Web2Learn

I learned a lot at the USC Building Information Modeling + Construction and Fabrication symposium organized by Prof. Karen Kensek and Prof. Burcin Becerik Gerber.   Software representatives and AEC professionals illustrated how they used the tools in building case studies.  Some highlights…

STRUCTURING INFORMATION FOR USE
A BIM model’s level of detail should be carefully tuned to its use.  Detailing only makes sense if the specialized knowledge is available – otherwise leave it open so subcontractors have flexibility.  Including builders early in the planning process allows identification and resolution of constructability issues.

No matter how complete a BIM model file is, interoperability remains crucial since no single format fits all purposes.  Some team members can do better work more efficiently using older familiar methods.  All should be able to translate into an underlying core format, like a network bus.

As long as the legal documents remain 2D drawings, inefficiencies from the mix of information will remain. An interactive touchscreen table could alleviate the need to manage large volumes of paper as the construction documents evolve.  Permitting currently requires a fixed snapshot of the evolving design.

Scale matters:  what works for a single family house doesn’t work well for an airport or hospital.  A single integrated building model file can quickly become unwieldy in size.  Strategies for efficient work include :
- separating graphic representation from building content information
- accessing information according to currently relevant scale – dropping out non-essential mega and micro data that give buildings a global to nano location context.
- storing building information in separate files that can be accessed as needed.  Information slicing needs to be in sync with the team organization:  by design specialty or construction trade, by building location, etc.

HUMAN ASPECTS
Social processes are a much more crucial than technology.   Contractual models need to reward successful teamwork.  Getting people into the room together to understand critical problems and solve them early can save lots of money.  Sufficient preparation time must be planned so that the crucial face-to-face time is well utilized.

Visualization enables design participation by making the project accessible to a broader array of stakeholders.  Tools such as 3D clash detection, energy & structural analysis and interactive 4D scheduling models make problems visible so they can be resolved.

Computer processes can be well complemented by on-site handcraft.  Complex digital designs can be enriched by knowledgeable craftsmen on-site

DOWNSTREAM BENEFITS
Many cited efficiency and accuracy gains with BIM and 4D animations – they facilitate a higher level of complexity and quality.  Building exactly according to the virtual model is crucial to realizing the benefits of BIM.

The model must consider actual construction practices so that realistic tolerances are included.  Field verification tools such as on-site displays, Tablet PC’s and AR headsets can ensure that the vision is being realized.

Vendors are enabling real-time online building monitoring systems. Sensors can broadcast live building performance data for equipment maintenance alerts, remote or local control, and automated energy optimization.

I’m very spoiled – I’m in the heart of Denver’s lively 16th Street pedestrian mall with a great view of the illuminated D&F tower and I am kind of disappointed.  In many ways, the zone has been carefully tuned to attract people.  Cars are banned in favor of a free bus that stops every block and cute horse carriages and bicycle taxis.  Trees provide shade and night lighting provides scale for benches and fun artwork.  Restaurants spill onto a broad sidewalk and the food is reasonably priced due to all the competition.  Within the mix of buildings, there are some fine historic structures and attractive retail shops. Even on a Sunday evening, there are enough people strolling that it feels safe to be a woman walking on my own.

But on a Sunday, the cross streets have little traffic and when I walked away from the carefully designed mall, there is little life, little going on outside.  The blocks are huge and anonymous, some looming 20 stories with 70’s scaleless modernism and meeting the street with barely an acknowledgement of the pedestrian.  Like many cities in the heartland, Denver was designed for automobiles Its mix of lovely historic and banal modern buildings remind me of St. Louis. Despite the liveliness of the tourist zone, it feels like an artificial implant in a sick patient.  The cross streets are superwide, with four lanes of traffic taking the width for six.  These vast streets seem like an empty movie set.

The shops are dominated by chains that bring an ersatz Main Street aesthetic.  So there is a plastic feeling that dilutes the grandeur of the authentic historic buildings.  The individual mall buildings are clean in the way that police states can be: nothing can get in the way of extracting money from your wallet.

It was great to see street musicians playing and folks hanging out chatting, playing chess, enjoying a mild evening after the day’s heat has departed.  The designers have a achieved a lot in bringing life to the downtown.  But we have a LONG way to go.  Instead of the chain shops and restaurants, I was eager to see a little more of the Mom & Pop shops.  I want to see that the vitality of this district could touch the lives of Denver residents instead of being a display piece for visitors.  I’m hoping that tomorrow on a weekday, I’ll see another story…

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I had a nice time seeing old friends in Boston, but it really feels like vacation now that I am in Montreal. As soon as I got into the terminal, the change wasn’t only the French language. I could sense a more sophisticated design sensibility even in the grand daylit arrival hall. Nice detailing, careful restrained use of materials, interesting forms – everything said – “You are not in the U.S.!”

When I got out of the airport limousine at the central subway station, I decided to check my luggage and walk around the downtown neighborhood rather than zoom out to my university area hostel. I happened to see a big bold modernist building next store – Le Grand Bibliotheque : the Grand Library and National Archive of Quebec. Since the weather was nice, I walked past it and I was delighted to find an urbane street with little cafes, old renovated townhouses and beautiful street trees. Heading back to this modernist building, I was delighted to find a cool cafe in it. As I rounded the corner, my mouth fell open because I saw one of the most dramatic urban spaces ever: A three story corridor with a beautiful glass facade on one side and a well proportioned wooden screen climbing up with a bold long ramped form. Yikes, I chanced on a real architectural monument.

After prowling around and marveling at huge lightwell with playful stairs and glass elevators, finding wondering listening stations and dvd-watching stations, I found my way back to the information desk. Turns out that the building is designed by one of my favorite architects, Patricia Patkau, who I got to speak to at our Portland ACSA conference. She had emphasized experimental residential projects at her Portland lecture, and only gave a short glimpse of this project.

Whoa – it’s really great to be here, enjoying the subtlely different spaces, all unified with an incrediblely restrained palette of materials. Everywhere is a golden birch, typical for Quebec, used in heroic proportions with lovely quiet patterns. In soem areas, the spacing is larger to let in more light, other places, it is slanted like a venetian blind, but all on a strict module to give it unity and hold a rhythm. Echoes of Kahn’s Center for British Art but with richer, more complex spaces. NICE!!!!

I got spoiled staying at my friend Emily’s renovated Boston North End townhouse that reveals a similar quiet beauty. It is stunning to jump scale and find a building of such complexity that also holds together so well. And it’s great that it comes from the Pacific Northwest Patkau firm.

The AAA Voices project intends to engage our Architecture and Allied Arts community to reveal their thoughts. While I originally conceived of a participatory art piece and wrote the questions, the actual installation was completely created by my students Erik Hegre and Matt Linn as an extension of work on light, screens & and shadows.

Learn more at the AAA Blog