Guy Peterson Architects uses ArchiCAD to design award-winning residential neighborhood

Described as "architectural art you can live in," the Houses of Indian Beach will be an enclave of 23 homes inspired by the regional modernism of the "Sarasota School of Architecture," a recognized architectural movement from the 1940s and 50s.

Each home will be individually designed, with no two homes alike, and strategically located to maximize the lot size and privacy of each home on a secluded 8.4 acre plot of land highlighted by dozens of mature oak trees and exotic landscaping.

Architect Guy Peterson, FAIA, designed the project in ArchiCAD to take advantage of the landscape's beauty, with lot shapes and build locations preserving as much of the natural environment as possible.  The houses will be of modest size, use simple, modular components, and employ the latest energy efficient systems, sustainable building materials and green building construction techniques.

Working with ArchiCAD enabled Peterson to design the development as a single integrated virtual environment with all buildings, materials, characteristics and landscape contained into a 3D building information model (BIM).  From this BIM model he was able extract all the information needed to completely describe the project, complete plans, sections and elevations, architectural and construction details, Bills of Materials, window/door/finish schedules, renderings, animations and virtual reality scenes.

"These houses should serve as a model for modern neighborhoods by being designed by analysis and reduction rather than by stylistic imitation and embellishment," said Peterson.  "The ability to design the entire neighborhood in ArchiCAD as a BIM model enabled us to maximize the sustainability of the homes and landscape, merging new technologies with classic modern architecture while preserving the area's spectacular treescape."

The Houses of Indian Beach garnered Peterson the Merit Award for Unbuilt Work by the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects.

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1 Alan Kay.  Inventor of Smalltalk - the inspiration behind windowing-based computer systems.