GRAPHISOFT’s industry-first, bi-directional “live” connection allows Rhino and Grasshopper users to connect to a professional BIM software (ARCHICAD) on both the Windows and Mac operating systems. Rhino-Grasshopper-ARCHICAD connections allow architects to leverage the strengths of the three design environments — Rhino, Grasshopper and ARCHICAD — filling a gap in the design process between early stage design and Building Information Modeling (BIM).

“Working with the GRAPHISOFT team on an integral solution for architects who want the best from BIM and algorithmic design has been a pleasure. The integration of Grasshopper and ARCHICAD opens a totally new world of possibilities, in terms of design, form-finding, optimization and management of complex projects,” said Carlos Perez, EMEA Sales, marketing and business development, McNeel Europe.

The latest update of GRAPHISOFT’s Grasshopper-ARCHICAD live connection opens a new level of intelligent workflows between the two design environments (algorithmic design and BIM). With the brand new “Deconstruct” function, users can now use their BIM models as the backbone of their design, adding algorithmic design logic using Grasshopper. This allows designers to maintain the basic design logic in BIM (such as the base geometry of the building) and extend that with intelligent design details that follow changes in the core design. A simple example is demonstrated in this video, where building survey data about the built environment is being used to re-create the building information model of an urban environment after a recent earthquake in Italy.

“The Deconstruct function in the Grasshopper-ARCHICAD live connection made it possible for us to reconstruct the BIM models of the buildings of Grisciano, Italy, by acting as a bridge between the models and the conceptual design,” said project architects Michele Calvano and Mario Sacco. Another important functionality enhancement to the Grasshopper-ARCHICAD Live Connection is that users can create custom GDL Objects using Grasshopper and then instantly place them in their ARCHICAD project. The newly-created library parts will be placed in ARCHICAD’s Embedded Project Library and all future design changes made in Grasshopper will be instantly carried through the ARCHICAD project as well.

For more information about the Grasshopper – ARCHICAD Live Connection, please visit www.graphisoft.com/rhino-grasshopper.