This Viewpoint article highlights the challenge of the project information explosion caused by the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) in the AEC industry and the importance of managing all this project information systematically to render order from chaos. When properly implemented, BIM is delivering tangible benefits to all project stakeholders, but AEC firms also need to adopt adjunct systems to manage BIM inputs and outputs in a way that helps them deliver on the promise of BIM.
SKYSITE: Cloud-Based Document Management for Construction
This review looks at capabilities of SKYSITE, a cloud-based drawing management and distribution application specifically for the construction industry that was recently launched by the leading reprographics company, ARC Document Solutions. It also explores the larger question of whether a solution like SKYSITE, which is entirely focused on the document management piece of project management, even stands a chance of being successfully adopted by construction firms, given the plethora of established and more comprehensive project management and collaboration solutions in the AEC industry.
OneDesign: Blurring the lines between Architecture, Engineering and Contracting
This insightful article by John Tobin, VP for Operations at EYP, discusses the segmentation of disciplines in AEC, the need to create a more expansive and fluid definition of the design profession, and how concepts like BIM and IPD are more indicative of segmentation than of the specialization they are commonly perceived to reflect.
URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2015/OneDesign.html
Autodesk AEC Summit: 2016 Release and Upcoming Products
This article captures the highlights of Autodesk’s recently released 2016 AEC product family as well as some information Autodesk shared about upcoming products at a dedicated AEC media event that it hosted in Boston, the new location of its AEC headquarters. These include a dramatic expansion of its BIM 360 cloud-based construction platform, a new tool for building operations in the still nascent post-construction phase, a space planning tool that can provide spatial alternatives for early stage design based on program requirements, a “SimCity”-style urban planning tool, and several other developments.
URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2015/Autodesk_AEC_Summit.html
10 Years of RTC Australasia
This article by James Vandezande, Director of Design Technology at HOK, describes his experience attending the RTC Australasia event that was recently held in Gold Coast, Queensland. The Revit Technology Conference has grown since its inception in 2005 to a global event with conferences in Asia, North America and Europe in addition to the Australasia one. In addition to the highlights of the conference, James describes how the conference has grown beyond Revit but faces an identity crisis of sorts for various reasons. He also shares his thoughts on what makes RTC events so unique and successful.
AIA 2015 Convention and Expo
This article takes a closer look at the BIM applications, extensions, and conceptual design tools that were exhibited at the recent AIA convention held in Atlanta. These include the upcoming releases of Vectorworks and ArchiCAD, a new “SEPS to BIM” plug-in for importing intelligent health objects into SketchUp or a BIM application, Revit add-ons from AGACAD, updates on FormIt and Dynamo from Autodesk as well as the launch of a new pared-down and less-expensive Revit Collaboration Suite, and developments on mobile viewing and 3D printing in SketchUp. In addition, there were several analysis and visualization applications that were exhibited, which will be described in the upcoming Q2 2015 issue of AECbytes magazine. This year’s AIA convention also provided attendees the opportunity to hear former US President, Bill Clinton, deliver the opening keynote address in person.
Aconex: Cloud Platform for AEC Collaboration
This review explore the features and functionality of the cloud-based collaboration solution, Aconex, which has grown steadily from a fledgling company in Australia, founded 15 years ago, to a company that recently went public and is used to manage several large-scale construction and engineering projects across the globe. It looks at the factors that contribute to its growing adoption and success, particularly when so many other collaboration solutions—especially in the AEC dotcom days—failed even to survive, let alone gain traction. It also explores the difference between project-wide and firm-wide collaboration solutions—which has not been well understood so far—and looks at the “Connected BIM” module of the application, which allows all the members of the extended design team to work with the project BIM models—using only a web browser—to identity and resolve issues as well as enhance the models with asset information for handover.
Midwest University
This article captures an overview of the sessions, classes, and exhibits at the recently concluded Midwest University, an AEC-focused technology conference organized by CTC, an Autodesk reseller and partner, to provide learning and networking opportunities for those located in the Midwestern region of the US. Highlights include identification of key technology future trends by CTC and Autodesk, an exploration of gaming technologies for design coordination and review in construction, and the use of drones for aerial capture and the subsequent process to take that data to a design and modeling application. The conference also provided the opportunity to learn about new and updated AEC technology products and services including the suite of Civil Information Modeling tools from CTC, mobile workstations from MSI, how the cloud storage solution Panzura works, and the automated wood and steel framing capabilities of MWF from StrucSoft Solutions.
URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2015/MidwestUniversity.html
Why Isn’t There a Smarter BIM Tool for Building Design, Yet?
This Viewpoint article by Lachmi Khemlani, Founder and Editor of AECbytes, questions why we still don’t have a smart building design tool which does not require us to painstakingly model every detail in our buildings, but can automatically create much of it from a conceptual sketch using a rule-based expert system. This is not as far-fetched or “out there” as it might seem—we already have a tool for infrastructure design that can automatically create structurally sound infrastructure components with minimal input from the user.
People Profile: Guillermo Aranda-Mena
Guillermo Aranda-Mena, Associate Professor at RMIT University, Melbourne, shares his perspective on AEC technology in this Profile.
URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/profile/2015/PeopleProfile-GuillermoArandaMena.html
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