studio by aiChemist
Phase IV · How it works

Five routes to the same place

A permit-set PDF, a native CAD set, a landscape drawing, a revision series and a hand-drawn sheet each need a different route. Four share the last two steps: build it, then check it by re-opening it. The fifth stops earlier, on purpose.

The thing that decides the routeWhy five and not one

Four of these drawings were plotted from CAD: what looks like a picture is still stored underneath as lines, text and dimensions, so nothing has to be recognised by eye. That is why those routes differ in where they read from rather than in how hard they look. The fifth has no CAD underneath at all — a scan of a hand drawing, the one case where the pipeline must work from colour and shape, and the one whose honest output stops at massing.

Pipeline A · Bear’s ClubVector permit set → model

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The drawing is a PDF, but it was plotted from CAD — so every line and every dimension is still stored as data, not as pixels. Nothing has to be recognised by eye.

01 · READRead the sheetPull every line, every textstring and every dimensionstraight out of the PDF.02 · WORK OUTEstablish scaleCross-check drawn lengthsagainst the dimensions printedon the sheet, and fit theconstant plotting overshootrather than assuming none.03 · WORK OUTFind wallsParallel line pairs atconsistent spacing becomewalls; everything else is setaside and recorded.04 · READRead the scheduleThe 143-entry door and windowtable is captured whole, beforeany attempt to match it to theplan.05 · WORK OUTMatch marks toopeningsEach opening tag on the plan isjoined to its schedule row,carrying size, type andmaterial.06 · BUILDBuild the modelWalls, openings and levelsbecome a standards-compliantbuilding model and an editableCAD file.07 · CHECKCheck by re-openingEvery dimension is measuredback out of the finished modeland compared to the drawing.
Read from the drawing Worked out Built Checked

Pipeline B · CommodoreNative CAD → model

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These are the architect’s own working files. The structure the architect put in — layer names, block names, level datums — is worth more than anything that could be inferred from the picture.

01 · READRead the drawingOpen the CAD files directly andtake the layers, blocks andlevel table as authored.02 · CHECKTest the shared datumConfirm the sheets wereexported from one model andshare an origin — re-basingeach sheet separately wouldsilently shift a floor.03 · READLift walls from layersWall layers are named, so wallsdo not have to be guessed atfrom geometry.04 · WORK OUTJoin sheet to sheetThe family-type id printed onevery sheet links a heightmeasured on an elevation to thesame opening in the plan.05 · WORK OUTStack the floorsLevels come from the drawing’sown datum lines, checkedagainst their printed labels.06 · BUILDBuild the modelMultiple floors assembled intoone model, with wall heightstaken from the drawing ratherthan inferred.07 · CHECKCheck by re-openingDimensions re-measured out ofthe model; anything that cannotbe checked is recorded asunchecked.
Read from the drawing Worked out Built Checked

Pipeline C · LandscapeLandscape CAD → site model

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A landscape drawing has no walls. The subject is ground: paving, planting beds, water and grade — so the model is made of surfaces and plants instead of rooms.

01 · READRead the drawingLandscape drafting uses its ownlayer standard; the reader istold that standard rather thanassuming the architectural one.02 · CHECKFind the property lineThe boundary is identifiedagainst two printed quantities— area and both lot dimensions— not one.03 · WORK OUTClose hardscape areasPaving and terrace polylinesare closed into measurablesurfaces.04 · READRead plantingEach plant symbol becomes alocated object; species namescome from the drawing’s ownplant data.05 · WORK OUTLook inside blocksContent nested inside drawingblocks is composed out to realcoordinates — a large part ofthis drawing lives there.06 · BUILDBuild the site modelSurfaces, planting and sitelinework become a model and aneditable CAD file.07 · CHECKCheck against thetake-offMeasured paving area iscompared to the quantityprinted on the drawing.
Read from the drawing Worked out Built Checked

Pipeline D · Landscape · revisionsRevision series → versioned models

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Design is not one drawing, it is a sequence. Running the same reader across every revision turns a folder of dated files into a history you can step through.

01 · READRead every revisionThe same reader runs unchangedacross all five dated versions.02 · WORK OUTKey objects by contentEach object gets a name derivedfrom its own geometry, so itcan be recognised in the nextrevision.03 · WORK OUTDifference theversionsAdded, removed and movedelements are computed betweenconsecutive revisions.04 · BUILDBuild each versionEvery revision becomes its ownmodel, not just the latest.05 · CHECKCheck the seriesCounts and areas are comparedacross versions so a change inthe output always means achange in the drawing.
Read from the drawing Worked out Built Checked

Pipeline E · Riverside DriveHand drawing → site massing

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A scan has no entities to read, only pixels — so this route reads COLOUR instead of geometry, and it stops at massing. It is the only pipeline here whose honest output is less than a building model, and saying where it stops is the point of it.

01 · READRead the scanPull the embedded image at itsnative 150 dpi; re-renderingthe page would only resampleit.02 · WORK OUTFix the one scaleThe printed ⅛"=1'-0" note plusthe known sheet size gives 0.64real inches per pixel — a hardfloor no upsampling recovers.03 · WORK OUTSeparate by colourLawn, hardscape, pool, waterand tree canopy each occupytheir own band of the sheet'scolour range.04 · CHECKFind the lotThe largest connected run ofdrawn ground, closed andfilled, is the site — this alsodiscards the title block andthe aerial inset.05 · READLift the drawn wallsWalls are heavy black bars.Opening the ink at the measuredknee keeps them and dropslettering, furniture and thinlinework.06 · WORK OUTGroup into structuresThe bars are discrete segments,not closed outlines, so astructure is where wall barsare DENSE — which separateseach building instead ofmerging them.07 · WORK OUTGround is not buildingUnwashed ground with no walldensity is paving and walkway,kept as its own surface ratherthan absorbed into a mass.08 · BUILDBuild the massingFootprints extrude to aDECLARED height, site materialsbecome surfaces, canopiesbecome planting.09 · CHECKCheck on the sheetThe extraction is drawn backover the original scan — noregistration needed, becausethe source is the image.
Read from the drawing Worked out Built Checked