Celebrity keynoters Kevin Spacey, Neri Oxman, and Rem Koolhaas will be among the numerous highlights of the AIA Convention 2016 held in Philadelphia next week. Learn and keep up with the latest from leading experts on topics including resiliency, business management, ADA compliance, LEED, green building, design and health, and more. Register for an in-depth workshop or pack your schedule with challenging seminars. Nearly 800 exhibitors will also be on hand with the latest products and technologies in the industry. Philadelphia is always a treat to visit so attendees will find a lot to entertain them after the conference lights dim.
The Philadelphia Museum Art crowns the city’s illuminated Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The culturally rich stretch is home to many parks, public works of art and museums, including Swann Memorial Fountain (pictured), the Barnes Foundation, the Rodin Museum, The Franklin Institute, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Sister Cities Park and many other attractions.
Buildings are now generating vast amounts of data, cities need to be sustainable, flexible and producers of resources. AEC professionals must also have their eye on environmental impact and diminishing greenhouse gas emissions in design and construction as well as operations. As owner/operators get more involved in the entire lifecycle of the project, there is a greater need for convergence and collaboration of AEC teams.
AECCafe Voice recently interviewed CEO of Newforma, Ian Howell on topics including the management of project information today and how to make information from disparate systems talk to other.
Given the huge rise in the amount of digital information generated today, what do you think is the most effective way to manage all that information?
Ian Howell, chief executive officer, Newforma: “Huge rise” is true: When Newforma began in 2004, a large project generated 100 gigabytes of data. Ten years later, the largest project being managed by our customers generated 6.5 terabytes of data – 65 times as much! This growth is a consequence of a few factors: building designs are more ambitious across the industry, as illustrated by such high-profile projects as the one-kilometer high Jeddah Tower and the Apple Campus 2 headquarters; and building requirements are more complex as a result of factors such as sustainable design, concern for carbon footprints, etc.
To manage this explosion of digital data, customers have had to scale their systems and implement a project information management strategy that dovetails with the applications and systems already in use.
A consequence of handling so much more information on every project is the burden of trying to keep it organized. However, our experience shows that busy project team members rarely have the time to comply with the filing rules and meta-data tagging required by structured document management systems like SharePoint.
The first week of January AECCafe Voice will publish a Trends/Predictions article, looking forward toward what might be the big trends for the new year, as well as the next five years.
When I think of where Trimble SketchUp has evolved to, from its days as a simple but celebrated sketching tool for designers, I’m amazed at its versatility and application to so many important aspects of the AEC marketplace.
Trimble MEPdesigner V2 Cable tray with condulets and bendable conduit
In a recent webinar on the topic, “Space and Equipment Planning System to BIM (SEPS2BIM)” using SketchUp, Kimon Onuma, president of ONUMA, Inc., Dennis Shelden, associate professor of Practice, MIT, Gehry Technologies, Ryan Ghere, content manager of SketchUp and Devon Sparks, professional services consultant, Gehry Technologies talked about automating the creation of BIMs from owner requirement data.
