May 2008 Blog Posts (11)

Calvin Kam invited all the bloggers to come up and say a few words. I have to say its a lot easier to hide behind the computer and blog. Here were my closing thoughts. "I’ve been working on coming up with a motivating metaphor for my experiences. Unfortunately the one I’ve come up with involves visualizing all of you in bathing suits. Let me explain: I look out in the audience and I see a few types of people. Many of you have taken a big giant leap into the BIM pool years ago and are now reapi… Continue

We are sitting in the Breakfast Plenary Session: BIM Storm Eco. The presenters have titled the presentation BIMstorm: BIM for the people. The discussion is essentially about Open Standards. Its about people across the world collaborating in real-time. The more and faster you share information with others the more relevant you are. During the session the audience has been logging on to http://BIMstorm.com/mobile and creating BIM models that are being populated live in the Boston area. Someone… Continue

Deke Smith is perhaps the most engaging speaker of the 2008 TAP conference. I don't mean any offense to Harry Gordon nor Dave Harris, both of whom spoke during this session. These speakers not only gave thoughtful presentations, but also stayed through an extended question and answer session at the end. Yet between the time that Deke hid among the audience and rushed out of the room to join another session, there was an electricity among the audience. He was able to hit upon the root causes of… Continue

There are underlying themes in all the sessions to date: get involved-get everyone on the project involved in BIM. I think we all know by now that to push BIM to it’s limits requires the involvement of everyone: owners, project managers, construction managers, engineers, interior designers, etc… I was conversing with a fellow Change the World attendee and he openly laid it all out. Why is it that this conference has mostly architects? He asks, and then answers- Yes, it is the American Institute… Continue

I had to armwrestle my way into the Tuesday afternoon session 'A Leap of Faith: How integrated Practice Facilitates Innovative Design'. There weren't any chairs available, and I was in need of a power outlet for note-taking purposes. After stealing a chair from the adjoining room and getting set up to take notes I quickly realized that many of the project details were already buried in my subconscious. You see, I've heard the names Tom, Frances and Jenna many times before in connection with the… Continue

CH2MHill is presenting a case study to open the session - a LEED Silver hanger project for the National Guard, designed in BIM. This my first time blogging. I'm still trying to figure out how to manager the posting and when to use comments! I've discussed in some comments below what tools the design team used, and how they measured the sustainability of the project. The daylighting studies showed that a traditional design using clerestory lighting above the level of the hanger doors offered v… Continue

Keynote: Chuck Eastman, Ga Tech and TAP Vice Chair - New Technologies for Designing and Construction: 50 years from now, there will be no paper construction documents... hopes architects will lead the transformation... showed the classic benefits that people are experiencing now (visualization, clash detection, drawing production, design to fabrication, analysis and simulation, using embedded information)... Other new uses: laser scanning, user simulation, energy analysis and TRACKING over tim… Continue

While snacking on some light breakfast fare I reunited with past employers from my internship days in Dallas, and bonded with my tablemates by discussing the trials of transitioning to BIM. The topics of conversation were the same as they have been for the past several years: training and personnel, hardware specs, implementation percentages, etc. However, we agreed the long pole in the tent (as my clients often recite) was the change in workflow. The conversation had a positive overtone that ca… Continue

Welcome - Steve Hagan and each of the AIA groups collaborating on this event... Tony Rinella, AIA Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP); Ken Scalf, Committee on the Environment (COTE); Todd Bertsch, Center for Building Science and Performance; Robert Smith, Integrated Practice Discussion Group (IPDG)... mentioned two new documents to be released here at the Convention: B195 and C195... more to come on these!! Continue

I’m hoping to learn more about OPS at one of Kimon Onuma’s sessions. Tuesday 3:30 True BIM: Interoperability Case Studies and Industry Initiatives Wednesday 8:30 Breakfast Plenary Session: BIM Storm Eco ONUMA Planning System During early schematics we often create complex relational diagrams. I’ve been looking for a software that will help us create dynamic diagrams that link graphical information to a database that can be imp… Continue

As I was gearing up to head to Boston I received an email from a lady in Dallas who happened upon my Archinect Schoolblog from my terminal year at Texas Tech. It’s interesting to see how one’s web persona can be shaped by a search engine. If you haven’t ever Googled your name…you should. You can bet that if someone is looking for information about you that’s the first place they’ll look. It’s all about the big “I” in Infor… Continue