By Phillip Gibney

Your clients want to see more than a floor plan and elevation, right?  Renderings help; but, what about a 3D model they can experience and virtually interact with?  Export and share your designs using the Chief Architect 3D Viewer.  With the 3D Viewer, they can view the design and model on their phone, tablet or computer – it’s a free app we developed exactly for sharing your designs with your clients.

The Chief Architect Student Design Gallery is a great way to celebrate the talent and fresh design ideas of the next generation of designers.

If you are a student leveraging the Chief Architect student license or a teacher utilizing Chief Architect in your classroom and would like to showcase a student design, we’d love to hear from you!

Submit your designs for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.

By Kendra Dorosh

Dreaming of renovating your home, but not sure what to expect? Thebuild.tv by Anthony Carrino may just be the new series you’ve been waiting for.

By Kerry Hansen

Whether an architect, interior designer, draftsperson or design-builder, working from home is a key strategy for many. Carving out a personal work space for yourself can serve as an essential resource and is one of the keys to success and productivity when working from home. Here are a few tips to get going.

By Kendra Dorosh

Did you know that a person aged 60 needs three times the light as a 20-year-old?

That may seem like a drastic amount, but Certified Living in Place Professional (CLIPP) Adam Gibson explains the reasoning behind this statement: people over 60, “need more light, and everyone needs a high Color Rendering Index (CRI) to best reveal the colors of various objects. It’s no fun going outside in your black socks only to realize they’re blue. One solution? Light-colored walls washed in light provide more ambient light than the same quantity of recessed lights pointing toward the floor.”

By Kerry Hansen

Like many, when we learned that after nearly 90 years, the iconic School of Architecture at Taliesin would be closing its doors later this year, our hearts skipped a beat. Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the founding visionaries of Modernist architecture and a towering figure in American culture. For a first-hand perspective on the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West, we turned to Michael Rust, an architect based out of Chandler, Arizona. Rust, a member of the Taliesin Fellowship for over a decade, was the recipient of the third Master of Architecture degree ever issued by the prestigious school. Michael’s architecture is featured on the cover of Chief Architect Premier X11 and X12, and atop our booth at the International Builders’ Show.

By Kendra Dorosh

Each year, I’m intrigued by all of the blogs, social media posts and emails that flood my feed featuring the hottest trends for home design. We’ve seen it all, from floral everywhere to gray everything. Are these trends something that most designers track and incorporate into their latest work? Are we driving ourselves crazy trying to stay on top of the latest trends, or is it a necessary component of keeping a competitive edge in the market?

By Kerry Hansen

The maximalist interior of the Mondrian Doha Hotel’s rooftop pool.

“There are three responses to a
piece of design – yes, no, and WOW!
Wow is the one to aim for!”

Milton Glaser

By Kendra Dorosh

What are the biggest challenges your business will face over the next year? If you said finding skilled labor and completing projects on time, you aren’t alone.

With housing starts at a high and labor shortages expected to continue, we set out to identify the biggest challenges that businesses are facing in the coming year and what they’re planning to do to address them. We heard from 35 building industry professionals who provided us with a pulse on what they are preparing for in the coming year.

By Dani Walker

What does a hot real estate market mean for professionals in the building industry? A significant backlog of work. Since 2012, there has been a steady increase in housing prices. That increase continues as inventory and labor availability shrink.