Architectural professional, Jurie van Dyk, believes advancements in design technology have created a new role for the architect as artist, and architecture as art.
We have been inhibited for too long. Firstly, here in South Africa we’ve been trapped in a timewarp in which art, music and architecture have become copies of copies. Furthermore, innovation has been cramped by technical constraints. As soon as there are variables in the design, documenting it for execution becomes very difficult and time-consuming. Andthe risk is just too great.”
Van Dyk, who trained in an environment in which computers were perceived as the downfall of innovation in architecture, says structures should be a balance between the innovation of new forms and mathematical and scientific efficiency.
“I believe using today’s advanced 3D databasedriven programs, like Revit Architecture, results in complex forms that are well thought through and, ultimately, far richer.”
With House Breda, he wanted to create a house that flowed with the natural contours of the site.
“First of all, I gave the house gently curving S-shaped walls. And then to achieve the elegant lines I wanted, the roof had to mirror the shape of the house. Furthermore, I wanted the roof to vary from 35 degrees at the widest point to 50 degrees at the narrowest. The eaves also had to have fluid lines, so they had to slope up and down, echoing the curves of the walls.”
“It was an idea I’d had for a long time, but had been just too difficult to draw and document. With Revit, however, my idea became reality.”
“I sculpted the roof using the ‘blend’ command and after I’d succeeded in making the idea physically viable, I continued with the technical documentation. Because it’s so easy to create sections, I cut as many sections as required which allowed me to determine the position, length and angle of every roof pole in the building,” explains Van Dyk.
“Revit is simplifying complex designs with its approach that makes technical documentation possible.”
Supplementing standard construction documentation with sequenced Revit-created 3D drawings is also enabling Van Dyk to improve communication with construction teams, mitigating skills shortages experienced on site.
“Until recently, architectural drawings have been produced in a specific order – plans, sections, elevations and, finally, detail drawings. It’s never been challenged. It’s just the way things have been done,” says Van Dyk.
This, however, isn’t the sequence in which a project is constructed. With labour costs the biggest expense in a building project, failure to construct a project in the correct order results in costly reworks and unnecessary time delays.
With the extreme pressures on the building industry Van Dyk says when contractors get busy they often leave foremen on site without supervision. As many of these foremen have difficulty reading conventional plans, the potential for error is huge. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out to a project to find that although the slab has been cast, the storm water drain is still lying on site.”
Using Revit, Van Dyk creates sequenced drawings with perspective visualisations to communicate the correct construction sequence to a builder.
The drawings start with a site clearing excavating and trench digging plan. It’s in perspective with dimensions showing the builder how the trenches should be dug. It’s followed by a foundation and then a riser wall plan. Each drawing is clearly annotated with instructions and reminders.
“When a foreman says he’s on page 26 of my drawings I know that he’s busy fixing the branding to the underside of the trusses and can rest assured that the framework for the geyser, and the actual geyser itself, are already in place as per the annotated drawing on page 24.”
