AECWeekly is a news magazine featuring important industry news profiles, a summary of recently published AEC product and company news, customer wins, and coming events. Brought to you by AECCafe.
AECWeekly examines select top news each week, picks out worthwhile reading from around the web, and special interest items you might not find elsewhere. This issue will feature Industry News, Top News of the Week, Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances, Announcements, Financials, Awards, New Products, and Upcoming Events.
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Industry News
Outtakes on BIM
by Susan Smith
The term “building information modeling (BIM)” describes a technology that contains information about a building from concept, design and construction through operations and management. The use of BIM spans the entire AEC process. Some projects will use BIM in very early schematic design and others will wait until construction. There are no hard and fast rules.
Over the past year, while BIM has become more widely used, the definition has broadened and more products have been developed to assist in its adoption and productivity. The following article recounts some results of surveys of BIM users, outtakes from articles in AECWeekly, a new BIM standard spearheaded by the AIA, all illustrating some aspect of BIM implementation and direction.
AECBytes/Bentley BIM Survey
640 users responded to a blind survey of BIM users conducted by Dr. Lachmi Khemlani , founder and editor of AECBytes, working with Bentley Systems as an independent expert. The results of the survey showed that 58 percent of respondents preferred the approach and features of Bentley BIM solutions while 38 percent of all respondents prefer AutoCAD Revit and of the remainder, “strongly preferred” responses, 69 percent chose Bentley BIM solutions and 31 percent chose Revit. The same survey has been placed online so that other BIM users can take the survey themselves and compare their thoughts to what others have concluded.
In the press release, Huw Roberts, global marketing director, Bentley Building, commented, “Our initial interest in the survey was twofold: first, to aid in our understanding of what BIM users value as a guide to our ongoing BIM development; and second, to provide a comparative measure of the values placed on the relative strengths of Bentley BIM and Revit.”
The BIM Wizard enables professionals to take the BIM survey and uses their responses to generate a recommendation of Revit or Bentley BIM – based on their BIM approach preferences, their ratings of the BIM features, and the respective strengths of Bentley BIM and Revit as established by Dr. Khemlani. It also creates a report that compares their choices to the responses of their peers in the survey conducted by Dr. Khemlani. Bentley BIM Wizard.
AECbytes has released a qualitative report on the survey titled “Top Criteria for BIM Solutions.” BIM Survey Report.
A PDF file containing the full details of the quantitative analysis is available here.
For Bentley, the survey has been helpful to show what decisions users value as they are adopting and implementing BIM, according to Roberts. “It helps us validate where we’re on the right track and where we need to put more energy into our future development.”
During the question and answer period of an industry webcast, the following questions were asked:
1) Out of the 640 people who replied to the survey, how many of those were actually BIM users who were actually using 3D live models and how many were just considering the move to BIM and therefore haven’t really tried it and didn’t understand what features would be relevant to them in their move?
87% of those that responded have either already adopted BIM in their practice or are actively evaluating BIM right now.
2) According to Autodesk, Revit is selling more than ADT, it’s their best architectural package for sales. There is an element of how well are you seeing Revit doing and how well are you competing against it?
BIM is raising all boats. Our users are adopting BIM and growing with that, and Autodesk users are adopting Revit and growing with that. Some of each are looking at the other, which is not surprising. And so we’re both benefiting well from BIM. Users moving to BIM are benefitting as well. We’re having our best year ever. We can fairly say that the large marketing effort that Autodesk has put into BIM and the value we have put on it has opened people’s eyes to BIM solutions.
3) What percentage of the people who responded were existing Bentley customers as opposed to Autodesk customers?
Autodesk respondents were 67% and Bentley were 15%. They could pick more than one choice – probably everybody picked Autodesk including all or most of the people who picked Bentley.
4) What were the key surprises for you? Have you begun to map a strategy going forward?
The desire for automated change management versus performance in practice was of a lower rank of importance in terms of approaches. However, in the field we hear the performance questions a lot and thought that would score higher. We’ll do further investigation to understand that result. This has already started informing those plans going forward.
Autodesk Independent Research Study 2003
In 2003, Autodesk did a research study to study experiences of its customers using Autodesk Revit. They also conducted an online survey of Revit customers, in which 82% of respondents noted their design process was changing as a result of using Revit, and 80% reported that their deliverables were changing as well.
The change to a parametric building modeler is a huge change but is essential for architectural design. Implementation strategies should include a way to co-exist with and transition from 2D to 3D applications that are already resident in architectural design firms. Today, more attention is being placed on the opportunity to incorporate energy analysis, specifications and cost scheduling and estimating into the BIM model.
BIM and Sustainable Design
Although it was not originally intended for sustainable design, BIM is now being seen as a useful tool to analyze energy use and resource consumption. The idea is, that if firms can understand energy use and resource consumption early on in the design process they have a better chance to change them before the construction phase.
Sustainable analysis is just one of the things you can do with the data set from a BIM. You can’t do this with a graphical 2D approach to design.
Jay Bhatt, vice president of Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Solutions at Autodesk, described BIM as a “workflow, a change of process of architects and engineers who are executing it, based around three critical things: coordination, a consistent set of information utilized for design, and that the information is able to be computed.” A lot of emphasis in recent years has been put on coordination, because there are large macroeconomic pressures put on the industry and a consistent representation of the information being modeled is essential.
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As of February, 2007, Bhatt said that Revit usage has grown to 190,000 seats.
Supporting the BIM process
Graphisoft has taken an innovative approach to marketing its BIM products: a BIM Experience Kit that users can download and learn how to use in a short period of time. Graphisoft recently surveyed users working in 2D as well as offices that use both a 3D and 2D workflows. 2D users were asked why they were not switching to BIM.
The three main reasons were:
1) No time to change - These offices have a lot of work, and their perception is that changing is a big switch. “You have to stop what you’re doing to switch the offices around, train the members, and get really effective with the new tool,” recounted Akos Pfemeter, director of Global Marketing for Graphisoft.
2) BIM is too hard to learn - BIM is perceived as too complex for most team members. There are certainly issues around learning which are very well addressed in Graphisoft CEO’s recent article, “ How Do We Learn ?”
3) We may not be able to deliver drawings to clients in time if I go to BIM - Users were afraid that in making the move to BIM, they may not be able to produce drawings in a timely manner which is the ultimate deliverable to customers.
“We also asked if they didn’t change because they thought their current workflow was good enough, and 0% answered yes to that!” said Pfemeter. “Everybody knows BIM is more efficient once you master how to work in a BIM environment.”
When asked if they were planning to move to BIM, one third of them answered yes, they were proactively searching for a BIM application. Concurrently, many are worried about not moving to BIM because they are worried about losing their competitive edge. Given that it appears the market is ready to switch to BIM, Graphisoft felt that they just needed some help getting there.
The BIM Experience Kit is an answer to that dilemma: offering “the fun way to learn what BIM is.”
There are three key areas where Newforma Project Center Fourth Edition supports BIM:
Coordination, review and markup. “We provided a powerful environment for marking up, reviewing and sharing those views and discussions among fellow project team members,” said Newforma CEO Ian Howell.
There’s also search that has been extended to support the intelligent object properties in BIM models so you can now search the hidden object properties in a BIM model.
Compare. As you’re moving from milestone to milestone in a BIM environment, you have the ability to compare the upcoming milestone with the previous milestone to catch any unintended changes and to insure that any changes that were intended were properly documented.
With the advent of BIM, there is a need for a product to address the pre-design aspect of the design-to-operations and maintenance lifecycle of a building. As the definition of BIM expands and shifts, the need to include more perspectives becomes evident. BIM encompasses not only 3D but all the data behind it. According to Carole Kernohan, VP Business Development, "BIM is not necessarily one model, but a combination of models, each with its own unique view, yet it can be pulled together. So if someone needs that whole view they can get to it via an electronic representation."
Affinity 5.0 offers integration with the Autodesk Revit 9.1 design tool, enhances integration with Graphisoft Archicad 9 and 10, and delivers new functionality. The software provides another view into the building model, one that begins before Revit or ArchiCAD. "Affinity has access to the initial planning and programming even as you’re progressing with that model in Revit," noted Kernohan.
Affinity 3D Viewer provides 3D views of the project design, as one of several tools for visualizing the conceptual design.
New BIM Standard
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Affinity 3D Viewer provides 3D views of the project design, as one of several tools for visualizing the conceptual design. |
Because there can be so many decision makers involved in the creation and use of a BIM, there is a need to strengthen relationships between owners, architects, engineers and contractors on projects. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has been spearheading the development of a new BIM standard—the new buildingSMART Alliance which will operate within the independent nonprofit National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). We will hear more about this later, but basically the new public/private initiative expands on goals of the North American Chapter of the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAINA), whose Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) have initiated open standards for national and international links among industry players, and will serve developers and users of BIM in helping to form a more cooperative relationship between players.
A real challenge is, does BIM get the job done? Does it meet the needs of users? Many vendors would have the public believe that BIM is used in an enormous number of occasions (Revit, for example, has grown to 190,000 seats. There are 500,000 AutoCAD Architecture seats (formerly Architectural Desktop), also considered a BIM, although it could easily be used solely for 2D CAD). It is difficult for vendors to qualify where BIM is being used and where it isn’t, except on the bigger projects that win awards and gain a lot of attention. Part of the reason for this is that A/E firms already have numerous seats of a 2D CAD software in place, with users who have upgraded to 3D but are not necessarily using BIM.
One colleague said that of all the architectural projects he consults on, only a very small percentage use a BIM, but many are interested in it.
Some AEC firms say the definition of BIM is a “little slippery.” Many firms create models, but not necessarily BIM models. HOK, which has hundreds of projects going on at the same time, estimates that perhaps 10% of their projects are full BIM projects.
Some of the confusion lies in the fact that 3D is a big part of a BIM model, but not the only factor in a BIM model. “BIM is about ¾ 3D model, and the other ¼ is additional information,” Mario Guttman, firmware CAD director, HOK, pointed out. “We’re tracking more detailed identification of things that are in the BIM model such as what they are and what they cost, etc.”
Certainly, reading the new product feature list from one of the vendors can get you thinking that it’s all very simple. Those toiling away in the trenches know that it’s not all easy, no matter what the marketing literature says. “Some people would give you the impression that you would build a BIM model, push a button and get an energy analysis. That’s not really true. Architecture is a complicated art that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to simple answers,” said Guttman.
Top News of the Week
Bentley Systems, Incorporated has begun shipping StormCAD V8 XM Edition, an easy-to-use storm sewer network design and modeling solution that is the first to offer multiplatform interoperability. StormCAD was identified as the No. 1 hydraulic modeling solution for stormwater networks in a recent national survey.
Acquisitions/Alliances/Agreements
Avatech Solutions, Inc., the nationwide technology experts for design, engineering, and facilities management, has become a high definition scanner Gold Dealer with Leica Geosystems. Avatech is among the largest US distributors for Leica Geosystems high definition scanners (HDS), serving companies engaged in surveying, plant design, architecture, and facilities management.
Announcements
Central Park Prague Development has teamed up with A69 Architects to create the most ambitious residential complex in Prague’s history. The opening is scheduled for April 2008. Located on a 16-hectare green area, the project design features residences and terraced townhouses, representing the highest standard of modern living. The project is located in Prague’s Third District, a main focus of urban development. Central Park Prague is the city’s first project based on the so-called hybrid concept, which has been very successful in cities around the globe. The project blends landscaping with architecture, combining the features of apartments and family houses, and complemented by services that rival the finest hotels.
Graphisoft Inc. is seeking qualified CAD software resellers who wish to tap into the fast-growing market for Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology.
The new Graphisoft Reseller Program offers companies new revenue opportunities through selling and supporting ArchiCAD, an industry-leading building design, simulation and collaboration software solution for the architectural and construction industries.
Autodesk, Inc. and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the results of the 2007 Autodesk/AIA Green Index, an annual survey that measures how AIA member architects in the United States are practicing sustainable design, as well as their opinions about the green building movement. The index shows that green building has taken a firm hold on the industry and has captured the attention of both architects and their clients. The 2007 Autodesk/AIA Green Index survey reports 70% of architects say client demand is the leading driver of green building and that the primary reason these owners and developers are demanding greener buildings is for reduced operating costs.
At the 2007 Greenbuild Expo, Autodesk, Inc. and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) presented an update on their ongoing collaboration to expand the use of technology to facilitate adoption of sustainable design and green building. Autodesk also showcased a technology concept for a new sustainability analysis dashboard, that could be used in combination with the Revit platform for building information modeling (BIM) to provide architects, engineers and designers with real-time graphical feedback about the impact of their design decisions on the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating of a project.
Financials
Avatech Solutions, Inc. announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2007.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2008, the Company reported revenues of $12,417,000 compared to $12,045,000 in the prior-year period. The Company reported net income of $489,000, or $0.02 per fully diluted share, compared to net income of $36,000, or $0.00 per fully diluted share, in the same period of the prior year
Awards
Deltek, Inc., provider of enterprise applications software for project-focused organizations, announced that it has received the 2007 Achievement in Customer Excellence (ACE)(TM) Award for "Customer Support Satisfaction." The program's sponsor, CustomerSat, recognized 16 organizations this year.
New Products
Bentley has just released version 8.9.3 of ProjectWise Lifecycle Server, a standards-based engineering data warehouse with a supporting suite of software applications that addresses engineering automation and total lifecycle asset information management needs. Built on ISO 15926, the open industry data model and format, ProjectWise Lifecycle Server offers unprecedented interoperability—providing the ability to share data with not only Bentley applications but also those of third parties.
Avatech Solutions, Inc. announced the launch of five new productivity tools for Revit Architecture. Avatech originally developed these tools to increase the productivity and efficiency of their Revit implementation clients. Today, Avatech is releasing these five tools to all members of the Revit community: Room Renumber, Door Mark Update, Change Case, RevitCity Browser and an updated Revit Earth Connector for Google Earth. Developed by Avatech’s Software Development Solution Group, these plug-ins to Revit are available now for free download here.
CADSoftTools released a beta version of its Batch Print, the printing program that responds to the extended requirements of the industrial and home using. The main purpose of Batch Print is complete automation of printing process of user's drawings. This program is able to print a wide range of file formats representing vector and raster graphics. It provides wide capabilities for filtering drawings and printing settings customization for further 'one click' printing.
MAXON released a dramatically enhanced version of its CINEMA 4D software. Sporting a wealth of new features added to the core CINEMA 4D program, the update also takes in a number of enhancements that have been made to CINEMA 4D's optional modules. Especially the connection to Nemetschek’s new version Allplan BIM 2008 guarantees loss-free transfer from CINEMA 4D R10.5.
SmartDraw.com announced the release of SmartDraw 2008.1, an updated version of its latest software. The new release now features more than 35,000 maps from around the world, as well as revamped image charts.
"Now users can search maps virtually anywhere in the world, using live data from the Internet," said Paul Stannard, CEO of SmartDraw.com. "We've added provinces for countries in the European Union and Australia, as well as new maps for countries in Central America, Asia, and the Middle East. The integration with Google Earth allows users to incorporate regions and even satellite images into their illustrations."
IronCAD, LLC announced the release of IRONCAD Version 10. A provider of 3D design productivity solutions, IronCAD’s latest software release combines history-based parametrics and direct geometry manipulation into a modeling system that gives users greater design freedom. Among the list of improvements and new features in IRONCAD Version 10 are major improvements to large assembly performance in 3D and 2D, a redesigned interface, updated capabilities for advanced rendering and more.
Reed Construction Data Canada has announced the launch of Building Reports Online, a subscription service for the construction industry providing an online interface to access project information at any stage throughout the construction cycle.
This new service is available through Reed's Daily Commercial News, a daily source for Canadian construction news, project leads, events and resources serving Ontario, and the Journal of Commerce online (www.joconl.com), a similar source serving Alberta and British Columbia.
The Advanced Tutorial Series for Revit Architecture 2008 has been published.
Lay Christopher Fox goes in depth with Autodesk® Revit Architecture 2008 Advanced in this 8.75 hour, 95 lesson expansion of the Essentials Series. Topics covered include: Worksets, Design Options, Family Creation, Parameters, Phases, Advanced Components, Collaboration, Rendering, Advanced Drafting, Graphic Controls and Links. For a complete lesson outline please visit the Overview web page.
The series is available Online, on DVD and as a DVD Bundle with the Revit Arch. 2008 Essentials. Go to this site to view a sampler from this series, view pricing and to download the lesson outline.
Axium, a provider of financial and project management software solutions for architectural and engineering firms, announces the addition of a new Inquiry feature for their Ajera and PORTFOLIO products. The new Inquiry feature will be available in the 3.5 update due out in mid November.
Informative Graphics Corporation (IGC) announced the beta release of its Redact-It(TM) Enterprise Server software for Microsoft(R) SharePoint(R) portal server. Redact-It removes sensitive content and privacy information like social security numbers, names and phone numbers before making documents available to a wider audience.
Events
| Concrete Canada trade exposition and conference | |
| Date: | November 28 - 30, 2007 |
| Place: | the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
South Building, Toronto, Canada |
| Concrete Canada is a construction trade exposition and conference held on November 28 – 30, 2007 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building. This Show will facilitate and accelerate the exchange of ideas, best practices, and product knowledge with a combination of educational seminars and exposition for this vital industry.
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| The Future of Professional Practice | |
| Date: | December 2 - 4, 2007 |
| Place: | Capital Hilton
Washington, DC USA |
| The American Institute of Architects invites you to share your knowledge and expertise with fellow practitioners and allied professionals as part of a special conference on the future of architecture practice. We are inviting speaker proposals from industry leaders and forward-thinking professionals who are on the cutting edge of practice, technology, collaboration, research, training, and mentoring as we discuss trends that are changing the way architects practice.
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| Academic Medical Centers - Capital Projects and Facility Management | |
| Date: | December 3 - 4, 2007 |
| Place: | San Diego, CA USA |
| This academic medical center-focused conference details the new capital project and facility management models that are 1) integrating collaborative, high-productivity processes for education, research, and patient care; 2) anticipating technology advances in medical equipment; 3) creating flexible infrastructures for long-term facility viability; and 4) delivering optimum total-spend (capital plus operations) outcomes. Specifically, you’ll get the new standards for project development, integrated facilities planning, space-use flexibility, efficient project delivery, construction cost escalation mitigation, LEED decision-making, and the reduction of operating costs.
FULL PROGRAM INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE AUGUST, 2007. Email AMC2007@tradelineinc.com to get full program details as they become available. Register through November 02 2007 SAVE $150 USD
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| Ecobuild Fall / AEC-ST | |
| Date: | December 10 - 13, 2007 |
| Place: | Washington, DC USA |
| Ecobuild Fall and AEC-ST Fall is an annual event that goes beyond green to cover the breadth of green building, sustainable design, renewable energy, environmental planning processes and information collaboration strategies for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential construction.
Attendees include the federal government, design and construction decision-makers from the public sector and private practice, AEC professionals, owners, developers, and facility managers - the entire project team in one place, at one time.
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| Construction SuperConference | |
| Date: | December 12 - 14, 2007 |
| Place: | Palace Hotel
2 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 USA |
| The Construction SuperConference, now in its 22nd year is recognized as the preeminent legal construction conference. With the guidance of the Advisory Board and the expertise and feedback from past participants and long-time supporters of the conference, a program has been established that will provide insight into some of the most complex legal and business issues facing the construction industry.
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