AECCafe Today 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » Crate & Barrel cuts costs and time with BIMApril 14th, 2010 by Susan Smith
Retailer completes projects 40% faster at half the cost. Crate & Barrel turns to BIM to cut costs, project time, ContractorSupply AEC Headquarters showcases building trendsApril 8th, 2010 by Susan Smith
This past week I had the pleasure of attending Autodesk’s AEC Division Headquarters in Waltham, MA for a press technology day. The building itself on Trapelo Road is a showcase for what can be done today with new approaches and technology. An unassuming, box-like, 61,000- square-foot office building that required an entire build-out, the building now is a testament to the use of integrated project delivery (IPD), sustainable design, digital-design-to-fabrication, and of course BIM. Local architectural firm KlingStubbins and Tocci Building Companies were instrumental in bringing these concepts to fruition with their experience in successful deployment of BIM and IPD. Inside, there are spacious training rooms and conference rooms with 90% natural daylight, as well as a “Telepresence” room where global meetings can be held and everyone “present” can be seen on a wall-sized screen.. Phil Bernstein, FAIA, vice president, Industry Strategy and Relations for the AEC Solutions Division, said this has cut down on their travel expenses as they can now hold virtual meetings. I am not sure what local materials might have been used, it did seem more of a display of Autodesk technology rather than an implementation of local resources, other than local architectural and building companies. The meeting was intended as a way to introduce press to the building and to demonstrate the 2011 product line. Autodesk 2011 product lineMarch 25th, 2010 by Susan Smith
In a webcast today, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass introduced the Autodesk 2011 product suite, handing over the discussion to Autodesk senior vice president, Platform Solutions and Emerging Business, Amar Hanspal.
The webcast began with a description of new functionality in AutoCAD, described as the “heart of the product portfolio,” with features such as associative surfaces, ability to control vertices, advanced surfacing functionality. With the new AutoCAD, users can create surfaces, modify original geometry, and those surfaces automatically update. Surfaces can be associated with other geometry and surfaces.
Users can move models over into Revit and include real world objects by adding point clouds from 3D laser scanning devices into their drawings. Point clouds of up to 2 billion points can be added.
An enhanced materials library has over 1,000 materials that can be dragged and dropped onto a model. Those materials maintain as they are imported to other models.
Many customers are interested in 2D capabilities, said Hanspal. 2D and 3D have direct manipulation now in many areas.
A new feature in Revit called Sunpath will allow users to input a zipcode and have the sun automatically appear in the right place in the model according to geographic location. It would allow designers to see how shadows fall and to control interior light. There are also enhancements to address large team workflows, and conceptual modeling tools added to be able to execute organic freeform shapes.
“BIM is not just about buildings, it’s about infrastructure,” said Hanspal. More complexity can be achieved in BIM now with the addition of the 64-bit version. There is also greater interoperability between Autodesk products with this new update.
Survey shows hot markets for healthcare construction in 2010March 24th, 2010 by Susan Smith
According to a survey done by ZweigWhite, over half of architecture and engineering firms see the West Coast as the action market for healthcare construction in 2010. The ZweigWhite quarterly report Market Advisor will publish the results of the survey. According to a press release, “over half of respondents to the healthcare survey said that the West Coast is where the work is, with 28% saying the Southwest is the hottest geographic area, and 24% pointing to the Northwest. The Northeast and the Midwest, both at 16%, also fared well. Only 4% respondents pointed to the international arena as where they see potential in 2010. “Southern California is an active aging market,” says Edward Caruana, president of c|a Architects from Long Beach, CA. “We feel health facilities whatever complexion they take on in the future will be needed in this busy area.” Among significant findings:
Bloom Energy unveils ground-breaking fuel cellFebruary 25th, 2010 by Susan Smith
K.R. Sridhar, co-founder and CEO of Silicon Valley’s Bloom Energy, has dominated the news this week with a fuel cell, a thin, flat ceramic cell that is expected to generate energy by combining air and a wide range of fuels – without combustion. The solid oxide fuel cell could be a disruptive technology for the clean energy technology industry in that it can be powered by either renewable sources of energy or fossil fuel in an electro-chemical process said to be cleaner than current options. Already major companies such as Google, Staples, Inc., FedEx Corp. and Wal-Mart stores have begun to test the technology or have signed on as customers. Bloom said that more than 11 million kilowatt-hours of energy have been produced so far in trial runs. Sridhar, a former NASA scientist said the technology powering the fuel cell potentially “has the same kind of impact on energy that the mobile phone had on communications.” This fuel-cell technology has been in research for nine years. Although there are other companies working on similar technology, what Bloom has going for it is that it has an integrated system and the product is already packaged for commercial sale. |
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