Using ArchiCAD, project architect Scott Williams of STUDIOS Architecture in Washington, D.C., Sat in an unfinished space of Discovery Communications Enc.'s proposed Latin American headquarters in Miami, Florida, to design an elaborate three-story atrium staircase for a client presentation a few days later. Once the model of the atrium and stair were completed, STUDIOS generated QuickTime® VR scenes of several alternate designs, presented them to the client on a laptop computer and won approval the next day.

STUDIOS was originally commissioned to design only the 25,000-square-foot third floor of the Latin America Television Center. Discovery Communications Inc., p a rent company of the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel and Animal Planet, asked them to redesign two additional floors with the help of viewing the proposed design in 3D with QuickTime VR scenes and animations.

"ArchiCAD was perfect for this type of project because it facilitated quick decisions,"

STUDIOS' principal Phillip Olson said.

"The client had already set a launch date to begin operations at the new center, so the facilities had to be in place on time to house all of the employees. Because the client is technologically oriented, they had a much greater understanding of what it took to make the presentation happen. They were impressed with how quickly the design was generated.

Respecting the client's interest in "green" products, STUDIOS¹ design centered around the use of recycled materials. STUDIOS found a supply of old growth heart of pine recovered from a razed 1870 cotton mill in Atlanta, Georgia, and used the recycled timber for stairwells and "docking walls" which supply electricity and network communication lines to modular work stations. ArchiCAD's GDL technology accelerated the design process by allowing complex assemblies to be created. Dozens of alternatives could be explored from a single section of the recycled timber modeled in three dimensions and used as an intelligent object.

In addition to creating the timber library in ArchiCAD, a library of custom Haworth furniture was also created to help the client visualize how the furniture would fit in the new space. STUDIOS was able to model each piece of furniture for simultaneous use in working drawings and perspective views by working fro m dxf files provided by Haworth and information available in product catalogs.

With a tight project timeline, the design team at STUDIOS appreciated ArchiCAD's ability to generate three-dimensional models automatically from the floor plan and section views allowing them to advance the construction documents, make design studies and prepare client presentations at the same time with relatively little additional work.

"Modeling in 3D gives you and your client a chance to look at a design critically and react to it," project architect Bill Deegan said. Deegan also cites that STUDIOS could shave off critical time by sending QuickTime® VR scenes to the client by e-mail and t h rough an Intranet which links STUDIOS¹ U.S. Offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and New York.