It was the mid 1990’s and my architect husband Doug had to make a decision. Should he continue hand drawing his plans or should he try to embrace the future and switch to computer aided design, called CAD. Some of his architect friends were adamant, they were not switching. They embraced the idea that architecture was part art, along with technical data and their drawings were artistic and beautiful. Some of them should be hanging in a museum. Computers took that away. The drawings on computers were extremely precise, cold hard lines. The heart of architecture would disappear if they switched to computers.
Architectural Drawing Done by Hand. These Drawings Deserve a Place in a Museum!
At the time, Doug was reading architectural magazines. The articles were pushing the future. Computers were going to change everything. He attended a couple seminars by people selling different programs. He wondered if he should switch. It all seemed so complicated. He wasn’t sure if he could make the switch successfully. His lack of computer skills were a huge barrier and caused no end of anxiety. Doug was committed to Apple products, but many of the programs were made for PC’s. At that time there was a giant divide between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of Apple. Doug didn't know if the two CAD programs would be able to interchange files, as he had to submit his plans to the county, builders and engineers. Doug felt the Macintosh programs were superior because they allowed him to work in 3D. The PC programs, mostly Autocad, worked in 2D, and 3D had to be incorporated later. When it came to switching to CAD, every architect was on their own. There were CAD classes, but they were very expensive and took place in large cities. Everything architects’ learned they had to gather from their individual CAD companies. Doug tried one program, and even trained in it, but it did not work for him. He had to purchase a second program, ArchiCad, which he continues to use to this day.
And then there was the cost. We had to commit to spending thousands of dollars on a program we weren't sure would even work. In a small office like Doug’s, hours spent away from drafting were hours that were not billable. It was impossible to take a couple weeks off of paid work to implement a new system. What happened was Doug hand drafted during the day, then spent hours late into the night trying to figure out how to use CAD. The early programs were not user friendly. He could easily lose hours of work by clicking the wrong button. Support services in those early days was barely adequate, and it was expensive. Doug leaned heavily on our oldest son, whose computer skills were better then Doug’s. Forgive me if I sound bitter, but younger architects working on CAD all the way through college have no idea the struggles older architects endured. I was trying to take care of the family, the bills, cleaning and cooking, all while trying to support Doug through the stress of learning to work in a completely different way. We weren't sure if we would make it. We were losing money by the day. Doug could not afford to make mistakes, and there was very little support. Of course, seeing a therapist at that time would probably have been helpful, but our insurance didn't cover it. Both of us were struggling our way through a very dark place and time.
As Doug embraced CAD, he gave up some of the long used tools of the trade. In our garage sat a blueprint machine used to make copies of drawings via light sensitive paper and ammonia based processing. When each plan was completed, Doug spent hours in the garage printing multiple pages of plans. He left the garage door open in order to avoid fumes from seeping into our house. Used ammonia sat in our garage for years, waiting for a trip to the dump.
Our Blueprint Machine Looked Like This. The Ammonia Bottles Lined the Bottom Shelf.
Tools on his drafting table included a built in to the table parallel bar used to draw straight horizontal lines. Set squares and triangles helped with drawing precise angles. The architect scale ruler provided multiple scales for drawings. Mechanical pencils were abundant. The compass, French curves, and templates were used for drawing non -linear shapes. And then there was tracing paper. Doug used miles of it when he was developing his designs. If the customer wanted a 3D model of his building, he had to pay Doug for hours of time to make a model with glue and foam board. Customers never wanted a model, once they heard how expensive it would be. All of those drafting tools, now vintage or even antique, are sitting somewhere in our attic. Need a 3D model of your building? Architects now can tap a few buttons, and there it is on the screen. It's truly amazing.
Doug’s first CAD design was a waterfront home and addition. The builder was not happy. He was in a hurry, and wanted the plan immediately. But, Doug was learning the computer program as he was designing the addition. It was a happy day when Doug handed the owner and builder copies of the plan.
A few plans later Doug designed an angular house which sat on a mountainside. When the builder saw the plan he was very upset. The plan was too precise and it confused him. Hand drafting used dimensions of quarter inch, while CAD drawing went down to 1/32 inch. Builders couldn't get their heads around it. CAD could even be as precise as 1/64 inch. The precision was especially difficult when the building was angular. The builder didn't want to admit that he was unwilling to deal with such precision and it irritated him. It was different than the plans he was used to working with. Instead he turned the owner against Doug. Doug became a victim of CAD.
CAD Drawing, Computer Aided Design
A few years after Doug switched to CAD, most architects had seen the writing on the wall, and were leaving hand drawing behind. Some architects even came to Doug (or our son) for advice. Changing to CAD was brutal for all of us, but we knew there was no way around it. We couldn't avoid progress.