LOS ANGELES, CA - In a continuing effort to provide designers with the latest drawing and rendering tools, greenscreen® has partnered with Fat Pencil Studio of Portland, OR in offering the first SketchUp models for green facade products.  Product manufacturers that provide 3D models help designers save time and money while giving immediacy to visual impacts that can affect the final design.  21 new greenscreen® product and assembly models are available on the SketchUp 3D Warehouse website.  The collaboration with Fat Pencil Studio helped solve the challenges involved with creating useful SketchUp models which included providing enough detail to faithfully represent the product, while optimizing the file size of the component for fluid model performance.  According to Joshua Cohen, founder of Fat Pencil Studio, “the designer wants a lightweight (low-poly) component so they can freely use multiple copies of the 3d model.  The manufacturer, however, wants a component that displays all the elegance and highly-considered detail of the product’s design”.  Taking a team approach allowed Fat Pencil to develop two different approaches to modelthe greenscreen® line of clips, brackets, screens, and accessories.  Low-poly components are used to represent the product while testing layout concepts in the design phase.  More complex high-poly models were created for use in architectural renderings and installation training.  To read the Fat Pencil Studio case study about the partnership, click  here.     

These first to market SketchUp 3D models reaffirm the goal to provide designers and specifiers with the necessary tools to aid in the design of sustainable buildings and landscapes in the future.  “We created the marketplace for our products over 20 years ago, when we introduced them to progressive architects and landscape architects interested in incorporating natural, resource efficient design elements into their buildings,” explains Dean Hill, ASLA, Director of Sustainability ofgreenscreen®.  Critical to the company’s marketing over those 20 years has been making itself visible to potential customers early in the design process.  “We need to be part of the conversation early on, so designers and their clients can see how our products fit into strategies for sustainable building and development in architectural design.  By offering three dimensional SketchUp models, in addition to our line of Revit models (BIM), greenscreen® can effectively and efficiently be incorporated into the latest drawing software to initiate that early conversation”, says Hill.

In addition, Trimble’s Mark Lauricello, responsible for SketchUp Business Development, feels that it is paramount for product manufacturers to understand the increasing demand of providing drawing models and content.  “By offering high-quality, low-poly component models, greenscreen® is helping architects and designers do their jobs more effectively. When a manufacturer commits to supporting designers as greenscreen® has, the result is a “win-win” scenario for both the designer and the manufacturer -- designers get access to beautiful and accurate 3D models to make their job easier and bring their design to life and the manufacturer gets exposure during the critical, early stages of a project.”

About greenscreen®:  With over 20 years of experience and more than 7,000 installations worldwide, greenscreen® manufactures a unique three-dimensional welded wire trellising system that creates a captive growing space for plants to flourish and intertwine.  Made from recycled steel,greenscreen® is based on the environmental principles to “design with nature” and helps to integrate plant material into our built environment.  By incorporating vegetation into a project’s scope, significant environmental benefits can be achieved. Research studies have concluded that green facades can contribute to increased building energy efficiency, water efficient landscapes, reduction of the Urban Heat Island Effect and carbon sequestration.  For more information on greenscreen®or to view all of the 3D models, visit  www.greenscreen.com. 

About green walls

A Green Wall, also commonly referred to as a vertical garden, is a descriptive term that is used to refer to all forms of vegetated wall surfaces.  Green wall technologies may be divided into two major categories: Green Facades and Living Walls.  Green Facade walls are a vertical structural system either attached to a building or free standing that supports the growth of vines or climbing plants that originate either in at grade planting beds, raised planters or containers.  Green Facades are essentially passive in their needs for irrigation and maintenance when used with appropriately chosen vines.  For more information on green facade walls, download the latest design resources at  www.greenscreen.com.



Contact:

Dean Hill
ASLA, Director of Sustainability
greenscreen®
Phone: 855-837-0526
Email:  Email Contact

James Sable
Executive Vice President
greenscreen®
Phone: 855-837-0526
Email:  Email Contact