BIM—The GRAPHISOFT Way

Brought to you by Graphisoft

GRAPHISOFT believes in excelling in selected niches versus a jack-of-all-trades approach. Rather than adding features just for the sake of doing so, they prefer a user-friendly solution; having a choice is preferred to a one-size-fits-all process. In doing so, the needs and satisfaction of customers are always prioritised. Software performance should stem from innovative ways of handling scarce resources.

The company does not believe that they—or anybody else in the industry—can create a tool that is able to suit everybody’s needs equally well in the complex and fragmented world of the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Instead, the company believes that AEC professionals should be able to select the tool that suits him/her better in the given country, industry sector, firm or project. They believe it is the software vendors’ responsibility to ensure that these tools work together seamlessly. This concept is called OPEN Building Information Modelling (OPEN BIM).

The core process of design and building activity and the design-to-construction workflow is emphasised—starting from the early schematics, down to the construction detailing and all the way to the as-built documentation. At the same time, this process provides a framework for all other related activities. Therefore, ARCHICAD also acts as a platform that other OPEN BIM applications can connect to and collaborate with effectively.

As the BIM value circle shows, GRAPHISOFT BIM technology rests on three pillars: the BIM authoring tool (ARCHICAD, MEP Modeler, EcoDesigner STAR), which makes the creation of BIM data possible; BIM data management (the BIMcloud product family), which is responsible for sharing only the relevant data between professionals in a real-time collaborative manner; and BIM data access (the BIMx product family), which allows users—even for clients, authorities or construction workers who have never learnt how to use a complex BIM software before—to view and reflect on the BIM data. All this is available anytime and anywhere, and represents a true democratisation of BIM.

GRAPHISOFT strongly believes that a software is only as good as its users are able to utilise it, so they pay great attention in making sure that their tools and technology are highly intuitive, and are easy to learn and use.
With large volumes of design and construction data, GRAPHISOFT has been designing and constantly updating ARCHICAD’s software engine and technology since 1984.

The value of an ARCHICAD license will never disappear—an affordable upgrade path to licences purchased in the 1990s is provided. GRAPHISOFT is not planning to stop offering perpetual licences in the foreseeable future as they believe that it should be the customers’ choice to own or rent the software they use.

For more information, please visit www.graphisoft.com.