Explorations of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and sustainable design using technology as a catalyst for change in the architectural profession. Building for a better world.
- a blog by Sean D Burke
Ok… parametric geometry modeling is everywhere these days. Here’s another blog worthy of your attention.
The post on Grasshopper and the Revit API: importing points into a Conceptual Mass is brilliant. More please!
The Proving Ground by Nathan Miller: Streaming Grasshopper Points into a Revit Conceptual Mass.
Jason you hit the nail on the head with this statement: “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.” So true when it comes to transforming a business. Especially when adopting BIM. What a great observation, and an invaluable tool the book “Good to Great” is in our current challenging business climate. With the profession experiencing the single highest unemployment rate, and good firms closing their doors forever, there is an army of eager talent out there waiting for the right opportunity.
Revit is a disruptive technology, which makes it frightening for some, but exciting to others. Revit and the BIM workflow it fosters has the power to transform the practice of architecture, in conjunction with IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) and sustainable design. With these tools, we need to figure out as a collective industry how to go from good to great. Read on for more of Jason’s insight, which is the first in a series of drawing parallels to the lessons from this excellent book:
Good to Great – “First Who… Then What” – Jason Grant Blog – Adaptive Practice by Jason Grant.
Found on the Revit Kid blog… Nearly forgot about this project, it’s been so long in the making. I must say: even us old timers, who vaguely remember the studio experience, will get some enjoyment from this film. I cannot wait for it to begin making the art house rounds. Here’s a teaser.
Archiculture Teaser from arbuckle industries on Vimeo.
FILM SYNOPSIS
Archiculture is a feature-length documentary that explores the role that architecture and design play in our daily lives. The film follows five architecture students through their final senior design projects in order to shed light on the critical issues impacting our built environment.
The Revit Kid.com!: Archiculture – Movie.
Revit has some embedded videos in the help system. The first time you discover these, it feels like you’ve discovered an unopened gift. As the excitement builds, you click on the link to play the video lesson. If you are on a 64 bit version of Windows, you will be caught in an endless ritualistic loop of installing the Flash plugin, clicking a link and seeing a broken image tag. It is as if one must know a secret handshake to get the videos to play. Alas, it is not your fault. You have chosen a modern, shiny new system, presumably for the access to vast quantities of RAM. It must be assumed that such an advanced user needs no access to these ‘help’ videos. Well it isn’t, and this time there’s little Autodesk can do to fix the problem, short of using some other technology to deliver the videos.
I’ve run across this problem myself, and solved it in much the same way as Harlan describes below. One of the baffling things is that 64 bit operating systems have been available for more than a few years now. You would think that a company such as Adobe would have been more on top of the move to 64 bit. Read on for the fix:
If you are running 64 bit Revit and you try to run a video from the Help files, you will notice that it doesn’t play. It will prompt you to install Adobe flash, and then the video will not run.
Currently Adobe Flash Player does not support playback in a 64 bit browser. It is possible to run it on 32 bit browsers installed on 64 bit systems, but unfortunately Revit will default to the 64 bit browser in Help. Click here for more information on Adobe’s schedule for Flash Player 64 bit support.
So, to view the videos, you can do the following:
Click here to view a short video illustrating this process.
Source: The Revit Clinic - Watching Help menu animations on a 64 bit machine
A couple of critical Hotfixes for Revit have been released today and last week. I would have posted about the first earlier, but Autodesk University as well as more frequent Twitter activity sapped all my blogging powers. Do a quick search for #AU2009 on Twitter… So, I must recharge my batteries now and prepare a series of recaps for you all in the coming days. Hold on tight.
The first fixes some issues with wall editing! Boy if that isn’t something every architect and structural engineer needs… as well as some MEP folks. You should seriously consider applying this hotfix. Thanks to Harlan for sharing.
A new Wall hotfix has been posted. This hot fix applies to Revit Architecture, Structure, and MEP and addresses a issue that causes a crash when modifying or deleting walls. Files are included to fix Update Release 2 or the Subscription Advantage Pack, so make sure you download and install the correct files. Also, make sure to go over the readme files included.
Hotfix – Crash when modifying walls update 2 & subscription advantage pack release
Secondly, there is a hotfix that only applies to those who have installed the RAC (Revit Architecture) Subscription Advantage Pack. Does it repair the broken Classic Mode hack? Sadly no. But you will have control over the graphic display of Structural elements after applying this repair. Everyone else, move along, there’s nothing to see here. 
A new hotfix was released today for anyone running the Revit Architecture 2010 Subscription Advantage Build # 20090925_1815. After applying the Subscription Advantage Pack for Revit Architecture 2010, the structural settings dialog is no longer accessible. The included hotfix will resolve this issue. I have included both the technical solution with additional information as well as a link to the hotfix below:
Hotfix – Revit subscription advantage pack structural settings dialog
Sources (The Revit Clinic):
2) Revit Subscription Advantage Pack Hotfix Available – The Revit Clinic.
Some very amazing things have been shown and talked about at Autodesk University 2009 this week. If you have been hiding under a rock, then you may not know that the attendees, both in Vegas and virtually have invaded the Twitter-sphere or Tweet-Zone or whatever… Go to Twitter, sign up now and follow the conversations by searching for #AU2009.
So, on to the Tuesday Keynote and three ah-ha moments:
Interesting times. Be Visual!
Being the first AU since 2005 where I’m not just a customer, but also an attendee. I was determined not to submit any class proposals this year, and will be enjoying the learning/networking and fun like most everyone – such a welcome change of pace.
I’ve put together a final, but tentative schedule. Hey, anything can change this week. If you are teaching a class and I didn’t register for yours, it is only that there are so many to choose from this year – over 600 including the virtual sessions. Below is primarily an organizational attempt at figuring out where I need to be in addition to my Google calendar which I can happily read on my phone. The second, perhaps more compelling reason to share is that some of you may wish to meet up at one of these events to discuss Revit, Ecotect, the Mac, or simply come over and say hello. I resemble the image to the left on this blog’s sidebar, albeit with slightly higher color depth.
No, not that kind of cloud!
BIM and cloud computing have traditionally not been very close friends. What is interesting, is that there are companies out there innovating. There are model servers, data exchange formats, cumbersome and expensive hardware solutions that don’t really address all the issues.
Graphisoft has done what no other BIM software vendor has been able to do: reduce the time and space gap to project collaboration. But, what does it all mean? ArchiCAD 13 Makes Ground-Breaking Leap in BIM File Sharing | Cadalyst.
Does this mean that the competition is moving ahead. Maybe, but technology leaps come in shifts, not incremental change, and the development of the BIM sharing in ArchiCAD 13 is simply a redo of a tool they already had. If you managed to click through and watch the video on Teamwork, it is less impressive than the article makes it out to be. Revit can add color to worksets as well with filtering, and while doesn’t have chat, there are already many standalone technologies for this. All of this seems really distracting to getting work done. There has to be better ways to manage a project and improve communication. It may not be the right path.
Is that a pie in the sky, or SAAS?
One possible alternate future in Autodesk Labs may be just what we all need: Project Twitch. Sure this is being touted as a way to try before you buy AutoCAD, Inventor, Maya and Revit without the ability (yet) to save and print. There is a real potential for this to become something beyond play. This is true Software as a Service (SAAS), which seems to hold the possibility of reducing many obstacles to adoption. What obstacles? Well, collaboration, as in the solution above, would be a hurdle not requiring a lot of hardware or convoluted rights management to access parts of the building, it would just work. It would remove the barriers of geographically dispersed teams, and allow better and more reactive collaboration the way Revit currently works.
SAAS when done well, can help reduce hardware and operating system upkeep and could potentially become much less of a burden on IT departments and cost-concious design firms who could use a bit of a break after the last 18 months. This would open up your favorite design tools, like Revit to any platform you wish to use such as; Windows, Mac OSx, Linux, PS3, or whatever… OK maybe not a Commodore 64, but most anything.
Again, this is just a possibility. Two things need to happen; there needs to be an increase in trust from the industry that hosted data and applications are secure and highly available, and secondly there needs to be an improvement in performance. While just a technology preview, Project Twitch is not yet ready for replacing a locally installed application that works even when the power goes out. Someday… just maybe it will. OK, stop daydreaming and get back to work.
It always fascinates me the way folks who use Revit on projects are so willing to share their work, their process and their joy with the rest of the AEC community. This project, by _Space Architecture (http://www.spacegroup.co.uk/), really shows how the whole project team benefits from using Revit as their BIM solution to the benefit of better architecture and a happier client. View the video, it’s really informative as there are interviews with the design and construction team members right down to the tradesfolk getting the work done and resolving collisions before they happen in the field.
Source: Revit Space -> Washington School and Revit.
Not one of mine, credit - Whatcom Museum
Small cities deserve well-designed civic buildings and museums. This is one, designed by the accomplished Seattle firm Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects (soon to be renamed Olson Kundig Architects), whose body of work is well known throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The building is so nick-named for the 180 foot long double glazed wall which runs like a spine through the entire project and partially defines an outdoor court. The official purpose, at least currently, is the Art and Children’s Museum of the larger organization, the Whatcom Museum. The History Museum will continue to function in the old City Hall building, which is a historic landmark in itself. The new building will be the first museum in Washington State to be built to LEED Silver standards. Here’s the official announcement from the city, which also contains an interesting time lapse video of the construction.
The building shell went up very fast with mostly precast concrete insulated panels. These have a very stone like quality about them which is interesting in itself. The storefront details are well done, but the double curtainwall Lightcatcher steals the show. I definitely recommend a visit to see the building, and of course the artwork inside. The current exhibits are actually very interesting and feature some prominent artists from around the globe.
I attended the grand opening last weekend among great fanfare. Attendance was free, thanks to a local bank as the event’s sponsor. My only complaints were that on opening day, the upstairs atrium gallery was a little too narrow for the crowds trying to weave their way to the main exhibits. Ironically, the photographs displayed on that wall were of the area’s logging history. Perhaps it was the curator’s intent to create a human log-jam, creating an interactive exhibit. Second, that upstairs level really seems like a programmatic mish-mash. It is a small building, but seemingly unrelated rooms like an exhibit space and the children’s activity room were next to the director’s glass jewel box of an office, which couldn’t have had more Design Within Reach furnishings if it had been the company’s 1st Ave showroom in Seattle. Lastly, and this isn’t the building’s fault by any means, I was dissapointed that the roof garden over the lobby was not accessible. There are patio blocks and seating out there as well as an informational sign explaining the virtues of the living roof and rainwater collection. I guess I’ll read it another time.
I took a few photos of the atrium, and exterior. The lobby was too full of people to see much, but is a well-designed arrival space. Since it was dusk, these are a little grainy. Maybe it’s time for a new camera, or should open the manual for once. FYI: No photographs are allowed in the exhibit spaces, as is typical in most museums. Enjoy.
