All Things BIM

THE Revit Workstation

2008-10-02T23:27:00.001-04:00

So, the 64-bit versions of Revit Architecture, Structure and MEP 2009 have been released - finally shattering the 4 GB RAM ceiling. We're currently using workstations with 8GB of RAM, but I have a 'testing' machine with 16 GB of RAM (sweet!). After installing the new Revit version, I opened the Freedom Tower model with all worksets on...yeah, I was feeling naughty. Virtual Memory usage crept up to around 7 GB when I opened up a full 3D view, then...I rendered. The VM didn't seem to change, but I didn't realize the rendering engine in 2009 runs in a separate process...ringing up another 5 GB of VM. So, if 16 GB is barely going to cut it, I decided to price out a Dell T5400 with a 3.0GHz quad core Xeon with 32 GB of RAM and a 1.5 GB video card.

$11,516 ... nice.

Wish - Drag and Drop Browser Organization

2008-09-10T15:02:00.001-04:00

As many of you know, the display of views in Revit's Project Browser can be customized using your own parameters. For example, we use two additional parameters - View Type and View Sub-Type - to help our teams efficiently organize hundreds of views while working on large projects. With these parameters assigned to views, we can sort the views in logical groups such as FLOOR PLANS, Sheet and Working as shown below.

The drawback to this scenario is that the user is required to assign the values for the custom parameters by either accessing the View Properties shortcut or right-clicking on the view in the Browser and selecting "Properties" (another one of Steve's Reviteristics). Wouldn't it make sense to allow the user to drag a view from the ??? area into a defined 'folder' and have it adopt the properties of the other views in that area?

Bentley-Autodesk Interoperability

2008-07-11T00:13:00.001-04:00

In a recent joint press event (Google it), Bentley and Autodesk announced the exchange of their file format libraries in an effort to spur greater interoperability between their competing products. Such a move is undoubtedly related to the NIST report on the lack of interoperability in the AEC industry, however there will be many discussions (AECBytes, AECNews) for and against this cooperation - watch for the latter coming from the BuildingSmart Alliance over the future of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC).

While I (and many of my colleagues) applaud this news, one can only wonder how this will translate into future product enhancements. In the short term, I hope we will see support for the latest DGN formats within Revit (currently it only supports V7 format). In AutoCAD 2008 and 2009, DGN files can be XREF'd into a DWG file. We have even used this technique to convert DGN files to DWG for continued use...which brings me back to the subtle, yet concerning part of this new found romance.

In my last post, I had promised a follow up rant on Autodesk-Bentley interoperability - at the time, I was unaware of the planned announcement. Nonetheless, I am still concerned about the impact this exchange will have on the real world AEC practitioners. On just about every project I've worked or supported that involved a consultant or client using Microstation, the burden was on us to convert the incoming DGN files to DWG and vice-versa for outgoing files. It was quite sickening to attend Bentley events and hear them bashing Autodesk products and touting universal interoperability when I can't even get a DWG file from a Bentley-using firm, nor would they accept a DWG file from us! At one BE Conference, I noticed how long it would be from the time I arrived until the first time I heard, "But Autodesk can't do..." - 10 minutes!

So, how does this rant relate to the 'good news'? I'm not too concerned about Autodesk receiving the DGN code; however, there are reasons to be worried about Bentley's use of RealDWG. I know that the managers, developers, and product designers at Bentley are top notch, but they have a system of licensing - known as Bentley Select - which allows companies to use any version of their software without any sort of upgrade charge for newer versions. Check out this Powerpoint presentation which compares the Select experience to trading in your 10 year old Porche Carrera for a brand new Cayenne - for FREE. Sounds great until you throw in the human psychological factor - fear of change. Perhaps that's why we can't work well with any of our constituents on Microstation...they haven't upgraded in 10 years because there's no compelling financial reason and Bentley's providing the safety net.

DC BuildingSMART Breakfast

2008-07-02T18:32:00.001-04:00

I whisked myself to Washington, DC last night in order to attend a BuildingSMART BIM Breakfast dubbed the "Renaissance Club" - in deference to the hosting location, the Renaissance Marriott. This group meets for <early> breakfast at the Eighteen Squares restaurant within the hotel, which is a departure from most evening events such as <plugs> the NYC Revit User Group and the Metro NYC BIM Group </plugs>. The 7:00 AM start time was more appreciated over the great breakfast buffet and down-to-earth networking.

This month's meeting featured a presentation from Kal Houhou and Kamran Charmsaz of Lessard Group on their BIM implementation experience. I met Kal after one of my Autodesk University presentations in 2006 (I think...and if you're reading this Kal, I'm sorry for not getting a chance to say hi) and since then, he and his colleagues at Lessard have made serious progress. They have a few divisions within their approximately 120 employee firm, of which military housing seems to be the greatest beneficiary of implementing Revit. Let me 'splain - no, there is too much...I'll sum up - plan, plan, plan some more, and communicate with your constituents. Spend more time in Design Development, less in Construction Documents - this is being implemented with Lessard's client contracts, according to Kamran.

I must note that again, several employees of Bentley attended this industry meeting and forced the P.C. description of "a BIM program" instead of "we used Revit." (See Phil Read's post from the BIMI Roundtable) I'm waiting for the commercials to start anyday now...white backdrop...Phil Bernstein in jeans and a sportscoat, Greg Bentley in a shirt and tie..."Hi, I'm Revit -and I'm Bentley!" Nothing personal guys, we have had decent success integrating Bentley Structural models into our Revit Architecture models; however, I'll save my rant about Bentley and AutoCAD interoperability for my next post. Stay tuned.

Friday and Seattle Commentary

2008-06-13T21:05:00.001-04:00

Totally off-topic, but I usually listen to some music on my way home from work and found myself firing up my good ol' Zen Touch for the Friday night commute. I'm fairly certain I've stumbled upon the BEST song to end your work week - "Amber" by 311. Give it a try one Friday night and let me know what you think!

Last week I participated in the AIA BIM Implementers Roundtable which is a subset of the Large Firm Round Table (LFRT). There were some great presentations about best practices, measuring the ROI on BIM and more. My vote for most candid commentary goes to Phil Read (now with HNTB Architecture) on his new blog architechure.blogspot.com. Don't ask me - or Phil for that matter - how one pronounces "architechure," but the point is ARCH + TECH...

From That Thing You Do:

Mr. White: Next, this "Oneders", with the O-N-E, it doesn't work. It's confusing. From now on, you boys'll just be... simply The Wonders.
Lenny: As in, I *wonder* what happened to the O'Needers?

After the day-and-a-half meeting I had the opportunity to wander around Seattle. First, I visited the Seattle Public Library designed by OMA and Rem Koolhaas. I've always been a fan of Rem's work and the SPL doesn't disappoint. Check out my slideshow for some glimpses of the interesting structure versus curtain wall conditions. Vibrant colors are used for a variety of special spaces such as the all red meeting level and bright yellow vertical circulation - which is a huge help in finding your way around. There is also a fantastic art display called "Making Visible the Invisible" by George Legrady in which several LCD monitors continuously stream graphic displays of metadata being culled from the library's checkout system.

Next up was the obligatory trip up to the Space Needle. Having Starbucks in the cafe at 520' was worth the 16 bucks for the ticket. The observation deck also features several interactive displays including one where you can cycle around a 360 degree panoramic view while adjusting the sun light by the hour or the minute. Wonder if I can put that on my timecard for environmental analysis research? Right next to the Needle is Frank Gehry's Experience Music Project or EMP - a museum of music history founded by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Funds were running low at this point, so I decided to just check out the building, not the full museum tour; however, it was highly recommended by our hotel concierge. Making our way back to the Hotel Monaco via the waterfront, we had oysters and seafood at Elliott's (yummmm) and shopping at Pike Place Market.

Review: Green BIM

2008-06-11T17:04:00.001-04:00

I recently received a copy of a new book titled "Green BIM: Successful Sustainable Design with Building Information Modeling" by Eddy Krygiel, AIA and Brad Nies, AIA with foreword by Steve McDowell, FAIA - all LEED Accredited Professionals with BNIM Architects. Mr. Nies is Director of Elements, the sustainable design consulting division of BNIM.

"Green BIM" provides an excellent - albeit somewhat basic - overview of building information modeling, sustainable design practices and integrated design teams. If you have senior team members or management who are still trying to grasp the concept of BIM, this book is a worthy primer.

Krygiel and Nies share their real world experience at BNIM on 'green' projects such as the Lewis and Clark State Office Building. For the BIM cognoscenti, the Green BIM approach is more about process than tools which is why you will find the chapter on Integrated Design Teams both surprising and enlightening.

While the term "BIM" is used in the generic sense, the authors have been long-time users of Revit and the methods described in the book are illustrated with screenshots and tips for Revit Architecture. Sustainable design encompasses a body of information probably too vast to be addressed in one publication, but "Green BIM" highlights some entry level techniques one can harness today with readily available software.

The only downside to this publication is the lack of color in the many charts and graphs provided throughout "Green BIM." Using 7 or 8 different shades of gray does not make such illustrations very readable. If cost was a factor in the production of the book, the authors might have been better off using varying line types instead. By the way, the book is printed on recycled paper with soy inks - not quite the vision of "Cradle to Cradle" author William McDonough, but a step in the right direction.

Rating: 3 of 4 stars

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470239603.html

New Design Blogs

2008-06-10T15:28:00.001-04:00

I'm happy to include links in my sidebar to two new design-influenced blog sites, although I hesitate to use the term 'blog' as these sites provide so much more content. First is a site produced by Ajmal Aqtash, a close colleague of mine at SOM. His site is dubbed "CORE.FORM-ULA" and is focused on developing and monitoring the curricula of leading design schools utilizing the latest digital tools. Currently, CORE is collecting data and collaborating with Pratt School of Architecture, the Product Architecture Lab at Stevens Institute and U Penn School of Design/School of Architecture.

Second is a newer addition produced by David Fano of SHoP Architects, a site dubbed "Design ReForm.net". "Design ReForm is meant to be a source of information for the integration of design and technology. The ambition of Design Reform is to publish tutorials and explorations in parametric modeling with softwares such 3ds Max, Revit, Maya, and Rhino."

David has been regularly uploading brief, but descriptive and laid-back tutorials on Revit, Max and Rhino (including Explicit History!). He is also teaching a class at Columbia University and sharing his students' work (primarily in Revit) within his site's Forum area. Be sure to check out the class "ReThinking BIM."

Upcoming BIMStorms

2008-06-05T15:18:00.001-04:00

Funny search story...looking for "bim storms" turned up a weather report for Bim, West Virginia - I'm not kidding! Check it out.

While I may have been initially skeptical about the value of the so-called "BIMStorms" - the brain child of Kimon Onuma - I have been hearing fantastic feedback about the recent 'Storms' in Los Angeles and Boston. These which bring together teams of AECO industry professionals to virtually plan, design and analyze massive civic-scale developments. While the organizers have also taken to calling these events the "Woodstock of BIM," the next one is crossing the pond to London.

www.buildlondonlive.com June 24-26, 2008

Information on other BIMStorms can be found at the Onuma website (www.onuma.com).

Archicad Parts 3-4

2008-04-03T19:01:00.001-04:00

Floors and roofs

The BIM Experience continues with chapters 3 and 4 which include creating floors, roofs, doors and windows. Considering the simplicity of these tutorials, I completed them both in about one hour and will summarize them in one post. Floors and roofs are created with the Slab tool and continue to make use of the Favorites palette for pre-made roof and floor types. I am still curious to explore the creation of such favorites from scratch. Similar to polygonal walls, creating slabs is accomplished through either sketching or using Space-Click to enact the "magic wand" and selecting an existing polyline. An interesting and easy feature is quick void creation in slabs. Use Shift-Click to select an existing slab, then use SPACE-Click to create voids in the slab. In Revit, this would be accomplished by re-editing the sketch of the floor or roof or using the Opening tool. Because the sketch is not exposed as a separate element in Archicad, the slab must be edited directly. As previously mentioned, creating voids is fairly straight-forward, but there are several additional geometry tools exposed in a pop-up when a slab is selected. I will explore those later...

Doors and Windows

Placing doors is a 2-click method - insertion point, then placement of leaf. Archicad does not offer a preview of the door leaf until you're done nor are options for re-positioning the leaf and swing after insertion (unless I'm missing something obvious). As a comparison in Revit, the SPACE bar is used to rotate any component prior to placement and the door or window has flip arrows to change its position at any time. In the Archicad animation below, notice the ability to use a point grip to simply adjust the plan swing angle of the door.

Placing doors in Archicad:

Placing and modifying doors in Revit:

Towards completion of these chapters I was directed to use the Multiply command (a powerful type of array) in an elevation view and I stumbled upon yet another highly useful function. By right-clicking on any other view in the Navigator, such view can be used as a Trace Reference in the current view. In the tutorial example, I used a floor plan as a trace reference in an elevation:

Here's the work to date:

Archicad Part 2

2008-04-01T23:30:00.005-04:00

Continuing the BIM Experience trial with Archicad 11, we learn how to model the walls of the Massaro House. Using a CAD file as a trace underlay, we gradually build up linear walls, polygonal walls, and parapet walls. Customized views have been created within the Navigator to guide you through each step of the lesson - a BIM-by-numbers, if you will...

We don't learn much about why the wall ends seem to conform to the tapered edges of the indicated points, but I'm assuming they are joining to previously created walls which have been turned off with various customized filters for the purpose of the tutorial. If you are adventurous and dig down into the properties of any view, you'll see a plethora of "Layer Settings" as indicated in the screenshot to the left.

The wall creation method is straight-forward - choose the Wall tool and double-click on a wall style in the Favorites palette - then click on the points indicated in the tutorial views. What bothers me is the cursor. It changes based on snapping points, but I'm not sure what it is snapping to exactly. The cursor changes to a check mark, but it is unlike other programs which give you feedback as to the type of snapping being provided by the geometry at the cursor. Also, on some occasions I have a checkmark, other times a pencil - filled or not filled.

Another quirk I have yet to understand is the ability to select walls in plan and use Draw Order on them. What are their 3D properties that allow one wall to be show 'over' another?

A few really cool tools are exposed in Part 2 of the tutorials. First, while creating polygonal walls, simply holding the SHIFT key over a polyline in the CAD underlay allows you to create a wall in the same shape. Second, at any time you can 'peel away' the model to reveal the trace underlay below. See the animations below...

Standards and Procedures

2008-03-27T23:16:00.001-04:00

standards - n. something considered by an authority or by general consent as a basis of comparison; an approved model... a rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment...an average or normal requirement, quality, quantity, level, grade, etc...

With the recent growth of our BIM implementations throughout the firm, a call has been made to produce our Revit "Standards." Giving this some thought, it doesn't make too much sense to dive in and create a new "Standards Manual" without reviewing what 'standards' we currently have and what their purpose is. With our first Revit projects back in 2003-2004, we started with something familiar - the company CAD Standards. After a convenient Save As... we quickly realized that just about everything was going to be deleted as it had little or no relevance to using Revit on a project. It was realized that the 'standards' must be divided up - or compartmentalized - into logical areas as follows:

Graphic Standards - How the documents should look
Drawing Standards - Methods of organizing the data
Procedural Guidelines - Using a specific tool to implement the Graphic and Drawing Standards
Data Exchange Guidelines - Sharing the above data with others

Graphic & Drawing Standards

Most architects and engineers are concerned primarily with the quality of their product - construction documents. In many cases, a blanket "CAD Standards Manual," such as the National CAD Standard, will cover everything from layer colors to standard symbols to titleblocks.

A further refinement of graphic standards embeds a methodology of any particular discipline into the application of such standards and becomes "drawing standards." These methods include, but are not limited to:

Common drawing information
Dimensioning methods
Cross-referencing views

Procedural Guidelines

Procedural information will vary for each software platform utilized to implement the graphic standards. Some examples include:

AutoCAD - layer standards, xrefs, file names, plotting standards, line types
Revit - worksets, line styles, object subcategories, shared parameters, view templates
Microstation - level standards, file names, cell libraries...

Data Exchange Guidelines

Efforts being undertaken by agencies such as FIATECH, NIBS and the IAI are labeled as "standards" but they differ in their use of the definition. They are mainly concerned about translating data between software platforms based on the requirements of downstream users. At SOM, they are referred to as "Data Exchange Guidelines." Currently they consist of a light version of our CAD Standards to facilitate understanding of our data shared with our consultants, contractors and clients. They also outline how, when and what will be shared throughout the course of a design project. In the near future, these guidelines will start to blend with the aforementioned standards including the National BIM Standard and IFC.

Reference Material

del.icio.us Tags: bim,standards

Whole Building Design Guide

2008-03-26T22:53:00.002-04:00

There's a relatively new site available from the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) which aims to provide information related to all phases of a building's design. From their "About" page:

The WBDG is the only web-based portal providing government and industry practitioners with one-stop access to up-to-date information on a wide range of building-related guidance, criteria and technology from a 'whole buildings' perspective. Currently organized into three major categories—Design Guidance, Project Management and Operations & Maintenance—at the heart of the WBDG are Resource Pages, reductive summaries on particular topics.

Development of the WBDG is a collaborative effort among federal agencies, private sector companies, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. Its success depends on industry and government experts contributing their knowledge and experience to better serve the building community.

Link: http://www.wbdg.org

Test Post 2 with Live Writer

2008-03-26T21:39:00.001-04:00

Here are some images with links to the originals. The previous post did not have links to the originals.

Test Post with Live Writer

2008-03-26T21:32:00.001-04:00

Here are some embedded images for testing of Live Writer direct uploads...

Archicad 11 - Part 1

2008-03-20T20:15:00.005-04:00

As a preface to this post, let me explain why it has been quite a while since my original post about my Archicad exploration. A few months ago, I had received my evaluation copy of Archicad from the generous team at Graphisoft. I had installed it on my Tablet PC and completed the first part of the tutorials. At the same time, I had started to experiment with Qumana - an off-line blog authoring program. While I had completed a thorough post on my first tutorial experiences, my Tablet PC had a catastrophic breakdown. While most of my data was backed up, the data from the Qumana sessions was somewhat hidden and not backed up. Our crack IT staff have since re-built my Tablet and I'm back in business using Windows Live Writer (and loving it!). Following are my notes on the Archicad BIM Tutorials...TAKE TWO!

The BIM Experience Kit

As I mentioned in the original post, Graphisoft offers a free "BIM Experience Kit" as an addendum to Archicad 11. This kit consists of training files documentation and integrated videos. A factor contributing to the success and simplicity of this solution is the mature file management Archicad offers. The kit's training files are archived projects which contain all the library parts, linked references and texture maps referenced in the original file. The training videos are also stored with the project and will play automatically within the integrated Archicad Movie Player if named similar to the project file. Note: if you plan to run through the Experience Kit, be sure to save the project files with the same name as the project archives - otherwise the movies won't play.

Interface and Basic Navigation

The Archicad interface has undergone significant modernization in recent years. I recall attempting a demo of version 7 only to be disappointed by the multitude of buttons and flyouts. There are still quite a few buttons and tools exposed when first running Archicad 11, but we'll see how I fare during the course of the 'Experience.' In the immortal words of an Archicad discussion forum member, "It's intuitive once you learn how to use it."

A Navigator houses a tree structure similar to Revit's Project Browser. It is broken down into 4 different "maps" (from Archicad Help):
The "Project Map" provides a tree structure of the components (viewpoints) of your Virtual Building Model.

The "View Map" includes all the predefined and custom-created Views of the Project File.

The "Layout Book" contains the layouts defined for the entire architectural project.

The "Publisher Sets" map is a tree structure in which you define sets of views for various output purposes (printing, plotting, saving to a local disk or uploading to the Internet or an intranet).

While Revit's Browser is customizable using parameters and filters, I think this approach would bode well for any project team seeking to separate and organize working data, predefined views and published drawing sets.

Zooming, panning and orbiting in Archicad is somewhat limited if you don't have a mouse (as I'm usually running through the "Experience" on my Tablet PC during my commute). According to the help documentation, zooming can be implemented using the "+" or "-" keys, but I couldn't get that to work all the time. There are shortcut buttons for navigation in the lower left of the view, however, I was somewhat confused by each tool's button persistence. For example, using Zoom In/Out requires a second click to stop zooming instead of releasing when I release the mouse button.

Overall, navigation seems equivalent to Revit although I would like to experiment with some larger projects to compare performance. Archicad also offers a walking mode which employs the use of the arrow keys for a gaming-engine experience of the project. Below is a brief video comparison of 3D navigation between Revit and Archicad using similar size models. I also enjoy the refined method of object highlighting. Archicad allows you to move your cursor around without pre-highlighting every object over which you hover. If you hover over an object for about one second, the object gently highlights and a message box fades into view with a brief description of the element.

Revit to AutoCAD for Construction

2008-03-15T15:16:00.003-04:00

It's been awhile since my last post as I had some problems with my Tablet PC and an offline blogging tool. Long story...I'll explain in a future post. In the meantime, I have been working very hard on a conversion process for one of our Revit-based projects. As I discovered through conversations with others at Autodesk University, it is not uncommon (from the Architect's perspective) to convert a Revit project to AutoCAD (DWG) for the construction phase of a project. The following will highlight some of the reasons why one would convert a project, aspects of DWG export from Revit and things to beware of in Revit if you might be exporting it later.

Why Convert?

The reasons are few, but simple and compelling. First, if a thorogh design development has been completed using Revit, very few design changes should be required during the course of construction. Second and probably most compelling is the staff during construction phase services. In many design firms a different - most often, more senior - team will handle a project in construction. These team members may not be familiar with Revit at all.

Aspects of Revit's DWG Export

Revit has the ability to export DWG, DGN, DXF and some other formats with a decent level of consistency; however, there are a few aspects to note before embarking on converting an entire project.

Revit does not export DWGs in STB plot style format. If you require this format, be prepared to use some scripts or custom programming to assign your standard named plot styles.
Revit assigns lineweight and linetype overrides at the entity level. Although there are other options to assign overrides to new layers or exclude overrides completely, they are not very useful. If you don't use overrides, you lose all lineweights and linetypes anyway and using new layers for overrides only complicates a clean conversion by creating layers such as A-WALL-1, A-WALL-2, A-WALL-3, etc. If your standard use of CAD dictates using a plot style table for defining plotted lineweights, again be prepared to do some work.
Using the "Shared" option for coordinates on exported files has no effect on plans when you're exporting sheets. Data in model space of exported sheets is positioned only in relation to the paper space viewports.

Lines within blocks are not on layer 0; they are on the layer of the category or sub-category of the entire component. This is particularly troublesome if families are made with confusing categorization. For example, an elevator door was made as a Specialty Equipment family, but with a sub-category called "Doors". When exported, the lines within the block were on A-DOOR, but the block itself was inserted on layer A-EQPM.

Text and Dimensions all export into the "Standard" style. There is no setting in Revit to modify this.

Hatches for columns are exported onto the same layer as the column.

Pre-Conversion Tips for Revit

If you happen to be working on a Revit project and know (or even think) you will be exporting to CAD format, be aware of these potential pitfalls.

Don't use solid white Fill Regions to mask model elements in any views. The latest versions of Revit have the new Masking Region tool which will behave as expected (like a wipeout) when exported.
Don't coverup unwanted text or dimensions with opaque background text. AutoCAD does not have an analogous object, so you end up with two, overlapping text elements in the exported CAD file.
Use appropriate sub-categories for custom families. If you have many custom families all under Generic Models, they will most likely be exported onto one layer.

Try not to 'fudge' a design by drawing it with Model Lines or Detail Lines. These will export as line layers, not as building layers such as walls, doors or windows.

Because unreferenced view tags cannot be hidden or removed during the exporting process, make it a habit to hide all temporary sections, callouts or elevations during your project. Hopefully, Autodesk will soon develop a way to mitigate this problem - perhaps by allowing visibility (on/off) access to the various view types within a project.

Protect your export layers template file. Every time you use it to export CAD formats from Revit, it is appended with any additional data which may be in the Revit file at the time - including all linked and imported CAD files. This is an additive process ONLY. The export template will not 'clean' itself when it is needed for the next project. I usually create a clean master template then ZIP the file so no one can accidentally use it in a live Revit project.

AU 2007: The Revit Mixer

2007-12-03T10:55:00.000-05:00

Well, we thought we saw the last Revit Mixer in 2006, but it was back this year and bigger than ever. This was the fifth year the mixer was held and the first year I took the reins from Jim Balding, former AUGI Revit Community Chair. We had about 700 'mixing' attendees this year including the newly announced Revit BIM Experience Awards winners - Aedas of Hong Kong.

Several attendees had asked me to post the slide show I created from collected images and random tidbits of trivia. Below is an online version of it:

BIM and The Matrix

2007-11-21T20:44:00.000-05:00

All work and no play makes James a dull boy...or so the saying goes. I'm a big fan of The Matrix Trilogy - fact: I took an extended lunch when Revolutions came out to see it at the Lincoln Center IMAX! It's about time to begin my comparison of the movie and special effects phenomenon with building information modeling. Think about the idea of bringing the idea of adding time to one of the controls of a camera. This is the fundamental concept of "bullet time" cinematography - FX guru John Gaeta's modern adaptation of the concept that predates cinema itself. Remember all those 'swinging' Gap commercials with "Jump Jive an' Wail"? Even more recent Advil commericals...c'mon!

Now think about BIM...what used to be 2D (plans, sections, elevations) and 3D (renderings) can now have an element of time (4D) as well. In Revit, we can assign building objects to phases - even link them to project schedules in Navisworks. We can use tools like Ecotect to simulate characteristics of space and material. But I digress.

As I make final preparations for AU, I have stumbled across one of my favorite 'viral videos.' Imagine producing The Matrix live - without any special effects? Check out "Matrix Ping Pong"...

Green Design: Project Chicago

2007-11-16T19:14:00.000-05:00

While buried in my preparation for Autodesk University (Nov 26-30), I overheard some of my colleagues reporting in from the GreenBuild conference in Chicago about a great presentation from Phil Bernstein, VP at Autodesk, on their latest vaporware effort code named "Project Chicago." Autodesk has recently posted a video of this concept on their website. While the concept relies heavily on LEED credits for sustainability instead of a more open conduit, this demonstration is probably one of the first holistic approaches to the integration of BIM tools for design, modeling, visualization, simulation and analysis that I've seen to date.

Click here to link to the Project Chicago website.

BIM Discussion at Global Design Alliance

2007-09-28T20:55:00.001-04:00

I was recently asked to participate in a panel on BIM implementation and experience for the Global Design Alliance (GDA), an "international network of dynamic design, planning and construction firms who are committed to growth and change." Our panel consisted of experts from Zetlin & De Chiara, Marsh, Lexington Insurance, Turner Construction, Beck and KPF along with me from SOM. So what do lawyers, risk advisors and insurance companies have to do with BIM implementation? Plenty.

One of the major factors in collaboration with building information modeling is risk management. As I see it, there are two basic methods of categorizing these types of risk - design/build consortia and design-bid-build. If a single company operates in design/build, risk management from data collaboration is minimal; however, when design firms and construction companies work together to deliver a project, risk management is critical. In many countries around the world, different approaches to project delivery such as the "Project Alliance" are being used to acheive goals and avoid litigation. You can read more about Project Alliances in Lachmi Khemlani's article on the 2006 AIA Integrated Practice Convention. This type of delivery approach is different than design-bid-build and can be described in a simple way.

I've always heard the expression, "throwing drawings over the fence," when referring to collaboration between design team, bidders and contractors. With BIM tools, we are now able to throw a complete (but scaled) model of the building over the fence. Hopefully, the receiving parties will have a much better understanding of the design intent with the model instead of a bunch of 2D drawings. Does BIM eliminate the fence? No. The fence remains and can be seen as a safety barrier if you equate the fence with your Digital Data Disclaimer. A properly written disclaimer ensures that the design team is merely sending a better and more complete representation of the design intent. The BIM data does not imply means and methods of construction and is being shared as a courtesy to the other project team constituents. Results of estimates, schedules and analyses derived from the Architect's or Engineer's 3D model are still the responsibility of the contractors, fabricators and estimators. The design/build or Project Alliance approach eliminates the fence, thus the data is more closely integrated.

While companies such as Lexington Insurance offer coverage for project teams such as "cyber risk insurance," the insurance industry is taking a 'wait and see' approach to BIM. This is not unexpected because new types of insurance seem to appear only after something bad happens. An interesting summary of the most common claims in building project lawsuits include the following:

Deficiencies in detail

Inadequate coordination

Deviations in submittals

Excessive changes

Failure to meet requirements

Today's BIM tools can serve to address these issues in a variety of ways. Deficiencies in detail are reduced with a better understanding of the proposed design through virtual construction. Tools like Navisworks, in concert with 3D modeling tools, facilitate coordination with automated interference detection. Deviations in submittals should be reduced because the quality of data being "thrown over the fence" is greatly enhanced. There may be nothing a design team can do about excessive changes by an owner/developer; however, these may be reduced by the design requirements being adequately addressed. This can be acheived through integrated program design tools such as Trelligence Affinity and energy analysis tools such as Ecotect or IES <Virtual Environment>. Hopefully, insurance companies will recognize the risk avoidance benefits of BIM tools and begin to offer discounted rates to the AEC industry.

Some other important tidbits and open questions from the discussion:

Michael Zetlin Esq. reminds us that "standard of care" is not defined by the client, rather by similarly practicing professionals. Use of BIM does not require architects and engineers to address means and methods of construction.

How 'front-loaded' should the BIM process be? Is the design team responsible for coordination? This must be defined in the scope of work!

Should risk be allocated across the entire project team including the owner who may have required BIM data delivery in the first place?

Is open sharing of model data the best risk management task as is distributes risk?

Under BIM, are deliverables now considered 'products,' not 'services' thus exposing the design team to additional risk?

Building information modeling is not a standardized process yet. All project teams handle it in different ways.

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Archicad vs. Revit

2007-09-11T19:18:00.001-04:00

A shootout or bake-off between Graphisoft's Archicad and Autodesk's Revit has been proposed in user forums more times than I can keep track of. A recent thread in the AUGI forums titled "Put up or shut up" outlines some of the inherent flaws in such a demonstration. You would need different types of similar projects, expert and novice users for each platform and a realistic set of criteria to judge the performance of each program. A few years ago, we launched an investigation into the three major BIM platform providers - Autodesk, Bentley and Graphisoft - with a series of questions related to functionality we think we would need based on an extensive inward discovery process. To no one's surprise, the questionnaires returned stating that each vendor could achieve most if not all our requirements. The proof would be in HOW each platform performed these tasks.

When I want to buy a new washing machine, digital camera or television, or perhaps see a newly released movie, I will do some research and dig into user reviews on the most populated websites. I will not go see "Hot Rod" just because the critic in the Post gave it 3 stars (purely fiction, no offense to the Post). In my opinion, surveying public opinion makes for better decicions.

What's this have to do with the post title? After receiving a trial copy of Archicad 11 from Graphisoft, I was recently made aware that they now offer a free 30-day trial to anyone with an internet connection (see link below). Way back around Version 7, I attempted to learn a little about this program to gain a more objective view of competing programs, but Graphisoft insisted on participation in a training program before any testing or trials. I'm glad things have changed and as a result, I'll be embarking on a journey to review the interactive training content and teach myself Archicad. I spend about 2 hours each workday on the train during which I'll be taking copious notes and sharing them here in regular installments.

Download the free BIM software with Interactive Learning and Certification Test

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Implementing BIM

2007-09-07T09:17:00.001-04:00

In a region dominated by Autodesk products, the adoption of Revit has been steadily growing for the past couple of years. According to the Rogers software adoption curve, we seem to be moving into the zone of "early majority" where the program is more commonly accepted and the masses are seeking guidance, information and anecdotes from the early adopters. In recent months, I have been frequently asked in no specific terms...how do I get started with BIM? This post will outline some resources and tips to help you begin implementation of a building information modeling tool.

Assuming your company has done its homework and is familiar with what BIM is and how it is transforming our industry, the task of implementing and managing change begins. In my opinion, the best results can be acheived with BOTH a top-down and a bottom-up approach. First, the leaders within your organization must take a public stand on the technology objectives, providing support if only on a conceptual level. A clear and decisive mission statement goes a long way in convincing reluctant project teams throughout the company. Second and equally important is the identification of those individuals within your organization who could learn the new tools, guide project teams and groom future leaders. These needn't be experts in the particular software you're trying to implement; rather people who are fast learners, have excellent communication skills and exhibit some form of leadership ability. These 'mavericks' should be personally involved in the first few pilot projects undertaken during early implementation.

For your first few projects, it is wise to consult with extenal resources offering both technical and business expertise. While most viable sources (see list below) can be costly ($1,500-$2,000 per day and up, not including expenses), we have found it to be a worthy investment. Such consulting resources can analyze your current business practices and help you focus on the results of your first projects by customizing essential elements such as training, best practices and manuals. I've listed a few consulting resources below based on our experience, but you can always start with your software's reseller or dealer.

Books

"Introducing and Implementing Autodesk Revit" by James Balding and Lay Christopher Fox

"Introducing Revit Architecture 2008" by Eddy Krygiel, Greg Demchak and Tatjana Dzambazova

"Mastering Autodesk Revit Building" by Paul Aubin

Training/Consulting

Autodesk Consulting

CDV Systems

Imaginit

Other Suggestions

Regularly scheduled internal user meetings

Monthly reviews of BIM projects

AUGI Local Chapter meetings

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Clever Anagrams

2007-08-31T14:35:00.000-04:00

DORMITORY = DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN = BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER = MOON STARER
DESPERATION = A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES = THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH = HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE = HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINE = CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY = IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS = LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS = ALAS! NO MORE Z'S
A DECIMAL POINT = I'M A DOT IN PLACE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO = TWELVE PLUS ONE
MOTHER-IN-LAW = WOMAN HITLER

All Things Navisworks?

2007-07-25T23:24:00.000-04:00

These days you can't find a story about BIM implementation in large firms without referring to the use of Navisworks - a robust 3D collaboration and coordination platform. With the recent announcement of Autodesk's intent to acquire Navisworks, I felt it timely and relevant to discuss the potential of this acquisition and give a brief background on this program. A historical examination of Autodesk acquisitions reveals several fates to which a subsumed product can succumb. Think of Softdesk's Auto-Architect which vanished after their purchase...or, more recently of Robobat which was announced, but apparently never executed. Finally, let us remember April 1, 2002 - when Autodesk incorporated Revit Technologies into their portfolio of Building Solutions products. To condense the thoughts of many devoted Revit fans into the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." We all know now that noble intentions were indeed underlying the wallets of big A.

Navisworks is a 3D viewing engine in which one can open and integrate about 150 different 3D file formats for the purpose of model review - or "3D spell checking" according to one of it's main competitors, Solibri. The company is based in Sheffield, UK with representation in several other countries around the world. Their product/module line has some peculiar names and is organized as follows:

JetStream: The overall conglomeration of modules. One can purchase a seat of JetStream, which includes all modules listed below.

Roamer: The core model experience engine and the minimum requirement for building a collaborative 3D file set.

Presenter: Adds the ability to assign photorealistic materials and lighting to imported geometry

Clash Detective: Probably the most valuable (and thusly most expensive) module. Provides the ability to automate clash detection between 3D elements, including the ability to perform 'soft' or clearance detection, generate reports, as well as custom views of each clash.

Timeliner: Adds 4D or timeline simulation to the Navisworks file set. This data can be imported and synchronize with programs such as MS Project, Primavera or ASTA Power Project.

Freedom: The free viewer for clients and other downstream recipients

While JetStream does not have any native modeling tools, it has the ability to construct a "file set" of reference data. As an example, these file sets might be comprised of a CIS/2 structural model, exported Revit Architecture model, and DWG model from Autocad MEP. Some file formats can be opened directly in Navisworks where others must be exported from the original platform with an exporter tool included with the Jetstream installation. In reality, the exporters emulate what happens when Navisworks 'natively' opens a model file (keep an eye on the folder of a file when you open it in JetStream).

The most common question I receive is "where is the Navisworks exporter for Revit?" Older installation packages of Navisworks would automatically find the related installations of Revit and add the exporter to Revit's INI file. For reasons unknown, they have ceased this process - opting to leave it in the hands of the users, but not necessarily telling anyone about it. Through Navisworks customer support, I learned how to enable the exporters for Revit and other programs.

Go to your Windows Control Panel and select Add or Remove Programs.
Find Navisworks JetStream and click Change/Remove.
Use the Modify option and click Next.
Choose the Plugins for the CAD/BIM software you have and click Next.

Keeping it real

2007-06-22T12:53:00.000-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to visit two of our projects under construction within one week! Anyone who wonders why Architects do what they do despite the apparent lack of a monster paycheck just doesn't understand the inherent desire to design, construct and experience the built environment. It is the lifeblood of each and every Architect, Engineer and Designer on the planet.

While visiting our Chicago office, we were given a tour of the Trump International Hotel and Tower project along the Chicago River on Michigan Avenue. You might remember this project as the assignment of choice by Bill Rancic, the winner of the first season of NBC's "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump. As of my visit, construction has been completed to about the 30th floor out of 92. It's a concrete structure using PERI formwork. In the slideshow, you'll see some of the rebar cages for columns staged on one of the setback terraces for the construction above as well as the impressive hotel room views of the Chicago River. An interesting design feature is the curtain wall enclosure of the double-helix garage ramps at the rear entrance of the building.

Pictures:

Back home in New York, I attended the topping-out ceremony for the 101 Warren Street project, located just north of the World Trade Center site and 7 World Trade Center. Like Trump Tower, this project is also comprised of a concrete structure; however, it is being erected with more traditional formwork. It was interesting to see both projects within such a short time span.

Pictures: