Sketchup-Ur-Space

How Sketchup helps you win bids

James K.B. Brough

Working in-studio at Sprunt, a London based Architect’s firm, there was always many projects on the go at once; and I was heading a very small CGI team dealing out the design and visuals for a number of bids, competitions and live projects.

What Sketchup offers is a free design tool that ANYONE can use. Urban Designers, Private and Commercial Designers, Landscape Architects... everyone who has an idea of design and form, and with this tool are able to show off their idea and hand it over to the 3D team to polish it off.

The best part was the time saving that Sketchup offers. With the basic form in place, Sketchup gives you multiple outputs across many platforms. You can imagine as a 3D artist how helpful this is. It was no longer reading off rushed or badly drawn DWG files. No more importing heavy DWG files. Sketchup can either go in the hands of detailers to fix up in Revit, or straight to the CGI team to create stunning visuals with 3DS Max and Photoshop within a short time frame.

Sketchup massings are now standard to building development. I actually can’t remember the last time I didn’t receive a Sketchup massing file to import. And let me say, the project would be a lot longer and tougher if I didn’t have it.

Sketchup should always be step one of the design process, and what’s nice is the clarity this tool offers the designer. Immediately you can see if the form or space is not working as well as it appears in a drawing. Landscape areas can be added. Cut-out trees, cars and people to give an idea of scale. Sweeping animations to go from a birds-eye view to eye level (perfect for presentation meetings or consultations.)

How Sketchup helps you win bids

Initial ideas in Sketchup are a vital part for a design document. Most meetings with Building Planners won’t go off the ground unless visuals like this are present. Within a day you can create visuals that will help your architectural project win competitions and bids. It’s an essential, powerful tool that’s only getting more exposure, and I can’t imagine a single architectural project in the last decade that hasn’t used it. Come to think of it; I can’t think of any winning bid that hasn’t used Sketchup -and not just architectural; engineering too. I recently completed a successful campaign for Mammoth Technologies in Johannesburg, South Africa, which all began with Sketchup models of complex drill bits.

How Sketchup helps you win bids

It’s an awesome tool (which has a free version by the way), that can and should be used for any simple or complex design.

James K.B. Brough
3D Art Director and Author