Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Revit Essentials
Anyone ever watch that famous interview with Salvador Dali? It was kinda like that. There was this crazy guy in a suit spouting off terms like 'Relinquish All Mine' and 'Reload Latest' and 'you can totally build a ramp made out of gyp. board and attach it to the bottom of a stair and call it a ceiling.' I was completely lost but totally intrigued.
Want your own copy of that memory? Phil is now leading the made-for-home version of this experience. We're doing a new series of book called Revit Essentials which is going to mimic that 3 day, intensive class you once went through. We're about 50% complete and it's been an interesting process trying to distill 3 days worth of training into a compact book. It won't be out until next year but we're hoping to take it in a new and interesting learning direction.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Event Recap: BIMForum Atlanta
Note: My conference notes were captured exclusively via Evernote on the iPad!
In my last post, I shared just a few pictures from the first pre-conference event at BIMForum Atlanta. In this article, I will summarize the experience of attending my third BIMForum event. In prior years, I had participated in this conference in Falls Church, VA and Dallas, TX – both of which were definitely worth the trip.
This time around, the AGC stuck with the modus operandi of a themed conference. Held at the W Hotel Midtown, the theme was “The Evidence of BIM” or “The Evidence on BIM” – depending on which handout I was reading…perhaps an interesting typo, but I digress. As always one of the main benefits of this type of event is the face-to-face networking - especially outside my ‘comfort zone’ of BIM management. The BIMForum touts one of the most diverse audiences that I’ve seen to date. A quick survey by BIMForum chairman, John Tocci, indicated an even mix of architects, engineers and contractors with a smaller contingency of those representing the owner & facility operating community.
Now, back to the theme…which I’ll simplify as “Evidence” for the sake of this article. The initial marketing leaned towards providing case studies of firms and organizations using or requiring BIM and the benefits they are realizing as a result. Presentations were delivered from a variety of industry sectors, some of which didn’t seem to fit within the “Evidence” theme. I now realize this is not necessarily a bad thing. Recalling the Dallas conference, the overall theme seemed to be forced into the last few slides of EVERY presentation, whether the lecture had anything to do with the theme or not. For that, I’m thankful.
Before I dive into a more detailed review of some key presentations, please note that some or all of the presentation material should be available on the BIMForum.org website soon.
BIMForum Tours
What has become a staple of these conferences, I signed up for the pre-conference BIM tour. This time we visited the campus of Georgia Tech, a really beautiful university that is close to downtown Atlanta. First we were lead on a tour of an addition to the school of architecture being constructed by Beck Group. Of interest was the fact that they assumed the role of the subcontractor for the furniture contract and used some interesting tools and techniques. They had quite a learning curve as they worked with point clouds from laser scans of existing stairwells to append new millwork rails. The workflow seemed a bit convoluted (Rhino to Inventor to EdgeCam to CNC Router), but ultimately was the best available to the team.
The second part of the tour brought us to the Digital Building Laboratory with Chuck Eastman. This is a large facility that was formerly dedicated to advanced wood engineering, but is transforming into research of other materials such as precast concrete and masonry. You can read more about their expertise and projects at www.dbl.gatech.edu. Of note is a new masters degree program being offered next year called Master of Science in Digital Design and Fabrication (MSDDF).
Conference Day 1
Back at the W Hotel, we began the conference with a variety of presentations kicked off by Debajyoti Pati of HKS speaking about evidence-based design. He stressed the importance of the role of the designer in identifying the strategic goals of their clients. Based on results from the medical field where research is used in an attempt to reduce preventable deaths at hospitals, Pati suggests that energy performance predictions will improve occupied facilities and clash detection methods will enhance the construction process.
From Georgia Tech, Chuck Eastman discussed the work he has been doing with GSA in simulating and analyzing circulation routes in early design models. He and his students have also been using Solibri to translate models for use in energy analysis software. This is an interesting departure – using a model checking program – instead of using a direct API tool for exporting or relying on IFC. Ioannis Brilakis spoke about his research with automated real-time videogrammetry (ART-V). You really have to check out more info at the Construction Information Technology Laboratoty (citl.gatech.edu) to fully understand the importance of this technology to the industry! Jochen Teizer also spoke about his work with the Real-Time Automated Project Information and Decision Systems (RAPIDS) lab which can be found at www.rapids.gatech.edu.
Bruce Hunn from ASHRAE gave a presentation about performance measurement protocols for commercial buildings which was interesting, but a bit of a dry topic. I’ll be sure to collect his slides for future reference if they are made available on the BIMForum website. Following Bruce was Josh Oakley and Frank Fralick – who were our tour guides from Beck on the school of architecture construction project.
Hilda Espinal and Chitwan Saluja from Perkins + Will discussed three of their recent BIM projects using varying degrees of collaboration with others. Nothing too new here, but I was curious to know more about their discussion of contractors making requests to them for modeling adjustments. If the designer is doing more work to help the contractors do less work…how much extra was P+W getting paid? I’m sure I know the answer to that.
Brett Young from Cahill Contractors spoke about their use of BIM – although I didn’t really see how it applied to “marginally historic buildings” as the presentation title stated. That said, Cahill’s main business is in affordable housing in California. They have been using BIM to improve their bottom line in constructing these building types. Two interesting factoids from this presentation: they point clients directly to the Penn State BIM Execution Planning site to better understand the defined BIM uses; and, in understanding the potential additional cost of asking their subcontractors to provide BIM, they stated the highest cost is related to increased meeting requirements resulting in additional labor costs.
They also mentioned one or two projects where they used a 3D model to discover egregious errors in the architect’s drawings. This is something that is a pet peeve of mine – some architects have seem to lost sight of their responsibility to provide coordinated designs. Just because you’re using a BIM tool, doesn’t mean that your designs are automatically coordinated!!
Harry McKinney and Scott Cutler from Clancy and Theys Construction spoke about “How BIM Attracts and Inspires Unexpected Uses” – an interesting look into the application of BIM to a science museum with a large sphere incorporated into the design. They spoke about presenting the model to museum stakeholders, using clash detection to find interferences with exhibits and problems with the vertical clearances (hello, architects?!!). The model was also used to detect quirky maintenance and service issues behind the spherical screen structure before they became real problems after occupancy.
To conclude Day 1, John Moebes from Crate & Barrel delivered yet another inspiring talk about “An Owner’s Changing Use of BIM.” Back at the Dallas BIMForum, John gave a somewhat vitriolic view from the owner’s perspective towards the AEC community seeking to be compensated for their use of BIM. This time around, he shared some fantastic views on efficiency and productivity. His team’s construction schedules are being reduced from 88 weeks to about 56 weeks with a goal of reducing it to around 40 weeks. They can accomplish this by a new method of delivery Moebes refers to as “design – build – bid.” This seemingly odd sequence actually make perfect business sense. Get your critical path trades (foundation, superstructure, electric, enclosure) done with pre-arranged partners, then put the remaining trades out to bid for local contractors. I could go on and on about John’s proposed “AEC moon shot” but you can view one of his recent presentations recorded at KA-Connect in Chicago to get a taste of his motivational techniques.
Conference Day 2
The second day of the conference was an extended panel presentation by a selected group of owners ranging from Target, to Worcester Polytech, to Sandia National Labs. To lead off the discussions, Karie Johnson from AEC Transormations spoke about her work in defining BIM requirement documents for owners. Johnson used a creative reference to the Dr. Seuss character Sam I Am as a segue to a ‘Should you? Would you? Could you?’ presentation about the do’s and don’ts of these types of documents. She has reviewed many documents and shared some really bad passages from them – definitely worth asking for a copy of her presentation for a good laugh.
Guillermo Salazar and Alfredo DiMauro from WPI spoke about their use of BIM on campus, which was somewhat similar to the afternoon talk delivered by Colleen Kasprzak and Ed Gannon from Penn State University. Here you have two organizations with enormous building asset portfolios who are starting to grasp the value of the information – the ‘I’ in BIM – as it relates to operating, managing and maintaining their facilities. One metric referenced by the Penn State presenters was that even a 10% improvement in the productivity of work orders would result in about $3 million dollars in annual savings.
Steven Wolf from Target spoke about his organizations plan to start implementing BIM for construction of new stores. Target’s design and construction process is almost completely based on a highly customized Bentley Microstation environment. Wolf stated that it was a challenge overcoming the strategic difference between the business leaders (“Exactly how are you going to measure your success?”) and the architects (“We like BIM because it’s cool!”) in developing an implementation plan. One interesting area of research they are pursuing is in the improvement of code reviews. Target spends $40-50 million a year in change orders associated with inconsistent interpretation of local building codes. In addition to working with the ICC on guidelines for replicable buildings, they are working with Avolve Software (makers of ProjectDox) on the development of ePlan review technology.
Finally, Birgitta Foster of Sandia National Labs closed the series of presentations with a look at the value of BIM for facilities management in what she calls “Design for Maintenance.” Foster shared some metrics in a similar thread to the earlier statements by Penn State and WPI. First, we were treated to some visual comparisons of mechanical equipment installed well and some not so well. What went wrong with the latter? Given simple, single-line diagrams and unrelated specifications instead of a 3D model and/or diagram, designers and engineers may leave real coordination up to the contractors in the field. Without an intense 3D understanding of a complex mechanical installation, a design team can unwittingly add to the lifetime cost of maintaining it. Foster offered a sample work order template form which indicated a number of hours to service a piece of equipment with “easy access” and double the hours for “hard access.” It’s issues like these that can easily make the case for the requirement of BIM from the owners’ side and clearly delineate the place of the design team in coordinating the effort before construction.
Conclusion
The owners’ presentations were concluded with a lively panel discussion, which also included John Moebes from the previous day. Moebes was asking MEP engineers why they won’t do LOD400 models, citing the common response is that they assume being more specific would be costing the client money by avoiding a competitive bid. He argues otherwise, that he’d rather be able to efficiently procure a known system than rely on a field installation of a prescribed design.
An interesting take on implementation, particularly at larger organizations, is that amidst larger changes BIM can be the smallest diversion. One final note of interest to the A/E community is that a few references were made to organizations that are beginning to embrace how BIM can change the traditional design process. Ohio State reportedly will pay design fees earlier, but not necessarily more. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is willing to transfer some contingency costs to the design team if BIM is used to reduce some of the unknowns related to traditional methods. It’s all about speed, but at the same fee.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday Reprieve #25
- First installed by President Carter
- Removed by President Regan
- Added by President Bush (the second one) - to heat the water in the pool
- Augmented by President Obama to heat the White House's hot water supply.
Interesting take on sustainability.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
BIMForum Atlanta Day 1
So, I'm trying to beat Greg Arkin to the punch and be the first person to blog about the latest AGC BIMForum being held in Atlanta. Our first day featured a tour of Georgia Tech including Chuck Eastman's Digital Building Lab as well as a construction site tour of a new annex to the school of architecture by Beck Construction. Really great stuff! More details to come...
Friday, October 8, 2010
New UI or not new UI - that is the question


Tuesday, September 28, 2010
iHouse

I'm speechless. Blown away by the clean lines and modest use of space.
I'm stunned by the deliberate order and discipline. None of sculptural blob making shit that's passing for well-considered design decisions.
In my humble opinion.
Looks like around 5ksf.
What? Even the kids have to share a bathroom?
Classic. So well done. More images via Gizmodo.
Thank you thank you thank you BCJ.
In an age of oversize-mcmansioned-mediocre-stuccoed-cobblestone-faux-crap that screams how money so seldom accounts for taste and elegance and quiet simplicity. You guys have taken the better path.
Thank you.
Architectural students take note.
You can actually practice architecture without turning into a "whateverputsmoremoneyinmypocketwhore" :)
There is still hope.
Fuck Peter Keating.
Long live Peter Bohlin.
Update: More info on Steve's casa via MacRumors
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday Reprieve #24
I love the band Arcade Fire. And whatever you might think about Google, one of the things I like about them is that they are out there 'doing it'.
Enter the music video. Remember when MTV, back in the day, we so incredibly innovative because they put music on a TV? How rogue was that?
Well, now Google and Arcade Fire have gotten together to take it to the next level. Whatever you think of the music, the experience is awesome. From Google's standpoint, it's all about what you can do with their mapping applications and HTML5.
Just enter your home town and sit back.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Ode to Fall
A couple of dear friends of mine have taken an opportunity to spend some time abroad this fall. Their trip is mainly rooted in spending some time in Paris, but they are taking some day trips to the rest Europe at large.
As they are both architects (or almost, depending on exam results) they have that 'eye' that architects tend to see the world with. They have also committed to photo documentation of their trip for all of the rest of us who do not have the opportunity to join them.
enjoy.
Monday, September 20, 2010
AU 2010 - Let the games begin!
68 days until Thanksgiving
96 days until Christmas
80 days until St. Nicholas Day (for all you St. Louisians out there with kids)
and
72 days until AU
All three of us are teaching classes this year:
Phil: Into the Void: The Zen of Creating Complex Sculptural forms with Revit.
James: Advanced Techniques for Curtain Walls, Curtain Panels, and Adaptive Components in Autodesk Revit (offered at 2 times) and
BIM and IPD for Project Leaders
Eddy: Project Managing BIM and Daylighting Analysis with Revit and 3ds Max Design
Beyond just the priceless knowledge you can attain attending classes at AU, the new City Center is complete showcasing design talent by several A-list designers and some unreal living sculptures. Like this one of huge ice 'popsicle' that melt and are re-created.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Friday Reprieve #23
Sunday is National Talk Like a Pirate Day.
While that's not parametric or has anything to do with BIM or Revit, it's an opportunity for all the black-wearing architects out there to don an eye patch and get their pirate on.
Some suggestions for those of you who might be working this weekend. Perhaps instead of your wimpy responses to Revit when it does something you don't want it to do, you could incorporate a bit of the olde pirate slang. Let me give you an example:
Revit for some reason known only to Revit, crashes on you. A typical architect, wearing his / her black ensemble might respond "well, gosh darn it. there goes 4 hours of work. Sorry Revit for whatever I screwed up for you. Let me sip this white wine spritzer while I wait for you to reload my project."
Instead perhaps you can try "Swing a lead, Revit you olde dog! Be doin' that again and I'll drive my blade into ye I will!!" then take a swig of your home brewed rum.
Hey, those are only suggestions.
At the end of the day remember what my studio professor once told me:
"it's not important if your glass is 1/2 empty or 1/2 full, but what is important is that your glass is refillable."
Har!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday Reprieve – NFL Edition
This weekend marks the kickoff of the 2010-2011 football season – yes, AMERICAN football! We don’t need no stinkin’ vuvuzelas! To commemorate this glorious time of year, I offer a humorous Team-by-Team NFL preview guide by the one and only…Onion Sports Network.
Click here to read the article
J…E…T…S – JETS! JETS! JETS!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Blue Sky
I took this photo on the last day I worked for Autodesk back in May of 2008. After more than 7 amazing years of playing for the same team, I found myself flying back to Charlotte and quite honestly - more than a bit anxious about what the future would hold. But what suddenly occurred and caused me to snap the above photo (with my jail broken and unlocked, T-Mobile powered iPhone, ahem...) is that above any clouds of uncertainty, there are always clear blue skies of opportunity.
Simply put: the view is always clearer above the clouds.
So it seems fitting that I use this image to announce that I'm moving on from HNTB. It's certainly bittersweet. Yet those that have come to know me best wisely reminded me long ago that I'm too impatient and non-conforming to be a corporate lifer. Thank you. I bow to your Buddha nature. :)
It's been an amazing, learning and deeply satisfying experience. In little more than 2 years a firm wide BIM strategy and team is in place that in my opinion is the most advanced and experienced group I've ever known. Their commitment to Design Build in every way exceeds my expectations of what is possible when a design firm partners with select contractors to build buildings rather than simply create drawings.
Rather than be content to see what the market will decide, HNTB leads the market. Their vision and commitment to creating compelling and new technologies in order to leverage BIM is extraordinary. As a result, what we did in days takes others weeks if not months. And what we did in months I believe will take others years - by which time HNTB will have moved on. The incredible value this brings to a Design Build is light-years ahead of any competition. The leadership is sharply minded and focused. And as far as I could tell only one or two were merely sharply elbowed and dressed. :)
I wish I could tell you what's next but I honestly don't know! I've already had some interesting and unsolicited phone calls. Seems the whisper of the Internet is like the roar of a lion. But I've been fortunate to the point that I don't have to commit to anything for a while. At the same time, I'm incredibly blessed that some pretty interesting people have already offered to fly me somewhere for a few days to compare notes. So that's cool.
What's interesting?
Domesticity. Apple. Strategic, holistic and elegant solutions. Integrating Design (BIM) / Build (Manufacturing) / Management (FM). Connecting dots and being a change agent. Finishing my pilot's license. Completing an addition to the house. Helping author another book or two, including Mastering Revit 2012. The Annapolis boat show. Sailing with the family. Drinks with friends. Autodesk University. Twitter. Blogging.
Could I be interested in a Revit project or two? Possibly. But only if it's extremely interesting (Apple Stores...cough...Revit... cough...Design Build...cough ;). Or along the lines of an unimaginably large, complex, project and more than likely somewhere in Australiasia. And Singapore is always a plus!
So if you know of something really, really interesting - let me know. But only if it's surrounded by sharper minds than elbows. :)
What's next?
Blue sky. Or perhaps it's more of a Blue Ocean ;)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
More ‘In the Wild’ pics
It’s about time MARA 2011 showed up down under! Simon David submits a tranquil composition from Sydney…
And just to make sure Simon gets his dues, if you flip to the SOM section in the color insert of MARA 2011 and find the hospital project – Simon was the BIM coordinator for that job. He really held that ship together!
We’re really stretching the age demographic of our readers as well! Harlan Brumm from Autodesk uses our book to soothe his new baby girl. Awwww.
Be sure to check out Harlan and other Autodesk support staff on their blog, The Revit Clinic.
Keep those pictures coming. We’d love to see the digital versions of MARA 2011 in the wild (Kindle, iBooks, eReader…)
How to buy Mastering Revit Architecture 2011
So, you’d like to get your hands on a copy of our book? Great! Here are a number of ways you can purchase Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011:
Print Editions
- Amazon.com
- Barnes and Noble
- Borders
- Sybex (publisher)
Digital Editions are also available for:
- Kindle
- iBooks
- Safari Books Online
- Sony ReaderStore
A listing of international distributors for Wiley can be found by clicking here.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Back To School
Monday, August 9, 2010
There's an app for that
I say this, because I came across the first app I've seen for architects looking to showcase their work. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson architects extraordinaire and designers of the Apple Stores have made an app for that. Pocket BCJ. It's a simple little app that slide shows the firms work across the country.

Now if they'd only design the Apple stores in Revit. How cool would THAT be?
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
NYC Revit Users Group, August 2010
The next monthly meeting of the New York City Revit Users Group is this Thursday, August 5 at 6:00 pm Eastern. The featured topic is “BIM for Project Delivery: Methods that Approach Integration” with Scott Wood, AIA, LEED AP from Tishman Construction.
This presentation will explore uses of BIM in post construction document phases, discuss contract language that relates to these uses and describe methods for delivering models that can be efficiently deployed for these uses.
If you are in the NYC area, please RSVP at our meetup site (www.meetup.com/nyc-rug) or you can register for the webcast by clicking here.
Friday, July 30, 2010
In the Wild, Part Whatever
Robert Yori had a couple sightings -
MARA out with friends enjoying a candle-lit dinner:

And doing what MARA does best: teaching Revit. Note the attentive (slightly confused) eyes of the students.
Finally, my own personal sighting. Angiela and I enjoyed sitting a spell during a hike on our vacation to Upper Mohawk lake. Elev. 12,100'. MARA decided to enjoy the lake view too.
In the wild, ey!
Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 is finally starting to ship to our brothers up north in Canada. Jay Polding sends us a couple of shots plugging the Ontario Revit Users Group as well as Canada’s main export…
Mmmmmm…beer.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
In the Wild, Part 5
I recently took a day off (imagine that!) and spent the day with my family at our local water park. This would have made for some interesting new ‘in the wild’ pictures, but you can imagine what the water slide would have done to a copy of MARA 2011… Here are some of the latest entries from our readers.
Sean Burke from Seattle poses a copy of MARA 2011 in front of the city model at NBBJ:
One of my personal favorites…another submission from David Light getting quite literally ‘in the wild:’
So don’t be a tortoise…make like a hare and pick up your copy now! If you already have, please write a review on Amazon.com.
Monday, July 26, 2010
One small step...

...will become a wonderful, slippery slope. :)
More info here. This ruling is really big news. In part this will:
-- allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.
-- allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.
-- allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.
-- allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.
-- allow blind people to break locks on electronic books so that they can use them with read-aloud software and similar aides.
iPads are next. And speaking of iPads...Mastering Revit 2011 looks amazing on it. That's right! Downloadable versions should be available as eBook and Kindle versions in a few days or so. Here's a screen grab from the Table of Contents.FULL color (where we used color images) were used in printing the e-versions. We didn't want to simply reuse the same converted gray scale images used for printing the physical book. What's really neat is the figure references are hyperlinks to their associated image. And you can even double+click an image to 'zoom' in for more detail!
Here's and example from chapter on Film and Stage, showing details from the "Watchman" movie of the Karnak fortress and armatures from Dr. Manhattan's lab.
Been holding out for an iPad and need something to help push you over the edge? Think of it this way: if you buy Mastering Revit 2011 for the special price of only $550 we'll throw in the iPad for free! ;)
In the Wild, Part 4
Before we get to our latest ‘in the wild’ pics, we’d like to toot our own horns just a bit more…please forgive us. In the product details for Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 on Amazon, we have been holding steady as the #1 book in the categories of CAD, Drawing & Modeling and even Autocad! THANK YOU to all of our early adopters!!
Moving on to our ‘in the wild’ submittals…Steve Stafford creates a surreal composition of beer and scale architecture while attending the SCRUG meeting…
Our own MARA 2011 contributing author, David Light, got his copy today and shows it off in the London office of HOK…
Thursday, July 22, 2010
In the Wild, Part 3
In today’s episode, Brok Howard from St. Louis gets some rest and relaxation with his copy of MARA 2011 in the beautiful Citygarden:
But what should you do with your previous editions of Mastering Revit Architecture? Don’t throw them out! Take Tobias Hathorn’s suggestion for MARA recycling…
Keep those fun pics coming! See our original post for instructions on how to submit your own ‘in the wild’ photo.
