Tag: sapp design architects

Architect design firms, such as Sapp Design Architects, have come a long way over the decades. We’ve been in business for nearly 35 years, and our firm has seen a lot of changes in the way architects go about their daily tasks. Today’s blog from Sapp Design discusses four tools an architect design firm uses every day.

1. Cameras and Visualization Tools

One important thing we do at Sapp Design involves creating renderings of what the final product may look like. To that end, we take a lot of photos of the existing site with cameras. Then we’ll input the dimensions of a building, what the interior may look like, and any parking lots for the exterior. After these preparations, we’ll create a rendering of the project before crews lift a single shovel of dirt. 

Our staff combines photography and 3D rendering software to give our clients an accurate representation of what their completed building will look like. This type of software is called CADD, or computer-aided design and drafting.

During construction, we may go to a site to take photos of the process. We’ll match the photos to the architectural drawings to make sure the construction crews are following the blueprints exactly.

2. Measuring Tools

Before CADD software can render an accurate drawing, we have to take measurements of the site. We’ll use distance measuring wheels along the ground to determine the dimensions of the plot of land we’re dealing with. Then our staff begins to create scale drawings, much like a traditional paper drawing, except we do our work on computers. It’s vastly more efficient to create drawings on a computer and send them to clients as high-resolution documents rather than draw them on paper using rulers, compasses, and straight edges. 

Some architecture design firms might still use physical paper. Most turn to computers. No matter what medium someone uses, architects have two things in common: A love for math and a love of drawing!

3. Drawing Tools

Architecture design firms must use accurate drawing tools because they work in a visual field and the numbers need to add up. Corners have to be 90 degrees, structural elements have to follow codes, and beams must handle the weight they support. 

But all of those numbers don’t add up to clients who want visually appealing structures as well as functional ones. They need to see what something looks like before it happens. That’s where our rendering and CADD software really does well. Computer programs convert numbers, walls, beams, and doors into visual elements for clients to see. Some of us might use our visual skills to draw on the surface of a tablet computer to give a client an idea of what we have in mind.

4. Tablet Computers

Employees of architecture design firms don’t just sit in offices all day and design buildings. Yes, that’s a major part of our work. But we pride ourselves on being hands-on from our first meeting until the ribbon cutting of your new building.

Our staff takes tablet computers and mobile devices with them wherever they go. Employees can call up architectural drawings, renderings, schematics, electrical and plumbing diagrams, interior design specs, and any little detail of a project.

Honorable Mention: Hardhats

Sapp Design Architects loves to develop relationships with every client we meet. We keep hardhats handy for when our team goes to a construction site or attends a groundbreaking ceremony. We’re just as excited about bringing your building into existence as you are!

Your Architecture Design Firm at Sapp

Sapp Design Architects is your full-service architecture design firm. We serve Southwest Missouri and the Kansas City area. Contact Sapp Design Architects or call (417) 877-9600 for more details on what we can do for you!