Using SketchUp in Architecture and Interior Design Workflows
If you have been using SketchUp for a while, you would have soon realized that it is such a versatile software with endless applications in a wide range of industries.
Architects and interior designers use SketchUp at every phase of their design process, from testing ideas to refining the design into detailed models for presentation to the clients. SketchUp offers many sets of purpose-built tools that help to achieve the goals of each design phase and move the project forward to the next phase.
1. PreDesign Phase
- Understanding Context
- Exploring Possibilities
- Representing Surroundings
- Test-Fitting
Understanding Context
In the PreDesign phase, designers need to collect site information to understand the project site surroundings and test possibilities. However, this process is time-consuming and challenging where accurate site information is sometimes hard to find.
SketchUp’s 3D modelling environment is location-based and makes it easy to place a design in a specific location or represent a site’s massing.
PreDesign provides valuable insights into your projects.
Use the ‘Add Location’ tool to import imagery and add geo-location data into your model
The PreDesign tool in SketchUp provides valuable contextual insights into your project so that you can explore possibilities and move forward with a winning concept. PreDesign allows you to :
- Place a building mass on a site to study its shadows
- Observe how much sun exposure a building gets in a certain orientation
- Study wind patterns on a site.
- See the scale of a building on a site.
- Estimate a building’s area based on how its footprint fits on a site.
- Show in diagrams the zoning considerations and setbacks on a site.
SketchUp’s PreDesign uses Add Location to help designers place location information in SketchUp.
Exploring Possibilities
Most projects start with CAD files (computer aided drafting), and the architect or interior designer often has to recreate or build on top of what they are given. Another common way to communicate existing conditions is with scans that create a point cloud. Designers can use it to accurately redraw a building. Trimble has tools for creating point clouds.
Point clouds are somewhat common on large projects, but designers communicate most existing information through 2D drawings or 3D models from other programs like Revit or AutoCAD. Importing data is very common. SketchUp has improved import functionality in this and upcoming releases that makes it more compatible than before with other file types, including Revit.
Learn more about importing CAD files in SketchUp.
Point Cloud is a 3D model of pixels where each pixel has a color and location.
Scan Essentials turn point cloud data into 3D models for an accurate blueprint of your jobsite.
These two coffee shop layouts illustrate the idea that one space may have multiple orientations given the same user requirements. The architect or interior designer would show these two concepts to a client and use them as a tool to learn about what the client likes and dislikes and which one provides more seating and has better circulation. Which of these has more seating?
Represent Surroundings
Scan Essentials provides the ability to import, view and interact with a point cloud data in the SketchUp modelling environment, which includes:
- Importing and viewing point clouds from terrestrial scans, mobile mapping, and drones within SketchUp
- Modelling directly on the point cloud
- Ability to change point cloud transparency, change the selection priority, and create section views
Combining Content
It’s fairly common for architects and interior designers to quickly move back and forth between different platforms to use specific tools. For example, designers might create massing model in SketchUp and export it to Revit to detail it, then bring it back to create options or renderings. That cycle might continue throughout a project and even include other programs.
Test-Fitting
Being able to show your customers an illustrated comparison between two design ideas can help them decide what’s important and what caters to their requirements. As an example, SketchUp can show through various concepts with similar constraints how space can be used more efficiently, identifies improvement opportunities and confirms initial estimates about capacity and scale.
2. Schematic Design Phase
The Schematic Design phase focuses on turning observations from PreDesign into design options and presenting it to stakeholders. They include:
- Exploring Design Strategies
- Presenting Work-in-Progress
- Combining Content
- Producing Renderings
Exploring Design Strategies
A good design is often dependent on how different design strategies perform, and there’s often not enough time to explore different ideas.
PreDesign’s reporting feature gives architects a quick reference guide for developing concepts, and SketchUp’s modeling tools make it easy to iterate and create.
Presenting Work-In-Progress
Architects and interior designers often show their work in progress to tell a story and get quick feedback. SketchUp offers:
- Easy-to-use sun and shadow tools
- Representational colors, textures, and entourage
- Presentation-ready working model views
Producing Renderings
Renderings are produced throughout the design process, and those made during the Schematic Design phase often set the direction for the whole project.
- Early renderings often include a limited set of materials
- Later renderings have more detail
- Both types of renderings are beneficial
Learn more about using V-Ray for rendering.
3. Design Development Phase
The Design Development phase is similar to Schematic Design, but the focus is on refining details, involving:
- Refining Details
- Design and Customization
- Iterating on Design Options
Refining Details
SketchUp is an easy-to-use environment for testing the fit of elements.
Building systems are complex, and it’s sometimes difficult to understand how things will be built in the real world while only using 2D tools. SketchUp gives users a way to build or mockup something and make sure that everything fits together the way it’s supposed to.
Design and Customization
Furniture, textile, and craft design involves drawing and specifying materials. Many materials or objects are custom made and ordered for each project. Designers usually specify the overall dimensions. It’s important to pay attention to details about how elements are categorized
SketchUp gives users the ability to represent materials and show how the whole picture might come together.
Live Components in SketchUp are a great way for designers to quickly modify things like furniture in a room if the room changes. There’s a lot more to come from Live Components.
Iterating on Design Options
Most projects in this phase have multiple branches with slight variations. Architects and interior designers need tools that limit the amount of rework needed between options. SketchUp’s tools make it easy to make changes to raw geometry.
Live Components make changing elements in a space faster.
4. Construction Document Phase
The Construction Document phase is mostly focused on describing the design so that it can be accurately costed and built.
- Coordination
- Documentation
Architects and Interior Designers lead coordination efforts to gather input from an array of consultants and ensure that all the contract documents include all necessary information.
Producing contract documents, namely the construction drawings and specifications, account for the majority of time spent on an architectural design project.
Coordination
SketchUp makes it easy to communicate in 3D. Trimble Connect, which comes with all SketchUp subscriptions, allows file-sharing, for example:
- Providing view-only link that you can share with anyone.
- Collaborators can open and view your model in SketchUp for Web without logging in or installing any apps.
No matter how you plan your design workflows, SketchUp has all the tools to help you progress successfully from one phase to the next.
You can start your full SketchUp experience with a SketchUp trial, including Pre-Design, Scan Essentials and V-Ray. Ready to subscribe? Check out our SketchUp Plans & Pricing.
SketchUp for Web has a new sharing feature that is used in conjunction with Trimble Connect. It lets you share a model over the web and have other people join remotely to view the model.
