Computer Aided Design and Visualization
By Jamie Yates

It was another Tuesday night at DACS, and our featured speaker was Scott Yates, an architect employed at H & R Design, right here in Danbury.

Scott started his presentation showing some examples of the areas that he works in: residential, commercial and specialty. The first project he discussed is the major renovation underway on his own house. He used it to the show design, rendering and construction from the original small saltbox to what it is today. He displayed pictures of the original house, the new structure and the design drawings. He also showed 3D renderings of what the final house would look like. These renderings are used to enable clients, who can’t visualize a structure from the detailed drawings, to see a conceptual view of the actual finished product.

Then he showed several other projects that were, are, will, or may be done in our local community, and explained how 3D renderings are generated. Some of these renderings were then overlaid with images of the project’s physical surroundings to give the prospective client a view of how the project will look when finished. This is used so local community boards can see how buildings will appear when all the work is completed, and also serves as a marketing tool for developers.

One of the more interesting projects was a two-lot housing plan on Deer Hill Avenue in Danbury, where house renderings were done on an available site to show how they would fit in with their surroundings. The part that was most interesting was the fact that the house designs were just shells, like you would see on a movie set, with no interior floor plans. This is the reverse of the way a design is usually done, in which the floor plan is created and then the exterior is built around it.


Scott then showed some of the studio and multi-media room designs he has worked on around the world. He showed projects in Europe, Asia, South America and North America created for major corporations and individuals. This part of his presentation included some of the intricate detailing required to control and manipulate lighting, sound and video and showcased some of the leading edge electronics and mechanics involved. Included here were some animations used for demonstration purposes, including a virtual tour of a media control room. He also briefly discussed how both design and materials can be used to control the acoustic properties of a room.

Throughout his presentation, he answered many questions from the audience about how the tools of Autocad were used and why. He also described other available design software and why some projects required significantly more sophistication than others.

He described where the industry is going and how future integration of function will allow a total package that can generate construction plans, models, renderings and schedules, and effortlessly adapt to design changes.

The presentation was very professional, and showed a detailed knowledge and understanding of the subject beyond what I think the audience would have imagined. Although it had to be cut short in overtime, I got the impression that all attendees now know a lot more about the architect’s trade, what can be done with a computer in designing for the real world, and the complex process of moving a project from concept to completion.

You should have been there.