Who is Strasman Architects?

Posted on January 15, 2024August 21, 2024 by admin

Client Spotlight

Who is Strasman Architects?

Architecture is not merely about designing structures; it’s an intricate blend of art and science that shapes the built environment, reflecting the cultural, social, and technological nuances of its time. Most importantly, it’s a collaborative process where designers focus on bringing to life the visions of their clients. Strasman Architects is an experienced Canadian Architecture and Interior Design Firm, who is widely recognized for their highly collaborative approach to award-winning designs. For over forty-five years, they have focused on providing elegant, sustainable solutions for technically complex projects. They are driven by discovery – meaning they listen to their clients to fully understand their vision and the challenges they will face, long before they begin to resolve a design. The emphasis on discovery is derived from their respect for their clients’ priorities and the project’s needs, rather than enforcing preconceived notions of what their design should be. This approach respects budget and schedule as well as form and function, and layers in an inherent sense of stewardship for the environment and the community they work in.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/strasmanarch
Facebook: www.facebook.com/strasmanarch
LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/company/strasman-architects-inc

Strasman is one of Canada’s leading architects for transit facilities. With 200+ transit projects already completed, they are recognized and sought after for their expertise in transit maintenance facilities for buses and light and heavy rail systems as well as their extensive experience with transit station development, including new and existing stations across Toronto and throughout southern Ontario. Strasman has executed landmark and critical infrastructure projects for transit authorities such as Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), Metrolinx, VIA Rail, York Region Transit, Grand River Transit, BC TransLink, and Calgary Transit, among many others.

Their firm continues to grow with over 40 team members, located in their head office in Toronto and their studio in Vancouver. By leveraging a diverse range of expertise and technical skills, they can tailor project delivery to meet the unique requirements of each client. Their approach involves employing a versatile set of technical tools, including but not limited to Revit and Revitzo for model coordination and clash detection, as well as AutoCAD and MicroStation. Additionally, they use an extensive suite of visualization tools such as Rhino, V-Ray, and SketchUp to enhance the overall project experience.

Their team’s use of these tools is not just a static process, but a dynamic one. Strasman’s employees are actively involved in continually discovering powerful methods to harness the capabilities of their software and do so by seamlessly integrating new tools as they become available. In an ever-evolving technological landscape, Strasman fosters a culture of innovation and effectiveness in software usage.

Strasman is actively shaping the Canadian architectural landscape through several impactful projects. Currently, the firm is spearheading the design for the TTC Waterfront East LRT (Queen’s Quay to Union Link), contributing to the modernization of the VIA Rail Toronto Maintenance Centre as part of a design-build team, and designing key facilities within the new Skytrain Operations and Maintenance Centre 4 (OMC 4) in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Additionally, Strasman is also involved in the phased revitalization of TTC Warden Station, overseeing bus maintenance and storage facility renovations for two York Region Transit facilities, and playing a pivotal role in the development of a new maintenance facility at the Mid-Halton WWTP.

After more than 500 projects, and 25 awards for their designs, we are eager to see how they continue to contribute to the evolution of architecture through their work.

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SolidCAD expands partnership with Chaos, now offering Enscape – a leading visualization tool for design firms worldwide.

Posted on June 27, 2023June 27, 2023 by Daniella Delgado

TORONTO, ON – June 27, 2023 – SolidCAD, a prominent Autodesk Platinum partner and professional services firm based in Canada, is delighted to announce its expansion of the Chaos product line with Enscape, which provides industry-leading real-time visualization workflows for architects. In 2022, Enscape merged with Chaos, forming a powerhouse in 3D visualization and design workflow technology. Together, the combined entity focuses on developing cutting-edge 3D visualization solutions for clients in diverse industries such as architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, and media and entertainment.

By joining forces, Chaos and Enscape are committed to bolstering their product lineup, aiming to offer customers a comprehensive end-to-end visualization solution worldwide. SolidCAD is thrilled to incorporate another visualization tool into their offerings, alongside Chaos’ existing portfolio of V-Ray products and Corona. This expansion will greatly benefit SolidCAD’s customers in North America, empowering them to elevate and reimagine the way they bring their designs to life, from concept to construction.

“SolidCAD has always put the goals and needs of our customers first,” Marcus Tateishi, President at SolidCAD states. “We want to help our clients overcome visualization challenges and deliver exceptional outcomes. By adding Enscape to our portfolio, we can help our clients translate their design concepts into captivating visualizations, and drive success in the AECO space. We are particularly excited to announce that we will be able to support customers across North America, in primarily Canada and the U.S. This will be an advantage to firms with offices in both countries, enabling quality professional services and customer success experiences.”

“SolidCAD has been an exceptional Chaos partner for over a decade, helping us bring the best 3D visualization software to North America” Kalin Vasilev, Channel Manager for Chaos states. “With the merger of Enscape and Chaos, we are excited to collaborate with SolidCAD on this new chapter of our partnership. Together, we are committed to offering the most comprehensive end-to-end 3D visualization ecosystem to design professionals in Canada and the United States.”

Join SolidCAD for an overview webinar on July 25 at 10:30 am PT/1:30 pm ET to learn more about the capabilities of Enscape. Register here.

About Enscape

Enscape is a high-quality real-time rendering, visualization, and virtual reality software that integrates design and visualization workflows into one. Enscape gives designers the power to create realistic renderings based on their existing planning data and easily produce videos, panoramic images, and VR simulations. Enscape software is compatible with Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad, and Vectorworks and is used by renowned architecture firms in over 150 countries.

www.enscape3d.com

About Chaos

In 2022 Enscape merged with Chaos to create a global leader in 3D visualization and design workflow technology.

The newly-combined company, which retains the name Chaos, develops 3D visualization technology for architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, and media and entertainment. Creating intuitive and powerful workflows for participants across the entire design spectrum, Chaos aims to develop and strengthen its product portfolio to create a comprehensive end-to-end visualization ecosystem designed to meet the evolving needs of its customers.

The company’s product portfolio includes V-Ray, a physically based renderer honored with an Academy Award and an Engineering Emmy; Enscape, a high-quality real-time rendering, and virtual reality plugin; Corona, a high-performance photorealistic rendering engine; and Cylindo, a 3D furniture product visualization platform for commerce.

Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, Chaos is the largest global 3D visualization company with more than 700 employees and offices worldwide.

www.chaos.com

Making more beautiful, realistic, and detailed renders in Revit

Posted on June 3, 2019September 8, 2023 by SolidCAD

3D visualization is an essential part of architectural illustration today. Renders allow you to communicate your vision and intent to clients and colleagues. This is why models or drawings are often sent out to be professionally rendered. This is an expensive but usually necessary process. However, it is possible to make high quality renders in-house using Revit or through the cloud.

What makes a beautiful render? Like many things, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is in the nuance of the materials you select, the lighting, the details you choose to include, and any post-production editing.

Here are a few thoughts on how to start making more beautiful, detailed renders in Revit.

I’ve wrapped them all up in a short video at the bottom of this post.

Materials

Materials are the foundation of every Revit render. They are what gives an element in Revit its color, context, and texture. They are part of the scene and should be adjusted accordingly.

The default color in Revit is grey. Leave the materials on their default setting and when you hit the render button, you will get a series of grey blobs with no information or appeal.

Luckily you can easily change this by adding texture to the material. Look in Revit’s image library or Google JPEG’s or PNG’s with your desired texture. Remember that you can also experiment with attributes like reflectivity and transparency to get the textures looking just right.

Details

It is the details that make a render feel realistic. Buildings do not sit in a vacuum. Neither should renders. The more detail you are able to add to your render, the more more realism there is to your images especially when you work with real-life details. Beautiful renders are photo-realistic. As in photos – trees, people, and other outdoor elements – create the scale and real-life feel. Real pictures are never perfect and a hundred percent clean so neither should your render be.

Sun and Artificial Light

Light is the most important aspects of a rendered image. The lighting of your building should match the lighting of your surrounding. Everything should look like it works and is meant to be together. The shadows should look good and the lux, luminous or wattage should be correct on the artificial lights you are using.

Although you can adjust the exposure afterward rendering you don’t want to be spending all your time doing adjustments. Try to set up the image correctly from the very beginning. This becomes even more important if cloud credits are involved.

Tip: It’s a good idea when trying to render your design to have lights hidden away from the building. This will add some hidden light in the hidden corner or in the back of the camera to give some illumination to the building, just make sure to delete them where they are not needed.

Editing the Render

You can adjust the render after you have rendered it. This is a good way to make minor changes without having to render all over again. You can make things darker or lighter. Change the color make it warmer or cooler. It is sometimes essential to work on some area of the scene to add some dramatic shadow or to correct some texture. You can do this within Revit without having to export to another software like Photoshop and it will hopefully save you time and money..

Start your success journey

Tag: v-ray