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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