A Vectorworks Case Study
By Stanley Rostas
Five Points shopping center, Columbia, South Carolina
Challenge: When designing a mixed-use building for a shopping and commercial district with 75 years of history, several entities including residents, neighboring businesses, city council members, and community associations become involved to voice concerns, opinions, objections, or approval. As most of these parties have little experience with design, the ability to present concepts in a clear and visual way is essential to move the project forward. Shook Kelley was hired to design a 150,000-square-foot (13,935-square-meter) residential and retail space to include a Walgreen’s drug store in the Five Points shopping district in Columbia, South Carolina. The project required the creation of several versions of the design, as it had to be approved by the Board of the Five Points Association, which represents more than 100 members.
Solution: By using Vectorworks from early schematics to final construction documents, a small team was able to accomplish the work in fewer hours than expected. The use of Vectorworks also allowed us to create multiple design iterations in attempts to get the project approved. The ability to model the site in relation to the context was imperative and all done inside of Vectorworks. We did not have to use any other applications for the illustrative work, and we re-purposed this effort for the construction document portion. We used a combination of 3D and 2D to create and coordinate the final documentation.
Case Study: Here you can see the 2D drawings for the elevations of the building. Vectorworks allowed us to easily derive 2D elevations from our 3D model using viewports. We were then able to very quickly annotate the elevations using the annotation and detailing tools from Vectorworks.
Click image for a larger view
Our 2D files could easily be rendered to 3D to show the building in a way the average person could visualize. Vectorworks allowed us to easily present different design concepts to the association for approval:
Click image for a larger view
Click image for a larger view
In the end, we won the job, and the versatility of our Vectorworks software tools played a big role in our success. The project is on hold due to economic factors, but will commence as soon as funding becomes available.
About Stanley Rostas: Stanley Rostas is a founding principal in the firm, in addition to being one of its most versatile designers. He is accredited by both the American Institute of Architects and the International Interior Design Association. He is also the firm’s top technology guru. Mr. Rostas is an award-winning designer who has been credited with creating a sea change in the way supermarkets are designed. His design for the Cary, NC Harris Teeter supermarket broke the industry mold and won more awards than any other project in the history of the firm. After studying City and Regional Planning at the Illinois Institute of Technology, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Kent State University in 1981. He went on to graduate studies in Architecture and Business Administration at the University of Illinois.
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