At design company Wimberly, Allison,
Tong & Goo, visionary architects have drafted blueprints for such
far-out projects as an outer-space resort. Yet most of the firm's
designers use a computer program originally released 22 years ago to
manifest their big ideas. It's a paradox of the trade: Projects of
grand scale are designed using pencils, paper, plaster-of-Paris
models, and AutoCAD®, the popular-but-aging PC application.
But the old way of doing
things--fraught with inefficiencies and rooted in the outdated idea
that collaboration between architects and builders presented a
conflict of interests--is starting to change. Architects, engineers,
and builders have begun to adopt a new generation of applications from
vendors such as Autodesk, Bentley Systems, and Graphisoft that support
what's called building-information modeling, in which databases manage
three-dimensional drawings and gigabytes of related project data.
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Business-information
modeling
improves the
quality of project
coordination, design
company
VP and CIO
Rocha says.Photo of Larry
Rocha by Rod
Nissen-Petzer |
Though some large companies like Bechtel Group Inc.
started down this path years ago, in part using internally developed
systems, building-information modeling has been slow to catch on
across the industry because it's fragmented and tends to be penny-wise
with its IT spending. "It's a great idea that just took a long time to
get around to," says Larry Rocha, VP and CIO of Wimberly, Allison,
Tong & Goo. Based on firsthand experience, Rocha says the technology
could help his company perform certain tasks with half the staff
required today. "The quality of coordination goes way, way up, and the
timing goes way, way down," he says.
If the trend gains momentum, the
building industry stands to be transformed in ways similar to what
supply-chain management has done for manufacturers. "Clearly, the
whole idea of developing a design of a building in three dimensions
and using a database to document it is going to be the way we do
things in the future," says Ross Wimer, a design partner with
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of two architectural firms designing
New York's Freedom Tower, to be built on the site of the fallen World
Trade Center. "The idea of creating a database and giving it to a
contractor will be a much more streamlined process."
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill recently
launched a building-information-modeling trial using Autodesk's Revit
application in its New York office and plans a second trial using
Bentley's software in Chicago. The potential benefits range from
compressing the time needed to prepare and share documents to greater
precision in the execution of unusual forms, Wimer says. Factors that
need to be assessed in the trials, he adds, are the training
requirements and graphics sophistication of building-information
models, and how well the new tools work for unconventional building
types.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill declined to
say whether building-information modeling is being applied to the
Freedom Tower's design, but the firm will use "some interesting
project-management tools" for the project, a spokeswoman says.
Older approaches have serious
limitations. Tools of the trade like Autodesk's AutoCAD® produce 3-D
graphics, but they lack much of the associated information that's
required to actually construct a building, such as the schedule for
when concrete gets poured or the cost of materials. What's more, if a
change is made to a floor plan, there's no easy way to replicate that
change to every subcontractor who needs that information.
When architects do create 3-D
electronic models, they may have to strip out valuable information to
make it usable by others, says Monica Schnitger, an analyst with
Daratech, a market-research firm for the engineering and construction
industry. If that same information is needed later, it must be
re-created, and miscues are common. "When you get to the construction
site, you find electricians standing around saying, 'There's no place
to run this wire,'" she says.
Building-information-modeling software
can bring design and construction projects into the 21st century--and
at about $5,000 per user, it's a drop in price from what used to be
state of the art. A few weeks ago, Autodesk upgraded the
building-information-modeling platform it obtained in 2002 via its
acquisition of Revit Technology Corp. Among other things, Revit 6 lets
designers share elements they create for use in other parts of a plan
or work on alternate schemes within one file so a client can choose
from various options. Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo has teamed with
Webcor Builders, a construction company that also uses Revit, to get
accurate cost estimates on building materials more quickly. Typically,
the process can take up to two weeks, during which architects forge
ahead with only a fuzzy idea of costs. "The idea of being able to get
a cost estimate within a matter of hours or a day or two is worth a
lot," says Jim Bedrick, Webcor's director of systems integration.
Webcor is using Revit in lieu of paper
overlays in planning building systems in one project--and it's
avoiding mistakes in the process. Bedrick sees potential in using the
added dimension of time, or "4-D modeling," to squeeze months from the
construction process.
Bentley, the No. 2 vendor in
architectural-software market share, according to Gartner Dataquest,
last week disclosed it had acquired the assets of ESSI LLC, which
makes data-warehouse software marketed to construction companies and
building owners and operators as a way to centrally manage building
information. Later this quarter, Bentley will make available upgrades
to its more than 100 applications, including its software for
architects, structural engineers, and facilities managers. Advances in
parametrics--the way changes in building parameters get updated--and
refinements in the way building components are indexed are among the
improvements.
Building-information-modeling apps are
presenting companies with new growth paths. Wimberly, Allison, Tong &
Goo made its reputation creating unique designs in the hospitality
sector (such as Las Vegas' 3,000-room Venetian Hotel), but it's now
eyeing jobs that involve chains of similar buildings because Revit
makes it easier to reuse designs. "We're looking for new opportunities
based on the efficiencies," Rocha says.
Given the benefits, why hasn't the
entire industry rushed to building-information models? Cost, training
issues, and entrenched habits all play a part. Rocha says his push of
building-information modeling has met some resistance at Wimberly,
Allison, Tong & Goo, but once the firm's professionals master the
technology, they won't give it up.
The writing is on the wall: The
building industry is on the cusp of change. And the wall,
increasingly, can be found in a 3-D database.
 |
Wimberly,
Allison,Tong &
Goo is
designing a floating
city, 2-1/2 times bigger
than the largest cruise ship.
Illustration courtesy Wimberly,
Allison, Tong & Goo |
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