Posts from "Company news" category
Structuring data – classifying it – is key to unlocking the full value of BIM. It’s about clearly communicating design intent in order to more accurately budget, plan and build an asset (and then more efficiently manage it over its lifetime). Without classification, data is easily misunderstood and sometimes just not usable. Well-classified data has increasing value.
In the past the classification of building information was both less important and more difficult. It cost a lot of time and effort but often yielded little value. That has changed. Classification is becoming ever more important. More valuable. And easier.
Projects today generate more data. And AEC increasingly relies on that data to automate processes, make better decisions and operate devices. Look at all the add-ons for Revit and other platforms, the CNC machines, robots and VR/AR devices. The Internet of Things.
Moreover, the teams that undertake building projects are becoming more complex. Architects and engineers are creating models for use by cost estimators, consultants, contractors, fabricators and so on in multiple other organizations and countries.
In each case, all the actors – people, software, equipment – need a common language, an agreed-upon data structure. It could be international standards. Or national classification systems. Or custom ones. That depends on the project. But if BIM managers don’t decide on classifications and model creators don’t implement them, everyone suffers. In fact today many projects do suffer from mistakes and delays due to a lack of classification. Instead of a valuable “common data environment” they have a costly “chaotic data environment”.
We’re talking about effective data exchange. Harmonization. Interoperability.
So what’s the value created by classifying BIM data?
- Clarity: Project participants can quickly find and understand the data they need
- Integration: Systems, machines, devices can automatically access and process data
- Efficiency: Owners can aggregate costs, other data in multi-asset management tools
- Competition: Public and private procurement become more open and transparent
In terms of the falling costs of classifying data, classification management tools are now emerging that really do simplify life.
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Check out the latest edition of our newsletter AGACAD Advances. Quite a few contributions in this one, including pieces on:
Framing timber floors, walls and roofs.
Digital classification systems for building projects.
Prefabricated construction, including a client’s story about steel framing and CNC integration.
The most recent software updates for our Revit add-ons.
Upcoming webinars and conferences.
All that and more in AGACAD Advances, October 2019. Read it here.
Join our mailing list to get our newsletters and webinar announcements delivered right to your inbox.
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Whether it’s clothes, food or furniture, people often tend to associate factory-made items with lack of quality. While this might be true to some extent, it’s definitely not the case with modern prefabricated houses. They’re just as good as any other building, but they’re built off-site. Imagine having every part of the structure made within the confines of a factory, delivered to the construction site and assembled in a matter of weeks. Not only that, prefabricated housing can help save money, time and also contribute to reducing CO2 emissions.
The legend of Solomon’s Temple
While it’s difficult to say who constructed the first prefabricated structure, we can be sure that one of the earliest successful attempts took place about 3000 years ago in ancient Jerusalem. This is evident from a vivid Biblical account of how the Temple of Solomon was built. It seems that every piece of the temple was carefully crafted off-site and assembled on-site:
“And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” (1 Kings 6:7)
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Prepared by Bryan Bradley of Textus Aptus
When it comes to wood and metal framing, Renata Jociene, Lead BIM Application Engineer at AGACAD, has tremendous insight and experience. She agreed to share her thoughts on the current state of BIM software for framing all types of buildings with timber and with cold-formed steel.
Q: To start, could you tell us a bit about trends today in framed construction?
Framing always played a big role in the building industry and today that role is only growing, especially with people’s focus on green solutions.
Both wood and steel framing have major advantages for sustainability – big efficiencies in both the construction and use of a facility, and recyclability. That’s true all over the world, though there are regional differences. Like in the U.S., where so much timber is available and there’s a long tradition of wood-frame houses, as I recently wrote in the article “Wooden Houses in the USA: A Centuries-Old Building Tradition”.
Framing is being used not only for houses, but for all types of buildings really. Wood is more common for residential, and metal for industrial or commercial facilities, but a lot depends on structural needs and choices. Wood framing is more earthquake resistant, for instance. In any case, big efficiency gains are being achieved with pre-fabrication solutions. The world is steadily moving to BIM, including framed construction, and “BIM-to-fabrication” is a hot keyword in the field.
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We’re looking forward to exhibiting at Autodesk University this coming November in Las Vegas. Hopefully many of you – our clients and contacts – will be there to share ideas about driving building design forward.
Our focus will be on three areas:
There’s been a lot of development in AEC, and we’re staying at the forefront of it to make sure our software users have most productive BIM Solutions and add-ons for Revit out there, particularly for wood framing, metal framing, precast concrete, and MEP work
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Wooden homes are one of the cornerstones of American culture. That’s something we’ve come to know very well while working with our clients from the United States.
Europeans are often surprised when they see how densely timber houses are built throughout the US. Whether it’s a suburb or a big city, you’ll find whole neighborhoods built from wood; building after building, lined up one after the other, reminiscent of the idyllic suburban areas of the 1950s.
In fact, not much has changed since the 1950s. With 93% of new houses in 2018 built using wooden materials, Americans are sticking to their lumber with pride.
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House building is an expensive long-term project that requires lots of planning in advance, with any mistakes that are made resulting in wasted time and additional expenses. The good news is that there is a way to avoid human error and build a house that is both eco-friendly and cost-effective. Using structural insulated panels (SIPs) not only enables you to assemble the structure as easy as a doll house at the construction site, but with the right software also speeds up other building phases like modelling, documentation, and fabrication.
What are SIPs?
Most house builders go through the traditional motions of setting up traditional timber framing and insulation. But these guys obviously didn’t feel like dealing with stick-frames; they decided to stray from the rule book, get some SIP panels, and assemble a house in two weeks. Sounds almost like building with Legos, doesn’t it? The secret is that SIP panels already have both framing and insulation inside of them – a foam core sandwiched between two structural facings, typically oriented strand board (OSB).
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The beginning of the 20th century was a very exciting time for builders and architects as they witnessed the birth of steel and concrete structures. The ingenious mix of these two components made it possible to build much higher than ever before, and that eventually led to the construction of skyscrapers. Wood as a building material seemed like a thing of the past. More than 100 years later, however, architects are once again thinking about using wood as their main building material. There are already apartment blocks built entirely of cross-laminated timber, and some ambitious companies are preparing blueprints for the first wooden skyscraper.
CLT reduces the carbon footprint
Turning towards wood might seem like a weird idea, to say the least. Why reintroduce something that burns and easily breaks? Isn’t that the reason why we moved on to concrete and steel? That is true to some extent since regular timber is neither malleable (unlike steel or concrete) nor strong enough to build high-rises. Read more »
We’ve been hard at work testing our brand new DOCK* against Revit 2020 to ensure complete compatibility. To those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the news, thank you for your patience. We’re glad to say our tools are ready to use with Revit 2020!
*The Dock is an interactive window in Autodesk® Revit® that allows you to access and manage all Revit® products developed by AGACAD.
Here’s how to get our tools running on Revit 2020.
For current users of our software
To companies/individuals who have an active license maintenance/subscription of at least one of our tools, we’ve sent an email containing software activation codes and a link to download our 2020 Tools4BIM Dock. (If you can’t find it in your inbox, please check your spam folder.)
NB: If you’re with a company, please ask your BIM manager or IT coordinator for these codes.
What you need to do: Read more »
Check out the Feb-Mar 2019 issue of our AGACAD Advances newsletter!
AGACAD’s recent 28th birthday party was brief. The team met in the lobby for a toast to our clients and partners worldwide, then got back to building even better digital construction solutions. Delivering tomorrow’s AEC. We hope you enjoy this update you on where we and BIM are going.
There’s news about our framing, MEP and detailing software. And what’s really hot these days is precast concrete. We’re on our way to brief industry players at North America’s Precast Show 2019 – this time as an Autodesk AEC Industry Partner singled out for our precast tools for Revit.
Below you’ll find links to Dynamo scripts for #rebar in Revit, they’ll be free for existing users of our Precast Concrete software, and a whole lot more. Also, be among the first to see our brand-new showreel about design and fabrication of precast concrete. [WATCH NOW]
Read the newsletter for a quick overview.
