AECbytes.com Blog

21 Building Systems: Toward a Rational Taxonomy in Architecture

Lachmi Khemlani — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:21:29 +0000

In this Viewpoint article, architect and technologist Bill Dickens, discusses the importance of systems and taxonomies, and proposes a taxonomy of only 21 Building Systems to cover the complete set of architectural, engineering and construction tasks. The concept is based on his work developing logic diagrams of the AEC process as a Systems Analyst at Smith Hinchman and Grylls, where he scheduled the 300,000sf SUNY, Stony Brook Medical School.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/viewpoint/2010/issue_50.html

Graphisoft EcoDesigner

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:06:17 +0000

In this review, Sid Thoo, an Australian architect and sustainability expert, takes a detailed look at the workflow of EcoDesigner, a plugin that allows the energy efficiency performance of a building model to be analyzed within the ArchiCAD environment. The review explores how the application works for quick, conceptual analysis and concludes that EcoDesigner is a valuable plugin that should be considered as mandatory for all ArchiCAD users who are serious about designing more energy efficient and sustainable buildings.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/review/2010/EcoDesigner.html

BIM and the Cloud

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:46:39 +0000

In this article, Chris France, CIO of Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, a 225 person firm located in Charlotte NC, describes how they built a private cloud that included their high performance graphics workstations. A private cloud differs from the public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services or Google by the fact that the cloud computing infrastructure and resources are controlled by the individual business that deploys it. Little’s cloud is the first AEC workstation cloud in production and is on track to reduce the firm’s workstation and laptop hardware expense by 67% ($2M) over the next 10 years. The article also describes many of the additional business benefits the firm has achieved through its workstation cloud approach and shares some of its implementation details.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2010/BIM_Cloud.html

AEC Exhibitor Highlights from Autodesk University 2009

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:42:47 +0000

This article provides an overview of the many AEC-related applications that were on display at the Exhibit Hall at Autodesk University 2009, including new design visualization solutions such as 3D digital holograms from Zebra Imaging, a new 3D real time exploration and navigation solution called Nova that works with Revit models, several 3D printing devices, many supporting BIM technologies that integrate with Revit, and several structural, civil, and site engineering solutions.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2010/AU2009_Exhibitors.html

Autodesk University 2009: AEC Keynote and Design Computation Symposium

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:30:04 +0000

This article discusses and analyzes the information presented at the AEC industry keynote at Autodesk University 2009, which highlighted the growing trend towards renovation in addition to sustainability by showcasing two GSA projects: the National Building Museum in Washington DC, and the Tuttle Courthouse Annex in Atlanta. It also provides an overview of the research-focused Design Computation Symposium that was held a day prior to Autodesk University.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2009/issue_43.html

The Role of agcXML in Streamlining Information Exchange

Lachmi Khemlani — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:35:49 +0000

This article, authored by Michael Tardif, Director of Integrated Project Delivery Systems at Grunley Construction Company, Inc., discusses the rationale for the agcXML, which was developed by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in collaboration with NIBS as a standard to support the exchange of business information during design and construction.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/viewpoint/2009/issue_49.html

Autodesk University 2009: General Session Keynote

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:54:16 +0000

This article captures the highlights and analysis of the general session keynote that was held on the opening day of Autodesk University 2009, which included presentations by Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, CTO Jeff Kowalski, and guest speakers Jon Landau from Lightstorm Entertainment and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2009/issue_42.html

Bentley Architecture V8i

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:25:20 +0000

This review explores the improvements in the new V8i version of Bentley Architecture, including its new conceptual design and space planning capabilities, dynamic views that ensure better drawing coordination, new display styles that allow high-quality presentation graphics to be easily created, native support of Rhino and SketchUp files with live links, and the new Luxology rendering engine that allows high-end renderings and animations to be created within the application.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/review/2009/BentleyArchV8i.html

Selected AEC Projects Presented at Bentley’s “Be Inspired” Event

Lachmi Khemlani — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:54:17 +0000

This article captures the highlights of the AEC presentations at Bentley’s recent “Be Inspired” event, including projects such as the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio by NBBJ, the Lotte Super Tower project in Korea by SOM, the Wimbledon Centre Court Redevelopment and Retractable Roof project in England by Edge Structures Ltd, the Chicago O’Hare Phase 1 modernization project by CH2M HILL, and many others.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2009/BeInspired_Projects.html

Bentley’s 2009 “Be Inspired” Event

Lachmi Khemlani — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:41:28 +0000

This article discusses the key business and product-related updates from the executive presentations at Bentley’s recent “Be Inspired” event that was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. It includes a discussion of Bentley’s new “i-model” concept intended to facilitate dynamic collaboration.

URL: http://www.aecbytes.com/newsletter/2009/issue_41.html