Yes, there were a couple of centres that said they could give me (very) basic training but what I was looking for was guidance on WHAT to do, not just HOW to do because doesn’t take a genius to figure out how the wall tool is used for making walls or the column tool for columns.

The promised “two days of onsite training” turned out to be a complete joke and efforts to find a training centre that could teach me the workflow proved futile. I was sold a license of ARCHICAD 9 and then left to my own devices. So, as I was saying it was a rocky start. That came a bit later – as it often does. And I’m not even mentioning the middle letter of BIM which is, as we all know, “information”.

There was no longer a disconnect between 2D & 3D, I could easily make walk-throughs, the models were always consistent and, best of all, changes didn’t have to be made in all the relevant plans and sections/elevations but only in one place – the design. So I’d been doing this for a few years when along came this damn BIM stuff (we called it Virtual Building at the time) and it changed my workflow for good. No more tedious redrafting with Rotring pens on Gateway tracing paper. For someone who studied and trained before the advent of computers, it was a huge step up! When design changes were required, I’d simply make them in all the relevant places and print out the modified drawings as needed. My earlier method was to use SketchUp for the initial conceptualising and then to make all the plans, sections, elevations etc.

I’ve been an ARCHICAD user since version 9 and, while the initial year or two were rocky, it now dominates my workflow.

Archicad 21