Patti the Architect, a small, all-woman architectural firm
based in Florida, is pioneering the use of Apple’s latest
technological wonder to make building information modeling (BIM)
documents into a productivity-boosting mobile resource for
construction-site communications.
With Apple iPhone in tow, architect Patricia “Patti” Stough
and her staff can now easily access their full library of design
and construction documents and 3D virtual building models
wherever they roam. The firm designs all its projects in
ArchiCAD on high-performance Mac hardware, making the files
effortlessly portable and displayable on iPhone’s high-res
widescreen display.
This mobility enables the firm to more easily communicate
design intentions to customers on the site, as well as consult
and collaborate more effectively with builders, sub-contractors
and regulatory inspectors. And even if they had forgotten to
sync a necessary document to their iPhone, they can easily
retrieve it wirelessly via iPhone’s Wi-Fi connection or, lacking
that, through the AT&T EDGE data network.
With a slight tap or pinch of their fingers, users can easily
zoom in and out of drawings and 3D high-resolution photos on
iPhone, drilling down to the finest of details or panning out
for a big picture view via iPhone’s revolutionary touchscreen
interface. In the future, Stough intends to utilize ArchiCAD and
iPhone to bring cinematic fly-throughs of ArchiCAD BIM models on
site, as well as to directly access drawings on her website via
Apple’s Safari web browser.
“The days of hauling scrolls of paper drawings to job sites
only to discover I forgot a critical document are over,” said
Stough. “I can now carry the even the largest, most complex and
detailed ArchiCAD models in the palm of my hand. The ability to
bring 3D digital drawings on site is a huge advantage, enabling
me to better communicate and coordinate with everyone involved
in the project.”
Patti the Architect is an award-winning architectural firm
headquartered in Dunedin, FL, that specializes in beachfront
townhomes, hotels, churches, schools, offices, retail additions
and commercial interior renovations. The three-woman team uses
ArchiCAD for all projects, from the largest waterfront
condominiums to the smallest interior design projects. Stough
said huge productivity gains of designing in and working with 3D
virtual building models are further enhanced through the
mobility of iPhone. Her firm’s practice focuses on design
solutions that are sensitive to the environment and regulatory
agency requirements, particularly federal and local floodplain
regulations. “The ability to utilize BIM models to communicate
the aesthetics, geometry and underlying data of how the building
is built and performs sets me far apart from my competitors.
Being able to make that capability mobile with iPhone positions
me as a leading edge practitioner.”
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