Architects draw most things on a computer with AutoCAD. It makes sense for most stages of the process. I have discovered a hack for designing and drawing construction details though. Construction details are “zoomed-in” drawings that focus on the connection between different materials. They help to communicate to the builder the real goal with how things get put together. These are typically drafted in black and white in AutoCAD, but we have found that they are tough to understand, time consuming, and builders rarely actually reference them in a set of plans.
With the use of my iPad and it’s Apple Pencil, I have discovered a magical app (by recommendation of Andres Villaveces at Metrica) that allows me to draw “by hand” but still digitally. The Apple Pencil actually feels and operates like a real pencil, but it works even better… and you can undo mistakes, you don’t get lead all over your arm/shirt, and I can draw while sitting on the couch or virtually anywhere (a drafting table is no longer needed).
Builders love the drawings because they actually understand them, and it saves me (and my clients) time in drawing them. The app I use, called Morpholio Trace, actually featured my work in its recent top 10 list: https://medium.com/@morpholio/top-10-trace-sketches-of-the-month-290fb2c8e1b3. It has been such a great technological advancement in my industry that has increased my productivity. I can also use it to review my coworker’s drawings for quality control. The days of printing, redlining, scanning, and emailing are over for the simple task of checking drawings. I can now just “redline” (review) progress work directly from my ipad and easily email it.
If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help