Coffee with Revit - just because, you know you want it. Image credit: RevitFamiliesOnline.com

Been looking for some way to learn more about conceptual modeling in Revit / Vasari? You can join the Vasari development team for some live sessions on specific topics. Join Vasari Talk every Wednesday, bring your own coffee. The announcement is here.

Back already? Good. I must admit after reading that announcement, I’m feeling a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves… as Steve pointed out, this slipped some of our notice, as three sessions have already happened (and luckily recorded as part of the Wiki). Read his post for more…

via: Revit OpEd: Vasari Update.

The Proving Ground by Nathan Miller: NBBJ Design Computation – Job Opening.

NBBJ Los Angeles is seeking an expert in Design Computation who will be placed in a co-leadership position with a collaborative team of experts. The Designer we are seeking must have a proven track-record for pushing the boundaries of design by drawing upon a deep interest in science, mathematics and computing. This individual should possess experience in applying technology driven methodologies in the context of real-world design problems.

The individual will have responsibilities which include collaborating on the design of architecture projects, working with teams to develop innovative computational design tools, and mentoring design teams in computational methods. The position will offer the candidate opportunities to grow within the firm and exposure to an innovative, fast-paced and highly collaborative environment.

Already a whiz in Revit, 3dsMax, or Rhino/Grasshopper? Respond to a challenge, so others may benefit.

Still learning how to solve a geometry problem or build a parametric component? Whether you need a component family, Revit project, GH definition, or other 3D model, sift through the various challenges or projects and their responses, and download to your heart’s content.

Be sure to post a new challenge if you have this idea that you want to crowd-source for a solution. Reward that respondent well when you find modeling Nirvana.

So the next time someone tells you that software ‘X’ cannot do ‘Y’, or ‘Z’, call their bluff and open up an example from some amazingly talented contributors. When you are ready, young padawan, you too can share your brilliance. Click for the latest activity, or search the archives. latest activity | designbymany.

At the 2010 Design Futures Council Leadership Summit on Sustainable Design, Steve McConnell, Managing Partner of NBBJ spoke about new technologies that are driving innovative sustainable design solutions at NBBJ. Using two projects currently under construction, Steve discusses the need for new models of collaboration to enable paradigm shifts in our industry. For more information on NBBJ, visit nbbj.com.

Click through for the iOS friendly version: How a Culture of Collaboration & Technology Enables Design Excellence at NBBJ – Steve McConnell, Managing Partner, NBBJ

It is both an honor and joy to work with such talented and visionary leaders. There are nine other wonderful presentations from other industry leaders (including one by the also eloquent speaker Phil Bernstein) also found at Design Intelligence on Vimeo.

Sometimes it takes going very fast to be able to slow down and appreciate what is happening around you. About two years ago, rolling back and forth along one of my many weekly train rides down to Seattle prior to moving here, it suddenly dawned on me all at once: What is it about BIM that is so inaccessible to many firms? Below is a version of what I captured on that bumpy ride. It somehow seemed appropriate now that we are finding our way, hopefully out of this deep recession. Either that, or I finally watched Unstoppable. Strongly recommended, especially if you are a train nut, and have a decent home theater sound system. Anyway… about BIM – this is applicable to new firms thinking about BIM, but also a reminder of why we decided to do this in the first place. Let’s not lose site of the reasons to embrace process change.

Resistance to Change

I hear this all the time: “BIM can be too rigid, forcing you to commit to design decisions.” Didn’t people say the same things about CAD? Wasn’t it that we discovered it was more flexible at making changes. We made those changes, and changes, and changes… That could be why, even though it was a superior tool to the drafting table and layers of canary tracing paper, we never saw any real productivity gains.

Architects using CAD went too far, too fast. Why? Because of the perceptions of easy changes. Well, certain changes are easy, right. But what about the changes that never get coordinated. Did we forget to follow through the change? Usually. Was it more efficient? Only during design. Did we stop charging additional services for changes that used to be very time-consuming? Yes, although the time it takes is lessened, it still causes late nights and over-consumption of caffeine.

Let’s not repeat those same mistakes in BIM. Building is of course a messy process. It is by it’s nature, laborious, fraught with errors and intentionally slow. If you build too fast, things fall down and people and property are damaged. Why should virtual building be any different?

One could certainly see the benefit of putting all the detail in real-time, but at what cost to the schedule, the ability to iterate, and respond to change? It’s time we slow down, and think about strategic design. Go outside, take a walk and get some fresh air – if you can find any.

Change is Medium

It can be less than easy, but so many are doing it and succeeding, so one must ask themselves: “How hard can it really be?” There are several obstacles, however the most critical might be knowledge gap. They need a “perceived reality re-alignment”. The fact is, change is happening.

There’s always someone out there that thinks they really “know” what BIM is. They might even tell you they’ve been doing it for several years, or there entire career has been using “3D” modeling. Well, then you ask them what it was like to exchange data with consultants, the general contractor and client, and they either look blankly or state that they exported to DWG. So where is that “I” in BIM?

The knowledge gap of not just what the existing tools can do, but what process change is necessary to succeed in the new face of architecture needs to close quickly, or as participants in the creation of the built form we will all fall deeply into the abyss.

Remembering: Why BIM?

Did we simply want a better chariot? Isn’t CAD simply the same old truck and grooved-road concept which ultimately became the 19th century train? Don’t get me wrong, trains have their place for moving cargo, and short haul commuter lines. Now Maglev, that’s traveling. Removing friction, and floating above it all allows moving at far greater speeds, and a safer, smoother ride.

It is then hard to understand why Amtrak has decided to base their long-term strategy on existing old technologies (CAD), when they could leap forward (BIM) like some other places in the world (see image below).

We really want to do something greater with BIM, not just the same old deliverables, same old pay-schedule, and want to spend more time designing and less time creating coordinated construction docs. We wish to be more collaborative, assume less risk, and share in more rewards when projects succeed. We also now see our competitors getting there ahead of us, and want to be more efficient, and capable. Remember your passion for design during this time of transition. If we lose sight of that, it is possible that we will not be able to compete.

Choosing Efficiency or Flexibility?

Do you really have to choose? Model to anticipate change. These two ideas seem on the surface to be polar opposites, but in fact:

Flexibility = long-term Efficiency

If you build for efficiency of the moment, you’re just doing CAD. We know that nothing is static, as change is our constant companion. Embrace it and you will learn the true power of BIM. Do go ahead, and dive in. You can’t stop, unless you start. BIM really can be like a train. You may be going incredibly fast, OK not as fast as you want to, or as fast as a the new Shanghai Maglev, but to an observer standing off in the distance, you are going very slowly.

Photo from my trip to Shanghai in 2010 - This Maglev train travels 300 km/h from the airport to Shanghai, and 450 km/h (280 mph) in the open countryside.

How do people make the transition to something new? Instant gratification is not the right expectation. We all tend to think things are not moving fast enough. Try this sometime: stare at a train, or an airplane in the sky for a while and if you look quickly enough, it sometimes appears that the object is standing nearly still. It’s just a matter of perspective.

The opposite is a phenomenon that occurs when you are moving slowly being passed by some other moving object traveling in the opposite direction. You almost feel like you are traveling backward. A slight vertigo feeling can form in your belly. That is the anticipation of change. But once you really get going, you must always remember that you are moving fast, and must be ready for the consequences when you must again slow down and stop. Buckle up, this journey is a little bumpy.

All are welcome aboard the BIM train, but be sure to mind the gap.

Source: (Brian) Mathews of Autodesk Labs Updates on Seven Trends #au2010 | Spatial Sustain.

Every once in a while we need some inspiration to take action. Plan, Prepare, Expect. A simple formula. Unfortunately, most people who begin using Revit expect success, while simultaneously skipping those first two steps. The outcome is invariably failure. Persistence sometimes prevails, but you end up with a headache when it’s all said and done. Planning costs time and preparation costs money. Since most architects have an inversely proportional abundance of the former, rather than the later these days, it seems appropriate to plan for your future success.

I’m a big advocate of planning. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a complex process, consisting of many things. The right tools can help you adopt this process, and Revit at its soul has the ability to be a transformative technology in the architectural and engineering communities. Ultimately, when used to it’s potential Revit can affect the way buildings are designed and built. That scares non-technical architects, because “tried and true” methods have always worked for them. Have they really though?

The landscape out there is shifting. the design, technology and communication paradigms are shifting. So, if you haven’t bought a ticket on the BIM train yet, or you there, but feel you are simply along for the ride, you need a plan to upgrade to business class. Incorporating BIM into your firm, or from an owner’s perspective mandating BIM on projects is not simply a technology solution. More importantly, it is a cultural, and management issue. Players at all levels of your organization need to be involved in the decision-making process. Additionally, when starting a new project, you need to understand the potential of a BIM workflow by creating an execution plan. The Penn State BIM Project Execution Planning Guide version 1.05 was released last month, and there are some excellent organizational documents there to help you capture critical path information about the project. But this isn’t your only source for this type of information to allow you to develop organizational and project strategies for using BIM.

Autodesk has just this week publicly released a plan to aid in the successful delivery of BIM projects. Titled the BIM Deployment Plan, it is a great framework for starting to have the conversation with your firm project delivery and technical staff. The process is well documented, and incorporates many best practices and experience from my former colleagues in Autodesk Consulting. Read more, and download your copy here. Give it a try and maybe, just maybe, everybody wins.

The official press release can be found here, for those who are interested in the marketing spin.

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.

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.