Commissioned to create a world-class facility for the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Social Sciences, HLM Architects created Archicad’s striking architectural designs and won a tender competition to create ‘The Wave’, a stunning new gateway to the university campus
The Faculty of Social Sciences is the largest faculty at the University of Sheffield. Almost 11,000 students make up more than a third of the entire student body.
The university wanted a unified building architecture that would promote academic excellence and accommodate the future growth expectations of the faculty. HLM’s brief was to create a building that would enhance the student experience while enhancing the faculty’s reputation for excellence in teaching and research.
The Faculty of Social Sciences offers a wide range of subjects such as economics, politics, journalism, photography and architecture and consists of 13 departments. Conceived around a new multidisciplinary research centre, The Wave brings together departments previously scattered across 16 different locations in Sheffield.
Collaborative architectural designs form the social core of the building
HLM worked with a large team of stakeholders including academics, researchers, faculty and student representatives, as well as the Estates & Facilities Management team using Graphisoft’s Archicad software to design a student-centric space for research and teaching.
The social heart of the building is the atrium, around which all teaching and research rooms are arranged. A bespoke glass façade gives the building a sense of lightness and openness.
To assist the university with planning consultations, HLM created images of the building using the Archicad model and presented the architectural designs using 3D Graphisoft’s BIMx software. We also commissioned a fly-through from a specialist CGI firm that on based on the Archicad model.
Using BIMx to present architectural designs
Throughout the project, HLM regularly exported the design to Graphisoft’s BIMx virtual reality software to show the university and other stakeholders what the building would look like and to give an idea of its space and proportions.
Karl Brown, Project Architect at HLM, said: “Our clients have been delighted with BIMx and the ability to walk through the building virtually. As architects, we are used to looking at and interpreting drawings. But for non-architects, BIMx is an incredibly useful tool to show what the building will look like.”
Ian Curran, BIM Manager at HLM agreed: “BIMx is a brilliant tool. We used it to share our architectural designs with stakeholders in our meetings. For example, in this project we proposed reducing the floor height by 300mm. The client immediately wanted to see what the impact would be, and with the help of BIMx we were able to achieve just that.”
Archicad designs impressive facades in half the time
Key to the appearance of the building is a complex triangular facade that would have been very time consuming to design without Archicad’s automation.
HLM, with the support of Graphisoft UK, worked to create each part of the facade as a module in Archicad.
Karl explained, “All the information we need is in the module, which made the process a lot easier.
“If we had to do it manually, it would have been almost impossible. But as a workflow it saved so much time. By creating a module for the repeating element of the facade, we can probably reduce the time spent on the facade by up to 50%. Back then we really pushed the boundaries of what Archicad could do.”
HLM applied the same principle to the offices, creating all the furniture as modules and copying them for each office.
Simple data exchange via IFC
During the project, HLM exchanged information via IFC with various teams and contractors, including civil, mechanical and electrical engineers, fire safety engineers, facade engineers, acoustics specialists and thermal modeling specialists.
“Interoperability between Archicad and other software in the UK is excellent,” said Karl. “The structural model was imported into Archicad via a hotlink from Revit, making it very easy to make changes. Due to its size and complexity, the federated model with all the disciplines involved has now been stored in Navisworks.”
Completed in Spring 2023, The Wave is now ready to welcome staff and students as a collaborative learning space.
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