“Cayas Architects was able to save 75% of their time to produce 3D visualizations by using Enscape”
Jeremy Ward | Building Designer | Cayas Architects | Brisbane – Australia
Cayas Architects improved not only their rendering process but also the way they communicated to clients by using Enscape. Modifying parts of the project in Revit and directly exploring the changes in Enscape totally helped them to better evaluate different design and visualizations options.
About Cayas Architects
Founded in 2009, Cayas Architects is a small design company with a total of five highly motivated and creative employees. It is specialized in projects for the hospitality industry, multi-residential and commercial buildings in Queensland, NSW and Victoria – Australia. Based in Wilston, Queensland, the company offers services from the pre-purchase consultation and master planning up to full service concept design, 3D modelling, project management, interior design and contract administration. They focus on providing innovative designs and cost effective solutions of the highest quality.
The interviewee, Jeremy Ward, is a building designer at Cayas Architects. He has been working in the industry for 12 years and has always been passionate about architecture. Jeremy started to work with AutoCAD but discovered Revit at a former company. He has been using Revit for seven years till today. However, when Jeremy started to work at Cayas Architects, they were still working with 2D. Jeremy wanted to implement Revit there as well – “There was the need to change to 3D”. He has succeeded and Cayas Architects is entirely working with Revit now – a very good job, Jeremy!
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cayasarchitects
Website: www.cayasarchitects.com.au
Challenge – You cannot visualize well with Revit
For several years, Cayas Architects were using Revit or 3ds Max to create renderings, but according to Jeremy, “With Revit you cannot visualize as well as you would like to show to your clients. The results with 3ds Max are fine but it requires more technical skills to get the best results out of it. And you could spend days in 3ds Max to create a single image.”
This time-consuming work on creating 3D visuals did not meet their expectations: “Our goal was to produce high quality visuals very fast, to present our ideas to clients.” The team of Cayas Architects was also looking for a better alternative demonstrating their work to them – instead of just showing the floor plans, they wanted the clients to really experience their work. In this context, the team was also aiming for a way to include Virtual Reality (VR) into their workflow. “We wanted to offer our clients a more emotional and mind-blowing experience of their project, before it is even built.”
The process to a more emotional and mind-blowing experience
Cayas Architects started to search on the Internet for a solution that would work as an interface between Revit and VR and they found Enscape:
Enscape stood out against all the others and as it delivered everything we needed.
We wanted to increase efficiency for visualizations and save a lot of time.
With Enscape we achieved all we had in mind. It is phenomenal!
Jeremy Ward
While testing Enscape they directly loved the high quality of the renderings and the simple integration in Revit. The fact that you can keep working on one platform and require nearly no training to use Enscape was perfect. “Give your colleague a maximum of 30 minutes and he is able to walk through the project. This is amazing!” The Oculus connectivity was another factor that convinced Cayas Architects about Enscape – “having an interface between Revit and VR was an important thing we were looking for.”
How Enscape helped Cayas Architects
Cayas Architects use Enscape in three ways: As an evaluation tool during design phases, as an effective communication and presentation tool for clients.
- Evaluation of design options
Cayas Architects primarily use Enscape in the different design phases during the whole project. They especially value the option to have Revit on one screen and Enscape on the second. This is a great way to present their work to their client in every stage of the project. Easy and quick modifications of every part of the project are possible to explore the changes directly in Enscape, even in front of clients. “This helps us to better evaluate different design options internally and together with the client.”
- Client communication
In addition to evaluation, Cayas Architects use Enscape for their client communication, by sending them a standalone file of the project. “Actually, once our clients experience their project in Enscape, they prefer to see less of floor plans and more of the design progress in Enscape.” This way the client communication is much easier and clients are happy to walk through their project on their own.
As an additional service, Cayas Architects use Enscape for their clients’ marketing communication. They send them Enscape renderings, which are used for their marketing purposes. Therefore, a win-win for both parties.
- Presentation of project stages and results
Finally, Cayas Architects use Enscape to present the various stages of the project to their clients. They are now able to easily present their progress to clients by inviting them to the office. “Before, we showed them floor plans on the screen, which for many people is difficult to fully understand. Now, with Enscape, we virtually walk through the project with them and our clients love it!”
Their results
Overall the team of Cayas Architects saved a lot of time for their 3D visualizations since they are using Enscape, and as Jeremy said, “saving time in our business equals saving money!”
Being able to visualize your design in every stage of the project is the outstanding advantage of Enscape.
Jeremy Ward
Additionally, Enscape fits into their workflow really well. As they can keep on working in Revit, the advantages of Enscape can be achieved seamlessly.
When Cayas Architects finally receive their Oculus equipment, they are thrilled to show their clients an extraordinary 3D walkthrough. “We see value in providing our clients with a state of the art experience by offering them a virtual reality walkthrough in their project.”
Example project
Cayas Architects also shared their experience with Enscape during one of their projects – The Lions Richlands Sports Club – Brisbane. This project included a complete refurbishment and extension of the existing club. It is a large building and the whole project was heavily interior design focused.
For this project, the team used Enscape at every planning stage, starting with the concept design, through detail design to the whole planning approval process. Additionally, they used Enscape for their clients’ marketing communication, so that the club could put images in magazines and newspapers.
Enscape was most useful during the design development and detail design phase of the project.
It was an effortless way to show the client what we are planning to do.
And it was successful!
Jeremy Ward
For Cayas Architects it was great to visualize all Revit materials, which in turn helped them to get their materials in place – “As soon as you press the button it’s all there, which is incredible.”
The icing on the top: The client loved it as well. “They’ve never seen something like this before.” The client was accustomed to see floor plans or small static images but a virtual walkthrough of their project was completely new to them. As Jeremy told us, “they were so keen to use Enscape regularly, they even got themselves a better computer to use it in-house!” This meant that the team was able to constantly send them updated models as a standalone file as they wanted to see the design progress all the time in Enscape.
Enscape was pretty helpful during this project.
It saved us a lot of time and made the communication with the client extremely efficient.
Jeremy Ward
Final remarks
According to Jeremy, Cayas Architects was able to save 75% of their time to produce 3D visualizations by using Enscape.
It cuts down so much time, it’s unbelievable.
Thank you for providing such a great tool!
Jeremy Ward
Thank you Jeremy and Cayas Architects for your support and the honor of sharing your experience with us and our community!
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