Monthly Archives: October 2009

All Content is NOT Created Equal

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There should be a content bill of rights or something to ensure that you are receiving the best quality Revit families for use in your projects. Good content can really add value to the design and documentation process, and bad content can make working in Revit less than fun. I’ve downloaded some really unusable items and even had the unfortunate experience of watching poorly built content sail through a QA process. Why does this happen? Is it lack of training, experience, communication, or is it a result of lack of documented process and specifications?

COMMENTS WELCOME

I’m working on co-authoring a series of articles, whitepapers, or some guide that will assist in the process of finding, evaluating, and augmenting Revit families for use in your firm. Ultimately, it comes down to identifying what is most important to you, the users. I would really like this to be a conversation, to aid in the planning of this work. Please add your comments to this post, sharing your horror stories, pet peeves, or ah-ha moments as you work with Revit families.

How Not to Fail – The BIM Project Execution Plan

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The expression “fail to plan, plan to fail” can have tremendous relevance in the design and construction of any size projects. When implementing a technology such as Revit in your firm, you really must plan. Blindly marching forward as if it is just another CAD application will certainly lead to failure. Understanding the shift to a building information modeling approach is not just a technology change; it is also a cultural change both internal and external to your firm. Most importantly, Revit and BIM both facilitate and demand a process change.

BIM in itself can be classified as a way of working, not just the tools that get you there. It’s about: communicating differently and more often, understanding how work completed today affects future participants in the process of building, operating and ultimately deconstructing a building, and finally it is about reducing waste. Understanding process and the impact of planning can be very time consuming and challenging effort.

If you are just beginning to think of how to incorporate new processes into your organization, you have to think like a consultant. Research and document current processes, challenges, and bottlenecks within your firm. Develop an implementation plan that determines your needs beyond obtaining the software and training. Implementation plans that I have developed for organizations often involves getting buy-in from management and the staff prior to moving forward. Also, determining who, what and when are important aspects to solving what you need to get started. Choosing the right team members, what type of project it is, and understanding the schedule have a tremendous impact on the planning and ultimate success of your pilot project. Do you need content (Revit families, details, templates, tutorials, standards, etc…) in place before proceeding with a pilot? Who receives training? When and how much? Every organization is different and you need to plan carefully.

Once you have made BIM a priority, have completed a pilot, and hopefully a formal evaluation of how things went, the planning does not end. In order to maximize the benefits of BIM on your projects, you really must create a BIM Project Execution Plan. By identifying the purpose and needs BIM will fulfill for the project, and clearly communicating roles and responsibilities, you better ensure success.

All of these topics require additional time to discuss. I will outline BIM planning in further posts.

To get you started in thinking about the process; this planning guide and it’s associated tools are available for free from the Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) Research Group at Penn State. It’s a component of the building Smart alliance (bSa) National BIM Standard™, or NBIMS.

More info:

BIM Project Execution Planning Guide

building Smart alliance

Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs – and it’s not even my birthday

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I don’t usually receive presents for Halloween, but this year, under the twirling vines of the pumpkin patch we find little gifts from Autodesk. They arrived with much fan fare in the form of Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs.

Much has been discussed regarding Autodesk Blogger Day. Here are some examples of early information regarding the Revit loot:

The Revit tools have lots to be excited about. I really am looking forward to trying out the framing tools, and using Image Modeler to capture context of a site. I will later add a review of some of these features, once I have had the time.

A new ribbon tab is available in the Renovation Extension for AutoCAD Architecture 2010

A new ribbon tab is available in the Renovation Extension for AutoCAD Architecture 2010 - (click to zoom)

AutoCAD Architecture users don’t fret… although the bloggers have been busy discussing what new toys Revit users on current subscription may download today, ACA has some pretty neat tools as well. If you’ve ever tried to document a renovation project using “AutoCAD for architects” you have probably been frustrated dealing with Layer Key Overrides. It is easy forgetting to disable them and accidentally placing objects on layers they were not intended. To the rescue: Renovation Extension 2010.

Much like phasing in Revit, this tool helps automate the ability to demolish (sans a sledge hammer tool), and add walls representing new construction easily. Once you enable the settings, it’s as simple as deleting a wall, door or window to enable a copy of that object to change “phase” to demolition. Drawing a new wall, automatically treats it as new construction and more importantly, moving a wall will demo the old wall and a portion of the connecting walls, and create infill accordingly. By having control over phase and the ability to lock down existing conditions preventing accidental edits is fascinating. It just may change your established workflow. This may all seem like magic, and I believe it might be.

Hmmm… Revit phasing isn’t quite as simple as this. Score one for the dedicated AutoCAD Architecture fans and users. The links to both sets of mid-year updates in the form of slick marketing videos follows:

Subscription Advantage Pack – Revit Architecture 2010

Subscription Advantage Pack – AutoCAD Architecture 2010

Congrats to the CCA + SCU team – 2009 Solar Decathlon Architecture Contest winner

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Refract House

A well deserved kudos to all who participated in the Solar Decathlon is in order. This year’s entries have a level of sophistication and attention to detail that should inform the industry and heat up the debate on energy independence.

The Refract house, winner of the Architecture category is such a well-done concept. Not only does it bend producing more roof area concentrating on the best sun exposure, but creates and extends living space to the outdoors. From the photographs it is obvious that, while only 800 s.f., there is a visual separation form the adjacent spaces as the building form turns the corner.

An overview of the design process and a well-documented list of the features employed can be found on the official page below. It’s unclear what digital design tools were used in creating this project. Anyone that can provide some clues, you are welcome to add a comment to the post. The use of the Building Dashboard for monitoring energy consumption and production is especially interesting, since I covered this way back in February of 2007.

from ArchDaily: CCA + SCU win 2009 Solar Decathlon, Architecture Contest | ArchDaily.

the official page: http://www.refracthouse.com