sketches, refine the urban planning solution, and search for shaping.
M. I.: When the general idea is formed, the stage of detailing begins, and we share with Olesya the work taking into account the complexity: this time one of us designed housing, and the other - public spaces. Olesya also worked on the refinement of engineering and design solutions for the object, while I specialized in facade solutions and performed the final visualization.
Please tell us about your university. How is the learning process organized? Is ARCHICAD taught? If so, in what form? Is a high level of proficiency in the program a result of self-study or a merit of the university?
M. I.: We are studying in the first year of the master's degree at the Faculty of Architecture, the Department of Architecture of Residential and Public Buildings of the Architecture and Construction Academy of the Samara State Technical University. Last year they defended their graduation bachelor's theses. It was at the bachelor's degree that we felt that the process of training future architects is very difficult: there are many "physics" and "lyrics" in it, that is, creative, humanitarian, natural science and technical disciplines are taught.
O. M.: ARCHICAD was taught to us only in the second semester in the first year of the bachelor's degree - in the format of practical training. Now he was taught in the first and second years, for a total of two semesters. Most often, students use the educational version of ARCHICAD. Of course, the skills learned at the very beginning thanks to the teachers become basic. In the future, they allow a more in-depth study of the software complex when performing course projects. And so, from project to project, the independent study of various functions continues. It is clear that you cannot stop here. The bottom line is - Why are you using ARCHICAD as your primary tool? What are the benefits of working with him from the perspective of a future architect?
M. I.: ARCHICAD is our main tool. This is a very handy program not only for building 2D projections, but also for creating 3D models. When making changes in plans, all other parts are corrected, you can check the changes, see errors, correct them - and this is very important, since in architecture every detail matters.
O. M.: More than five years have passed since the moment when we started working in ARCHICAD, but now we are discovering new interesting features of the program. The interface and functions are very simple and convenient, unlike other programs. Now that experience has appeared, it is possible to build models and functional diagrams in a short time, compare search options in relation to the urban planning situation, and choose the best solution.
How do you plan your future career development?
M. I.: I would like to work as a practicing architect in the future and design buildings that will bring maximum benefit and joy to people. Participation in the competition made me think about new goals. Probably not individual work, but in a team where coordination of actions is required.
O. M.: Probably now the most important conclusion for me: architecture is definitely my profession. I would be very happy to do an internship at a reputable architectural bureau, and eventually design iconic and complex buildings. And I also hope that in the future Marina and I will be able to take part in new competitions.
- Good luck!
About GRAPHISOFT
GRAPHISOFT® revolutionized the BIM in 1984 with ARCHICAD®, the industry's first CAD BIM solution for architects. 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 application for the demonstration and presentation of BIM models. Since 2007, GRAPHISOFT has been part of the Nemetschek Group. Material provided by Graphisoft
