CA SHORTS - Arched Alcove The Quick And Easy Way In Chief Architect X17

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Learn how to build a clean arched alcove in Chief Architect — complete with a radius ceiling, double-wall cavity, and perfectly fitted cabinetry.

In this quick tutorial, I walk through:

Creating the alcove as its own room

Using non–auto-merging walls for control

Matching wall thickness by adding an offset

Converting the doorway to an arched opening

Handling curved-ceiling lighting placement

Using X17’s zero-offset placement tool for cabinets

Perfectly filling the alcove with built-ins

This technique is ideal for niches, wall recesses, built-in cabinets, shower alcoves, or any design where you need clean, controlled geometry with a curved ceiling.

00:00 – Intro: Building a Radius Alcove
Quick overview of what will be created: a recessed alcove with an arched ceiling.

00:00:18 – Drawing the Alcove Room
Creating a dedicated room for the alcove and setting the exact depth using tab-input adjustments.

00:00:36 – Using Non–Auto-Merging Walls
Why disabling “Auto Merge Colinear Walls” makes this trick possible.

00:00:49 – Extending the Second Wall Section
Drawing a wall continuation to establish the alcove’s thickness.

00:01:00 – Matching Wall Thickness by Adding the Offset
Copying the distance and adding it to the wall thickness to create the double-wall cavity.

00:01:17 – Converting to a Partition Wall
Marking the new wall type as “Partition” so framing behaves correctly.

00:01:34 – Adding the Doorway Opening
Dropping a door opening into the alcove and preparing for the arched shape.

00:01:44 – Double-Wall Doorway Settings
Opening the door specification and disabling casing/jambs through double walls.

00:01:58 – Converting the Opening to an Arch
Using a custom tool (or Chief’s options) to convert the doorway to an arched opening.

00:02:04 – Pulling a Camera View
Adding lighting and examining drywall transitions, floor continuation, and geometry cleanup.

00:02:33 – Ceiling Light Placement Trick
How to place recessed lighting when the alcove uses a curved ceiling (not recognized as a standard ceiling plane).

00:02:56 – Filling the Alcove with a Cabinet
Placing cabinetry inside the recess, overriding auto-attachment to the doorway.

00:03:10 – Using X17’s Zero-Offset Placement
Setting cabinet offsets to “0 in” for perfectly snug placement at each wall.

00:03:22 – Final Fit & Resize Controls
Using the new dimension-resize handles to perfectly fill the alcove cavity.