How Computers Have Changed The Way We Design Homes

Article Dated March 26, 2003

How Computers Have Changed the Way We Design Homes

Introduction
The residential construction industry is now one of the fastest growing industries where computers and computer aided design (CAD) is changing the way we design houses and the adoption technology is rapidly advancing.

Traditionally, CAD usage in the building industry was limited to early adopters of the technology and those companies who could afford to have a dedicated technical person on staff. This person was highly trained and produced construction documents using 2D vector based CAD programs such as AutoCAD. 3D modeling was used but was cumbersome and not entirely practical for anything other than high-end visualization.

The home design industry is beginning to see a change. As object-oriented technology produces CAD software that is easier to use, it is suddenly becoming a more widely accepted and practical tool, used to create valuable information that can be accessed throughout a wide variety of building applications.

Virtual Construction of the Home
The new wave of design programs to hit the market has shifted their focus towards the construction of a 3D digital building model. A virtual three-dimensional model is created that contains intelligent information which in turn can be used for not only visualization of the house but also for manufacturing purposes.

This technology delivers the ability to visualize and walk through the home in 3D, giving an accurate representation of how the home will appear before construction ever begins. The advantage here is that the homeowner has less surprises than would have occurred if they were just looking at a paper set of plans.

Moreover, the latest technology allows 3D building models to carry with it behavior, rather than just the appearance of the element. Software developers now give their objects relationships with each other. An example of this would be the moving of a window in a framed wall which causes the stud framing to update and re-apply itself, using a defined set of rules that associate spacing and sizing options.

Technology for the consumer retail market
You don't have to purchase a high-end CAD system to utilize object-oriented technology in the building industry. Talk a walk through your local business supply or stationary store and you may see up to 10 different examples of "design your own home" or "landscaping" software.

A best-known example is 3D Home Design Suite by Broderbund and is one of the leading publishers of home and landscape design. This program provides the ability to quickly and easily design your own home, virtually walk through the interior and create a photo-realistic rendering in minutes. This model can then be exported via DXF to AutoCAD or other CAD packages for the creation of professional working drawings. Although limited in feature functionality, these easy- to-use retail packages raise the ever increasing bar for ease-of-use for the novice user, allowing them to create sellable designs that are beginning to approach the quality of those found in real-estate sales offices.

CAD Technology used in Residential Sales Offices.
The residential building industry revolves around the sale of the home and previously, model homes or expensive artist's renderings had to be created. While this is still prominent, models and digital renderings are now quickly replacing the traditional methods and it is becoming faster and easier to create better quality images. It is also becoming more desirable to actually walk your clients through their home giving "what if" scenarios with options that tie back to a central purchasing systems. As this technology becomes more adopted, it can be conceived that the construction of a model home will eventually become obsolete.

Technology for the Manufactured Home Industry
The manufactured home industry is generally thought of to be broken up into three categories: Modular, Panelized and HUD. Computer technology can arguably benefit this industry more than any other because of the large degree of automation required. These types of manufactures now have the ability to attach large amounts of data to their model homes ranging from the exact cut lists and wall panel diagram information, to a complete bill of materials that link to a purchase ordering system and estimating package.

KML Homes in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, is an example of a cutting edge manufacturing plant that are using design software to automate their panelized process. Focussing on a light-gauge steel framing system, they currently receive custom plans from Architects electronically (usually in AutoCAD format) and convert them to create a 3D AutoCAD model using a third party add-on product. Once the model is created, KML can now completely frame the walls, floors and roofs and divide them into an efficient panelizing system. This panel data is then electronically transferred to the production floor, where the panels are assembled and shipped to site where they are assembled onto a waiting foundation.

KML estimates that within the past eight months, they have increased productivity by 100% and future implementation will increase that by another 60%.

Conclusion
From some of the above examples, we can observe how computers have definitely changed, and are continuing to change the way we design houses, ranging from the consumer retail market, real-estate offices, to the manufactured home industry.

While the actual finished home product has not drastically changed, the computer technology is increasingly being accepted across many aspects of the residential building industry to change the way we design homes. As the industry continues to evolve, we can expect the changes that computer designs give us to rapidly increase as well.

©2003 HomePlanInfo.com

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