Ductwork

[Anonymous]

I am new to ArchiCAD and I saw a program called Ductwork for ArchiCAD. Can someone tell me where i can get it?

[Steve Jepson]

I spoke with a reliable source that tells me the cost of the program here in the US is about twice the cost of Archicad 10 but that the cost to upgrade from Archicad 10 to Constructor about 1/2 of that.

If you want more information about Constructor, contact Paul Trischitta ptrischitta@graphisoft.com he can give you all the basic information and put you in touch with technicians that will go through a demo online with you and answer specific and technical questions.

If someone has done that or is a user of Constructor I would like to know if it has the Teamwork tools also.

Also I would like to know specifically what things it can do that Archicad can not do already, and how much better Constructor can do some of the tasks we could do in Archicad but are difficult.

If I buy the Ductwork module it will work with my old Archicad 7.
When I open such a file with Archicad 10 what do the things I created with Ductwork look like? How would Archicad 10 handle such a file?
Has anyone tried to do this yet?

Obviously, my first choice would be to simply buy some of the modules I want from Constructor for use with my Archicad. Why is that not an option?

[__archiben]

TomWaltz wrote:
I was under the impression that it was for larger construction management firms, but I could be wrong.

it's being marketed to big construction management firms . . . but it needs to be offered to architectural firms too! this is a huge oversight on graphisoft's part.

my concern is that architects are going to fall behind in the newly emerging 'construction services/modelling' area of the industry. when construction modelling makes the big time and supersedes our current construction documentation phase, the people left holding the baby will be specialised 'construction services' consultants . . . and architects will lose another chunk of their fee to external consultants . . .

we need to act NOW to get in on the act whilst we still can! and who better to produce the construction model than the people who are working up the design model for construction docs in the first place?!

~/archiben

[Djordje]

Fully agree.

What Graphisoft does with Constructor is as if the whole orchestra was given the notes and the instruments, except the conductor. Yes, he does not necessarily play the instrument, but HE KNOWS WHAT SHOULD THE PIECE SOUND LIKE.

That's what us architects do, Graphisoft. We conduct the building process of the builsing we designed, and issued construction documents (the notes). No, not the project managers, they push the papers and write letters. No, not the contractors. They know what should be played, or parts of the melody.

Now - the reason I have heard for this behaviour is that "the models doe by the architects are not good enough". So all of you unlinkers, "I can draft it fast, why model it" people, think again. Do you want to be kicked out of the process?

[Anonymous]

I'm an Architect and I work for construction company using Constructor. The way I see it is that there is industry movement to closer connection between Architect and Builder, but it requires some adjustments, like:
-who is responsible for modeling building and to what extent? Architects define building parts different than builder. While Architect see all Foundation, builder see it through his schedule - pour by pour. Unfortunately large amount of Architects think that architecture is ONLY art, and they don't understand how structure works. I'm even looking to far. Engineers don't know how building construction process works in the field. I have seen so (let's call it out loud) stupid structure solution that I'm out of words. It sometimes (luckily not that often though) requires so much redesign that it is amazing.
-who is responsible for creating estimate (5D)?
-who is creating 4D (most likely builder, but will model from architect contain phasing or task separation? I don''t think so.)