AU 2009 Schedule

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Sean

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.

So, here it is:

Mon Nov 30, 2009

6:30pm – 8pm AU Bloggers Social - invitation only

Tue Dec 1, 2009

8am – 9:30am | CP104-2 The Basics of the Autodesk® Revit® API | Where: MB Ballroom F
10am – 11:30am | KN108-1 AU Keynote and Welcome Address with Carl Bass | Where: North Convention Center, Events Center (Arena)
11:30am – 1pm ||Lunch || Where: South Convention Center, Level 2 Shoreline A
1pm – 2:30pm | AB114-1 Insanely Great Stairs and Railings with Autodesk® Revit® | Where: MB Ballroom C
3pm – 4:30pm | DV118-1 Optimizing Your Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design Models for Project Newport | Where: Jasmine F
5pm – 6:30pm | Private Meeting
EXHIBIT HALL – FIRST LOOK
8pm – 9:30pm | DS128-1 Cut&Paste: AU Design Slam, Preliminary Rounds | Where: MB Ballroom G
9pm – 10:30pm | AB9130-1 Autodesk® Revit® Collaboration: Shared Coordinates for Projects Big and Small | Where: VIRTUAL

Wed Dec 2, 2009

6am – 7am | CR9200-1 Introduction to a BIM Execution Plan | Where: VIRTUAL
8am – 9:30am | CP204-3 Deep Dive on the Revit API: Advanced Topics | Where: Lagoon G
10am – 11:30am | AB208-3 Autodesk® Revit® for Urban Design | Where: South Seas H
LUNCH/EXHIBIT HALL
1pm – 2:30pm | CP214-2 Creating and Analyzing New Conceptual Massing Geometry With the Autodesk® Revit® API | Where: MB Ballroom C
3pm – 4:30pm | AB218-4 Autodesk® Revit®: A BIM Manager’s Guide to Revit-alizing Your Office | Where: MB Ballroom D
5pm – 6:30pm | MA222-4 Content Is King: Working With Autodesk® Inventor® and Autodesk Revit® | Where: Banyan F
6pm – 6:30pm | Private Meeting
6:40pm – 8:15pm | AB226-1 Sustain Yourself With Revit® Architecture Certification | Where: South Seas F
BEER and AUGI stuff…
8pm – 9:30pm | DS228-1 Cut&Paste: AU Design Slam Finals

Thu Dec 3, 2009

6am – 7am | ED9300-1 Incorporating Software Simulation Into Web-Based Training | Where: VIRTUAL
8am – 9:30am | AB304-1 Autodesk® Revit® for Film and Stage | Where: MB Ballroom B
10am – 11:30am | DV308-3 Virtual Cinema and Architecture: A New Method of Client Visualization Is Born | Where: South Seas I
11:30am – 12:45pm | SB311-1 Autodesk Subscription Customers Help Shape Autodesk University 2010 With Lynn Allen | Where: North Convention Center, Lower Level, South Pacific E
1pm – 2:30pm | CM314-3 BIM Management | Where: South Seas B
3pm – 4:30pm | AB318-4L From Fabulous to Fabrication: Real-World Digital Fabrication and BIM | Where: MB Ballroom H (Lab)
5pm – 6:30pm | MA322-2 Taking the Dysfunction Out of Your Autodesk® Revit® Families:Best Practices for Manufacturer BIM Content | Where: Jasmine A
6:30pm – 9:30pm ||AU Party AU Party – Food and Fun! | Where: South Convention Center, Level 1 Bayside B, Bayside B Foyer & Shark Reef

Fri Dec 4, 2009

9am – 10am | DV9406-1 Parametric Design Modeling with Autodesk® 3ds Max® | Where: VIRTUAL
11am – 12pm | FM9410-1 Don’t Get Floored In Your Facility: Autodesk® Revit® Architecture as an Effective Facilities Management Tool | Where: VIRTUAL

Head in the Clouds

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Sean

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.

Washington School and Revit

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Sean

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.

Lightcatcher Building

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Sean

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.

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 on that wall were of the area’s logging history. Perhaps it was the curators intent to create a human log-jam. Second, that the roof garden 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.

Training Classes Announced

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Sean

Webinar classes:

Looking for ways to save money on training? Why not attend a short focused event that will provide high value at an affordable cost? The following topics are announced:

Nov 13 @ 10AM PST – Integrating: Revit with Ecotect – 2 hours
Nov 23 @ 10AM PST – Secrets of Revit Conceptual Massing – 2 hours

Integrating: Revit with Ecotect

Looking for ways to integrate sustainable design into your current workflow, or simply a way to work smarter? Perform analysis of building designs when it has the most potential rewards, during conceptual design. Seating is limited, so sign up today.

Topics Covered:

Using Revit conceptual models
Preparing a Revit project model
Export options for gbXML
Compelling reasons for exporting to DXF
Optimum Ecotect import settings
Considering site and weather conditions
Applying parametric rules to Ecotect objects
Performing early daylight and thermal analysis
Iterative design and optioning

View the full course information, and sign up today at EventBrite.com

Secrets of: Revit Conceptual Massing

Revit Architecture 2010 has some very powerful conceptual design tools, but for those migrating from earlier versions of the software using these new tools can be daunting at first. If you want to understand how to create flexible, parametric building forms this class is for you. We will cover the essentials of the conceptual mass editing environment, as well as how to create sophisticated organic forms. Seating is limited, so sign up today.

Topics Covered:

The Conceptual Design environment
The Importance of building jigs
Pros and Cons of choosing a modeling method
Working with legacy massing objects
From box to organic form
Subtleties of the environment
Surface rationalization
Creating and extending panel families
Extracting data for design analysis

View the full course information, and sign up today at EventBrite.com

Other News:

Additionally, full course sample agendas are now released for Revit Architecture 2010 and Ecotect Analysis 2010. For more information visit the Training page.

The Revit Architecture production training is part of the Productivity. Fast!™ implementation system. This allows you to get up to speed quickly by combining training with a live project and applied concepts. Mentoring and project assistance is provided ‘just-in-time’ so you can get your work done and capture lessons learned. Below is this four-part system of implementation which allows an entire office, or just a single pilot project to be completed with confidence. Each of these activities is a four-day period, which may be delivered all at once, or as project and team needs require.

Essentials Course
Advanced Course
Project Mentoring and Best Practices (Checkpoint)
Project Quality Assessment (Post Evaluation)

For more information, visit the Services section of the main website.

Ecotect – Start at the Start

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Sean

The second issue of AUGI AEC EDGE digital magazine is now available for download. It is available as an online interactive version, or a PDF. This Fall (Autumn) issue contains my article introducing Ecotect Analysis and its role in conceptual design, on page 16. The first AEC EDGE issue was focused squarely on Revit, and the fall edition branches out to other tools and includes information pertinent to the architecture, engineering and construction community. Regular BIM and CAD blog readers will recognize many of the brilliant authors who contributed to this issue. A big round of applause to Steve Stafford, the editor, for his ability to assemble and include so many high-quality articles on such a short time frame. Please enjoy responsibly.

http://augiaecedge.com/Current/

House of the Week: Consorzio Vini Tipici di San Marino

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Sean

OK, so it’s not really a house, but perhaps a really good house wine. Every once in a while you find a very intriguing use of technology in architecture schools. Lately, the amount of good work has been not scarce. In this example, however there is evidence of biomimicry, parametric scripting, simple rendering using ambient occlusion, and using Ecotect to present sustainable analysis data in very compelling and rich ways. Bravo Andrea!

Click through to have a taste of Italy:

s h i f t: Digital refining: new winery for “Consorzio Vini Tipici di San Marino” _[boards].

Revit, sustainable design, digital musings

Monthly Archives: November 2009