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Chicago Firm Adopts Revit for Design and Production; 2R\Z Standardizes on Parametric Building Modeler

Business/Technology Editors
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2001

Within months of discovering Revit™, the AEC industry's first parametric building modeler, a Chicago-based architectural firm is migrating all of its new projects to the modeling software and realizing substantial improvements in the firm's design and production processes as a result.

2R\Z first discovered Revit when the firm was looking for modeling software that integrated easily with AccuRender®, a popular and high-powered rendering package. Revit was the perfect match, as AccuRender is included as part of the program's core functionality. Since then, 2R\Z's designers have tapped into Revit's rapid and powerful design abilities and its easy-to-use functionality.

"Once you understand the soul of Revit, everything is very straightforward. The learning curve is very short," said William Rodon-Hornof, president of 2R\Z, a firm that specializes in residential construction and design. "Right out of the box Revit is a great tool. Now we are completing all of the projects that come through our doors in Revit."

Revit helped improve the design process at 2R\Z instantly. Collaborating on a single Revit building model enabled the firm's architects to cut cycles out of the design process, improve the depth and quality of client deliverables and create custom work easier.

"It's a 3D world, and working in 3D is obviously a natural choice," said Rodon-Hornof. "In Revit, we can use conventional drafting methods of working with a computer, but we're not limited to just 2D drafting. Revit gives us the power to design."

Because Revit's parametric change engine ensures 100 percent consistency of all views - including sections, plans, elevations, 3D views and schedules, Rodon-Hornof discovered that he no longer had to separate the design work from creating production documents and presentations. "We were able to design the buildings in Revit by simply working in a plan, section or elevation as appropriate," Rodon-Hornof said. "We were designing the building in whatever view we needed while Revit produced and coordinated all of the drawings required for presentation purposes."

Because building plans are generated from a single Revit model, production errors are eliminated. Whenever there were discrepancies between different sections and plans created in AutoCAD(R), it often meant hours of revision for Rodon-Hornof's firm. And the complexity of working in AutoCAD made it impossible to make 11th-hour changes to plans or presentations that were due for delivery.

"AutoCAD was often cumbersome and difficult. Users of AutoCAD need to think two-dimensionally and draw like they are using a drawing board, but in developing the elevations and sections, there would always be more problems," Rodon-Hornof said, noting that each file associated with the project needed to be edited independently. "Ultimately, we would have to redraw anything that was in error, but in Revit, the elevations, sections and plans coordinate instantly."

Revit's component families and powerful family editor help 2R\Z gain a strong advantage in delivering precise plans in a computer model. As a specialist in kitchen design, 2R\Z often creates highly detailed kitchen components. In AutoCAD, it can be a tedious chore editing a component to new dimensions or design specifications. Revit's component editor enables designers to recreate components easily, removing further drudgery from the design cycle.

"Design time just flies in Revit. We were able to produce a working set of drawings very quickly," Rodon-Hornof said, adding that his firm can create and deliver a broader range of presentation documents because they are all generated from a single Revit model. "Our clients have been impressed with the sheer number of drawings we had done, when in fact it was Revit that has automatically created the drawings from the model."

Revit is the only architectural design and production system on the market that empowers architects and building professionals to make changes anytime, anywhere in the architectural process while its context-driven parametric change engine ensures complete consistency of all drawings in the project. The software system may be downloaded from the Company's Web site, www.revit.com, or installed from a CD-ROM available directly from the Company.

About Revit Technology Corporation

Founded in 1997, Revit Technology Corporation is revolutionizing building design with Revit - the first parametric building modeler developed for the AEC industry. Revit's advanced parametric technology offers unprecedented ease of use in a product that has been designed to enable architects, engineers, owner/operators and construction professionals to transform the entire process by which buildings are designed, constructed and operated over their lifecycle. With offices in the United States and United Kingdom, and Revit Solutions Providers throughout the EU, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific Revit's revolutionary building technology is in use by leading architectural, building and construction management firms such as DMJM/H&N, Little & Associates Architects, George B.H. Macomber Company, NBBJ, and WAT&G. Investors in Revit Technology Corporation include Dassault Systemes S.A. (Nasdaq: DASTY, Bourse de Paris), FleetBoston Financial Corporation (NYSE: FBF), Atlas Venture and North Bridge Venture Partners. For more information, please visit www.revit.com or call 781-839-5300.

Revit is a trademark of Revit Technology Corporation.
AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc.
AccuRender is a registered trademark of Robert McNeel & Associates.