JB: How much do you usually use three-dimensional visualizing techniques during your normal design process? How much of a change is this for you?
ES: It’s a pretty big change. One of the reasons that we use Revit is because it’s such a robust 3D modeling system. As architects we are really familiar with how it looks and what the output looks like, and what we’re drawing, and what plans mean in 3D. Sometimes we export 3D views, but they’re usually just little sketch views. The idea was that if we bring it into this program then we can have marketing-ready materials throughout the design process and not just at the end, and also that we can really get a sense of what it’s like to walk around the site. In 2D plans we get a sense of scale in that regard, but in 3D we have a sense of scale from the ground up and get a sense of the spaces that we are creating.
DS: I think we are also able to get a better sense without having to navigate through a series of static views. I think that the automation - being able to take a step back and kind of watch as you go in perspective views through the site or the building - it unlocks a different, expanded perspective. I work a lot in 3D space in Revit myself, while I’m putting a model together because it helps me to visualize. But in Lumion, rather than having to be the person trying to show somebody else or navigate through it, I can use my attention and focus on things I otherwise may not if I were simply scrolling through.
ES: This tool lets us offer the client an ability to really see things comprehensively, because Revit output isn’t very intuitive on its own.
JB: How did using the Lumion software, or seeing the video output for the two cohousing projects that Brian worked on, affect your understanding of the projects?
ES: I don’t know if it changed how I imagined the 3D space on the project, because Drew and I have been in those projects for so long so we have a pretty solid sense of the kind of spatial scales that exist. The thing it really did help was to understand and prioritize when working in Revit. The output we create when working in Lumion is a direct representation of the Revit model, and so the Revit model has to look the way you want it to look in Lumion. I think that has been really helpful in influencing our Revit drafting and modeling process because it means we do things really intentionally early on in the process, and we set different, abstract material standards, and it just makes it as simple as possible to work in later on.
DS: To build off what Emma is saying, even Brian’s earlier work, when he put the Lumion walk throughs together, he spent a lot of time on plantings and actual landscaping because otherwise the model felt barren. I think that is actually a great design tool that we can utilize as well, while we are focusing on the buildings, being able to integrate those things, and being able to designate different spaces, for a garden, for outdoor play, for terracing or a fountain or other plantings.
ES: I think that’s a really good point. Lumion offers views of things that Revit doesn’t do particularly easily. For example, you can work on lighting in Lumion to get a really good sense of where things need to fall in the space based on actual preferences and not just based on plan layouts. It is a lot nicer to be able to essentially sit in a space and experience it, as opposed to experiencing it from whatever view Revit is giving you.