How to Design Top-Notch Interactive Façade for Your Building

Interactive buildings offer users a unique experience and also help to raise the standards of living. They provide a blend of convenience, enhanced security, and satisfaction that would not be possible using traditional building designs. In this post, we take a closer look at interactive building facades and answer the big question, “How do you design and make them outstanding?”

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What is a Building Façade?

A building façade is one side of a building, usually the front one, and is considered a crucial part of the entire building design. The façade helps to give the building a sort of a personality and can come in different shapes and sizes. An interactive building façade uses modern technology, such as LED lighting systems, communication and natural attributes that help the house design to actually work on your behalf. See: orienting the façade in the direction of sunlight can help to maximize light entry into the room, ultimately cutting down the lighting and cooling needs.This is why Bortolotto Architects always recommend them for clients who want to get highest value from their building design. 

Why go for a standard facade when an interactive model can deliver a lot more for your clients? Check out the benefits that come with the advanced building designs. 

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Why Facades are So Important in Building Design

When designing building facades, it is an excellent opportunity to showcase your skills in building architecture. Many building designers prefer to go for standard designs that meet all structural requirements but fail to include character. You can factor it by using interactive facades to make all your building designs and models plus facades stand out. So, here are some of the benefits of using interactive building design:

●        It is aesthetically appealing.

●        Interactive building facades can help to unlock new opportunities for the building.

●        Offers an opportunity to enhance the energy-efficiency of the building.

●        Interactive building designs can help to enhance better airflow. 

●        Promotes better interaction with the environment for natural lighting, aesthetics, and control. 

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The Best Apps for Designing Interactive Building Facades

Now that you know what building facades are, here are the best applications that you can use to design them. 

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●        Chief Architect

Chief Architect is an interactive building design solution created to use three-dimension rendering for creating complete commercial and residential buildings. It is also a perfect choice for designing facades for all your building projects. You will be impressed by the program's advanced 3D renditions that are generated automatically as you work on the building design. Therefore, you will be able to see the effects of the environment, such as light on the façade and relate it to the rest of the building. 

Another outstanding thing about Chief Architect is its ability to streamline the building design process. The app comes with powerful tools that help you to focus on quality and complete the building design rapidly. The tools allow you to design vivid building schemes where you can convert drawings and features into b 3D objects. Again, you can easily switch between 2D and 3D when working on your façade project or during editing phases. After the installation of Chief Architect in your systems, designing beautiful facades will also be pretty easy. 

When designing interactive facades, your clients want to experience it and Chief Architect is excellent in rendering. It is like a sort of art, where you pool together different aspects, such as color and outlook, to create specific effects. Chief Architect digital app simplifies the process of 3D rendering and you can combine it with virtual tours to help your clients imagine the space more effectively. If you need to edit some parts, perhaps to add new preferences from your clients, the app makes it possible without having to start from scratch. You only need to work on the specific section of the facade design. Then, the interactive app will make automatic adjustments to all related parts. 

Other features that make Chief Architect a great option for designing interactive building facades include a large library of 3D elements & materials, stairs & ramps, and cost estimation tools. Whether you want LED lighting fixtures, wind control objects, or specific media to make the facades unique, Chief Architect is all you need.

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●        AutoCAD

This is one of the leading building apps for architects on the market today. The app is like a staple in the industry because it is one of the oldest. It was developed in 1982 and it became the first Computer-Aided Design (CAD) app to be released for personal computers. Since then, the program has undergone major improvements to make it ideal for the modeling requirements, including interactive face designs for modern architects. Indeed, most architects use it when practicing building design and some of them still opt to continue working with it after becoming experienced professionals.

Many architects today use AutoCAD to develop two-dimensional models for sections of buildings, such as building facades and floor plans. What we liked most about the app is that using it is pretty easy. This is why most users rate it over 4.5 stars. The app comes with a comprehensive library of objects that you can use to create impressive interactive facades for your building designs.

For starters, who are getting into the world of 3D modeling, AutoCAD will be an excellent pick. It simplifies the job because you can work on 2D drawings and then convert them into 3D models for your building system or project. It is also awesome for 3D rendering, allowing you to create the targeted impressions for the facades fast. For example, you can create and rapidly develop photorealistic renders to test how the facade elements used in the central part of the building match with the surrounding. The rendering also helps you to easily share designs with clients and team for progresssive review. 

Finally, we cannot fail to mention the commitment of Autodesk to make AutoCAD the best program. The company progressively adds new features and tools that you can use for 3D work when working with AutoCAD. So, whether you are targeting to create interactive building facades for a commercial building or a high-rise building, AutoCAD is one app that can help you to easily get the targeted results.

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●        Cedreo

If you are working on a building design and want to complete it fast, one piece of software that you can count on is Cedreo. It is a 3D home design app for contractors, home builders, remodelers, and developers. Therefore, it is an excellent choice when targeting to create unique and interactive building facades. The app is so intuitive and makes it possible to complete a building design, together with interactive facades under two hours. So, if your client wants to rethink the building façade for his house or needs a completely new one, you can count on Cedreo.

What makes it easy to use Cedreo is its large library of customizable materials and 3D elements. This implies that you do not need to work on your building walls, stairs, or verandah from scratch. Instead, you simply fetch the section and materials and customize them based on the façade plan. If you do not prefer to use the library objects, Cedreo also allows you to start the project from scratch and create awesome building designs.

Using its 2D and 3D interior and exterior design tools, Cedreo makes it easy to fully visualize facades in 3D. You will also love its photorealistic rendering with lighting, reflections and shading aspects that make it possible for clients to understand the project more effectively. Other features of Cedreo include collaboration tools, vision control, presentation tools, and simulations.

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●        Revit

Revit is a BIM app for architects and engineers. It is one of the most advanced building design apps and you can use it to design parts of buildings or an entire building. The app allows for coordinated 3D design by offering tools that not only make working on building designs easy but also allow you to complete it fast.

Because the building façade is the visible side of a building, you need to ensure that all aspects of the sections are clear. Revit simplifies that with its library of elements, and WYSIWYG editor that allows for easy customization of tags, dimensions and texts. The app also allows you to produce 3D models that provide clear visualizations of how the facades and other sections of the building will look like.

One thing that Autodesk has done excellently for Revit is ensuring it comes with good customer support. Its support is professional, responding swiftly to inquiries to help you get a quick solution when stuck with Revit. Also, the app has a very active community that you can interact with to get solutions to any issue or even suggestions.

If you are working with a team, Revit makes communication and collaboration seamless. With its work-sharing tools, you can share the project with all team members on your project. The tool allows the team members to make notes and annotations on the design for harmony during the building design phase and construction.

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●        Foyr Neo

Like Revit, Foyr Neo is another 4.5-star rated app for architects. The software is created to provide building designers with an option they can rely on to create outstanding designs in no time. It is a cloud-based program, which you can use to create sections or complete building designs. The unique thing about Foyr Neo is that it comes with complete parts that you can use to complete designing the interactive building façade fast. Well, you can opt to use these parts as they are or edit them to suit your plan.

Foyr Neo uses an advanced AI tool that makes creating parts for the façade pretty easy. However, the better idea is to use the app's more than 50,000 3D objects in its library. This means that you do not need to start the work from scratch. If you are working on 2D objects to use in your façade, that app allows you to convert them to 3D renders. To make the design more impressive, the app comes with additional tools for creating 4K photorealistic renders for your clients.

When designing building facades, it is paramount to ensure they give the buildings unique identities in the city or neighborhood. To agree with Bortolotto Architects, interactive building facades are more functional and require a better understanding of what your clients are, the local climate, and the aesthetic desires of the client. You also need to be extra creative to make the facades attractive and intuitive with different features, such as light, plants, and colors. You can count on the apps we have discussed in this post because they simplify the process of design and make editing of sections and collaboration with teams seamless.

Learn more about the best 3d building design software.