However, there are learning lessons from rapid changes in workflows. Gosselin says the firm is benefitting from the greater realism produced by Twinmotion. One additional benefit of an all-BIM process in Vectorworks is its tight integration with the Twinmotion 3D rendering and animation application.
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“What we are looking for from Vectorworks in the future is to find out if particular designs are viable early on before we start putting in all the data needed for full energy analysis,” adds Gosselin.Īn interview view of the project Two Rocks, a Passive House retrofit project by Habit Studio in Novia Scotia. “Not everyone wants to live in a cube,” jokes Rand, noting that the optimal shape for a Passive House is a basic rectangular cube. Gosselin says that Vectorworks and Energos are both technologies that the firm is looking to explore to advance energy-conscious design further, with a particular need to address the earliest stages of design. “Still, there is much progress to be done, and technologies are never stopping but always progressing.” “I feel like every six months, Isabelle has evolved us up another level of sophistication in our workflows,” says Rand.
Isabelle Gosselin is a naturally inclined technology booster at the firm, constantly learning about what features in Vectorworks can be deployed and how she can further streamline the small firm’s workflows. Lorrie Rand does all the energy analysis and optimization for Passive House using an Excel-based tool and process called Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). Data on areas and volumes are extracted and organized into Vectorworks Worksheets and Excel. “Now Isabelle can pull out all the data I need from the BIM model,” she adds. That’s a lot of duplicate work,” she adds. Lorrie Rand notes, “Before BIM in Vectorworks, my previous ten-year workflow was to draw the house in Vectorworks and create a 3D model in SketchUp so I can run a SketchUp plugin to extract data I need for the energy modeling process. Graphics override capabilities in Vectorworks allow BIM models to convert to 3D information graphics, greatly aiding client and contractor understanding of a chosen aspect of a building project. Her skill set and training allowed her to upskill Habit Studio’s staff from an essentially 2D with some occasional 3D modeling in SketchUp to a robust and growing BIM workflow in Vectorworks Architect. Isabelle Gosselin is the firm’s BIM Lead and came to the practice several years ago from the Drafting-Architectural program at Nova Scotia Community College. Passive and BIMĬoupled with real-life expertise and specialized training, Habit Studio’s methods for designing highly performant buildings involve a collaborative and client-engaged design process with BIM at its center. “We ended up convincing more people of the benefits of Passive House design,” she adds.įrom that point on, the all-women-run design firm has crafted an award-winning reputation for sustainable design-forward architecture in the residential market with project coverage in notable media outlets like ArchDaily, e-Architect, SABMag, and Canadian Architecture. As it turns out, their concerns that such a declaration may lead to less work had the opposite effect. “We decided that if we can do it for the exact same cost as a regular house, then we are not going to do anything but Passive House commissions,” says Rand. Bolstered by that success, Habit Studio’s second Passive House design turned out to roughly cost the same as conventional construction yet would operate at much less cost in terms of energy consumption.
“It led to some publicity for us as a firm,” she adds. When the firm began its first certified Passive House project, Rand and her team benefitted from two parallel developments-a growing suite of new builders skilled in building Passive Houses and a regional government agency’s interest and pickup of their firm Passive House story. “Clients started asking for Passive House designs before we had truly formed Habit Studio officially,” she says. “So, we have had for a long time some pretty great incentives for sustainability in our province,” noting that Nova Scotia tends to be one of the leading providences in the country for adopting the latest energy standards and building codes. The firm began its venture into energy house experts slowly, explains Rand, who noted that in addition to the long, frigid winters up in Canada, the Nova Scotia region has costly electricity. “Even when I was going to school for physics, I wanted to go to architecture school.” “I definitely lean towards the building science side of things,” she says. We, as a country, do about 5,000 per year, so we need to do ten times more, and the only way we are going to achieve that is through technology.
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