Where did BIM go?

At the center of SOM’s visionary design process was AutoCAD®. “AutoCAD was incredibly valuable, and not just from a final documentation standpoint,” says Frechette. “We took individual parts of the building, modeled them in 3D in AutoCAD, extracted the information, and imported that data into a variety of other programs for analysis. It offers a common language that can be used in so many different areas.”

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© Copyright 2007 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved

Revit Architecture 2008 - Review

...it is important for BIM vendors like Autodesk to continue to invest some of their resources into broader R&D efforts rather than on simply improving what they have developed so far. The latter is undoubtedly important for day-to-day usability but it is the broader research and development that will lead to real innovation and ultimately shape the future of BIM.

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by Lachmi Khemlani, 27th of June 2007

BIM Buzz

Another unbiased article that tries to shed some light on the methodology whose definition is still quite illusive, Behind Building Information Modeling Buzz .

Nurbs Surface in Autocad Architecture

Approximating Nurbs Surface in Autodesk Architectural Desktop... the article was published in Hagerman & Co. Technology bulletin in June of 2005

Learning how to walk.....

I would definitely recommend this article to everyone that contemplates their position and role in the brave new world of BIM. Nigel Davies is one of the very few people out there that manages to circumvent BIM hysteria and deliver a sober and measured view on how to adopt the new methodology while maximizing its capacity within the boundaries of one’s true need assessment...(Mis)understanding BIM

BIM a porter

In over twenty years of implementing and using digital technology, both as an engineer and later as an architect, the most valuable lesson I have learned is the one of “critical practice”. Unfortunately, even though BIM as a methodology is nothing more than a transplant from more advanced areas of industrial production, it is truly amazing to see the extent to which acceptance, without scrutiny, is being preached over the last two years. Due to the nature of my work I happen to be more or less aware of the current status that BIM has in a large number of architectural firms of various size, and the datasets that are in circulation within those same offices, as well as in between different disciplines on the same job, are a far cry from being BIM compliant. Isn’t it high time to slow down and try to focus on core functionality and interoperability, versus creating this more than ideal picture of “shall” before “have”. Let us see a benchmarked project, completed and fully exposed in the public domain as a case study that can be dissected and scrutinized for the benefit of the entire AEC community. Implementing BIM should be a learning process that transcends the individuality that is still admired as a defining characteristic of any architectural office. Such methodology should create a solid foundation for not only more efficient design but also that which has achieved its materialization through iterative analysis and has proven the test of time. In today’s culture of blitz marketing and short lived commodities, it is hard to become a believer in “sustainable” when methodology itself has become prêt a porter.

Parametric Ceiling in ADT 2006/2007

Unfortunately I did not have the pleasure of attending the last AU for various reasons, of which being busy was the most important one, but a presentation handout was delivered to me by a colleague, titled Extreme Architecture.... Interesting concept, almost like Microsoft marketing Word for Extreme Poetry. I just hope that there will be some more thoughtful attempts to depict what we as architect can do when converting an abstract thought into a materialized reality, regardless to which tools we use.

Back on tangent.

Here is an example of a not so extreme but quite useful application of the parametric capability the ADT has. The anchoring tools in conjunction with walls, mass elements and grids will be used to create adjustable (parametric) coffered ceilings.
First I would like to begin by mentioning the AecCellAnchor command which can be used to distribute an AEC object by placing it within the AEC grid object's cells. This turns out to be a quite useful and obscure command that exploits the parametric nature of ADT 's database functionality by enabling the user to link object location and AEC grid location including spacing and scaling. After reading a really interesting tutorial by Archidigm on how to build a coffered ceiling by using the Curtain wall object , I had an opportunity to try this technique on a project with a beautiful cast in place concrete ceiling in an existing historic building. The Client interest in obtaining a rendering of the new program and depicting this ceiling as accurately as possible was essential for us to start thinking about the most flexible and fastest way to create and possibly tweak the new geometry.

The idiosyncrasy of the previously mentioned technique that did not work quite well in this particular case was the rather structured procedure for adjusting a curtain wall based grid to match the irregular grid of the existing building. And then this idea was born...

For a long time I have been using AEC anchor tools for controlled distribution of miscellaneous MV blocks, seating assemblies and parametric relationship between walls in ADT projects.

Combining AEC anchoring tools and extremely versatile Mass Object on non printable layer (s) via interference condition that can be applied to AecWalls became the standard for creating complex volumetric relationships between building skin, partitions and structure.

As this example was written for ADT 2006 it uses a variable with wall object in lieu of slab object that acquired interference capability in ADT 2007, but in 2007 version of this tutorial one can have a multi - material version of a coffered ceiling.

The first step is to create a new wall style and for the sake of this tutorial I
named it AecWallCeiling that should be associated with a new Wall Cleanup Style named AecCeiling.

If the ceiling in your project is at 9' create a wall style that has the Wall Baseline offset set at 9' and default wall height of 10'. When this is accomplished, place a new wall based on the previously mentioned style, in between the walls that are representing room's boundaries, and adjust its width to match the width of a room.

The next step is to create a mass object that will represent a "negative" of the that
particular coffered ceiling that you are working on. For this purpose I have created a relatively simple mass object an in order to control its polygon count and ability to approximate smooth radius I have adjusted the FacetRes Variable to 0.0625.

When this is completed go ahead and align a parametric AEC grid with the location
(height) and boundaries of AecWallCeiling Object.

Now before you anchor the Mass Object negative to the grid, let's stop for a moment and think what could be an added bonus feature of this technique. AEC Grid has the ability to scale the AEC Mass object within the boundaries of the each individual cell, but what if we intend for this object to be just a little bit more interactive and grid independent, let's say that we would like to change its dimensional characteristics and appearance and propagate that change through each object instance within that AEC grid defined pattern.

Here is the point where ADT can surprise you again. Its ability to create a reference of an object in a similar way to VIZ or Max , is quite a tool in your arsenal of ADT skills, and especially when you work with multiple repetitive objects, like trims and moldings.

Go ahead and type AecEntRefAdd, use the center (m2p) of your mass object as the insertion point and create a new reference object. This new object will now have to be associated with the AEC grid in the following manner. Type _AecCellAnchor and first select the reference object that will be anchored to a cell within the layout grid, and then select the grid to which we will anchor this object. While the command is still active and after the first cell has been populated, type "C" for copy and again select the the same reference object and then the grid. When prompted whether to skip those cells that are already populated, chose Yes and let ADT will do the rest.

Place the "negatives" in the desired location within the AEC grid. Select the wall
object that is being used as a ceiling slab, chose the interference option from the context short cut menu and select all of the "negative" references of the original mass object. Turn the nonprintable layer that is hosting "negatives" off. The layer approach was the quickest solution for the sake of this tutorial. Better results can be achieved by creating a Mass Object Style whose corresponding material will be invisible in reflected ceiling plan or model view, but that is a topic for another tutorial.

I need to mention that all of these tools have existed as the core functionality of ADT in one way or another since version 3.3, but like with any other application it takes some time and dedication and some creative thinking to make them work. Now if you think that your project requirements have outgrown the capacity of the software you currently use, think again and see if there are some other features or techniques that were neglected over time that are worth implementing, before your reseller tells you that it's shopping time again.

This is the rendering depicting the effectiveness of previously mentioned procedure and if you think that this example is of any use, feel free to download this sample file and test it on one of your projects.

Until next time….