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.

AE510 Overview

Looking back I can definitely say I found this class to be one of the most interesting classes I have taken here at Drexel University. Not only did this course open multiple discussions on intelligent building topics which are not explored in undergraduate architectural engineering classes but also provide an enjoyable experience while gaining new knowledge. Taking this class has provided me with few reality checks and also provided a platform to acquire new skill sets with will be beneficial in my line of work but also help improve my resume as David Morrison mentioned.     

Taking about reality checks, for the past four years I have been attending Drexel University I have been presented with my major of Architectural and Civil Engineering from closed educational point of view. But it was not until this course I was encouraged to start looking at the career I am pursuing from a real world prospect of what I have been taught and learned during my last couple years here at Drexel. The topics of weekly blog posts and presentations of public speakers were the key features of this class which made this possible. For example entering this class I considered myself as a well experienced Autodesk Revit user, thinking of the software being still pretty new to the Architecture, Civil and Mechanical Engineering world. But after hearing the presentations of Eric Kuszewski from KlingStunnins and Huw Roberts from Bentley about Building Information Modeling (BIM) and its presences in the real world today, that my skill set of 3D modeling software is very  minimal compared to average standards employers are pursuing today. So I agree with Nathan Barry and Lorena Alvarado mentioning in their posts that the guest speakers invited to the class were well selected as they really knew what they were talking about but also presented the information in a manner which did not bore the students in the process.    

  

Two main skills I was able to gain from this course was the ability to create a family in Revit and creating a database in Microsoft Access. Now knowing how to create families in Revit I will be able to create custom structure components to provide 3D section details on construction drawings which I had difficulty doing previously during my past coop. Additionally many structural engineering concepts and methods are being carried out with computer software such as SAP2000 which are all mainly running on databases. So learning the basic concept of database and how they work provide a better understanding of the concept of how these structural analysis software works. Also having this intuition of database and its operation behind the main interface can help error screen results which the software provides efficiently. Having gained these two skill sets was the most beneficial aspect of the course.      

The course was well structured and multiple concepts of intelligent building were presented to the students as an introduction class for the topic of intelligent building. Each subtopic presented in the class can be turned into its individual 10 week class. I have heard of rumors of architectural engineering department adding a new concentration of digital building and I believe this course would make a great introduction class for that concentration.  

Class Reflections

Personally, I believe that it is pretty much impossible to not gain any kind of knowledge out of the class that spans over the 10 week period and incorporates so many different assignments, speakers, blogs, class discussions, and etc. As many students in the class, I have found the overall experience of AE 510 to be very beneficial. Although the structure of the class was a bit convoluted, I thought that in the end it served its purpose to introduce us to all these concepts, all of which were ultimately related to the whole point of the class – Intelligent buildings. Yes, some of the topics were not addressed in full detail; however, I have stopped expecting a great deal of depth on a certain subject after studying at Drexel for over four years just purely due to the hectic schedule of our school. I believe this is where individual learning should come in regarding a certain topic of the class that was of especial interest.

I thought that the weekly presentations by guest speakers were one of the highlights of the class. It is always more interesting to get an insider view on the benefits and actual uses of databases or sensors, for example. Possibly two of my favorite speakers ended up being Eric Kuszewski and Travis Peyton simply because of the topics that they covered.  Mr. Kuszewki’s coverage of the benefits of Revit and BIM was very interesting since it was about something that I am bound to deal with during my professional career but unfortunately don’t know that much about. Travis Peyton covered one of my favorite topics of building retrofit with a special focus on sensors. I was sad to learn, however, that it may not be that beneficial after all to try to optimize buildings smaller in size (under 35,000 sq ft). Also I agree with Nathan that unfortunately the lecture presented by Dr. Il-Yeol Song seemed a bit redundant and possibly should have just replaced the class discussion of databases in the previous class.

The only downside of the class for me were the assignment deadlines that ended up being all piled up on the same week. The weekend prior to that Tuesday when everything was due, I would constantly find myself stuck in the lab for many hours. I can also sympathize with Maria when she mentions that she has lost a lot of points for the database assignment because of the lack of forms, the same mistake I have done. I can’t help but agree with Elda and other students in the class on the benefits of databases for an Architectural engineer that I have been clueless about prior to the beginning of the this class. 

Course Reflection:

The class purpose is to give students the tools to learn as much as they want about databases, sensors and intelligent/green buildings. The basic of this class is focus on student doing research for these main topics, learning and discussing the different aspects of each.

At the start of the class I believe the topic I knew most about was green and intelligent buildings, because it has become very popular in the past years.

To myself I believe I got most from the sensors, robotics and database topics because I wasn’t aware about the variety and influence they have or will have in our life and profession.

Dr. Il-Yeol Song was the guest speaker I learn the most from. His presentation was enjoyable and easy to follow with tons of new information that I had little to no knowledge about. I feel all guest speakers should do their presentations on a classroom. Being in the computer lab makes people loose focus easily from having a computer in front of them.

I would recommend Prof. Mitchell in the future to make requirements for the database project clearer. I personally feel that on my final database project I got points out for not doing forms, but when I check the assignment details I believe forms where not required. I might have missed this due to the different places where information is put at. For future, maybe only have one page people can refer to.

For the homework deadlines I feel there were weeks in which there was only a blog due and then next week there was database, blog and draft. I would personally prefer that the amount of work is spread out evenly among the weeks. 

Overall, I feel the class is structure in a way that it’s up to students decision how much work and time they want to put into it. The requirements (homework’s, projects, blogs) are definitely enough to keep people interacting and continuously researching on the different topics. I would definitely recommend this class as a professional elective. 

Final Blog: Course Reflection

At the completion of the “Intelligent Buildings” course, I can confidently say that the included curriculum has greatly exceeded my expectations. Similar to a number of my peers, I also believed that the course would be in large centered around the BIM design and construction technique. The amount of material presented on BIM was sufficient, as it broadly covered the many applications of the practice but did not detail all of the many features, as would a class on the subject. I found the speakers and their presentations of the applications to be inspiring, partly due to my construction operations background but mainly due to the futuristic but real-world applications of the technology available to my peers and I. This was a recurring trend when the class learned about artificial intelligence and the many ways that the industry can use the technology to advance designs and continue to provide services to clients and the public alike in an efficient and highly sophisticated package. The information naturally sparked conversations about morals and values with regards to the artificial intelligence, which further reinforced the consequences that engineers and designers must always keep in mind. Our work directly and indirectly affects human lives in ways that are not necessarily measurable in the broadest sense. I found the information and projects including raw databases useful because it was my first experience working with them outside of sophisticated Excel programs utilizing macros. Databases can be used to record vast amounts of information and require the designers to make provisions for the system to be designed for user interoperability as well as system efficiency. The database section made me realize that they are used for a number of tasks of which many I witnessed at my workplace. They use a few in-house databases for estimating and pre-construction purposes which are increasingly more important with shrinking margins and new construction techniques such as design-build. The marketing department is employing a database for customer relation management (CRM) to build and maintain current, past and prospective clients. I recently learned a project management software that was largely a database that contained all important project contract documents such as payment applications, schedules and budgets. The program had many of the database characteristics and required the effort early in the project to properly organize information effectively. The information presented on sensors and recording information was useful to my career because I am a MEP engineering student. Now and in the future, I expect to see a lot of the monitoring practices that we learned in class make their way into all buildings. The term project I chose to complete reinforced the ideas of the sensors and data management and allowed me to think in detail the equipment required to monitor energy required for one aspect of a building. I found it important to hear the experiences of one of the speakers which involved sensors and energy monitoring from the field point of view, as it is imperative that the product of the designers work is utilize correctly and to its full potential.

After reading Gabrielle's blog post and her feeling towards the database section, I've realized that while sometimes the least popular subject, databases can be used for a vast array of tasks. She mentions using databases for finances, for which I was surprised. I automatically use Excel when attempting to track costs and budgets, but her comment made me curious as to how the power to produce queries and reports can be used to track finances. Before this class, I would have not been interested in using databases to replace Excel with regards to computing and tracking finances.

The class was exactly what a professional elective should be; it was exciting, thought provoking and contained information relevant to industry procedures. Great choice!

In class presentation :
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11aSVuzmcpZD8IbCrQFZIo6SFaqRxDGQBwGJcrfXrJQ4/present?ueb=true#slide=id.p

Optimization of a Data Center

During the optimization process of a life cycle of a Data Center, the following stakeholders were chosen: an owner, an architect, an engneer, a MEP engineer, a constractor, a technician, and the end users. Each of the group members decided to play a role of the specific stakeholder involved in the assignment based on their importance and responsibilites in each of the life cycle stages, which consist of the programming stage, design, bitting and approval, construction, and etc.
During the programming stage of the project development, various types of sensors, actuators, and MEP modeling techniques were implemented. The biggest issue here is to ensure that the cooling needs of the building are met. The operation temperatures of the equipment can be related to the efficiency of the equipment as well as the total lifetime. The operation tempertures are directly realated to the operation costs of the building and the main concern is to limit the amount of energy that is expended.
During the design stage, the database that contains the sensor requirements is used to make sure that the conditions are met both from the manufacture and owner's perspectives. The analysis completed using BIM for the cooling may be altered in real time, which gives the cost estimators ability to adjust their calculations accordingly much faster. The entire design process is expected to be improved, since the database format will make locating errors much more efficient. During the comminissioning and occupancy stages, sensors will be heavily utilized to record energy usage patterns and record them in a database. The acquired data will be used to optimize the efficiency of HVAC equipmnet and promote energy savings. Sensors will come extremely helpful during renovation and demolition stages of the building existance. Sensor output results will be stored in BIM to improve the efficiency, improve integration, and estimate cost of demolition.

Link to presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ht2F1cCz1viIopzJvEEZQVUA0MUouCuKb6NtcuIBbzQ/edit?usp=sharing

How flow sensors work?

Flow sensors are used for wide range of fluids in multiple industries for various measurements. There are many types of flow sensors and they all measure “volume or area per unit time”. And depending of the sensor type there are multiple ways this volume per unit time can be measured, but they all use basic concept of fluid flow principles with concept such as the Bernoulli’s principle. Some of the basic flow sensors used today are orifice meter, venture meter, flow nozzle, and pitot tubes which us the principle of difference in pressure from the Bernoulli equation. Then there are sensors which use direct force to measure the flow which include rotameter, turbine meter, propeller flow meter, coriolis mass flow meter. Using pressure differences and direct force are the most common methods used to measure flow rate but there are other complicated methods such as ultrasonic flow meters, magnetic flow meter, calorimetric flow meter, gear flow meter, thermal flow meter, and couple more.

All the flow sensors which use pressure difference use Bernoulli equation which is 

Where the condition on both sides of the sensors are inversely related to each other, therefore the equation can be manipulated into the pressure drop across the flow sensor is equal to velocity of the flow squared. When calculating the flow using the different sensors the area of the opening on both sides of the sensor, density of the liquid, and pressure readings from the sensors are known an can be plugged into the Bernoulli equation to find the velocity because V₁ = V₂ = V. Below are few images portraying how some of this sensors operate and how the pressures differences (dp) can be measured.     

Orifice Plate Flow Sensor

Venturi Tube Flow Sensor

Flow Nozzles Flow Sensor

Sensors using direct force to measure velocity use methods of balancing forces with in systems where the force applied by the fluid flowing through the sensor is measured and manipulated with a proportion factor to get the flow of fluid in the system. Below are some images which portray how the forces applied by the fluid are with few different types of direct force flow sensors.

Rotameter: resistance of gravity force of the bolt is being measured here.

Turbine meter: work is being measured here where work equals force times distance, and the distance id known so the force can be calculated from the work measured by the sensor.

Sources:

http://www.princeton.edu/~asmits/Bicycle_web/Bernoulli.html

https://controls.engin.umich.edu/wiki/index.php/FlowSensors

Flow Sensors (Fluidic-flow measurement sensors)

            Flow sensors are devices that sense the rate of fluid or gas flow. The sensors installed in different field varied depending on the properties of the fluid or gas being measured. Sensors have different meters and principles therefore, the most appropriate should be chosen for the desire application. The most common sensors in our daily life are the ones used to measure water flow and electrical consumption at our home.

During my research through AccessScience I found two types of Fluidic-Flow measurement sensors known as fluidic-oscillator meter and fluidic flow-sensor. The fluidic-oscillator meter works on the principle of Coanda effect. The Coanda effect of a jet fluid attaching to a nearby surface, and it remains attached even when the surface curves away from the initial fluid direction. In the case of the fluidic-oscillator meter the fluid comes into the device and the fluid attaches to one of the side walls (see attach figure). Part of the flow splits off and goes through the feedback passage forcing the incoming flow to attach to the other side of the sidewall. The frequency of the oscillation back and forth is proportional to the volume flow through the meter. The sensor records the oscillations and transmits the signal to record the flow. These types of meters can be used for fluids and flow meters. The fluidic-flow sensor measures the flow of gas. It consists of air or another gas directed from an outer nozzle onto two small openings. The flow of the gas being measure will bend the air or gas and therefore changes the relative pressure on the two ports. This activates the signal and allows recording the gas velocity.

Rita Pauliushchyk on her blog decided to focus on the common types of flow sensors such as flow of water and energy consumption of a building or household.  These are sensors we use/activate every day for our usage. This sensors are the one in charge of saying how much we have consume at  home shown in our monthly bills. Sensors although they are measuring fluid, gas, air they are also helping to control the usage. Sensors are today recording and serving data to make building more efficient and sustainable. They are a powerfull device that is making buildings sustainable. It is important to know which sensors to install accordingly to the application and characteristics.

Flow Sensors

Flow sensors find various uses in the Building Automation systems. One of the increasingly more common uses of flow sensors is to measure the chilled water, heating water, and electrical energy consumption of a building or a tenant. Sometimes it is used to verify energy consumption and utility costs. Measuring water energy consumption requires temperature and flow measurements. In the following application, a flow meter is used to measure the liquid flow through the pipes. Flow sensors are also often utilized to measure air velocity indoors. This provides for a controlled ventilation of living areas as well as an optimization of energy costs. Flow sensors are also employed in water and wastewater management. Measurement of water, wastewater, and gray water used by a building provides an understanding of the building’s carbon footprint.  

There are various types of flow sensors for HVAC systems available on the market today. In order to make an appropriate selection of a flow sensor, it is important to have a clear understanding of the requirements of a particular application. Characteristics that should be considered: familiarity of the staff with the type of product and its calibration procedure, maintenance, type of fluid, characteristics of the fluid, minimum and maximum pressure and temperature values and etc. Figure below illustrates different types of flow sensors:

Differential pressure flow meters are possibly the most commonly used type. The calculation of fluid flow is performed by reading the pressure loss across a pipe restriction. As a fluid passes through, it accelerates, and the energy associated with this acceleration is obtained. The pressure differential head is measured. Different types of differential pressure flow meters:

Additionally, Jalpesh has shown various very detailed diagrams of differential flow meters in his blog post.
Maria has decided to focus on fluidic flow measurement sensors. These are much more advanced than the basic differential flow meters I have described. It also sees as though they are more applicable for applications with gaseous fluids.

http://www.omega.com/literature/transactions/volume4/T9904-07-DIFF.html#diff_1

http://www.badgermeter.com/getdoc/ceed2c59-7e4f-4734-af85-36108f1c228f/16-INC-BR-00480-EN-HVAC-Market-Brochure.aspx

http://www.iowaenergycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Klaassen_HPAC_07-2001.pdf

Flow Sensors

                For the majority of this term, this class has focused on intelligent buildings and new technology. However, as engineers we deal with lots of basic measurements and calculations we encounter in an everyday work environment. An example of these measurements, is the measurement of flow done through the use of flow meters and sensors.  Flow sensors are detecting elements within a flow meter that record the flow of fluids or gases. In the figure below, there’s a variety of flow sensors that measure liquid flow, but  vary in the form of which they measure the flow.

             As can be seen on the left hand side, the rotor in turbine flow meters measures the flow because the rate of the flow causes a proportional movement in the rotary wheel. The rate at which the wheel is spinning, is also the rate of the flow. Magnetic flow meters as can be seen on the bottom right side of the image above, operate on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. This means that the flow meters are triggered by conductive liquids because the flow is measured as a counter reaction to the conductivity. This counter reaction is a voltage that is produced by  a current applied to coils mounted on or outside the flow pipe. The voltage produced is a magnetic field that is proportional to flow rate, an and its measured by electrodes in the system. Thermal flow meters as pictured above (second one down, left hand side) measure mass flow directly. The thermal flow meters measure flow by heating the liquid within, and take the rate at which it takes to dissolve. Other thermal sensors just input heat into a system, and measure the amount of energy used for the system to stay at that temperature. This type of thermal system is more often used for gases, along with multivariable differential pressure transmitters. These type of meters are based on temperature sensors, which measure the heat within the moving medium, along with velocity to calculate the rate.

                 I found it neat that the multivariable differential pressure transmitters, can act as temperature sensors as well. They can measure pressure and temperature , to calculate mass flow. This was really interesting because it shows an overlap within sensors, since the flow meters use resistive temperature detectors (RTDs), which EldaCifligu describes as temperature sensors. Like Matthew Tedesco stated, “aside from mechanical flow meters, fluid velocity and flow can be measured using optic sensors.” None of the meters above show this type of sensor because this “laser-based interferometry is often used for air flow measurement but not for liquid flow.

               

Sources:

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

http://www.pc-control.co.uk/flow_sensors.htm

Measuring Flow with Primary Sensors

Flow measurement of fluids, including air and liquids, are measured in a variety of ways. Each type of measurement technique has advantages and disadvantages and therefor implementation varies across the broad field of flow measurement. The applications of different technology vary due to some of the inherent properties of the fluid being measured, resolution of the results, life-span/capability of materials, cost, pipe size, pressure and velocity. Other factors such as cost vary and are sometimes a function of the primary variables, such as reading resolution and operating pressures.

Measurement of flow parameters are often performed by positive displacement methods. An analogy to this method is a bucket and a stopwatch. The bucket is filled with the fluid and the time is recorded that it takes to reach a filled state. The volumetric capacity of the bucket is known and the time duration to fill is known, which constitutes a flow rate. The sensors that can be implemented for this type of monitoring would be a mechanical switch paired with a floating device, which trigger the timer when the cavity is empty and full. The most popular types of positive displacement meters use pistons that operate in a cavity of known volume. Every time the cavity is filled to capacity, the piston is forced to move and subsequently rotate an axle that it is connected to. The signal from the rotating axle can be transmitted to the user by a magnetic drive, needle dial and a counter such as an odometer. A turbine also uses mechanics to produce flow measurements, but instead of positive displacement, the fluid is exerting force on the components and creating work. A turbine is place in the path of the fluid being measured, so that the fluid produces a force on the area of the turbine. The force causes the turbine to rotate, which once established at a steady speed, is proportional to the velocity of the fluid.

A vortex meter uses the phenomenon of Van Karman forces that are created using an object that is located in the flow path of the pipe or channel. The object that is placed in the path is known as a bluff body and results in vortices created in the wake of the body. The Van Karman forces vary between the two sides of the bar at a rate proportional to the fluid velocity. For measurement, a piezoelectric sensor records the number of times the vortices are created by transmitting a voltage pulse.

Similar to the Van Karmen forces, where an object is placed in the path of the pipe, Jalpesh describes in his post the affect that a restriction can cause. The post did an excellent job explaining how the flow was measured using the differential pressures through the restrictions. Each type of restriction was presented and explained correctly. This type of meter was one of the few I saw in the flow sensors postings that relied mostly on heavy theory from fluid dynamics. The other sensors definitely included theory, some of which might have been more complicated than Bernoulli Theorem, but they didn't seem as classic. One thing that wasn't mentioned in the posts I looked was the types of sensors that relied heavily on more calibration and empirical data, such as those that are transcribing through magnetic needles and other sensitive components.

Aside from mechanical flow meters, fluid velocity and flow can be measured using optic sensors. The optic sensors take advantage of lasers of light passing through a tube or pipe containing fluid. Two lasers are contained in a small area of the pipe which track particles suspended in the flow path. The first laser sends a beam of light through the medium and the particles scatter the laser. On the oppisite side of the pipe, a photo detector records the amount of light and sends an electric pulse through a circuit. The same suspended particle then passes another laser beam that completes the same process the first has done with a photo detector sending another pulse. The time between pulses is known as well as the distance between the two lasers, therefor it is possible to calculate the flow rate.

Source:

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

Databases in Design Offices

In the USA, design firms offering geotechnical services are typically given the responsibility to perform an investigation and afterward produce a report based on the findings. This single company approach is different from the way the same services are performed in the UK. The technical information gathered by firms in the USA can be contained in databases developed by each company, as the report is the only documentation that must be understood by more than one party. In the UK, the geotechnical services are often performed by multiple companies, signifying the need for a universal input format to allow information be interpreted by multiple players. This need was met with the implementation of the “AGS” format, which offers the highest level of acceptance into other programs and databases. The information can be accessed in text editors and then imported into each companies chosen form in order to produce bore logs, graphs, table and cross section figures. Design firms are known to use the information from soil borings early in the process to establish the extent and schedule of the tests that must be performed by themselves or an investigative contractor.

In the office, architects and engineers use databases that contain discrete information of objects in the BIM process. Software systems such as Bently’s Microstation and Autodesk’s Revit allow the user to create tags and assign them to elements different elements in the modeling environment. This feature allows the designers to export the information to useful platforms such as Excel or a database program to sort and record in relation to other parameters. Designers at manufacturing companies are using databases to store information of each of the products that they carry. Portions of these databases are then shared with designers to allow the smooth exchange of specifications and other project specific details. An example of this is in Brian's post, where he described creating families using objects to organize information of each component in the building. These objects contain information that is taken, sometimes from other sources and linked to the BIM. This allows designers to pull information about the object to include in schedules, charts and other analysis procedures.

I have experiences with databases as a user and developer were those that included cost information of each construction trade for completed projects. Project information was accessed using a search query that included the type of building, number of levels, construction materials and function. Once the reference building was selected, the user could duplicate the project and then change various parameters, such as the current year, location and indexes of material costs. Jalpesh's post mentions that design firms can archive the information used for a design so that the firm can access the information for future projects. This archiving process is valuable because designers can re-use portions of the design that they know already work. This has been happening in design long before databases but was known as "rules of thumb". Similar to design, after the project is selected it could then be modified by omitting certain trades based off of the building the user was attempting to model. The database contained information for adjustments due to location and time and would output a project file that included costs for each trade involved. The information was utilized in a design-build project team to deliver accurate costs at the conceptual level of design. I believe that at a point in the future, with the progression towards integrated design with multidisciplinary teams, specialty contractors will begin to share more database information with the designers in order to expedite project completion and minimize errors.

Companies can utilize databases for estimating material and labor costs for structural steel. The database of each type and size of steel members were linked to respective information such as weight, area, required bolts, crane lifts and various other metrics for the piece. Information could then be derived from the job summary such as labor hours for painting and assembly, crew productivity rates as well as weight for the galvanization process.

1.      Chadwick, Neil C. "Data Transfer and the Practical Application of Geotechnical Databases." Data Interchange for Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

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

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

Use of Databases in Design Office

Possibly one of the most popular database programs that has found its use in a typical architectural firm is a relational database management system (RDBMS). The program lets its user to create, update, and administer relational databases that have numerous benefits for designers compared to traditional construction specifications in word processing. Traditionally, these files are organized into individual flat files and grouped into numbered sections. This kind of a structural system increases the likehood of errors, since the files have to be duplicated from section to section. It is also impossible to link individual files together or rearrange them.

The use of relational databases solved many issues for an architect or an architectural engineer. Using word processing specification program, formatting and editing becomes very time consuming and full of errors. With the use of RDBMS, creating and manipulating project specifications may be accomplished in half the time. Generally, RDBMS is able to simplify the entire design process, keep coordination notes in order, and reference standards up to date.

Another area of project design that has found the use of relational databases to be significantly beneficial is cost estimating. Engineers are now able to save time and money in the process, while producing a better quality product. In the database system, each element and each crew are linked to various assemblies; however, the data for each is entered only once. This system has much better efficiency and may be updated much faster. As the project being developed, the relational database allows to refine and update the progress easily and save the time pricing elements that haven’t been added yet.

After reading Issa’s post on the use of relational databases in construction firms, it seems that there are a lot of similarities. Both industries found the use of databases extremely advantages improving the efficiency and productivity while providing huge economic benefits.

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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