The desktop publishing revolution has brought us some really ugly pieces of paper. Anyone with a computer can be a graphic designer. Just pick some type from one menu, some clip art from another, some borders from a third, and go to town. What you end up with may not be visually appealing or even legible, but at least it's yours.
The sad truth is that owning a computer does not make you a graphic designer. And despite the popularity of the new genre of home-design software, owning a computer doesn't make you an architect either.
Broderbund's 3-D Home Architect is a good example of this new wave. Up to a point, it's pretty useful. It makes drawing floor plans fairly easy, letting you move walls and windows around, or drag furniture and fixtures into place. It lets you see what your new rumpus room will look like, drawing 3-D renderings of the design from the vantage point of your choice. It produces manifests of materials that you can export to a spreadsheet to take with you on your fool's errand to the bank.
But a few small problems may undermine this program's approach. Consider planning the kitchen of your dreams. You draw the walls. You drag windows, counters, appliances, and furniture into place. You check out your dream kitchen in 3-D. You run "PlanCheck," which will warn you if you haven't installed an exhaust fan where you need one or if you've haven't provided your new kitchen with an entrance.
Unfortunately, it will not warn you that you don't have enough counter space to prepare a decent meal. It won't tell you that maybe you shouldn't put the sink 20 feet away from the dishwasher, or that a kitchen with only north-facing windows will be dark, cold, and cheerless. It doesn't even know where north is.
The manual includes a ten-page chapter called "An Introduction to Residential Design," which falls rather short of what you really need. The complete 3-D Home Architect package ought to come on a CD-ROM disk that includes a multimedia presentation of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home and a hypertext version of A Pattern Language. Even that wouldn't make you an instant architect, but at least you would have a better idea about what you're getting yourself into.
- Robert Rossney
3-D Home Architect: US$59.95. Broderbund: (800) 521 6263, +1 (415) 382 4400.
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