It’s a kind of magic!

Transferring any design from a drawing onto the ground will always involve a variable amount of interpretation – but hardly any more – and I am thrilled.

As a non-machine-driving architect, you are absolutely relying on the guy on the machine to do a good job for you. Some architects are privilege enough to benefit from working with experienced “shapers” – guys who can make any architect's work look good. In fact, the architect can sometimes get away with only delivering some very rough sketches leaving it up to the shaper to do the rest of the detailing.

However, experienced shapers are expensive guys to have on site and therefore I have never had the chance to work with one of any of my jobs. Added to this is the fact that I mostly work on clay sites and I have over time and out of necessity been pushed towards having to do rather detailed drawings - you know, lots of contour lines, spot heights etc. I don’t mind though - I enjoy working on the details, imagining how it will all work out in a 1:1 scale - in all, I believe that handling the contours has become one of my true technical strengths as an architect.

I do use a CAD program - “moving” the contour around on the screen is somewhat easier than with the old pencil and rubber. However, no matter the quality of the drawings you are still relying on the guy on the machine to transfer the design from the drawing onto the ground. This job involves obvious technical skills but also a capability to interpret the design as it was intended by the architect. In my case it has not always been a successful experience. Sometimes I have been lucky enough to get a guy who could actually “read” my drawing and work magic translating this onto the ground but other times the contractor has provide me with an inexperienced driver and my work just could not turn out as it should have. The truth is though, that I do not really want a high-flying shaper on the job - what I need is a great machine driver who can make sure that it is my design and not his that goes on the ground, if not, what’s the point of being the architect on the job!

And so it happened – PURE MAGIC. The development I am working on at the moment started construction in April this year and the way the design goes on the ground is nothing but revolutionary in the world of golf course design.

For various reasons the project had been delay for a few years so I did the drawings a while back. When we started on site this spring the contractor informed me that they had just installed a GPS system in their machines and that they could now upload my electronic design files directly onto the computer in each digger/dozer on site.

However with 250mm contour lines on the drawings the detailing turned out to be too rough to get a good end result - and it showed. The contractor therefore asked me to add 50mm contours to the drawing. ARE YOU MAD I asked! This was insane; I knew my drawings were good so if they were any good at their job they should be able to do the job right using the existing drawings. Anyway, the contractor convinced me to do a test and I added the 50mm contours to one of the green drawings. The new file was uploaded and what followed was pure magic.

There was not even a post to show the centre of the green as the machine started working its way across the green site. It was like dragging a magic wand over the surface leaving behind it an exact model of what was on the drawing – I did not have to check it - it was almost scary. Scary because one of my (not so few) concerns had been a small doubt that perhaps I was not as hot at my job as I thought, and if so, it was about to show. Well I am off the hook and can rightfully say that I am in fact GOOD at what I do (not always perfect but most of the time )

Since the test, 50mm contours have been added to all green drawings. The contractor had to pay for this extra work to be done but it paid off – in fact he says that the job can be done twice as fast. Add to this that the result is better than ever, it is almost too good to be true.

Discussing the matter with several colleagues, the response varied from sheer horror to great fascination. One of my good friends stated that this would take the last artistic bit out of golf course design but I really disagree - what is happening is just the opposite. Drawing up such detailed drawings does take time but also allows me to be more creative than before and to do much more complex designs - good drawings are no longer wasted since the design is no longer lost in the interpretation of the drawing.

The interpretation that takes place when translating the design from the drawings (files) onto the ground has not fully been eradicated but one thing is sure - the architect is back in charge.

I have learned so much doing this project both technically and design wise. But yes, using these tools does change the job of the architect; new skills are required and it does add more responsibility too. This method will not work for all architects and might leave some of the traditional shapers unemployed for which I am sorry but this tool allows the architect to be the architect and I can’t help feeling so appreciative and excited about this.

Above 14th green with 50mm contours added (green lines). The contractor gets the data as a CAD file. The contours have x,y,z values which the driver/machine uses to get the levels right. 

Below a snapshot of the full detail drawing of the 14th green before 50mm contours were added.