Center For Design & Research

Complex Mass

A lot of our work could be modeled in just about anything since it is for visualization purposes only. For some of the most complex building forms that mimic organic surfaces I would generally model the building in 3ds Max. This does have a down side with buildings because programs like Revit are so much better for things like floors, curtain walls, doors, windows, etc. These items just snap in place and you can detail the building so much faster.

By Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13123 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5480880

Enter the conceptual mass, this allows buildings that are made from very complex forms much more rapid to develop in Revit. In some cases you would not be able to model it any other way. That is the case with the Center For Design & Research. If you notice the walls, floors and roofs meet in curves. Yet I was able to model the building outside in a matter of an hour or so. That is because I can pick a surface and tell Revit that I want a certain kind of wall or roof to be in that shape and it applies that element.

I am somewhat new to conceptual massing and the tools in Revit are not as intuitive as Fusion 360 which allowed me to develop the mass element in under 15 minutes. From there I imported it into a Revit architectural template and simply clicked my way to building the main structure, saving myself a week of modeling. For me productivity has to be better than that of my customers to be viable.

From there I brought the building into Lumion 3D and added the remaining elements of landscape, props, people and fauna. It took about 4.5 hours to render but you see the result is pretty good for a project that took me a day.