Rebuilding White Point – Main Lodge Design Released

Tuesday February 14, 2012 – White Point, Nova Scotia – 3 months have passed following the devastating fire on November 12, 2011 that destroyed White Point Beach Resort’s Main Lodge. Owner Robert Risley along with his team at White Point beamed with pride today as they shared the design of the new Main Lodge to be constructed over the next several months and readied for opening in Fall 2012.

Inspired and energized by the overwhelming outpouring of support from White Pointers, Robert says he knew the new lodge would have to recapture that familiar, comfortable feeling of the White Point we remember so well. “As we had hoped, with more than 100 submissions online, White Pointers came forth with their suggestions for our new Lodge. It was reassuring to know many of the thoughts for the Lodge, reflected our own.” says Risley.

In early January, the Resorts Management Team joined by the local design team of WHW Architects, Design 360, and J.W. Lindsay Enterprises; gathered to get the planning underway leading to today’s announcement.

“It gives me great pleasure to present the design of our new Lodge.” says Risley, “It truly captures the essence of the former Lodge, yet is distinctive and original, a perfect tribute to be enjoyed for many generations.”

Like the original, the new lodge will be sustainably constructed with local, natural materials, such as wood and stone. With modern windows, insulation and efficient mechanical and electrical systems, the new lodge will have a smaller ecological footprint, using much less water and energy than the old building.

The building's internal features provide all the amenities of the original, and more. On the main level guests will be welcomed into a reception area with soaring ceilings and stunning views of the ocean. Everyone will be drawn to the lodge's new heart: the warmth of twin wood burning, stone fireplaces surrounded with comfortable seating for relaxing.

Accessibility enhancements will welcome guests on each of its two levels. Its orientation will maximize passive solar heating and provide wonderful views of the beach from all areas. Oceanside decks with overhead trellises will provide protected areas to relax and enjoy the beautiful oceanfront sights and sounds of the Atlantic Ocean.

The upper level includes a lounge, 3,000 square foot divisible meeting and convention room with a wood burning fireplace and a 3,000 square foot dining room also with a fireplace, both served by a new, modern commercial kitchen.

The lower level will feature an indoor pool, hot tub and sauna, fitness centre, games room and "kids' zone". Spaces also include a spa and two barrier-free guest rooms, all with signature White Point views.

The building pays homage to the original with hipped roofs and deep protective overhangs reminiscent of the iconic White Point beach umbrellas. The brightly coloured red roof with twin projecting stone chimneys will be a beacon for guests strolling the beach or teeing off on the 6th hole.

White Point’s General Manager, Danny Morton, echo’s Risley’s pride in presenting the new Lodge design. Morton says the new lodge design continues the great traditions of White Point. “The Design Team has done an amazing job capturing the essence of White Point while providing optimal flexibility of the spaces enabling us to meet the needs of our guests. Our White Point team looks forward to welcoming White Pointers back to the beach to celebrate and enjoy many more great days.”

With an anticipated opening in the late Fall of 2012, construction is expected to begin in early April at a cost of just over $4 million. For those interested in following the progress, the White Point Construction Webcam at www.novascotiawebcams.com, and regular updates are provided at www.whitepoint.com.

White Point is a favourite year-round oceanfront beach destination for vacationers and meeting delegates on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. While the 84 year old main property is closed until the Fall for the new Lodge construction, the eleven RCI Gold Crown Vacation Cottages and two Executive Vacation Homes are open throughout 2012.


Media Contact for White Point:
Donna Hatt, Marketing & Product Development Manager
email: donna@whitepoint.com
Phone: 902.354.2711 ext 369
Cell: 902.521.7319
www.whitepoint.com
www.facebook.com/whitepointbeachresort
www.twitter.com/WhitePointBeach

DWF Commenting & Revit

DWFs, if you haven't heard of them, are Autodesk's answer to PDFs.  They are a way to digitally publish your drawings in a format that is optimized for CAD and BIM output.  The best part is that anyone with a computer (or and iPad) can view, comment and even take dimensions and areas from your drawings for free using Autodesk Design Review software. 

One of the nicest features of DWFs is that any comments done on the file in Design Review can be loaded right into the same view or sheet in Revit.  This means that a project manager with no knowledge of Revit can go and mark-up a full set of drawings.  The team can then load the comments directly into the project in Revit. The video below will give you a better idea of the workflow.  And no, that is not my accent.

Basically, the way I see this working is as follows:

1. One person on the team is charged with making a DWF set of the documents to the same location daily before he or she leaves for the day.
2. Project managers can at any time go to where they know the current DWF of the drawings will be.  If they have any comments to add, they can save the DWF with a new name, make their comments and inform the team of the new DWF.
3. The team will then load the DWF comments into Revit.  In Revit they can make the necessary changes and update the DWF comment status.  When they save the project, Revit will automatically save the DWF comments and the project manager can go back at any time and verify the comments were picked up.

Try this out on your next project and let me know how it goes.  We could even be sending DWFs directly to clients for review and commenting in Design Review. 

Wondering if you have Autodesk Design Center on your computer?  Go to "Start > All Programs > Autodesk" and look for "Autodesk Design Review 2012".  If it isn't there just email support and ask to have it installed.

Happy Commenting.

Revit AutoCaps & New Shortcuts

There is a new little program that will soon be coming to a project near you.  Basically when you run the shortcut script for your project a small program will get started along with the workshare monitor.  The program adds a sort of "autocaps" feature to Revit as well as adds a few shortcuts you can't add in the default keyboard settings.  You will know it is running when you see the little orange WHW icon (see the image below) show up in your task manager.

Basically the program acts like autocaps in Autocad.  It senses when you are in a text field or a schedule in Revit and automatically turns on caps lock.   Because you may not always want caps lock to be on in schedules, you can turn it off by right clicking the icon and de-checking "Caps In Schedule".  The program adds a few other features such as a shortcut for saveas.  Click on "Help" in the same menu for more information.

I'm looking for beta testers if anyone is interested and doesn't mind a few glitches.  If this is you, lync me or shoot me an email.  Things are pretty solid right now, but you never know.