Design visualization software has replaced watercolor and pencil sketches in architectural firms. The software is especially important for complex buildings and projects that affect a community. Courtesy of Autodesk® VIZ/Discreet.

KPF’s Brown explains how this has saved his firm a great deal of time. “We are able to help our clients really visualize design options with Discreet’s 3ds max software with a quality of light and expression that best represents our vision, and then take it into combustion compositing software, where we can add painted textures, motion graphics or particle ‘tweaks’ to the design to further enhance our presentations without having to re-render. This saves us a tremendous amount of time and allows us to explore different design options with the client, options we wouldn’t be able to present without using 3ds max and combustion.”

One of the high-profile structures where the Autodesk family of design products is being used extensively is the new Freedom Tower in New York City. The first building to rise on the World Trade Center site, Freedom Tower not only recaptures the skyline but also establishes a new civic icon for New York City. Extending the long tradition of American ingenuity and innovation in skyscraper construction, Freedom Tower incorporates the highest standards of design, safety, quality and technology in what will be the tallest building in the world.

Known for its unparalleled expertise in designing skyscrapers such as Sears Tower, the John Hancock Center, Trump Tower and the China World Trade Center, Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM), the design architect of Freedom Tower, is responsible for developing the clear and logical relationship of all of the structure’s parts. Clad in shimmering glass, the asymmetrical form of the tower evokes the dynamic twisting form of the Statue of Liberty. The tower’s soaring offset spire further evokes the Statue’s profile and marks the symbolic height of 1,776 feet above ground.

Its parallelogram-shaped base conforms to the street grid of the lower Manhattan site. Its innovative structural system includes a cable-net structure, which recalls the form of the Brooklyn Bridge and encloses wind turbines that serve as a “wind farm” to collect energy — one of the building’s many sustainable design features.

Discreet’s 3ds max software allows design firms and clients to save time because different design options can be presented quickly.

“The complex geometries of the building’s design are testing our ability to describe form in conventional two-dimensional terms,” offers Jeffrey Holmes, senior designer on the project and associate partner in design at SOM. “Autodesk is helping us to implement integrated three-dimensional design tools that allow a great number of people to work simultaneously while communicating in a realtime three-dimensional environment.”

AutoCAD software serves as the project’s primary 2D and 3D design and documentation tool. Because AutoCAD is a highly customizable application, SOM has been able to create tools in AutoCAD to facilitate modeling the complex building geometry as well as design variations, and to coordinate different aspects of the Freedom Tower design. The team is also using the Autodesk Revit building information modeling platform on the whole building, including complex sub-grade levels. Autodesk Architectural Desktop is being employed for energy analysis with a third-party application and Discreet’s 3ds max software is being used for design visualization and creation of 3D renderings and animations.

“Working with SOM to implement our building information modeling platform and collaboration services on a project of this stature and complexity helps us to discover new and better ways to serve businesses across the construction industry,” says Phil Bernstein, FAIA, vp of Autodesk’s Building Solutions Division.