ACUE 2003 3-4-5-6 Sept 2003, Nottingham: Reviews

ArchiCAD University 2003 has now happened. ACUE 2003 was an international summer school for ArchiCAD users, combining learning and pleasure - celebrating the whole culture of ArchiCAD use in practice and education.
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Levente Csanyi, Human Interface Group, Graphisoft HU
We would like to thank you for this absolutely perfect organization. The level of the event was very high and I think that as useful for us to meet users as it was for the users to be able to meet us. The users you invited had a positive attitude to ArchiCAD, they were friendly with us, but they were not shy to tell us their problems. Thank you and I hope that I can be there again.

William Cochester, Suffolk County council
Well organised and enjoyable event, a lot of useful information obtained. A very good location, people were friendly, food was good, excellent. The only complaint was that the acoustics in some areas e.g. bar areas were difficult for me. Alan's workshop on GDL was just the right level for me. The workshop consisted of a simple worked example with some clever tips for parametric modelling. Gave me enough confidence to try. Kajima's presentation was very interesting and relevant for discussing the future uses of ArchiCAD with the boss - quite a few implications for the Architecture industry. It was nice that the Graphisoft bunch stayed around and listened to our comments. It was clear that they had been listening in the past, which is hopeful.

Paul Domville, Cheshire
A great event. If you use ArchiCAD you must be there. Many thanks David for organising a excellent event. Still not sure how you do it for the price, well worth every penny. Favourite session was the one on Piranesi, to see the software explained in detail was excellent, a very good demo. Howard's session was an excellent start, a real eye opener to all the newcomers and experienced AC users.

Karl Eckermann, from Australia, working in Dublin, Ireland
Great event - the experience and knowledge gained will translate into real improvements in our everyday communication with Clients, Consultants and Builders. It will help us to produce better architecture.
   Cost is remarkably affordable - there is no other professional development event of this scale that is even close in terms of value for money. Most conferences are looking for attendance fees in the £1000s not £100s (of whatever currency), and lack the important practical workshop elements - we were able to have our entire office (3 architects) attend!! Food was surprisingly plentiful, having access to the pool was a bonus, the accommodation was cheap and adequate (brought back many college day memories), and most importantly DNC, his co-facilitators and student helpers did a great job all round. I would like more workshop opportunities - there were at least 2 further sessions that I would have liked to have done. I feel the workshop sessions are the most constructive in terms of learning.
   There has to be one in Australia / New Zealand at some time in the future.

Ray Elysee, York St Johns
Many thanks for organising such a very well organised with some excellent speakers. I did manage to talk to 3 or 4 of your students, all of whom are very pleasant and excellent ambassadors for your course. Your accommodation and facilities were also excellent, and the food was good. My preference would be to have the workshops over all three days rather than condensed in to Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. I consider we all need time to reflect and allowed time to enable us to practice the new skills from the workshops.

David Emery, Kendrick Homes, Walsall (one of our Case Study presenters)
ACUE 2003 was my first time at ArchiCAD University, and I found the experience invaluable. David NC is to be warmly congratulated on a superb event, and I hope that he will see fit to continue being instrumental in organising future ACUEs.
     Three very full days‚ learning and talking ArchiCAD left me mentally exhausted but at the same time exhilarated. The content of my own presentation - which explained how I'd had to 'cheat' almost to make ArchiCAD produce what I wanted from it - made me seem unnecessarily churlish in the light of the superb work undertaken by other delegates. In
particular, the work described by Kajima, Hakim Khennouchi and Herbert Peter made me feel very humble indeed, but at the same time reinforced the idea that ArchiCAD is a world class piece of software.
   The fact that ACUE 2003 attracted worldwide support amongst the delegates, and was attended by senior representatives of Graphisoft too, confirms its status as the premier ArchiCAD event in Europe (and maybe the world?). Roll on 2004!

Ben Frost, London
Many thanks for organising the ACUE event. i thoroughly enjoyed myself and have much valuable information to impart to the office. I thought that it was excellent value for money. The food was a real surprise! I have lived in a hall of residence myself so was expecting to brace myself for a shock! Most definitely interested in the Winter School! as long as you teach me how to ski!

Charlie Gilmore, St Johns Hospital, Bath
I would like to thank you and all who had an input into last week. It has given me such a large insight into the whole world of Archicad and everything which is related to it. I am really glad I was able to attend. As someone who has only been using Archicad for a few months (and only an hour or so each day) it has given me reassurance, direction and a boost as to where to go and as to how to get there!! I managed to glean a number of really important concepts out of this, including creating systems to be implemented for the office, standards to set and methods as to how these can be achieved. I has given me a wonderful insight into many other different bolt on systems which are very useful and an absolute delight to see what can be created from them. It was a relief to know that I am not out there alone as there are others with similar problems who are at similar levels as to their knowledge of Archicad.
   This has really spurred me on to find out more about what this package is capable of achieving and what I can produce. Thank you.

Michael Goulden
A really worthwhile event, I am so glad I came. I learnt a lot on the technical front, and was generally inspired to do better. I really enjoyed meeting such a diverse and international group of people. The way to go.
   I did think the workshops were a bit chaotic, and not always the best use of the available time, but they did contribute to the sociability. I suppose there is always next time (I hope/please) to catch up on all the bits I missed.
Most events these days are drowning in sponsorship. Given that this was focussed on a particular product I thought the objectivity and balance was pretty miraculous. Well done all concerned, especially I guess, David. Thank you sincerely. I am sure it involves a huge amount of work. Graphisoft's informative but hands off approach should also be commended.

Andras Haidekker, GDL Technology, Budapest
I enjoyed my stay at ACUE very much. I have just spent at ACUE a short time but it seemed to me that the quality and content of the presentations were at a high standard.

Mike Hohmann, Kent
First of all, many thanks again for organising the best ACUE ever. Your attracting high calibre speakers and presentations from Graphisoft, Kajima and others, and from users and even non-user attendants — illustrates that ACUE is becoming 'industry-important'. KEEP IT UP. The winter bit I'm sure is fun and brought in very good contributions from Austria (and may do from Germany next year) . For me, one of the two workshops of most interest was Herbert Peter's reconstructions of the destroyed synagogues of Vienna, (see the reports page).
     The time has come to turn ACUE into the 'ArchiCAD University of the Virtual Building'. We have engineering add-ons (ArchiPhysik, and not least Cymap) and interoperability methods in place (IFC's), and large contractors using AC to solve building integration problems (Taylor Woodrow, Laings, Kajima, Atkins etc etc) but where are members of the rest of the building team needed for the whole building? Graphisoft should at least be able to provide someone from the M&E users of AC-cum-Cymap to show how the AC fabric is integrated with building physics, services supplies and waste removals, and of course engineering coordination from the SE part of design.

Bence Kovacs, Graphisoft, Budapest
Thanks once again for organising this excellent event.

Paul Lethbridge, Graphisoft UK
On behalf of Ray, myself and our colleagues at Graphisoft, many thanks for organising this. There are few opportunities for GS to meet its customers face-to-face in such a positive environment. Next year's event is in the diary - thanks again for all the hard work and I look forward to working with you again next year.

Alan McDonnell, Dedicated CAD systems, Dublin
ACUE 2003 was a great ArchiCAD experience, which I believe is fundamentally due to the vast amount of planning from David and Co, who I cannot thank enough. The guest speakers from the US added serious prestige to the event,
and it is something that benefited all attendees. As well as the ArchiCAD benefits, everyone who attended left with a lot more personally, as this event allowed so many friendships to grow, and the social side of the things only contributed more to the sense of sharing in everything ArchiCAD. May all of us, and more, be back next year with as much vigour and enthusiasm as David.....
    The food was amazing, I have never eaten so well in a three day period, many thanks to the Catering Staff of Nightingale Hall. The location is superb with the gardens used perfectly for Encounter sessions. Your organising crew
& Nightingale Hall staff were very helpful, and the use of swimming pool was excellent to unwind in. I honestly cannot complain about anything in ACUE. For Saturday night, great time had by all the Irish attendees, and thank you for the extra planning involved!!!

Bob Morgan, Colchester
I would like to give you and your team my personal thanks for a great ArchiCAD University again. While I realise it is a lot of work for you I would ask you to keep running the ArchiCAD University and would gladly offer my own help if it would be of any assistance any time.

Richard Payne, Pidduck and Whitaker
Thoroughly enjoyed the event and meeting lots of other users and will be hoping to attend the next one. I enjoyed the Encounter session. A chance to get an idea of where everyone else was coming from. Would have liked another one of these towards the end and with different people to get an idea of what other people got out of it all. In fact I might have liked another one in the middle ..... I felt Simon Gilbert's session could have been longer - in the questions after, everyone seemed to have lots to say and report. In the absense of a users group it felt like this was a chance to feedback hopes and aspirations for the future of AC.

Chris Phillips, Seymour Harris, Birmingham
May I say how much I enjoyed this year's ACUE, and how grateful I am for your clearly energetic and sucessful efforts. I was completely overwhelmed by your stretchy bridge. I simply didn't think AC could do that! When I was at the Intelligent Objects event at the RIBA in Feb, one of the practices there was bragging big style about how clever their objects were, setting out Swiss Re vertically, in 2D, but they were child's play compared with your effort.
I was also touched and surprised how well my offering was received. I was expecting to be massacred by a baying mob. Dwight's sessions are as inspirational as they are informative. Again, many thanks for your efforts.
   There was just so much to see and hear, old contacts to renew, so much to learn. Although I've been using ArchiCad for 13 years and computers generally for 36 years, I never fail to be amazed at what people can achieve. I wish I could have been in 3 places at once in the separate groups. David, you are bonkers! Nobody in their right mind would do this, but thank goodness you do.

David Rimmington, Informatix, Cambridge
I'd like to thank you very much for your great organisation and a fantastic ACUE. I really wish I'd been able to stay longer with you guys. (David was with us for Friday only)

Tim Sharples, Cedar Nursery
This is truly amazing for a non profit making non Graphisoft event. I take my hat off to you David, well done! This event is a must for every dealer and every user of Archicad. Rays presentation for GS was excellent, reassuring us that the company is so professionally led. Simon Gilbert was extremely helpful generally, and this presentation was slick and honest. We're lucky to have a UK guy with such a useful background. Andras' RedSquare is great technology that I hope will push Graphisoft forward. IFCs by John Mitchell was a useful overview enthusiastically put. The Groups session was a really interesting invaluable insight into what is happening in the world with ArchiCAD. Dwight's sessions were entertaining and informative, well structured and invaluable.

Jagdish Tolia, London, accompanied by Charles Zub.
Thank you for a great show. We learned a lot and look forward to coming again next year. The best thing was what we learned from others at ACUE, both about ArchiCAD and in general about running an architectural practice. ArchiPhysik is very interesting for the UK market but needs a little more work done to grab the UK market. David Emery of Kendrik Homes was excellent in demonstrating optimisation/customisation of ArchiCAD for maximum productivity in an office.Hakim Khennouchi was the star of the Tips and Tricks session. Nightingale Hall arrangements were superb - good food, good meeting facilities, good rooms, and very good staff.

Chris Totton, Quadria
Very good! No Ego trips from delegates this time! Piranesi was fascinating. Sketchup will either be history by next year or will have taken over from ArchiCAD - let's see! Graphisoft could have been 1 hour overview. Session on Documentation was very relevant. You need more workshops, not fewer!

Mike Waddingham, Blue Skies Design
I enjoyed it immensely and will definitely come again. It was good to see some familiar faces. John Mitchell solved a big problem for people like me who work on large existing buildings. I really enjoy Dwight's sense of humour, but when he says I will show you how to turn this into this, am I alone in sometimes preferring the original?!
    Piranesi was a very good demo, just loved some of the results. It may well be the answer to getting good pictures from very average 3d ArchiCAD images. Loved Sketchup, some of the examples were stunning, must try it. A Big Thank you for all your efforts, a great weekend, and I am hoping to come to Winter School with my year out student.

Ben Wallbank, Wallbank Architects, London (see a longer review on another page)
I have come away from ACUE very, very much heartened.  The new GS team seem to have a real vision of where the company is going and have refocused the company to give it the best chance of achieving this vision.  This gives GS at least a chance of success in stopping an Autodesk monopoly developing.
    David runs ACUE as a non-profit making event at considerable risk and huge amounts of hard work.  He has been threatening to stop the summer ACUE, which would be a great shame. It is simply fantastic value (around £300 for three long days of learning including food and lodging) and the best CPD I have done. Each year has easily paid for itself through the knowledge I have gained. 
   This year, along with many familiar faces from previous years, the most cosmopolitan bunch yet assembled.  Some had travelled from as far as Australia and Mexico just for ACUE. As usual, users from all over Europe attended, but there was particularly good attendance from Scandinavia this time.  Only the US (and the Belgian contingent who had attended the Austrian Winter ACUE) were under represented in comparison with previous years.  This was a shame and surprising given the cheap airfares available.  I hope that the (charming) Americans who did attend will evangelise future events.  As usual it was great to be able to put faces to names I have come to know via ArchiCAD-Talk (and, dare one mention, ArchiPUB!).

Nigel Walter, Cambridge
There is a generosity of spirit in ACUE, and in many of the speakers - Matthew, Adrian, Howard, Dwight, and of course DNC. This willingness and eagerness to share knowledge makes ACUE a very special event, at the same time warm and welcoming and valuable to the running of a practice commercially. Even as a reasonably experienced user there was lots to learn, and to reflect on other's experience. ACUE represents good value for money, a good use of (precious) time, and is hugely enjoyable.

Jonathan Wilkins, MR architects
Thank you for your hard work in making ACUE happen and the passion with which you do it! the Encounter session was good from the point of finding out how other people use ArchiCAD & associated products. It was a useful channel for one to vent their frustrations of the product, I hope some of these comments will get back to Graphisoft. From GS's presentation, it was really helpful to know where Graphisoft are as a co. and the changes and vision etc. It was just the right balance and reassuring to see such a good turn out. The food & accommodation was excellent. Its a very good venue with a good atmosphere.

Three Third Year Architecture Students, Gillian Harrison, Annette Ward and Helen Chapman were helpers at the conference and sent in a combined review :
    ACUE was a valuable opportunity for us as students to see how ArchiCAD is used in the 'real world'. Importantly it was reassuring about our employability and a valuable opportunity to meet influential people in the ArchiCAD world.
    Particularly interesting and useful were Dwight's lectures and workshops and the conference was an opportunity to see ArchiCAD's extensive capabilities.
    The workshops were especially useful in introducing us to new software which will prove extremely useful whereas some of the lectures were a bit 'over our heads' but interesting nevertheless. The workshop format was particularly effective as you could choose relevant subjects at the appropriate level of experience and could have specific questions answered.
    Nightingale Hall was a great venue and the food was much better than when we were living on campus!
    We were very impressed with the Atkins presentation (tips and tricks) and would love to learn how to use Adobe Premier (recommend a workshop on this!)
Thanks again, Gillian, Annette and Helen.

Levente Csanyi and Peter Mohacsi from Budapest on the look out for ideas and opinions from the internationally diverse range of delegates.