Digital Sketching

Learn to apply new digital design technologies at your own firm with this practical and insightful resource

Digital Sketching: Computer-Aided Conceptual Design delivers a comprehensive and insightful examination of how architects and other design professionals can best use digital design technology to become better designers. Celebrated professional, professor, and author John Bacus provides readers with practical and timely information on emerging digital design technologies and their effect on professional practice.

By focusing on the big picture, this rigorous survey of conceptual design technology offers professionals realistic strategies for reclaiming time for design in the ever increasing speed of project delivery. This book helps architects (and others like them) learn to use digital sketching techniques to be better designers, right from the project's very first sketch.

As part of the groundbreaking Practical Revolutions series of books, Digital Sketching furthers the conversation of the practical deployment of emerging technologies in the building industries. This book provides readers with the information they need to evaluate digital design technology and decide whether or not to adopt and integrate it into their own processes. Readers will receive:

• An accelerated and accessible introduction to a highly technical topic

• Practical and applicable guidance on how to adapt a firm's business to adopt new technology without losing the benefit of existing intuition, skill, and experience

• Real world implementations of specific techniques in the form of illuminating case studies that include results and lessons learned

Perfect for professional architectural designers, Digital Sketching also belongs on the bookshelves of interior designers, landscape architects, urban planners, contractors, and specialty fabricators of every kind. A disciplined sketching practice, especially through the digital methods discussed in this book, is a transformational benefit to anyone who designs and builds for a living.

Autorentext

John Bacus is a Senior Director of Product Management for the Trimble Design & Engineering Solutions Group, where he works on new product strategies for the AEC industry. John has worked for over eighteen years on the design and development of SketchUp, a 3D sketching tool for design. John has degrees in Architecture from The Cooper Union and Rice University, and is currently a lecturer in the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado.

Inhalt
Prologue ix

Chapter 1 Sketching For Conceptual Design 1

Introduction 1

Creative Rigor in Design 1

How Do You "Design"? 3

Design Starts in the Studio 5

How to Sketch 6

Sketching Digitally 10

Be the Designer 12

It (Really) Isn't about the Tools 14

Stay Agile 19

Version Control Systems 31

Chapter 2 The Elements of Design 33

Designing the Elephant 34

The Measurement of Space 35

The Qualities o f Space 40

Geometry and Form 44

Freeform Curves 52

Surface 56

Building Objects and Other Higher-Order Primitives 64

Chapter 3 Representations of Space 71

Descriptive Geometry 73

Architectural Scale 76

Cutting Planes 79

Orthographic Projection 80

Plans 80

Elevations and Vertical Sections 82

Oblique Projection 83

Perspective Projection 88

Cinematic Perspective 92

Free Perspective 93

Stereoscopic Perspective 95

Unfolded Projections 98

Sketching in Diagrams 101

Chapter 4 Sketching In 2D 105

Your Sketchbook 105

Sketching with Purpose 106

Let's Get Sketching. . . 110

Physical Sketching 110

Materials for Physical Sketching 114

Carry a Sketchbook, Really 115

Tools for Digital Sketching 116

Physical and Digital Together 120

Chapter 5 Sketching In 3D 123

There Is No Hiding in Models 123

Benefits of Sketch Modeling 123

Physical Modeling 127

Digital Modeling 132

How 3D Modeling Actually Works 138

Sketching Lines in 3D 141

Sketching Surfaces in 3D 144

Sketching Forms in 3D 14 7

Assembling 3D Models from Parts 150

Chapter 6 Sketching In Code 157

Rules-Based Design 157

Materials for Digital Sketching 159

Getting Started with Programming 162

Chapter 7 From Sketch to Production 185

Sketching for Presentation 185

Sketching for BIM 189

BIM Levels of Development 191

Sketching in LoD 100 BIM 193

Sketching for Construction 198

Chapter 8 Epilogue 205

Technology Is Incremental Even Revolutionary Technology 205

Computation Is Powerful, But It Isn't Limitless 206

An Imaginary Scenario about Construction 20 7

How Close Is This Future in 2020? 208

Appendix A What Computer Should I Buy? 211

Appendix B Integrated Development Environments (Ides) For Architects 223

Appendix C Sketching In Virtual Reality 227

Bibliography 233

Index 237