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A/E/C SYSTEMS International is our new partner in bringing the premiere event of the Designers 3D CAD Shootout to the public, and will provide the venue for the next several years.
The A/E/C SYSTEMS Computer Solutions magazine will be reporting developments on the upcoming Designers 3D CAD Shootout, and serving as a Program of Events for our competition.
| Architecture as Spectator Sport
There are Teams of architects you can watch on an enormous projection system as they try to design a challenging building project and do all the plans, sections, elevations, perspectives, renderings, animations, and more all in only 3 hours. The 1997 the Teams were AllPlan, Arch+ / ConceptCAD, ArchiCAD, ArchiTECH.PC, Architrion, AutoArchitect / AutoCAD, BuildersCAD, DataCAD, DenebaCAD, Microstation TriForma, MiniCAD, and ARRIS Learn more in 1 fun day than you can from months of research, consultants, and CAD salesmen. |
This event is designed specifically for architects
who are trying to decide on what CAD software they should use - whether
they are re-evaluating, trying to decide whether to upgrade their existing,
or start with CADD software.
It is an educational event, that is also designed to be entertaining, where you can also learn very speedy techniques, why and how to use 3D CADD modeling for architectural production, and a number of design techniques. |
Past News Archives in cronological order
| Details of the next events are still being worked out. The official challenge and invitations will be posted here on this site in the next few weeks. | Meanwhile, read about the exciting 1997 event in the current issue of A/E/C Systems Journal, the January issues of Architectural Record and Architecture, the December issue of CheapTricks newsletter, UpFront Ezine, Cadence Magazine, and the new Architecture Boston - journal of the Boston Society of Architects chapter of the AIA. You can also judge for yourself, by getting the popular video of the shootout, that has now gone out to almost every State and Province and over two dozen countries. Many AIA user groups have used the video the topic for very lively meetings. |
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See the blow by blow description of how the MiniCAD Team won in 1997 on the Diehl Graphsoft Web site. |
May 17, 1998
Invitations are just about to be sent out to potential Team competitors. Two different Teams raring to go have even jumped the starting gun by sending in their reservations early - Sigma Design with ARRIS (our 1996 winner), and AutodeskAEC with AutoArchitect.
There will be an informational meeting for the competitors at A/E/C Systems in Chicago, Thursday June 4, 1998 10:30am-11:00am.
The venues for the 1998 and 1999 events have been worked out with our co-sponsors :
The 1998 Designers 3D CADD Shootout will again be co-sponsored by the Boston Society of Architects and Architectural CADD Consultants and held during the BuildBoston98 Exposition in Boston, in November 1998.
The 1999 Designers 3D CADD Shootout will be co-sponsored by the A/E/C Systems and Architectural CADD Consultants (with possibly other co-sponsors including Boston Society of Architects) and held during the A/E/C Systems Conference and Exposition in Los Angeles, in June 1999.
September 12, 1998
Invitations were hand delivered to potential Team competitors in Chicago at the A/E/C Systems show. There are still openings, but any Team or Company wishing to be part of the Design Shootout should call 978-927-6796 as soon as possible because there are only 2 spots left.
September 30, 1998
For the 1998 competition, November 18th in Boston, there are currently a 12 Teams :
Sigma Design with ARRIS (our 1996 winner)
AutodeskAEC with AutoCAD Architectural Desktop and AutoArchitect
Deihl Graphsoft with MiniCAD (our 1997 winner)
Bentley Systems with Microstation TriForma
DataCAD LLC with DataCAD 8 for Windows and Visual Reality
Deneba Software with DenebaCAD
SoftCAD International with ArchiTECH.PC and SoftCAD 3D
Graphisoft with ArchiCAD for TeamWork
SoftPlan with SoftPlan (a new entrant)
Sigma Design with BuildersCAD
Visio Corporation with ArchT (using both IntelliCAD and AutoCAD)
BAGH with Architrion and ArchiDesign
Other Competitors Not Yet Officially Registered :
ARC with ARC+
Intergraph with Project Architect
Nemetschek with AllPlan
The Vignette Interview Format
Essentially we are structuring the during-the-3-hour-charrette-interview process much more strictly. We are doing this primarily to make sure ever Team has an equal and fair chance to show what their software can do. We are also structuring this in the way described below in response to demands from the jury as well as the audience to allow us to seewhat the capabilities of each software are not just the overall design.
While the Teams are working on their building design (one building, same as in past years) they will be interviewed, one after another, on the same topic. The first 30 to 60 seconds consist of showing the audience briefly what the status of their building design is so far. The next two minutes are for showing us a specific feature on their software, such as, say, roof design (in general, not necessarily what they are putting on their current design solution) and then they would also show us how they would roof a specific case (which will be the same for everyone).
Yes this demonstration does involve taking one of your design machines offline (so to speak) for our quick 3 minute demo problem. Assuming 10 Teams over 3 hours, that means that each Team has the entire audiences exclusive attention for some 15 minutes. Thus, it will not bite into your time more than that (also, no Team gets more and no Team gets less, i.e. more fair). That the interviews take up that much time is no change from before, also, before, during the interviews, BOTH of a Teams machines were distracted from their work on the main problem as the Team speaker would ask them to pull up this drawing and that drawing.
There will be 5 (possibly 6) vignette interviews :
1) Space Planning/Blocking Out to Walls
We want to see how you do schematic design and then turn that into (or overlay that to get) walls. During this vignette we will also want to see how the software handles wall intersection cleanups X, L, and T.
2) Architectural Parametrics - Walls, Windows, Doors
We want to see how you place windows and doors in and how you change them. The Vignette will ask you to place a specific window and door and then change them to something else, we will also want to see how you change the wall type/width.
3) Symbols/Blocks, Symbol Libraries and Macro Languages
This is when we want to see what kinds of libraries of stuff come with the software (i.e. furniture organized in the CSI or what) and how you can switch symbols. This is also when we want to know about internally intelligent mini-programs or macros that draw parametric or smart symbols or automatically draw/model stuff. The Vignette will ask you to place a specific symbol (such as a chair) and change it to something else) then verbally or visually you tell us what else your software can do to draw/model objects.
4) Stairs, Ramps, Elevators, and Building Code Issues
What kinds of stairs can the software accomodate quickly and easily, and what is needed to modify it to unusual situations - are they 2D or 3D only or are they both. We also want to know how well the software can accomodate other required architectural code issues, such as ramps, and elevators. The Vignette will involve quickly doing a variation of a common stair.
5) Roofs
What kinds of roofs can the software generate, and how do you change them. The Vignette will ask you to put a roof on a specific floor plan (i.e. put a gable on a U shaped building with 2 dormers)
1b) Site Contours (a possible 6th vignette)
How does your software accomodate with putting a building on a site. Can you take contours and turn them into a 3D model, and then, can you carve out where the building footprint would go.
The exact vignette problems, even though they would be simple and easy enough to do within the 2 minute period, we would let everyone know before the competition. That way a Team interviewed first would not be at a disadvantage, and the Team can concentrate on their main building design.
To a limited extent, we did all this before (i.e. we would ask a Team to show how they changed the windows and so on) we are just structuring it all more fairly, and each Team will roof the same thing so-to-speak.
The interviews with CADD user group organizers, Company Presidents, Vars, and Jury will get pushed back to AFTER the 3 hour charrette portion of the competition - to be done while the voting is being tabulated.
Also, as you can see, since our time is much more closely regulated, there is no real need nor time for Team videotapes, at least the long ones. The short Team introduction videos last year were really fun and we will consider it.
October 10, 1998
Preparations for the 1998 Design Shootout step into full gear now, with most Teams now organized. The World Trade Center Boston preparing for the onslaught with the worlds best computer projection system, and a new hotel across the street (at which we are planning our exclusive Design Shootout Team Competitors Party the day before the competition).
Final touches are being made to our new interview format - where we interview the Teams during the 3 hour charrette portion of the competition when they are designing their comprehensive building. Check the notes below on the new Vignette Interview Format.
October 22, 1998
The past couple of weeks we have been busily preparing for your upcoming design problem, and it is indeed a very interesting one that promises to be the best yet. It is most certainly a DESIGN problem, worthy of the intense attention of real architects. Thus, any of you who have PR people or CADD jockeys predominating your three person Teams will want to reconsider and make sure you have real architect designers who really know how to design with your Team's design software.
As mentioned earlier, we have a more intense interview process as we visit the Teams and see what you are working on during the 3 hour charrette portion of the competition. It will involve 6 "Vignette Interviews" each of about 3 minutes (and timed with an egg-timer for all to see). Only the first one will interview a designated non-Team member (preferably CEO) spokesman, the rest will be graphic topical mini-problems that should be do-able within 60 to 100 seconds and handled by two members (one computer) of your Team. All of the mini-problems will be announced before the day of the Design Shootout, so you can think of how to address the questions. Each of the mini-problems is designed to show us all how the software handles a specific important area of architectural design and how changes are accomodated.
Thus, to accomodate all this there are two minor changes :
We are adding 15 minutes to the Design Charrette
- Thus you will now have 3 hours 15 minutes to do the comprehensive building design. Since we interviewed each Team in the past for a total of about 15 minutes, this represents an actual gain in time to work on the problem.
There will be no criteria design changes (as we announced every 30 minutes in the past)
- This is because we feel the Vignette Interviews will suffice to show us how a designer makes changes in your software, and, because of the higher level of design required for this particular problem, you are going to need every second. We also felt that some Teams held back in the past, fearing that a nice design element (requiring time) could get blown away in a second depending on what one of the design criteria changes may have been.
Drawing Requirements stay the same (check the Web site) with one addition :
- i.e. all Plans, Sections, Elevations, details of 3D elements, 12 perspectives, 2 renderings, 1 animation, 1 supplemental drawing (you specify), what we are adding is that you take at least one of those 3D views and merge it with one of the gif or jpg images of the site we will provide to each of you - i.e. photomontage to show your building on the site.
We will provide you with several gif and jpeg files of the site, as
well as DXF and DWG files (in 2D) of the site, in ACAD 12, 13 and 14 formats,
all just before the start of the charrette. (This to speed up the process
of distributing these files at the beginning. You will just need to inform
the audience and jury which files you used.)
November 15, 1998
With hours to go excitement is building as the ten Teams are packing up and heading for Boston. Professor Langdon sent an amusing and helpful, encouraging email to the Team competitors, pointing out strategies each and every Team could use to win this years competition - and within minutes this private email was leaked to the public. Though they are exceedingly curious, no one has a clue about what the design project or the site will be - all they know is that they were all warned that the project will be a big one truely requiring the talents of real architectural designers - though they seem to strain to hear if Prof. Langdon can be caught humming any indicitave tunes (such as "Down on the Boardwalk", or "Grand Hotel" or somesuch).
The Vingette Interview mini-problems were distributed to the Teams and posted on the Design Shootout web site. Hopefully the Teams will practice doing the sample problems so they can do it quickly in front of us, and have rendered variations for us to see in slide files too. So we now know that the stair is a simple U-shaped turnback stair - doable in any architectural program in seconds - but that they want us to show how they would make the landing larger with a seat and how to flair the bottom steps - which will prove more challenging or impossible for some of those auto-stair generators. We also know that the site contour to 3D site problem is essentially the same as last years - so let's see if they can do better now, with better software, and more time.
It looks like the event will be sold out shortly, so if you are planning on being there call that reservation number soon.
November 17, 1998
There will be a Team meeting tonight at 6 pm in the Amphitheater.
November 18, 1998
The results are being tabulated right now for all the categories. Only one category (out of 21) was tabulated today on the day of the competition, and that is the category for "Best overall Architectural CADD Software", for which the winner is awarded the Architectural CADD Cup, and becomes a Trustee of the Cup and oversees future competitions. To see the results in the other categories and see the actual resulting drawings from the competition please check back at this web site (and hit refresh/reload) periodically over the next few days.
Everyone attending was very impressed and astounded that every Team not only did the all the conceptual and schematic level of designs for the intense design problem but exceeded our expectations and brought the designs beyond that level. In the 3 hour charrette, most of the Teams actually got to a solid design development level of design, even placing furniture and doing 3D details. The project revealed today was a 3 to 4 story Entertainment Complex - consisting of 5 different kinds of restaurants, a dozen shops, a marina, and an outdoor amphitheater - of some 75,000 square feet, all on Pier 15 in New York, NY between the South Street Seaport and the Wall Street Raquette Club.
A jury of 10 experts in Architectural CADD combined their point scores with those from the spectator gallery audience to come up with the folowing results in the category Best overall Architectural CADD Software :
Points / Team
487 - The Arris Team - First Place ***
442 - The ArchiCAD Team - Second Place **
434 - The MicroStation TriForma Team - Third Place *
432 - The AllPlan Team - Fourth
407 - The MiniCAD Team - 5 th
371 - The ArchiTECH.PC / SoftCAD 3D Team - 6 th
363 - The BuildersCAD Team - 7 th
330 - The AutoCAD Architectural Desktop Team - 8 th
318 - The DataCAD Team - 9 th
214 - The DenebaCAD Team - 10 th
Arris wins the Architectural CADD Cup. The Trustees of the Cup, Geoffrey Moore Langdon, AIA (originator of the event) and Robert Anderson, AIA (last years winner) then presented the captain of the Arris Team, Charlie White, AIA, with the Architectural CADD Cup.
