August 16, 2021
In this article, four new graduates from Gulliver Prep, Florida, share their work, and what gets them in ‘The Flow State’.
Before school ended for summer 2021, Graphisoft North America asked several Gulliver Prep graduates to share some of their thoughts on using Archicad.
All the students who chose to share their unique perspectives are committing to pursue the study of architecture in college. We expect great things from each of them.
We got a peek into how designing in Archicad can empower what is often commonly referred to as the “flow state” – when one becomes so fully absorbed in an activity that all other realities fade away into the background.
Loosing track of time is nothing new for Catalina
Catalina Garcia told us she loves designing in Archicad so much that she loses track of time.
Garcia says the mesh and shell tools rank among the best features on Archicad for her. She tells us she enjoys how it allows her to create different types of spaces for her projects.
Catalina’s sustainable live-work project (left) centered on a house located in the city of Venice. She chose Venice despite its challenging limited space. Her project presents the possibility for a sustainable live-work house in one of her favorite cities.
Entering ‘the Bubble’ is easy for Marcos
Graduating senior, Marcos Tobi shared some of his impressions about using Archicad as well as his inspiration for his winning design. Tobi tells us he enjoys the creativity aspect of architecture the most. This young aspiring architect describes entering a sort of flow state while using Archicad – a testament to the design freedom that Archicad supports. “Architecture gets you to think outside of the box and while doing the projects you just sit there imagining new things to create. It feels really good when you enter that ‘bubble’.”
Young Tobi considers Archicad to be the best tool for communicating his ideas. If he had to choose the best feature of Archicad – he says it is the 3D view – which helps him visualize how the building would look in “real life”.
Tobi took a personal experience from visiting a relative in Norway, who lives near a beautiful lake, as inspiration for his winning project (shown left).
The unforgettable view as well as sustainable strategies his aunt uses there to keep warm in cold weather provided a perfect backdrop for his sustainable design house near a lake in Norway.
A nimble design process enjoyed by Pablo
Pablo Perez, another standout graduating student, won an honorable mention in the AFSF High School Competition for his Pier Project created in Archicad and Twinmotion, shown below:
Like Tobi, Perez also cites creating freely in Archicad and the fact that he can respond nimbly when his original and unique designs come to his mind, makes it very enjoyable. “I find it easy to illustrate my ideas in Archicad even if they’re all coming together at once. It takes no time to put my drafts together into Archicad.”
I find it easy to illustrate my ideas in Archicad even if they’re all coming together at once. It takes no time to put my drafts together into Archicad.
Pablo Perez
Perez chose the fill tool/ruler as his favorite feature in Archicad because it helped him be precise with the area measurements, making his project accurate, while maintaining pleasing aesthetics. Perez’s Pier Project embraces a simple and clean design. He set his design in the Dolomites, Italy, using sustainable techniques like solar shading, building orientation, building massing, as well as sustainable materials.
Freedom to design with Anna
The act of exploring creativity as she worked in Archicad was a highlight for Anna Silberwasser. She notes that even under the criteria of an academic structure, she can be as creative as she wants to be. Mimicking the real-world scenario of having to follow requirements for each project, Silberwasser learned that Archicad makes it possible to design freely.
It makes sense that she considered using Archicad to express her imagination and present her ideas was the most enjoyable part of her school year. The best feature of Archicad, for Silberwasser, is the 3D view. She uses it to check in on how her projects really look in space as she creates her design. This writer hopes to visit a sustainable home in Bali designed by Silberwasser – which was the setting of her winning design (shown left).
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The four students interviewed in this article are all recent graduates of the Gulliver Prep Architecture Signature Academic Program (ASAP). Read more about this popular program and the people behind it in our recent article ‘Flexible Learning at Gulliver Prep, FL‘.