While some people use software like Floorplanner to create a plan they can take to an architect or builder, or to daydream, others are using it to be their own architect. He added: “Everyone has ideas about their space. It’s just people building their own houses.” Bekkers believes that the necessity of his profession is overstated, and to prove the point, he cited the ad hoc design of a Greek village: “It’s charming, with nice spaces, and there’s been no architect ever. Jeroen Bekkers, the Dutch architect who created Floorplanner, which allows users to make detailed plans of rooms or entire houses, complete with furniture and landscaping, said he wanted to “involve people in the design process.” The site has five million registered users, with close to a million new floor plans added to its database each month, he said, and he also has an iPad app. Stephenson said, the Web tool “helps them get there.” For novices who want to spruce up a home’s exterior, Mr. “We’re taking architectural skill, color choices and design, and putting it in the hands of someone who would not otherwise be able to afford an architect,” said John Stephenson, senior vice president for marketing at Ply Gem. Users can choose a virtual home that resembles their own from an image bank of nearly two dozen styles, and then alter the color, siding, windows and roof, and make structural changes like adding a porch or a dormer. And while they have mainly been used to design interiors, these tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, allowing homeowners to tackle bigger projects.Ĭonsider the Designed Exterior Studio, a new online tool by Ply Gem, a company in North Carolina that makes things like siding and stone veneer for the exterior of homes. Even the most gung-ho D.I.Y.ers have reason to fear blowing out a load-bearing wall.īut in recent years, a spate of computer software programs has made it possible for homeowners to skip the architect altogether and do the design work themselves. UNDERTAKING a major renovation or new construction without an architect to provide design know-how or detailed plans would seem to be the realm of either the foolish or the very handy.

Chief architect home design software