Home Office concepts in SketchUp

We were bowled over by the response to our competition asking you to design your personal dream home office in SketchUp. Working from home has definitely not tempered those creative and technical skills! Sadly, there could only be one winner so it’s a huge congratulations to Pedro Sousa, an architecture student at Anglia Ruskin University. SketchUp swag, a 3D Connexion SpaceMouse Wireless, £250 Voucher Express vouchers, plus unlimited bragging rights are winging their way to you soon, Pedro!

We wanted to showcase as much of your talent as possible so we’ve also selected some other fantastic entries we really enjoyed and have included the corresponding designer’s descriptions.

So, settle down in your own home office, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy a break in dream home office land!

Winning entry

Pedro Sousa

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Commendable Mentions

Emily Covey

I loved your competition idea and I have had ideas buzzing around since so please find my attached entry image rendered with Twilight and with no further processing.

My Kitchen Design Office is at the end of the garden in a south facing, stone building with sedum roof, roof lantern and full width oak sliding doors for an inside/outside living feel.

The continuous stone walls link the indoor and outdoor spaces together and although the style is contemporary, the natural materials of oak, stone and granite, gives a relaxing feel to it. Planting in the exterior walls provides a calming view as well as protection from the wind when I am sitting in the sunshine on my breaks. The flooring materials run throughout the two spaces with the inside having a bespoke brass inlay within the dark granite border.

The studio is lit with a wash of light from the three sided recessed lighting channel to compliment the natural light and it highlights the strong texture of the wall contrasted with the sleek and modern feel. I hope to inspire both fans of modern and traditional kitchen styles within this space.

The back wall has two large cupboards either side, one made with different kitchen doors to showcase the different styles available, the other displaying the colours and handles. Inside one of the cupboards is a hot tap and small sink and fridge for all the tea I drink but all my mess is hidden away here. The main focal point is my beautiful steam bent, spiral display case for my design books and brochures as well as downlit ornaments.

In the middle of my office is another bespoke, steam bent cantilever table with space for my computer as well lots of flat open space for presenting to my clients who will be queuing up to visit me in my sunny studio!

I’d love to see all the other entries by the end of the competition and see what people are dreaming about as we sit at our kitchen tables, watching pixels multiply as they render!

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Thomas Jolley

My name is Thomas Jolley and I am an Industrial Designer from Malton, North Yorkshire who has a passion for Scandinavian furniture and minimalist design cues which has featured heavily in my entry.

I have created an office which is an external property at the end of the garden. Away from household distractions, this minimalist space is an office for creativity and tranquility. The construction of the office features an external spruce cladding, glass fronted windows front and back, zinc panelled roof, with spruce cladding, glass & solar panelling which provides an off grid electricity system for the office and can be used for the main household.

As you enter, you are greeted by a full length mirror and a peg board storage rack for coats, bags and shoes. As you walk along the corridor you walk past two pegboard doors, which then lead to the main work area. The office has two desks, one for computing/ music and one for 3d printing and model making. They are floating desks, connected by a central construction which undulates the overhead space. In between these desks is a floating cast iron wood burning fireplace, providing a snug environment during the colder months. The window behind has a seating area, which is the first chill out area for reading and listening to music. The office also has a water closet which consists of a toilet, sink and mirror as well a kitchen which consists of a fridge, single oven, plug in domino hob and kettle. The tall unit has storage for plates and a sink has a multi drawer for utensils and cleaning products. Above the work area is a netted space which can be accessed by a climbing wall. In this above space is the second chill out area for after work and quiet space acting as a cinema/ screening area. It has a screen with a projector & speakers. The interior itself consists mainly of spruce plywood, which is used for the walls, flooring, doors & furniture such as the desk, vanity unit and kitchen units. The frontals of the units and worktop have a formica lamination for water tightness and colour. Overall this space is affordable, cosy & environmentally friendly. It can be erected from a flat pack and transported to any location, primarily used as an office with potential to be used for temporary accommodation and off grid living.

Materials: Spruce Cladding, Spruce Plywood, Glass, Zinc Metal Roof Panelling, Zinc Front Door Surround
Design: Barn style architecture with wooden cladding.

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Chloe Webb

My name is Chloe Webb, I’m an Interior Design Student at the University of Derby.

It is a ‘Modern meets Rustic’ design, with the office area being a modern and sleek set up and the snug area being a more cozy, colourful design. The office area consists of a bespoke drawing table stretching the full length of the back wall with storage underneath and a desk set up including a laptop, two screens and speakers. There’s some of my own design presentations framed on the wall as well. The desk is part of a two tier unit that doubles as a bar counter on the other side, with four bar stools next to the wall mounted gin bar. There’s also a cozy armchair and log burner. The full height windows double as a door to the balcony with a swing to enjoy the summer sunshine.

As an aspiring interior designer, something I feel very strongly about is a comfortable work environment, and having the facilities to move around and sit in different areas throughout the working day to break up the day and experience different comforts, to not feel stuck in one place all day long.

Sam Marner

Twitter: @Marnerbanana
Facebook: Marner Design / @MarnerMade

Gintare Sidaraviciute

My Dream Home Office is a 3 floor home office. The ground floor contains an office space, the first floor has a library and the second floor has a meeting room.

The office contains a space to work in with a beautifully curved desk and a comfortable chair to work in. The desk is placed by the window to have the most natural light. On the left-hand side you can see a selection of my 3D work and a place to relax which is separated by the decorative panels. On the right-hand side there is a large shelf unit which contains interior samples, project information and different accessories.

The library contains a large shelving unit on each side of the area. In the middle it has comfortable seating to relax and read the book with a floor lamp which also contains a few shelves for beverages. The library is complemented by the large chandelier and two large pieces of art.

Meeting room contains a large table with beautiful chairs and a TV wall for presentations and zoom calls. On the left-hand side it has a relaxing area with a fireplace and three armchairs. The meeting room is a round shape structure with panoramic views.

The structure itself is supported by metal beams and has a gorgeous floating staircase. I imagine this structure is placed near the lake in a gorgeous woodland area and the meeting room would be just above three height to be able to enjoy breaking panoramic views. And the ground floor office would have a direct path to the bridge where you can come and place your feet in the water. Since it is a separate structure it would have direct access to the house and all its amenities.

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Aaron Davies

Hi there, my name is Aaron and I’m a third year BA student studying Artist Designer Maker at CSAD (Cardiff School of Art and Design). I have been using Sketchup since I can remember and use it to visualise all my projects before making. This is my design for my ideal office, with two desktop computers, two graphics tablets, plenty of shelving for the display of items and a comfortable seating area with a hanging daybed. This is designed by my partner and I who is also a third year student at CSAD studying Illustration.

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Timothy MacKenzie

My name is Timothy MacKenzie and I am an Architecture graduate from the University of Reading in the UK.

I have opted for the conversion of a shipping container to a garden office that doubles as a home cinema using a fold-out desk.

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Louis Quarendon

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3D City Modelling with AccuCities

Capturing a 3D city model is an inherently complex project. Who is the final user of the 3D city model? How is the model going to be used and updated? What is the most suitable source data, available technology to capture, display and exploit the data, what are the expected production times, costs and investment returns? There are hundreds of crucial decisions on variables like these that can greatly alter the scope, usability and cost of the project. Over the last 3 years AccuCities have worked with over 180 customers on 1,400 small and medium-size 3D context models for sites all over the United Kingdom. We spoke with Milo Spisz and Brais Brenlla Ramos to find out how SketchUp helps them with all of the above!

Tell us about your background and talk us through what AccuCities does

Milo: Howdy! I am Milo, the 3D Modelling Lead at AccuCities. I have been in this industry for the past 6 years, and spent the majority of my degree working with SketchUp. 

Brais: Hi I am Brais, the Lead UE4 Developer. Accucities specialises in highly accurate 3D modelling of cities primarily in the UK from the use of advanced remote sensing technology in order to obtain high detail imagery. Our models are used by clients in a wide variety of fields such as architecture, gaming and film industries. We focus on the built environment – cities, neighbourhoods, development sites and other key areas. The end results we can produce benefit from that same degree of accuracy and end up serving a multitude of purposes. These range from helping construction companies visualise the built environment, or letting consultancies run precise analyses of their area of study. Furthermore, we also put our products together in an interactive app to let our users play around with the model and explore multiple different tools – from data overlays to real-time tools, all with the goal of empowering our clients.  

What do you love most about your job and the industry you work in?

Milo: It would have to be the idea of scale, speed and accuracy that we can produce our models, how we put it together, how everything fits so well and looks the way it should be. It’s also great to see how we can help our clients by providing them with our data. I would also say we are one of those small gears in the process that helps to build and improve the cities we live in.

Brais: This job is a great opportunity to stay up to date with the latest trends in technology, so I’d say that’s one of the things I love the most. Staying fresh in this industry also means learning something new every day, as each new technology that appears on the horizon brings benefits and challenges that we must tackle. The industry itself is great because of that – the thrill of learning something new every day, and the fulfilment that comes after achieving goals that were just impossible a bit further back.

What are your favourite kinds of projects to work on?

Milo: The favourite projects I love the most are high detail models that we produce which we call Level 4 such as Here East model as well as working on the future proposed developments of buildings – with these you get a small glimpse of what is to come in the city.  Our Level 4 models share the same high accuracy as our standard Level 3 but they are much richer in detail on the facades, working on these details can be very therapeutic for me because it takes a keen eye to make sure all the details are in the right place, size and proportion. 

Brais: Those would need to be the ones that challenge me by just the right amount – neither too daunting nor overly simplistic. It’s easy for a tech company to either fall into routine work or face insurmountable tasks, and while that is something that inevitably happens every now and then, projects that strike just the right balance have an easy time to outshine the others.

How does SketchUp fit into your workflow?

Milo: We use SketchUp to deliver the final model to our clients. Many of our clients work with SketchUp already and we provide them with our data in SKP format which enables them to use the model to further aid on their design/environmental analysis.

Talk us through the Here East project!

Milo: Here East Level 4 was a fun model to work with! So, it all starts with the references of the building – part of my job is to source all the reference material such as plans and photos of the model so that we can ensure the accuracy is on point. We then use our Level 3 high detail model which helps us initially with positioning and the proportions of the details. Then the fun part starts which is all the detail – This obviously is time consuming but with experience it becomes easier and you can plan the entire model in such a way where you can save time without sacrificing quality.

As a company your focus is on cities – London, in particular. What are the future challenges involved for the built environment for a city like London? 

Brais: London is always under construction and evolving, there is always a new development happening, where a building is being demolished and that area is being used for a new building or landscape area for the city. So, the challenge would be to keep up with these changes and we at Accucities are always updating our data to make sure our clients can get the most up to date model of London.

In regards to working on cities, the client’s requests can be for scientific research and so we need to take into consideration what the end user is and what type of data the end user will need to gather from our 3D Models. This is ever so in demand due to the environmental concerns and sustainability with increased demand of space. More clients are needing 3d Models to gather science research to deploy better methods on construction or refurb on both existing and proposed buildings within the city.

Any must have SketchUp extensions that make your life easier?

Milo: Our native London model is always geo-referenced so it’s located within the National Grid which is a universal standard within the UK for us and our clients. However, this can sometimes be problematic because the model can live very far from the 0,0,0 coordinate and this can cause some issues within some software. To solve this, we use an extension within SketchUp that “zero’s” the axis back to the model and prevents any issues with the geometries that might otherwise happen.To learn more about Accucities, visit their website.
To download a sample tile. Link: https://www.accucities.com/new-3d-london-samples-cover-full-square-kilometer/

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