Tag: autocad | ArchDaily

Effortless Design? Exploring Architecture Tools That Enhance the Creative Design Process

Agustina Iñiguez — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 06:45:00 +0000

Finding the right tools to represent a project idea or carry out a construction job remains an ongoing challenge for architecture and design professionals. While software for drafting, 3D modeling, and calculations has increased precision and efficiency, many architects continue using legacy tools learned in academia or practice—tools that feel familiar, but don't necessarily offer the best design experience. From overloaded interfaces and clunky workflows to endless plug-ins and constant back-and-forth between disconnected software, traditional design tools often reveal their complexity and fragmentation.

The (ab)Normal Vision: Bridging Disciplines to Redefine Contemporary Design

Nour Fakharany — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Named one of ArchDaily’s Best New Practices of 2024, (ab)Normal is redefining the boundaries of contemporary inspiration, architecture, and design. This Milan-based interdisciplinary studio, led by architects Mattia Inselvini, Davide Masserini, and Luigi Savio, aims to seamlessly merge architecture, product design, and creative direction into a cohesive practice. Founded in 2017 alongside Marcello Carpino, (ab)Normal's work spans various domains, including art, culture, design, interiors, and fashion. Their projects traverse multiple scales and formats, moving between the virtual and tangible, ephemeral and permanent, speculative and commercial, while integrating iconic elements with nods to popular culture and focusing on the implications of technological progress. Acting as Creative Director for the built environment, (ab)Normal operates across scales and formats, moving between the virtual and tangible, ephemeral and permanent, performative and static.

The Digital Divide: Can Technology Support Vernacular Architecture?

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:30:00 +0000

The architecture and construction industry has undergone a transformation with the integration of various digital tools, now indispensable to the design process. The welcoming of technologies has effectively streamlined operations, enhanced efficiency, and elevated design quality. This digital shift, however, has resulted in a digital divide that goes beyond accessibility to tools and software. It also encompasses the crucial aspect of integrating traditional and indigenous communities into the urban development landscape. Can advancing technology support the growth of vernacular architecture? Can indigenous building practices find a place in the vision for a digitalized future?

50 AutoCAD Commands You Should Know

Nicolás Valencia — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 08:30:00 +0000

After spending countless hours in front of AutoCAD working on a project, you’re bound to have your own set of favorite commands to standardize a few steps. We also bet that you don’t have them all memorized or often forget them. To help you remember, we've made a list of 50 commands that can help you speed up your work game, discover new shortcuts, or come in use as a handy tool for when you forget what the command you need is called.

In Praise of Drawing: A Case for the Underrated Craft

Jim Keen — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 08:00:00 +0000

I was part of the last generation of architectural students who didn't use computers (we’re only talking the early 1990’s here; there was electricity, color TV’s, rockets, just no renderings.) In my final year at college I miscalculated how long it would take me to finish my thesis project. As the deadline approached, I realized it was too late for me to match my fellow students’ presentations. At the time Zaha Hadid, and her deconstructivist paintings, set the style for architectural illustration. That meant many student projects being rendered in oil paints on large canvases.

5 Architecture Offices Using VR to Present Their Designs

Manuel Albornoz — Sun, 05 Aug 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Presenting designs to third parties can be a challenging task. Architects may find it difficult to describe spaces to their clients, therefore more firms are incorporating virtual reality into their workflows and project presentations.

The Best Architecture Software of 2018

Kaley Overstreet — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 06:00:00 +0000

When you think of the age of hand drafted architecture drawings, what images come to mind? Is it the iconic plans of the Palladian Villas? Fast forward to present day, where architecture software is favored over hand drawings due to its efficiency and ability to create increasingly innovative structures. With all of the software available to architects, have you ever wondered which one might be the "best"? Luckily, TechRadar has just released their list of leading architecture software for this year.

How an Optimized Workstation Accelerates Your Design

Rene Submissions — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Which processor? How many graphics cards? How much RAM? For architects, engineers, civil engineers, BIM managers, and other CAD pros, navigating the computer workstation marketplace can be an arduous task, hindered by unknowledgeable sales reps, inaccurate information, and other pitfalls.

How to Make Beautiful Stylized Floor Plans Using Photoshop

RenderPlan — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 09:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published by RenderPlan as "How to Render an AutoCAD Floor Plan with Photoshop."

LineCAD Offers Solid Collection of Free Architecture CAD Blocks (No Strings Attached)

AD Editorial Team — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 12:30:00 +0000

The people have spoken and the message is clear: “We want CAD blocks, reference drawings in DWG format and templates of all kinds!” Well, feast your eyes on this latest discovery, www.linecad.com. The site is a catch-all for downloadable DWGs and blocks whose scope even goes beyond architecture. (Shout out to your engineer buddies looking for pumps, pipes and gauges!)

If the AutoCAD Unexpected Error was "Honest"

The Leewardists — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Modern technology; when it works, it's brilliant. Even the cell phone, primarily a communication device, can now transform our face into a dog or let us throw angry birds at pigs. Computers really do separate us from the animals.

A Library of Downloadable Architecture Drawings in DWG Format

Osman Bari — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Free CAD blocks, downloadable CAD plans and DWG files for you to study or use in precedent research.

Visualizations of the Most Used AutoCAD, Revit, and 3dsMax Commands

AD Editorial Team — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 11:05:00 +0000

The 'Customer Involvement Program' of Autodesk's research department has, over the years, compiled a database of over 60 million individual commands created by anonymized users. Each reveals shortcut paths and thought flows among its customer base. The team have visualized the product usage (here described as the Command Usage Arc project) by ordering known and new commands from the most-frequently-used to the least-frequently. Revealed as a sequence of infographics, the results demonstrate how people work – and how they often deviate from prescribed usage.

Sinks, Toilets, Shower Heads and Faucets: Downloadable Bathroom CAD Blocks

ArchDaily Team — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In order to support the design work of our readers, the company Porcelanosa Grupo has shared with us a series of .DWG files of its various bathroom products. The files include both 2D and 3D drawings and can be downloaded directly from this article.

CyArk Captures Culture and Preserves History in the Face of ISIS in Syria

Jeff Walsh — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 09:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in Redshift and is republished here with permission.

Detailed, Colorful Elevation Drawings of Historic Brazillian Buildings Illustrated in CAD

Victor Delaqua — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 06:00:00 +0000

While using technical drawings, Zema Vieira makes architectural illustrations by using only AutoCAD without any further techniques. Her body of work became a project called “Fachada Frontal” or "Front Facade." In it, the artist depicts buildings from cities around the world, with a particular focus on Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

These Fantastical Architectural Illustrations Are Made Using Autocad

Begoña Uribe — Mon, 30 May 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Fabiola Morcillo Núñez, an architect from the University of Chile, is 26-years-old and has been formally drawing under the name 1989 for about a year and a half. Her illustration project uses basic tools of architecture to build fictitious and imaginary spaces based on Asian architecture and pop art.

PimpMyDrawing Provides Ready-Made People for Vector Drawings

Eric Oh — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Complementing the many websites that already provide people for renders, PimpMyDrawing is a growing online database of vector drawings of people. The site was started by three recent graduates of architecture school. After realizing the amount of vector drawings that they had produced during their academic career, they decided to share them for free.