NEWTON, Mass., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Graphisoft, originator of the Virtual Building(TM) concept and the world leader in Building Information Modeling, today announced that paastudio is using ArchiCAD(R) to design the new headquarters office building of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS). For the Santa Monica-based architectural firm, the opportunity to design a major office building from the ground up was an exciting but somewhat daunting one. Up until the NHS approached the firm to architect its new headquarters, paastudio had focused mainly on commercial site remodeling and residential properties. NHS evaluated several architectural firms before deciding to work with paastudio.

"We've been an ArchiCAD house almost since inception and knew that the new features in ArchiCAD 8 would prove to be especially helpful for this particular project given the tight schedule and the scope of work," said Ivo Venkov, paastudio principal. "When we got the assignment to design NHS's new headquarters we were thrilled. But at the same time, we recognized that a project of this magnitude would be no small feat for us. We had worked on commercial properties before -- some larger than the NHS building -- but had never started a project with just a vacant lot." In less than three months, the three-person NHS team was able to create a complete set of working drawings for the 66,000 square foot office building and a three-story parking structure.

Throughout the design process, ArchiCAD enabled Venkov to create a central database of 2D and 3D model data from which his team of architects could extract all the information needed to completely describe designs - complete plans, sections and elevations, architectural and construction details, bills of material, window/door/finish schedules, renderings, animations and virtual reality scenes. Changes made in one view were updated in all others, including floor plans, sections/elevations, 3D models and bills of material, allowing the architects to focus on design while ArchiCAD automatically created all the project documentation.

"We really pushed the software to its limits, taking advantage of nearly every facet of the product. ArchiCAD's zooming and panning functions are much faster and easier than other products'. When you multiply that time savings by the hundreds of times that we use those features in one day, it really adds up," Venkov said. ArchiCAD 8 also boasts improved detailing and drafting features. "The new Detail Tool is one that has been on our features wish list for some time. It makes it much easier to go from 2D to 3D work." Furthermore, new intuitive data entry methods further increase productivity in documentation by reducing tedious drafting work.

ArchiCAD 8 also features enhanced TeamWork capabilities allowing teams of architects and all project decision makers to collaborate across a local network or intranet. Team members can send changes to the master project and receive changes that others have made by network or by modem. Venkov and his team found this functionality to be a critical element for the NHS project since it involved representatives from city and state agencies.

"Not only does ArchiCAD have tremendous functionality, it's also an elegant product that gives us freedom and flexibility to focus on our designs rather than the more cumbersome elements of drafting and documentation. Our philosophy is to integrate art and building science into a practical piece of imagination. With ArchiCAD, we can do that while at the same time, realizing notable productivity gains. ArchiCAD helped us break the threshold with the NHS building and we're looking forward to more projects of that size and scope," Venkov continued.

  For additional information on paastudio, please visit www.paastudio.com

  About Graphisoft

Graphisoft(R) is a leading provider of design and management software solutions for the architectural profession and the building industry. Founded in 1982, Graphisoft is ranked today among the largest AEC CAD software developers in the world, with ten offices worldwide in addition to its Budapest headquarters. ArchiCAD(R) and other Graphisoft products are used by more than 100,000 architects, facility managers and building professionals all over the world. Shares of Graphisoft are traded on the Frankfurt (GPH) and on the Budapest (GRAPHI) Stock Exchange. More information about Graphisoft is available at http://www.graphisoft.com/.

Graphisoft and ArchiCAD are registered trademarks of Graphisoft. Other products are the trademarks of their respective companies. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

  Press Contacts:
   Patty Mello                   Sarah Coyle
   Graphisoft US                 SHIFT Communications
   617-485-4203                  617-681-1245
   
Email Contact    
Email Contact

CONTACT: Patty Mello of Graphisoft US, +1-617-485-4203,
Email Contact; or Sarah Coyle of SHIFT Communications,
+1-617-681-1245, Email Contact

Web site: http://www.graphisoft.com/

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