Graphisoft Archicad

By audience

Architecture

• Model the building with Wall, Slab, Roof, Column, Beam, Stair, Railing and Curtain Wall tools that hold their relationships as the design changes.
• Annotate once and let the BIM-based drawing set re-issue itself when the model moves, rather than redrawing sheets.
• Run early-stage optioneering from mass models and sketches, then carry the same file through to construction documentation.
• Publish and receive IFC, BCF and IDS with consultants on other platforms without leaving Archicad.

Designer / Drafter

• Produce the coordinated drawing set from the model — plans, sections, elevations and details update from one source when the design changes.
• Build custom parametric components with GDL and Param-O instead of redrawing repeated conditions.
• Work on macOS or Windows on the same file and library; Graphisoft ships both natively and the formats are interchangeable.

Interior Design

• Model interiors with the furnishing object library and Room Coverings tooling, then present them through the built-in rendering engine or the AI Visualizer.
• Manage several interior schemes in one project file using Design Options, which is the workflow Graphisoft's own 'Interior Design Techniques in Archicad' certificate course teaches.
• Hand a finish and furniture schedule straight out of the model instead of maintaining it alongside the drawings.

MEP Engineering

• Design, model and document mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems with built-in parametric MEP objects and clash detection.
• Take the full MEP toolset via MEP Designer, which Graphisoft bundles into the Archicad Collaborate plan rather than selling the modelling as a bare add-on.
• Coordinate the MEP model against the architectural model in the same file, so clashes surface during design rather than at IFC handover.

Structural Engineering

• Model load-bearing elements natively and let Archicad generate and maintain the Structural Analytical Model for handover to an analysis package.
• Receive the architect's model as IFC and return coordination issues as BCF rather than working from exported drawings.
• Take timber and steel framing further inside Archicad through partner add-ons such as ArchiFrame, which adds member design and CNC output.

BIM Manager

• Own the office template, layer and attribute standards, classification systems and object library that every project inherits.
• Run live multi-user Teamwork projects on BIMcloud, including cross-company Teamwork on portable BIMcloud licences.
• Set the IFC translators and property mappings that decide what leaves the office and in what shape — the setting that governs every downstream exchange.
• Graphisoft certifies the role for this product specifically, through its Archicad BIM Manager program.

By phase

Concept & Planning

• Test massing and site options from sketches and mass models, with quantity take-off available at concept stage to price the options.
• Push early models to Autodesk Forma and pull generative layout studies back from Finch, so feasibility work stays connected to the BIM file.
• Run built-in energy analysis and LCA at the point where design decisions still move the carbon number.

Design

• Develop the design and its documentation in one model, with drawings, schedules and views re-generating as the model changes.
• Round-trip parametric geometry with Rhino and Grasshopper over the live connection for the parts of the design that are algorithmic.
• Send the model to Enscape, Twinmotion or D5 Render for client-facing visuals without exporting and re-importing.

Pre-Construction

• Check the model for code compliance and constructability in Solibri and bring the BCF findings back onto Archicad elements.
• Issue drawings to Bluebeam Revu for review and import the markups back as native Archicad Issues.
• Produce model-based quantities and specifications — NBS Chorus Connect keeps the specification clauses on the elements rather than embedded in the file.