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

Uses of Databases in Design Offices

Databases in the design office environment are like professionally trained personal assistants who can respond to various types of commends with a click of a button. Designers mainly benefit from archive databases which can provide multiple disciplines of information immediately while working on a project. Design companies are starting to build their own databases which archive all the designs they have produced before and all the research which went behind the completion of all those designs. For example University of Salford, UK and John McCall Architects (JMA) are collaborating on producing a database which will assist with a process known as Knowledge Management which can provide aid to designers at JMA to work more efficiently on their projects.

The database for the Knowledge Management strategy will act as an employee of the firm which knows every detail of work that the firm performed to date which will always stay with the firm never to be lost due to retirement, termination, or so on. Additionally this virtual employee’s knowledge will be accessible for all employees all the time through the database setup with “features including the incorporation of video and audio clips, links to external authoritative sources, content qualifiers in the form of source or reference metadata, and annotation capabilities to capture tacit knowledge” (Egbu and Sidawai). So let’s say an structural engineer is designing a special joint which he or she is not fully sure of how to encounter the design of that joint, the designer can search their companies’ database and see if that type of joint with similar constraints was design before in any of their projects. If so the designer does not have to start from scratch because the database will provide the history and facts about that design such as the efficiency, positivity, problematic factors, constraints to be caution with and so on.      

          

The database being used for Knowledge Management process at JMA is one of many different types of databases which are part of the design industry today. As Maria Gonzalez mentioned in her blog post of how databases are part of the BIM design process which provide the functionality of keeping information of all the different components of the building which results in the facilitation of documentation, cost estimations, and etc. which allows designers to work more efficiently saving cost and time. Both the database Maria and I mentioned provide better efficiency leading to common benefits of saving time and cost, some key results of successful databases.   

Sources:

(Egbu and Sidawai) http://www.itcon.org/data/works/att/2012_5.content.03794.pdf

Uses of databases in design offices

Database consists of a collection of data for multiple uses.  They are structure to collect and store information so the users can add, update or retrieve the information automatically. Databases are use daily in a wide different range from cellphone contact lists to architectural elements.  Daily architectural and engineering firms are being influenced by computer technology. Due to the advance in software (BIM) and hardware there is a greater access to more information or data. For architects and engineers, the main purpose of a database in a design program is that it stores real size elements of buildings, and enhance its design.

In design offices where building intelligent model is being use databases are more commonly created and apply throughout building design process. Being able to use this data architects have realize they save significantly on time and costs in work functions such as documentation and cost estimating. These benefits occur because databases allowed change to be made in the design and automatically updated in other design documents. When a door is deleted in a plan view the same door is deleted in the section view and the door count is automatically updated in the schedule. Another important benefit is the fact that databases are share with multiple users independent models such as architectural, MEP and structural can be created independently and merged periodically. 

Companies that make building element/fixtures have also take advantages of database by providing firms models of their product to store and use on their designs. This facilitates the architect when designing because they are using real size fixtures/element in real life spacing, while companies advertise and sell their product. This improves the projects coordination and space efficiency. While researching this topic I found Focal Point BIM database, which provides files for use with Revit MEP and Revit Architecture for the different designers needs.

While reading Elda’s blog I realized and learn that databases have a greater range that I was aware off. Database managements systems are (DBMS) are use by humans daily. People use their baking systems, ticket reservations systems, among others. These databases are powerful tools safe time for the customers who can do this from the comfort of their homes. This tool allows people to link information between programs and store data. 

Sources:

http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=12&C=838&P=1

http://www.arcadisus.com/Content/ArcadisUS/docs/Buildings/ARCADIS_White_Paper_Building_Information_Modeling_Halvorson.pdf

http://www.focalpointlights.com/resources/BIM.html

Project Topic: Intelligent and/or Green Buildings

For the term project, I will be focusing on the topic of “Intelligent and/or Green” with Gabrielle Carpenter.  I chose this topic because green buildings a hot topic of today in the building industry and I thought it would be interesting to explore the relationship between green and intelligent buildings. I don’t much background in either subject but I figured this would be a great opportunity to learn more about green buildings and intelligent buildings.

Intelligent, energy-efficient buildings are expected to be an important part of future energy systems.

There are practically no limits to the number of functions that can be incorporated into intelligent buildings: lighting, heating/ventilation, climate control and energy management among others. I’m very interested in how these systems will contribute to the “green image” of the building.   

As G. Carpenter mentioned in her post, I think the biggest challenge with our project is going to be finding information of intelligent buildings because they are referenced in many different ways and there is not one single description of an intelligent building. Everyone has their own definition of what exactly an intelligent building is.

Project: Intelligent and/or Green

For my term project, I will be focusing on the topic “Intelligent and/or Green”.  I really wanted to work on this topic for two reasons.  The first reason is that I have been interested in green buildings since high school.  I was in a magnet program in high school that focused on the environment.  The program not only showed us what was currently out there (we visited a landfill and an incinerator) and what was emerging technology (we visited BP’s solar cell factory and learned a little bit about alternative building materials, like hay bales), but also taught us about the pros and cons of everything (existing and emerging).  During my senior year of high school is when green buildings were just starting to make a name for themselves and people were starting to really analyze their impacts.  It was also at this time that construction of the Philip Merrill Center, headquarters of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, had been completed.  The Philip Merrill Center is the first LEED Platinum building; it was so “green” that USGBC had to create the Platinum certification for it because it exceeded the Gold certification standard by such a large amount.  Since it was the agenda of the program to turn out “save the trees (and the animals and the catfish and the spiders and the ….)” high school graduates (who would then hopefully go on and become lawyers or engineers or anyone who would be able to change policies to save the planet), we drove 2 hours to visit the CBF headquarters.  From that day on, I knew that I wanted to be a part of the green industry – whether it was design or construction.  At my alma mater, we were encouraged to always think sustainably.  When we learned new material, someone would inevitably always ask about its sustainability and life cycle.  Thankfully, I get to work at the company that constructed the Merrill Center and try to realize my dream to construct every building “green”.  Since I will be able to make green buildings a part of my career, I chose this topic to learn more about the topic I am so passionate about.

Secondly, I know very little about intelligent buildings.  When I used to hear the term “intelligent buildings”, it was usually the TV version of intelligent buildings that popped into my mind – house that talks to you, cooks food for you, etc.  From the first couple of classes, I know that this may be a future version of intelligent buildings, but right now intelligent buildings are about how they regulate themselves.  This regulation may be adjusting the temperature in a room to be a set temperature or adjusting window shades to allow more or less light inside.  From the knowledge I have of sustainability and how it pertains to green buildings, I am very interested to learn how these two combine with intelligent buildings and how it makes each of the them better.

As Matthew wrote in his blog, infrastructure improvement is a dire need for this country.  The last time this country pushed for infrastructure improvements was in the 60's.  This means that the majority of our infrastructure is over 50 years old and reaching the end of its design lifespan.  The longer we wait to improve infrastructure, the more we jeopardize the safety of the public that we are committed to protect.  In Matthew's post, he also mentioned the importance of improving water systems and conserving water.  As he says, water in this country is taken for granted as we assume that we will have clean water to drink and use when we turn on the faucet.  This assumption is quickly becoming history as the population grows and fresh water is becoming a scare resource.  Through our urban development, we have drastically reduced the pervious surfaces that allow water to infiltrate the ground and recharge our aquifers.  Instead, this water runs off into our surface waters carrying pollutants, which leads to contaminated and dirty water.  Ignoring the problem will lead to countries having to implement other, more expensive, methods at turning unusable water (e.g. saltwater) into drinking water.  Unfortunately, despite the continuing decline in water availability, it remains a minor issue with green buildings.  When I was studying for my LEED exam, I noticed that the section on water management was small compared to the other topics.  When you look at the 2009 scorecard, Water Efficiency only has 10 points compared to 26 for Sustainable Sites and 35 points for Energy and Efficiency.  Only Innovation and Design (6 points) and Regional Priority (4 points) are less than Water Efficiency.  This limitation with green buildings is something that I will be addressing in my paper.

I think the biggest challenge of this project is going to be finding material on intelligent buildings.  Green buildings will be easy to find as everyone is talking about green buildings and their impacts on the triple bottom line.  Intelligent buildings though may be referenced it various terms in research papers which may make them difficult to find.

USGBC LEED Green Associate Study Guide. Washington, DC: U.S. Green Building Council, 2009. Print.

Common Topic Labels for the Course

Below are topics that we'll address in the course.  This post also creates those topics as Labels for use when you're putting in your own blog posts.

TOPIC

AI

BIM

Building

Civil

Computer

Database

Design

Electrical

Environmental

Future

Hardware

HVAC

Manufacturing

Robotics

Sensor

Software

Structures

System

Term Project