Let's take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? I want to give you a brief history of documentation in Architecture in the 21st century in Kansas City, MO. I think there's a direct correlation between information DATA within our industry, how accessible it is, and how we do our documents. To help demonstrate this, I offer the following history of building:
The Nelson Atkins Museum. Built 1931. 23 sheets in the drawing set.
Kansas City Power and Light. Built 1933. 46 sheets in the drawing set.
jump forward a bit.
One Kansas City Place. Built circa 1980s. 80 sheets architectural. Done in CAD.
Kansas City IRS Processing Facility. Built 2001. 300+ sheets in the set. Done in Revit.
National Security Campus. Built 2011. 2000+ sheets in the set. Done in Revit.
what does that mean? to me, it means once we went to CAD we were able to draft really really fast so we made a lot more drawings. Once we had a self-organizing drawing set, we were able to produce even more information. So, why not? make it. people want it, right?
With over 2000 sheets you get to the point of information overload. I mean really, how many flashing details do you need? Where the last century was lead by a quest for information our current century faces the problem of too much information. We don't need resources to find stuff, we need resources to sort and analyze information in new ways. Heck, Revit is a relational database after all.
How is this a Reprieve?
I found a guy out of Britton who deals in information visualization. So much of it is out there, but David McCandless is an absolute artist when it comes to taking a wide array of information and showing you seemingly unrelated facts in a new way:
7 comments:
Yet again, I say thanks on a Friday.
I guess Phil won't be making fun of us 'gentile' Canadians any more now, eh! NUMBER ONE in fruit juice drinking. Oh yeah!
Very interesting. I do find it interesting that we are creating a 3D model to help aid the construction process, but that is only leading to more printed documents. Probably similar to how electronic documents were suppose to cut down on paper use, but have only fuel the the amount of things that get printed now.
I think the increase in the number of documents is more related to the change in relationship between the Architect and the Builder. Back in the early days the Architect WAS the Builder. As those two have grown apart, the sheet count goes up in an effort to help protect the Architect in this day of "Just sue them". It all comes down to liability. If another 1000 sheets help curb some liability, you can bet your bottom dollar the Architect will put those sheets in the set.
That's my view. . .
I agree with Tim. We were adding sheets prior to CAD/BIM due to the court regulations that changed in (1972?) However it is less about suing and more about contractors not wanting and responsibility for proper pricing and construction. Low bidder only prices what the see. They used to infer and analyze the design to produce the best building based on design. They used to have work ethic that was not based on their payment but on the ideal that doing a good job got them more. However in our low bid society I can get a GC license pretend I know how to build a skyscraper and bid on the World trade center. My bid $10 plus any change orders I can justify. Probably make money at that.
While I agree with some of your comments. Sure architects are trying to cover their buts, just look at structural drawings. They almost show no dimensional information anymore, but I don't think this is the only driving force. Most private sector buildings (skyscrapers, large hospitals) aren't structured with a the low, hard bid contract. I think part of it is due to ease at which CAD has made it easier to add to information to the document set. For instance look at the amount of information that now goes into an SD set. This is especially true with a BIM model, the only ironic thing is that it's resulted in more printed documents.
"Heck, Revit is a relational database after all."
Nope, it's not. Basically an object database.
Shreve, Lamb and Harmon created the drawing set for the Empire State Building in two weeks. Today, it would take that long to get a permit to renovate a bathroom in the building.
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