Course Reflection

     When I first signed up for this “Intelligent Buildings” course, I was very intrigued by the name and how it would relate to the class. Throughout the term, we covered four major topics in class: BIM, sensors, databases, and robotics. I feel that Intelligent Buildings are a field I am much more aware of, thanks to the four major topics that we studied. For instance, I learned that BIM is important to intelligent buildings, because of the relationship it creates with the building and the designer. Like Natasha, one of my favorite guest lecturers was Eric of KlingStubbins, because his BIM presentation was really captivating from the beginning. Some of the features that his company are developing, I feel will be integral to the future of on-site design. He introduced a program similar to the Google glasses, which allows one to see different information about buildings. This also linked together the other topics relevant to an intelligent building. BIM is starting to rely more and more on databases that are stored wirelessly via a cloud, which shows the connection between the two.

                Aside from the general connections between certain topics, I like the way the course was ran. Dividing into different groups, like many others stated, was very helpful. Being able to hear someone else’s opinions only benefits us, because we are listening to something new, or  hearing it a different way that makes a topic easier to understand. Like Ben-David mentioned though, although the class was interesting, it would have been better if it was divided into two different sections. I felt that some of the topics would have still been discussed with as much detail, just divided up differently. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and learned a lot about the future of design, BIM.

Group C - High Rise CIA Facility

The building we are focusing on is a high rise office building in Washington, DC. The building will be a 36 story office facility for the CIA.  Because this is a government building with an assumed large budger, advanced building intelligence and maximum security are both top priorities.
In terms of programming, BIM would be highly useful in allotting spaces for highly classified areas and creating a flow of spaces based on security clearances.  BIM and cost analysis would be the primary technologies in the design process.  BIM would be used to integrate all building systems and to satisfy the client's needs regarding security. Sensors play an important role in security and monitoring systems for energy efficiency. For bidding and approval, the municipality, contractors, and owners would be the key stakeholders. BIM, a building program database, and structural model would all be used in this stage of the building process through cost analyses and permit approvals.
All stakeholders would be involved in the construction process. BIM, surveys, and regional models would all be utilized through construction management.  These technologies would be used to make the building process more efficient. Sensors would be the most important technology during the occupancy of the building.  They would be used to control temperature, humidity, and lighting to control the building conditions. BIM and building analyses would be used during any required renovations as well as the demolition process.

Key conclusions:
high security
low energy
well integrated building automation system
database integration

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11zHlbeyAH2uO-qwbqSojYviIMqF4eBdOyr3su7oHtTs/edit?usp=sharing

Databases in Design Offices

                 With Building Information Modeling becoming a primary method of design, the industry is changing in terms of what qualities are desired at design firms today. Drafting programs are a fairly new technology being that major programs such as AutoCAD was only introduced in the 90's. Although 20 years might seem long, it’s a fairly small period in terms of how long architectural and engineering design has been around. Along with other major aspects of BIM such as 3-D modeling, and ease of use, the ability to share and distribute models is also essential to these  type of programs.With programs such as Revit becoming more widely used, the ability to upload and download pre-made models has been a big selling point for many companies. Like AutoCAD uses “X-Refs” to link to other AutoCAD files, many BIM programs such as Revit have an internal databasethat can also be updated with online databases.

            
                 A database is described as “an organized collection of data”. In BIM design, databases have preinstalled  information that can be useful when using the program for design. These databases are useful in design offices today because they can save a lot of time when drafting up a floor plan or creating a building model. One of the big benefits of these databases is the ability to work together on one project at different times. As Maria stated, this can be useful when multiple users create independent Architectural, Mechanical, or Structural plans that can later be merged together. Aside from having just plans or certain "entourage" within a building, building costs and materials can also be archived into separate databases. 

            
                Aside from being able to create new models, and share data, databases greatly reduce design time because of the way they're programmed. Databases are used to archive a lot of data, and thus can use key words, or certain identifications that makes finding any type of element or archive, extremely easy. . For example, typically in drafting programs such as AutoCAD, when one would draft plans they would have to  be drawn as lines with proper dimensions. Instead, a door in Revit, can be simply created by loading a “family” stored in Revit’s internal database. A family in Revit can be considered a database on its own because it holds lots of different information about the door such as dimensions, material properties, offsets, and so on. Some of the more up to date BIM databases also have current manufacturers and costs.  As we discussed in class, in the future, the wireless networks and "clouds" will have to be more efficient for the vast amount of data that will be stored in virtual space.

               

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database

http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=12&C=838

Week 5: Term Project - BIM through the Life Cycle

My term project is based on exploring the benefits of using Building Information Modeling throughout the entire life cycle of a building project. This will include all traditional phases of a project, including the Bidding phase, Design phase, and Construction phase. However, much more can be done with BIM to assure the building continues to run at an optimal efficiency and maintains its effectiveness at servicing its users.

Through some of the research and blog posts that have been done up to date, we can see some of the benefits that will be elaborated on within my project for the use of BIM during the design phase. Some of these include the collaboration between contractors and the ability to have interdisciplinary building information. Also, while there may be various “hands in the pot” during the design of a building project, the use of BIM will allow for clash detection and in turn save lots of time and money. Along with the same idea in mind of saving time and money, using BIM in the design phase can help with construction planning and estimating along with the prefabrication and procurement of construction materials. The more that can be established prior to reaching the construction site, the more time and money can be saved. During the construction phase of a project, one can use BIM for onsite verification and guidance along the way. Also BIM can be used to keep track of any additions or modifications a contractor may make during construction in order to have a log of any and all changes to previous designs.

What many people may not usually associate design programs and Building Information Modeling with is the life of a building after it is already constructed. This is where I believe the majority of my term project will focus so as to look into new ways and ideas in using BIM to give a building a better future, last longer, and keep up to date with the fast-changing world around it. BIM can be used to plan schedules for and track maintenance, optimize operability, and help maintain a building’s serviceability to its users.

I believe there is a long future ahead for BIM and that many more advantages (and challenges) will arise as our technologically advancing world continues to strive for efficiency.

Term Project Description

For projects large and small, complex and simple, architects and other building industry professionals around the world use Autodesk Revit today for building design, documentation, construction and management. So it is critical to completely master this important software. For my term project I will be use Revit to design a 2 floor house and install HAVC system in it. I wanted to do this because as we have discussed in class the industry that we all want to work in is heading in the direction of completely digital 3D BIMs in order to complete construction projects in the future. The future intelligent building will be tightly related with BIM software like Revit and it will become a basic requirement in china for next decade. As a student major in HVAC, I also interest in the energy analysis tool embed in the Revit. Because the energy consumption will be more and more important factor when evaluate a building.

With my partner Wang Chunyi, we plan to present a sheet, composed of house floor plan, elevations and HAVC system construction and its distribution in the house. We also want to generate one report recording all the technical problems we meet and how we solve them. Within the drawing process, we can share the experiences and how to make the design effective and powerful. We can summary what we have learned through the design process.

After reading other posts, I think Rita Pauliushchyk 's group topic about use of sensors in W.W. Hagerty Library is very practical. Since we spend a lot of time studying library, it is critical to analyze the library to see how people feel in its environment and related to sensors. And other people choose intelligent/green building as there topic like Gabrielle Carpenter. Because of energy limitation, the green building is the future direction of our industry. I am also interest in how to design and operate properly in order to make building friendly with environment. As she mentioned in post, I hope to know more about LEED certification and improvement suggestion for their evaluation standard. I am looking forward to hear what they find.

Term Project Description

For my term project, I have chosen to create a fully functioning Revit model of a sustainable elementary school. This model will coincide with my senior design project, which is a submission to the ASCE Charles Pankow Foundation Annual Architectural Engineering Student Competition. Each year, the competition assigns a building with a slew of specifications. This year, the building must be an elementary school located in Reading, PA. The school must encompass several features including a green roof, a pool, community spaces, classrooms, offices, restrooms, a kitchen, a nurses office, a library, as well as an art classroom. My senior design team's interpretation of this project is to create a school that will be both energy efficient and sustainable, and a school that will adapt easily to the future demands of education.

Considering that I have previous experience with Revit, I thought that this would be a nice challenge in expanding my knowledge of the software. I believe that having a functioning model will also enhance my team's final design and presentation for the competition as well as for Drexel's senior design experience. My project differs from many other students in the sense that it is directly related to the capabilities of BIM technologies. However I feel that students such as Gabrielle, who are touching on the intelligent versus green projects will correlate to my project in a larger sense.

The specific challenges that I am hoping to address are:

-To create fully functioning "spaces" within the building which will give various data to a schedule which encompasses items such as: occupancy per room, area, volume, etc.

-To have several "model rooms" which are fit out completely with architectural and engineering components. Including finished architectural surfaces, furniture, mechanical systems, plumbing systems, and electrical systems.

-To add functioning mechanical components, which calculate items such as flow.

-To add landscaping features, as well as the green roofs that are required by the competition.

Hopefully the elements that I plan to add to the building information model will aid in helping me to gain a better understanding of Revit MEP and Revit Architecture software.


Sources:
http://content.asce.org/studentcompetition/guidelines.html

Comment Left On:
http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/02/term-project.html?showComment=1359931761252#c2306524679662754443

Future Look - BIM for Owners and Facility Managers

A difference I noticed between the 2008 and 2011 editions of the BIM handbook was that in 2008 the handbook focused on the benefits of 3D drafting, while the 2011 edition focused much more on the benefits of 3D drafting for an integrative design process. In 2008, all disciplines could make separate models and eventually bring them together to form a cohesive design. Now, and in the 2011 version, it is possible for all disciplines to work together from the beginning of the design process using BIM.

This version of the handbook introduced the concept of Integrated Project Delivery. A difference this poses for owners is that they are now responsible for specifying the required scope and level of detail they want for a project before design begins. The design process is now changing in that multiple people are working on a design at the same time, which poses new legal issues concerning responsibility. As Kayleigh stated in her post, "the development of standards is a pivotal and important step in creating a cohesive use of the new method." Owners must understand and be able to communicate in BIM terms exactly what they want from their architects, engineers, and contractors, who will be responsible for what, and when. Like what Eric talked about in class last Tuesday, each project is unique and requires the owner to create BIM standards for every project.

Right now it seems that we have the technology to create fully integrated models between all disciplines but we do not have the proper space or memory to create files that large. On page 188 in the 2011 Handbook it states, “two to five years ago the creation of an integrated model required extensive effort on the part of a project team and dedicated technical expertise to support the integration. Today, many of BIM design tools have matured and provide integration capabilities between several disciplines at the generic object level. “ It seems that most members of my group agree that in the future, companies will have IT departments specifically there for BIM support to help address these issues.  With these advances, we also see performance issues with this technology. Within the next ten to fifteen years, I imagine this space to become accessible, and the norm will be for project design to be fully integrative from the beginning design stages. 

The Future of BIM Interoperability

I agree with Nathan that BIM will be integrated into the construction process regardless of problems with information transfer. While interoperability is admittedly a difficult and unavoidable problem in the current push for BIM as the industry standard for transfer of design information, I see some hope for improvement in the near future.

Within the next 5 years, it is my opinion that interoperability among programs within a specific software provider's repertoire (for instance, all Autodesk products) will improve to the point of near fluidity, so that there is even transfer to a central database of all aspects in a model. (This is one example of such a case in recent history) As Mr. Kuszewski discussed "saving to central" and "cloud-based computing" last week, it became evident that this level of capability is certainly present and need only be implemented across all products in a process known to the scholarly community as "data alignment." In essence, it is merely a process of organization and intentional consistency within a software group to facilitate interoperability and eliminate data loss between products/software-types.

However, in the same time period, I would not be surprised if the chasm of interoperability between competing software groups (ie. Autodesk vs. Bentley) widened. From the previous week's research, it seems like the degree of difficulty in information transfer is directly linked to the depth of information contained in a model. For instance, 2-D CAD models can very simply be converted to an open format, while 4 and even 5 dimensional models in Revit may contain a large amount of information about the individual building members that cannot be transferred cleanly to any other format than that in which they were created. By this line of reasoning, increasing capabilities of competing software types may likely complicate the transfer of data between them.

The solution to this un-interoperability, as Elda describes so well, might just be push for the IFC file format as a required standard. Despite many designer's aversion to this file type, it seems that on a global level, the IFC format is encouraged because it is an open source file type. The capabilities of design using this format are not as limited as one would think, and it certainly appears that they are improving. The Build Qatar event in 2012 was a great showcase of these capabilities.

Sources:

Aligning Misaligned Systemic Innovations: Probing Inter-Firm Effects Development in Project Networks

Intelligent distributed production control    

Asite announce BIM Academy, BIM Unlimited, Aidea and Niven Architects as winners of Build Qatar Live 2012

Week 4: The Future of BIM

I believe that BIM in the future will become the benchmark for the construction industry and will be the standard form of managing the critical design information of a building or any design project at hand.

When researching the future of BIM, I came across video I liked that was posted to www.archdaily.com featuring Patrick MacLeamy, Chief Executive Officer of HOK, and his description of the uses of BIM both now and in the future of projects to come. In summary, MacLeamy comes up with the mega acronym of “BIM-BAM-BOOM” to describe the various aspects of a construction project that BIM has come to be used for and can, when used correctly, optimize all facets of a building project. The original building design is supported by BIM and its ability to develop and test different design ideas. After designing, contractors use BIM as a Building Assembly Model or “BAM” allowing better scheduling and the facilitation of subcontractor coordination and cost control. Finally, over the lifetime of a building an owner can use BIM and BAM to optimize the building’s operation. In this stage of a project, the owner can put benefit by using BIM as a Building Operation Optimization Model or “BOOM” to manage the energy consumption of the building and schedule maintenance in an orderly fashion.

With this mindset, the use of BIM in the construction industry is almost limitless in its uses and becomes an ongoing method of optimization for a building as a whole. BIM has already come quite far in the construction industry and has become a very useful tool that continues to seek improvement to better serve its users’ needs. For this reason, I see BIM continuing to strive and becoming a crucial part of any and all construction projects.

I found my peer Lorena Alvarado's post this week (http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/01/bim-in-future_29.html) to be very interesting and have some key important statistical facts. As she mentioned, one of the main concerns of BIM at this current time is the "learning curve" and the training necessary for companies to efficiently make use of BIM programs. However, the increase from 43% (in 2008) to 60% (now in 2013) of architects in the United States using BIM shines a light of hope for the future and is proof that BIM will only move forward from here.

Sources:

http://www.archdaily.com/262008/the-future-of-the-building-industry-bim-bam-boom/

BIM in the Future

To this day, BIM has been very successful with its users and many companies benefit from it daily.  With this being said, we can expect great things in the future.  Considering the importance of data management throughout project constructions, BIM generates the data from beginning to end and from multiple users.  As an effective source of communication, BIM can solve many problems to clients as everything is made available to them.  An obstacle that exists nowadays is the fact that some people don’t know of the existence of BIM and don’t fully understand its advantages.  There will always be the people who don’t like change and are used to the way they have done it for some may years, call it the “old-fashion” way, and feel like there is no need to bring in anything new and ‘complicated’.  Due to this and in order to overcome this obstacle, colleges should introduce BIM to their students so that by the time they graduate college, they can be proficient and apply their skills in the workplace.  I agree with my fellow classmate, Gabriel Carpenter, who predicts what will happen in the workplace soon after the introduction of BIM: “either CAD drafters are expected to learn the new technology, entry-level engineers – who specify that they know the technology – are recruited to draft, or companies have to reach outside the company to hire another firm to do their BIM work for them.” In the end, the industry will be using and expecting everyone to use BIM.

            According to Mr. Eric Kuszewski, a BIM expert who has heavily worked with AutoCAD and Revit, admits that there are some challenges with BIM in the current time.  These include the learning curve and training, level of detailing, interdisciplinary workflow, IT infrastructure, and communication.  He expressed that nowadays BIM has these limitations that might make companies hold out and hesitate on using BIM.  Yet to counteract this argument, Dell and DB+C claimed that “in the United States, architects are the heaviest users of BIM, using it on more than 60% of their projects, compared with 43% of architects who claimed to be BIM users in 2008".  From this, we can deduce that in the next five years twenty percent more, approximately a total of 80%, of architects will be using BIM.  In addition, Jennifer M. McGregor, Executive Director of Obelisk, predicted, “In the next three years, we’ll all be converted to using BIM”.  These optimistic expectations are enough proof that the BIM world is quickly spreading throughout the industries.  

Sources:

http://www.wbdg.org/pdfs/1103_dell_bdc_whitepaper.pdf

http://iidahq.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/the-future-is-here-and-its-bim/