AHD-PND (ACRONYM HEAVEN)

 

American Hospital Dubai. Lots of shady outdoor spaces and mature palm trees. The architecture isn't exceptional, but it's crisp and confident. What do you want from a hospital anyway? Easy on the eye, practical, reassuring... Just a touch of class. For the first 65 years of my life I hardly went near a hospital, but for the last two, this place has served me well.

So I'm back in the Dubai of many faces after a long and varied trip. Hopefully the first of many to the US during the English winter. My retirement plans continue to shape up, step-by-step (whether or not I actually stop watching)

 

The best thing about the building where my Dubai home-office is located is the curved facade with overhanging balconies. The detailing is not great, but the form is bold enough to compensate. On the other side of the scales we have poorly planned features such as the banks of AC units on full display every time I walk out for a bottle of milk.

Would I like to live in a stylish apartment in one of Dubai's fashionable districts? Maybe.

But that bird has already flown, and in some ways I prefer to stay grounded, living among the ordinary people who have come here from all around the world to work long hours in demanding jobs to give their families a better future.

That was also my story.

 

Looking back at 2019, the year of Project Notre Dame. We never received any recognition from the most senior management of Autodesk, but many of those in the next tier down gave us much encouragement.

We were a team of about a dozen, spread across the globe, all volunteers, working for the hell of it, for the learning experience, fot the comradeship. Each of us chose what we wanted to contribute, keeping in touch via Slack and BIM360. Two of us gave presentations at AU towards the end year and at various other forums both live and virtual.

The collaboration came to a natural conclusion after almost a year, with the onset of the pandemic and we all moved on in our different ways. It was one of the most enriching experiences of my BIM career. A totally spontaneous collaboration with no monetary rewards or official support.

 

I stumbled across the Enscape images of the apse this week by accident. I can't imagine the project without that capability, provided by a team who have been very supportive of my voluntary work and who have definitely transformed the way architects visualise their ideas.

You can download the model in three non-editable formats from the link below. Feel free to use it for educational purposes, but please credit the source.

way we build / Notre Dame