Course Reflection

This term's course was really a great exploratory course in which our own work served as a great source of the knowledge gained. I loved how it was more of a course that was generally shown and we were allowed to go off and do our own thing, we were able choose our own methods to achieve the goals set forth in this course. Being able to choose our own methods was a great aid to our own learning and encouraging us to be a life and self learner after we leave Drexel and move into our careers.

The exploration into Revit was a great help, knowing that nearly all building engineers are moving into this realm of design. We were able to achieve a more detailed and deep understanding of Revit and the things that can be done within the program. With this sort of program there is always so many functions and tools within the program that it seems impossible to learn them all before the newest version comes out. This course helped to see the inner workings of the newest version and different elements that are held within all the different versions.

I was really happy that I was able to take this course. Being able to see what the future holds for us and I believe that it helped prepare me to expect what is to come and what I will be facing and expected to understand as I progress in my career.

Week 10: Course Reflection

This has honestly been one of the first classes in a while that I enjoyed while attending Drexel University. During the application process to colleges, a sense of creativity and ingenuity is valued in perspective engineering students and is commended during their high school years. However, for a large amount of engineering students’ college career we learn more about standards, codes, regulations, and previously rectified design methods. I feel as though the inspiration of our creative senses and imagination has been bound for so long being told “this is how it should be done.” It was refreshing to finally come across a course that asks its students to take perspective of the advancing world around us and then ask us “how would you do it?” This course reawakened my sense of creativity and has made me more aware of the advances in technology and useful tools that will help me along my career as a professional after Drexel. Also, I learned the value in being a life-long-learning engineer; once you become set in your ways and refuse to adapt to the ever-changing world around you, you slowly become obsolete and invaluable. Having an introduction to Revit and Microsoft Access was very beneficial and I see myself exploring further into these tools to become a more efficient and valuable engineer. I enjoyed learning how far BIM has come and look forward to seeing how far engineers, architects, and contractors will expand its use to further optimize the building process.

Final Presentation - Architectural and Structural Model Link

Link to Google Docs Presentation
Link to PDF of Paper

Course Reflection

The title of this class is “Intelligent Buildings” and that is exactly what we focused in throughout the term.  From the beginning of the term, we explored what Intelligent Buildings entails and how they are becoming popular in the construction world.  We looked into what components make up an Intelligent Building, the technological capabilities that are now available to us, how Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an up and coming process and its performance in the building industry, how databases serve as a great advantage to companies for providing accurate representations of systems, and finally we observed the capabilities of sensors and their role in Intelligent Buildings.  By going through tutorials in Revit and Microsoft Access, we were introduced to the concept of BIM and databases.  Even though we did a short introduction of these, I believe it was enough to grasp the main concepts.  Overall, this class gave us a look into the future and how our careers in the construction world will use and incorporate these technologies.  In addition, as we investigated and learned about these technologies in class, we also took a glimpse at its effect in other careers, such as computer science, programming, architecture, electrical engineering, and more. Like my classmate Kayleigh said, this was a great way to prepare for future changes in our field of study and also be knowledgeable with the current and future methods utilized. 

Considering that the company that I will be working for after I graduate is very involved in green construction and Intelligent Buildings, I found this class to be very helpful.  It gave me a good background to the new technologies that are emerging and now I feel more knowledgeable and informed to go into a company that works closely with sensors, robotics and databases.

One of the best aspects about this class was the guest speakers.  I was always so interested to hear what they had to say about their experience in their field and then relate it back to Intelligent Buildings and how they use technological advances in their profession.  Every single guest speaker was very well chosen because they were all able contribute with their insight at a topic we were covering.  This class was very insightful and a great choice as a professional elective.

Last Blog

I although I do not think that I will ever have to use the things I have learned in AE 510 in the near future, I know that this class has made me think in a different way especially when it comes to intelligent design. While I was preparing my senior seminar poster, I started thinking about the topic I had researched (Traffic Analysis Software) in a different way. Even before I took AE 510, I had an idea that our highway systems could change according to the amount of cars on the roadway. The lane medians instead of being concrete could be made of bollards that that could expand or retract one side of the highway to accommodate the amount of traffic. When it comes to construction of buildings, I think that over the course of my career I will most definitely have to learn how to use BIM on a professional level. And not just BIM programs such as Revit but also programs that will deal with stormwater management, structural engineering, etc. I do not however think that these programs will create a standard language so that all these programs can work together. I think there will be too much money to be made by keeping these programs from reaching their full potential of intelligence. When it comes to stormwater management which, I have mainly worked on during my co-op experiences, I can see very good uses for BIM and databases when it comes to designing things like bio-retention areas, dry wells, cisterns, etc. As for the class, I don’t think I would change anything except for maybe introducing the class to more BIM software. As I noted before I think there should be development of BIM software dealing with different areas of construction not just for buildings. Doing a quick search, it seems that there are BIM programs for what I noted but they seem to still be in their infancy. I agree with what Matthew Tedesco said when he mentioned that out work as engineers affect people in many different ways. I would also add that some of our work is not necessarily appreciated because it can not be seen. Things such as taking time to consider how a building should be constructed to save money, to have a more efficient construction, and to lessen environmental impacts. 

http://www.wspgroup.com/en/wsp-group-bim/10-truth-bim/

http://www3.villanova.edu/vusp/Outreach/pasym11/lidpdfs/66_4west.pdf

Pharmaceutical Plant Presentatin - Group-E

A pharmaceutical plant creating Wingshift, a drug to aid those with hallucinations, is located in Houston, TX, and is owned by Starsole. The researchers of Wingshift require extremely clean production rooms with a constant temperature, humidity and air exchange rate. This is planned to be done through the utilization of sensors, the most modern HVAC equipment and construction techniques. Starsole brought together their top researchers to develop the building program database along with the cost estimate. These were then put out to bid to a number of select architects and engineering firms. APK Architects LLC. and United Dell Inc. won the bid for the new plant.

United Dell brought in a contractor that they consistently worked with in order to plan out the construction of the plant. This included the MEP, architectural (brought in by APK), and structural models. The regional aerial images, and GIS model was provided by the city of Houston. The main issues that the structural design team had to face were the multiple large spans that the Wingshift process rooms would require, as well as the risk of chemical exposure that could produce hazards to the structure itself. The MEP design included multiple chemical emergency installations, over-sized HVAC units to ensure exact and adequate air quality, and specialized purification systems. The architectural model was rather straight forward and needed only to provide the required spaces for the different processes that Wingshift required for production. All of these systems will be made possible through the use of sensors throughout the life of the plant.

Future renovations will be made easy through the fully encompassing BIM that was provided to Starsole. Starsole has the rights and ownership of this model which allows them to hand it off to any future engineers or architects so that different or more drug types can be produced at this same plant. The incorporation of robots into the production line will be an addition to the plant to allow for Starsole to create more Wingshift in less time. The robot addition will also allow for a greater cost efficiency and a greater degree of accuracy in the chemical make up of Wingshift.

In case of Wingshift not making it in the market the plant will be able to be deconstructed efficiently through the use of the structural BIM and the provided aerial images. This would allow for the plant to be deconstructed and different members of the plant to be reused in a new plant or sold for a profit.

Google Docs Presentation

Movement Sensors

This week was all about sensors and it was extremely interesting to see how many different sensors are available and used in everyday applications. This week I focused on movement sensors and found that the most used type of movement sensor is called a Passive Infrared Sensor, PIR. This sensor uses heat to detect movement within a given area. This sensor is used in automatic lighting schemes, burglar alarm systems, automatic welcome greetings and even motion detecting remote cameras (see video below). These sensors usually have a range of approximately 20 feet but will practically never wear out, are extremely reliable, incredibly cheap and simple to use.
I thought it was incredibly important to note, especially with the talk of data overload in recent classes the number of readings that single sensors are able to take. Both Junwah Ng , and Xiang Li talked about different senosors, humidity and pressure respectively, but both mentioned the number of measurements each of these sensors can take. Even though the PIR sensor is simple I am sure that there are a number of movement sensors that provide an abundance of measurements that can be recorded to help in disciplines such as traffic studies, population tracking, mass transit security and monitoring and many more. 

References:
http://www.gadgetshack.com/motionsensor.html
http://www.ladyada.net/learn/sensors/pir.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/PIR-Motion-Sensor-Tutorial/
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dGOgCnlizgU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Movement Sensors

Prior to this week’s assigned research, I thought I understood the basic concept of movement sensors and how and why they were commonly used, yet as I continued doing my research I became more aware of the importance and dependability that other systems have over this system.  Movement sensors detect changes in positions of a person or object relative to its environment or the other way around.  There are six types of motion detectors that are commonly used including: infrared, optics, radio frequency energy, sound, vibration, and magnetism.

The types of movement sensor methods are mechanical and electronic methods.  Most people are unaware of the mechanical movement sensors around us, yet unknowingly we use these daily and vastly.  From the moment we wake up we use movement sensors such as the moment we turn our alarm clock off,  when dialing the heating time in our microwaves, typing in our computer keyboards or even the simple motion of flicking the light switch.  Electronic detection sensors are ones that detect optical or acoustical motion.  Examples of when we encounter these sensors include the ones that activate lighting, activate a camera to turn on, or even trigger an alarm. 

Because of the wide range of functions of movement sensors, these are the most used type of sensors.  Other types of sensors are dependent and rely on these sensors in order to activate or deactivate.  For pressure sensors, like my classmate C. Meraz explained, a piezoelectric pressure transducer uses crystal to convert motion into an electrical output since “these sensors are also highly susceptible to shock and vibration”.   With flow sensors, like Brian V says in his blog post, record measurements within a flow meter of flow of fluids or gases.  These measurements are found by observing the movement of such fluids or gases.  Matthew Tedesco also explains that “aside from mechanical flow meters, fluid velocity and flow can be measured using optic sensors”.  As explained before, optic motion sensors fall under the movement sensors category.  In conclusion, we can encounter movement sensors in our everyday life and they also play important roles in other practices.

Sources:

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

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/question238.htm

Week 7: Movement Sensors

When analyzing movement sensors, they can be broken down into two main types of movement sensors: active motion detectors and passive motion detectors. Active movement sensors utilize sensors that emit a type of signal that is then reflected back and detected. Passive movement sensors do not actually emit a signal like active sensors, but instead detect the signals being emitted by the objects in their field of view and have a predetermined baseline reading for the surrounding area.

Active movement sensors are mainly used in places where a rapid response from a change in detection is needed (ultrasonic or microwave). For example, a motion sensor for a car garage uses an active ultrasonic radar-like sensor that emits sound waves. When the sound waves are emitted, the sensor detects the pattern or the time it takes for those waves to bounce off of its surroundings and return back to the sensor. When an object is approaching the garage door or entering the space under the garage door while it is closing, the sound waves are emitted and bounce off of the object crossing the path of the sensor causing the return time to be faster. This is then computed by the sensing system and tells the garage door mechanism to open so as to allow a car to enter or to prevent the door from closing on something or someone.

Passive movement sensors detect a change in their surroundings by reading the energy of their surroundings. These types of sensors come in various forms, some of the most common being infrared or photo sensors. These sensors detect and measure the energy that is being produced by the objects in their line of sight and are commonly used in home security systems or businesses to warn them of someone entering the facilities. Bodies that generate heat, be they humans or animals, also generate infrared energy (for humans usually ranging between 9 and 10 micrometers). With this range in mind, infrared sensors are programmed to detect emissions within the range of 8 and 12 micrometers with the use of a photo detector. This sensor measures the light being transmitted to it, converts it into an electrical current that is sent to the sensor’s processing core. “The alarm is triggered when the photo detector detects large or fast variations in the distribution of the emitted infrared energy.” (1). This form of detection allows for the movement sensor to ignore slight variations in heat that occur over the length of the day, such as the slow change in temperature of objects in the sensor’s field of view as their temperatures cool down over night.

These sensors are very inexpensive and can offer a very secured environment when combined to cover all entry points of the desired area.

I found it interesting in my classmate Matthew Tedesco's post (http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/02/flow-measurement-of-fluids-including.html) how he explained the various applications a specific type of sensor may have. Movement sensors aren't limited to only sensing movement, but as Matthew described, optic sensors (which are a type of movement sensor) can also be used to measure mechanical flow, fluid velocity and flow.


Sources:

(1) http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4596955_motion-sensor-work.html
(2) http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/burglar-alarm2.htm
(3) http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/question238.htm

Week 6: Uses of Databases in Construction Firms

Databases are very useful in keeping an organized record of information and there is a vast range of types of information that can be stored in these databases. Construction firms many times look to keep record of their construction equipment, designs, construction members within designs, previous projects, clients’ contact information, materials and/or their costs and manufacturers, elevations of a construction site, rainfall data of a subject area, and lots of other valuable information they may look to store away for later use. A lot of times a database is put together for information that is no longer of urgent use but that may be of value to access at a later date in time.

In addition to simply accessing the raw data that is stored into a database, certain programs are able to use these databases to analyze the data and output referenced analyses. Programs such as ArcGIS are able to use databases in order to spatially analyze the data and create maps that show the stored information in ways that can be useful for the needs of the user. For instance, a construction firm could use a database that has the addresses or coordinate locations of material manufacturing plants to find the closest plant to their construction site and even find the quickest, shortest route from the plant to the site. Another example could be analyzing a database that has the cost information for specific types of a common construction material over time. With a database of this information, one could find the trend or growth rate of the cost for these materials and come up with an estimate for the price of the material in the future when a project will actually enter the construction phase.

I found it interesting in Issa’s post (http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/02/databases-in-construction-firms.html) to see that databases have been in use since the 1970’s and I too have seen first-hand at some of my co-op’s the transition from paper to electronic copies of files. The progress that has been made over the years is vast and much room is left for advancement in the use of these databases and how we can implement them to our advantage in construction.


Source:
http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/14_Organization_and_Use_of_Project_Information.html

Databases in Construction Firms

“Databases allow you to manage your data more efficiently, avoid errors and manipulate it easily.” 

Construction firms are acknowledging the fact that staff and subcontractors come and go and the retrieval of data and information about projects becomes difficult.  With this in mind, construction firms find ease with databases.  There always comes a time when you either have a staff member replaced or simply after the project is completed, years later there is a need to recover the documents from a past project.  This is where databases come into play.  By saving and storing past, current, and potential projects, contractors, suppliers and clients, the workplace becomes organized as well as time and cost efficient.  With a database, everything is stored in one place where authorized staff has access to find the most up-to-date information. In order to obtain such information, the System Query Language (SQL) plays a role as the data language that helps organize and retrieve stored information from the database.  As Elda mentioned in her blog, having a standardized language is very important as it “allows everyone to access and manipulate databases.” 

After my last coop in a construction claims company, I soon came to realize the necessity of databases in the industry.  Considering that the company hired interns for a period of six months, they needed to have a certain file storage unit where future employees could easily attain information.  Because this company had international offices and worked globally, operating with a database was very useful and practical.  In Ryan’s post he said that for large construction firms that operate in multiple states or countries, databases come in handy “to ensure they are in compliance with disposal standards of the local area that the project is in.”  I agree with this statement because this would be a great communication source in order for companies to comply with standards.

Since the 1970s, databases have progressively been integrated in all industries and now we can see a greater implementation in construction firms.  Now, companies are found in a transition stage where the mountains of file boxes are being converted into database files, improving document and information retrieval in an efficient manner.

Sources:

"Benefits of a Relational Database." Sunadal Data Solutions. SDS, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <https://www.sunadal.co.uk/db.php>.

"Construction and General Contractors Database." Oddity Software - Databases, Development and Design. Oddity Software LLC, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://www.odditysoftware.com/page-datasales165.htm>.

"Database." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database>.

"Why Use the Planchest Database?" Planchest. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://www.planchest.net/Why.aspx>.

Databases Construction Firms

Due to the size of construction projects, there are vast amounts of information that is recorded and stored but do need to be retrieved. By using databases this information can be kept without having to use up physical space, the information can be shared with authorized users and can be summoned with a couple clicks. This kind of organization can lower costs, making analysis of data easier. The more data that is inputted into the database will give the organization using the database more room for analysis. These databases can greatly improve organization as different pieces of information can be organized into queries. Databases are used for auditing, tracking users, generating reports, and creating group assignments. These databases can become so big that tables containing columns of information can be connected to other tables. Relational databases help immensely with cost estimates, and time. The relational database makes updating very easy as the design of the project is still in progress. These kinds of features are especially useful when using programs like Revit. In some cases manufacturers have their products recorded on the program in which the database is being created and information can automatically be filled in the proper categories. Going back to the analysis part of databases. I think that these databases can really improve construction by finding trends with the data gathered. By finding trends you can either determine that the trend is bad and needs to be fixed or it is good and suggest ways to improve it. Obviously hundreds of projects would have to be examined to determine if there are any trends. I agree with David Morrison that databases are "glorified excel files" and that the main features are to organize data and to be able to search for that data quickly when needed. I find that databases having their own language in SQL is interesting. This is something that we have talked a lot about with BIM. There needs to be one universal language in which all programs can use so that different firms can use the data even if they don't have the same programs.

http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/14_Organization_and_Use_of_Project_Information.html#14.4 Organizing Information in Databases
http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=12&C=838&P=5
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/pubs/07020/

Databases in Construction

         As Maria said in her post this week, databases are used in so many different ways. For architects and engineers they are being used more and more to store information of real products that they use daily but for construction firms the use of databases seem to be simply less applicable. Some companies have begun to use them for safety information, unions will use them to ease the process of hiring of an employee and keep tract of their jobs but there is still movement in the construction just like in the architectural and engineering worlds.
         A large database was created in 2002 by GSA's Environmental Strategies and Safety Division to help construction companies find and work with disposal companies. I imagine that for a construction firm, especially a large one operating in multiple states or countries, to ensure they are in compliance with disposal standards of the local area that the project is in. This database has put nearly every company that works with construction projects to collect, sort, and process any and all waste generated on the job site. This database has created a very simple and quick way to solve this issue, which in terms of any construction project is a small issue that could have (before this database) taken numerous, time consuming, phone calls and emails just to ensure that waste didn't pile up on your job site delaying the progress.
         There are numerous databases that are being integrated into the construction industry, the waste database is only one example. Databases in construction seem to be pointing the industry in a more efficient and quick path, instead of storing tons of data for products and systems like that in engineering and architecture, they will help the company run smoother, helping to make the background processes run more smoothly.

Senior Design Project BIM

I will be working with Jay Ng and Mitchell Butler. My group and I chose the project topic of "Senior Design With BIM" with the theme of making our building green, specifically to make the building and the site net zero. We chose this project not only because of the convenience of using our senior design project to help us with this project but also to document the differences between BIM and traditional approaches to design. We plan to document the use of BIM using Revit for the design of our building and comparing it to Google Sketchup. We will possibly compare AutoCAD to Revit if time allows for it. I think the challenge will be to document the use of BIM as an amateur Revit user as the full potential of the program may not come to fruition. It would also be a good idea to explain what is required of a typical construction project and explain how Revit can meet or not meet the requirements as opposed to using Google Sketchup or AutoCAD.  The theme of our senior design project is a net-zero building and site. The proposed site is an urban agricultural farm that will grow crops and serve the community. It involves net-zero in energy, water use, and environmental impact. Our project is trying to do this through rain water harvesting, erosion sediment control, photovoltaics, and other systems in order to reach our goals. We will see which approach will be able to achieve these methods. I also think we should evaluate the user friendliness of these programs as well as giving our own recommendations as to what the companies that make these programs can do to make them better. I think we can also explore how Revit can assist in the civil engineering parts of the project at least when it comes to modeling the building and the site. Looking specifically at Lorena Alvarado's post, I can come to think of a lot of ideas in which our project alone can use sensors. Since we are trying to achieve net-zero in energy, water use, and having to irrigate crops, we could use a whole host of sensors.

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

Nowadays, the mission of most contractors is to help people make the most while using less of their energy and simultaneously providing various operational and security services to a building.  This is all achieved by also promoting a “green” environment.  Energy management is aimed in making energy be efficient, reliable, productive, and green, all in order to provide energy usage for appliances, machinery, HVAC systems, security and motors.  Rita Pauliushchyk claimed that the use of sensors improves the efficiency of operations in a building. I could not agree with that statement more considering that one of the biggest technologies that are emerging from intelligent buildings and that rely on energy management is sensors. 

Even though sensors have been around for quite a while now, they are now being used a lot more.  Now sensors come in the smallest sizes and their functionality has increased.  Considering that I have a mechanical concentration, I thought it would be interesting to explore the variety of uses of a sensor in a building, for heating, ventilating and air conditioning, as well as for security measures. I will also explore how the design methods of a contractor vary when placing sensors in a building.  These include the challenges that can be encountered while designing in an existing building, as well as a contractors design preference during the construction phase of a building.  In addition, I will further examine how energy efficient sensors can be, their reliability and how they promote “green”.

My original project idea was to compare two different types of programs, Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis and EPA SWMM.  Because I will be using EPA SWMM for my senior design project in order to plan and design a hydraulic system, I thought it would be interesting to compare it to a similar program by Autodesk.  I was going to first create a design using EPA SWMM and then attempt to exchange this design to the Autodesk software, modify it and send it back.  My initial idea was to investigate the interoperability of both, yet I came to realize that it does not have a big connection to BIM.  Because sensors have such a wide variety of uses and are multifaceted, I decided to explore this topic for my term project.

Term Project

For the term project I will be documenting my exploration of linking Revit and RAM structural analysis software. I will be doing this through the development of a portion of my senior design project in which I am handling the architectural, structural and HVAC design of a recreation center that will be build in Warminster. In order to document this I will be continually taking notes on difficulties, overall things I learn as well as ways that I wished I had done different steps along the way.

I will basically be trying to create a comprehensive how-to of linking RAM and Revit. 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. I also know that RAM and Revit are two of the most widely used programs in the industry today.

I found Gabrielle Carpenter and Gayaneh Gulbenkian's project idea on Green Buildings. I completely agree with what Gayaneh said in that green building is definitely the way that the industry is headed, even if people don't understand exactly what it is the clients always love to hear that their building will be green. People hear the word green and they all have different ideas about what it means, however, most believe that it is a positive thing. Who can argue with doing our part to save the planet, right? So as for our jobs in the future and how they will include green engineering, I think that each and every one of us can look forward to more and more green design that we will have to figure out how to deal with. With that said, I am extremely interested to see how these two bring it into the intelligent building realm and make this more of a reality for today and not just something that will be down the road.

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/