Reflection

As I look back on what I learned in this course the two main topics I feel will apply to me the most are the BIM and Database topics. I am pursuing more of a career in the construction industry and it is almost a staple in and General Contracting company is to have a Revit model. The Revit model helps the general contractor to estimate, detect any problems with the plans easier, and to also show the owner a pretty picture of their building. This helps streamline the process once the model is built in Revit. Building a model in Revit can take anywhere from a few days to over a month depending on the size of the building. I have worked for a civil construction company that uses Agtek and Sketchup to model the various projects like large sites with a lot of earthwork or bridges to help with estimation. What these programs also do is allow for the contractor to see where the cut and fills are on the site, and also show the owner that “this is a big problem” or this is how you can fix it easily. I find that programs that are able to model the project are very beneficial in the construction industry as it allows both the contractor to see the finished product and to also show the owner what it will look like once completed.

The other topic that I found interesting is the database topic and the assignment that went with the topic. When I was completing the project I kept thinking of how this may or may not relate to my previous co-op positions and how they may utilize it in their everyday work. The one way in which I found this may be helpful in a contractor’s company is to have a relational database about all of their subcontractors. Being able to go into on place and find a subcontractor based on the work they do is very beneficial. The company I worked for was using an excel spreadsheet which made it somewhat difficult at times to find the contractor you were looking for. A database of all of these contractors would help with the estimation process. Another database I think would be beneficial to have is one that stores all of the information from previous jobs and how they long each activity took. This helps ensure the estimator allows for enough time for its company to finish the activity. This is important because if he does not estimate the project properly the company could lose a lot of money. The entire goal of any project is to make as much money as possible.

COMMENTS:

Jacob Wahbleh

I think that BIM is and will become a bigger impact on our industry. I believe that every company I interviewed for asked about the various programs I have used in my time here at Drexel. These companies are aware of where the industry is going and they want to invest in those students who know how to model the buildings, bridges, site, etc. so that they can see it and show it to the owner.

Andrew Maita

I like you signed up for AE 410 for the reason that it could count as a Technical Elective for one of majors. I had also heard from others that it was an interesting class and many recommended it to me. This put into perspective the various technologies that are already in place in the industry that I had not realized until taking this course. Reflecting on my co-ops I am able to see these technologies at work and the potential for them all.

Mark Odorizzi

You bring up the interesting point that having more knowledge in new technologies could and most likely will set you apart from other potential candidates. I believe employers are looking for employees that are able to learn new technologies quickly or have that knowledge already because we are currently in a transition period where our industry is catching up on all the technology out there. Companies are investing in this industry and creating specific departments within to deal with and implement these technologies such as BIM or a generic modeling division.

Lauren Kujawa B4 - Incorporating Green Building Technology into IB Technology

For the term project, I will be working with Tyler Wicker.  Tyler and I will be writing about intelligent building technology and how IB technology can be used to make a building more “Green.”  First, we will define both intelligent and green buildings and describe design factors, considerations, and technology that can be implemented into either.  We will also talk about how green and intelligent buildings have advanced, but also touch base on the limitations of each.  Finally, Tyler and I will talk about how the technologies work together to form a “Green” and Intelligent Building.

I choose this topic because I have always had an interest in green buildings and sustainable designs, and I do not have any interest making a Revit model or doing a database project.  For my senior seminar papers and presentation, I wrote and spoke about sustainable buildings and the processes that go into the creation of a sustainable building.  From seminar, I learned that it is not only the building’s energy usage that determines if a building is green or not. The material’s manufacturing processes, transportation to site, and construction methods and practices must also be green in practice.  I am familiar with the green aspects, but I would like to research the intelligent aspects that can be applied in order to promote sustainability.

My initial thoughts on this topic are that the green aspects will be easy to research and write about, however I am not as familiar with intelligent buildings, so I believe this aspect of the project will be more difficult.  I know information and sources are readily available on green buildings, however I am unsure of what will be available on intelligent buildings.  I am also unsure of how easy it will be to link green and intelligent building technologies.  I personally do not have any experience linking the two, and I am not sure if there are famous projects that have linked intelligent to green buildings.

Response 1: Cody Johnson

I find your topic to be very interesting.  I think 3D laser scanning could be very helpful in the construction industry, especially if improvements are made to better the models.  3D models can easily help all involved parties visualize what is actually happening at a site.  As these technologies improve, modeling will only become more complex.  More time will have to be put into making a good model, but time can be saved if laser scanning is incorporated.  My company recently incorporated drones into their site surveying, so I am interested to see all that drones can do for the civil and architectural fields.

Response 2: Allison Abad

This topic is so different from all of the others!  The project is really could benefit future exploration on Mars, as a construction rocket could save many human lives.  The environment on Mars is much more harsh than the environment of Earth, and it is understandable that skyscraper construction is light years away from happening on Mars.  Your project really is directly related to this class, and I am very interested to see your final presentation.

Response 3 - Kerry Milligan

I remember you and Chris talking about this project a while ago, and I think the project is very interesting.  I also like that your inspiration comes from a Disney movie!  I really like the idea of an intelligent home becoming accessible and affordable to all homeowners.  I also like that you mentioned that intelligent buildings do not have to be built from the ground up.  I really liked this point because often people think “intelligent” means new an expensive, but in reality, the intelligent aspects can be added over time in a more affordable fashion. 

Term Project Description

Mark Odorizzi and I are working together on the term project. We chose to do a project which entails creating an entire Revit model for all three major design areas of a building. We are doing this in conjunction with AE-391 which many of you are familiar with. We were originally working separately on different term projects, but realized after talking that we were doing very similar projects where we were going to be using Revit to create various models of a building we designed. Also, we are working together in AAE-391 so it is only fitting that we work together in this class as well.

What we will be doing with this project is keeping a log of what we do in Revit for the AE-391 building we are designing. We will be discussing what we did that day and the challenges we had faced. We will discuss some of the new things we are doing in Revit which we haven’t done before. At this current moment in time we have completed the Architectural Model for our building, which can be seen below. The shape of the first floor of our building gave us the name for it, “The Keep.” There are a few challenges we had to overcome when creating this model, like how to go about creating the amphitheater or add a continuous clerestory of windows. The overall Goal for our project is to have a set of plans that have been generated from Revit that include the architectural plans with furnishings, landscaping plans, structural plans, mechanical plans, electrical plans, and plumbing plans. Then, if time permits determine where we have clashes in the design and attempt to both show them and fix them.

“The Keep” – 3D Model of our Architectural Design of the Building

This relates to this class because more and more each day architectural and engineering firms using Revit to design buildings. This is to help determine if there are any design flaws that most likely would not get caught on a set of 2D plans until the General Contractor or Subcontractor points it out in a meeting or even possibly while they are constructing it.  This is also why almost every general contractor that I have spoken with are implementing the use of BIM tools to estimate a job. While a project is in the estimation phase it is critical that the GC or subcontractor not miss anything major costing them or the owner a lot of money. There are many abilities that a BIM Tool like Revit has that can be implemented in the construction field much easier than the design world because as of right now Revit is simply creating a model (picture of the building in 3D) that is not producing any data that a structural or MEP engineer can use.

An example of when having a 3D model is essential is when there are two GC’s competing for a job and one of them has produced a fully modeled building in Revit that they can show the owner.  I can guarantee that 95% of the time the owner will go with that contractor because they know they are getting a better-quality product, there will be less change orders (surprises), and that this company is more serious than the other because they took the time to create a model of the building. I have worked in the estimating department of a heavy civil construction company where many times they were chosen by the GC because we were able to show them that we knew the job. We were able to point out the potential design issues with possible solutions to the problem.

COMMENTS:

Cody Johnson

Your project seems to be very interesting and you are correct in saying that if 3D scanning could be an industry standard it would save a lot of people a lot time both in the construction and design industries. I also would like to point out that to this day, many of the sites are scanned by drones to get the initial elevations for both the CAD drawings and the plans. There is still a lot of needed improvement though because if the site has a lot of brush or trees, the initial scan will come up with elevations 2’ higher than what they actually are. Having this ability in the construction industry would help tremendously.

Carlos Hillinger

This is a very interesting topic to focus on. I believe that the main area to focus most of your time on is the 3D printing. In many underdeveloped countries their infrastructure limits their abilities tremendously. I believe looking further into 3D printing of bridges for countries like this is time well spent. Will we ever get to the point where it will be more economical to send a team of 2 or 3 guys and some “robots” to construct bridges for these countries? I believe looking at some of the economic aspects of all of these new technologies is also a beneficial route to look into. I only bring this up because in this country, I believe the main reason as to why the construction industry has not changed is due to the fact that technology is expensive and we don’t need it. We have been building buildings, roads, bridges, etc. for hundreds of years without robots, scanners, and more so why change it?

Dung Tran

You seem to be doing a very similar project in which Mark and I are doing and I too look forward to seeing your final presentation and how your building turns out. I have spent a good amount of time using Revit and learning how to use the Architectural Modeling tools but have not personally worked on any of the structural or MEP capabilities Revit has. I believe learning a new program for yourself is a very rewarding and intensive task, but once you learn Revit it will only benefit you in the long run. I personally am excited to learn how to link models, and create the other models. I believe that Revit will continue to be the leader in 3D modeling, and that AutoDesk will ensure that Revit can talk to other programs. I believe that Revit will be in the construction industry for 20+ years. Owners love to see models of their building, and GC are using it to solve problems. 

AutoCAD vs. Revit

How does Revit relate to AutoCAD and other drafting programs?

https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/revit-vs-autocad

The quote below was pulled from the AutoDesk website which went into further detail explaining how these two programs are different and their design capabilities.

“The main difference is that AutoCAD is primarily a drafting tool to create basic geometry that represents real life, while Revit is used to create geometry that’s equipped with real-life information, hence the term building information modeling, or BIM.”

As stated above the key difference between Revit and AutoCAD is that Revit is an intelligent 3D model-based design tool and AutoCAD is a professional drafting and documentation tool. There are many key advantages to using Revit as a design tool. One of the biggest is the integrative platform that is offered with Revit. There is the ability to have multiple disciplines working on the same model at the same time as one other, and when one discipline makes a change all the others get a notification a change was made. This makes the design more integrative and much quicker than having weekly meetings or forcing one discipline to follow the other. This becomes very useful in large apartment buildings where there are many different mechanical, electrical, and plumbing challenges to consider and avoid the structural system all at the same time you are attempting to maximize the rentable square footage in the building. With this type of building, the owner will want to ensure they can purchase the property and be renting apartments in the shortest amount of time. This is also a reason to have a software like this. It speeds up the design process and with a 3D model it limits the amount of potential RFI’s.

Revit helps to streamline the overall design process and the final drafting process. This is because as the design is being developed, the plans, sections, elevations, perspectives, schedules, etc. are being generated within the program and all the user needs to do is pull the information from the proper menu. This program is also powerful in that when a change is made in a single window the change is being made throughout all the windows. The key to understand with Revit is that a “model” is being created.

The primary difference between Revit and AutoCAD is that Revit is modeling the building as you create the 2D plan view. Revit allows you set various constraints in the beginning and as you go to help create the model, so then when you select to draw a wall in the 2D plan view it creates a 3D wall with specific floor and ceiling height constraints. This is very different from traditional drafting programs like AutoCAD and Microstation where the lines that are being drawn on the computer are not being translated into a 3D model. The lines are just lines. The biggest issue with “drafting” programs is that when an engineer or architect changes the location of a wall, the drafter needs to go and find every location in which that wall is shown and edit it accordingly. Drafting programs simply are that, they are simply a computerized version of pen and paper.

There are many benefits to using Revit when designing a building and I believe that this is only the beginning when it comes to software like this. This software will only continue to improve and sooner rather than later I believe the heavy civil industry will have a program much like this for all of their work. As long as the municipalities, DOT’s, etc. come out of the Stone Age.

COMMENTS:

Jordan Shuster

You bring up some good points on how BIM will not be BIM in the future to the extent that the program will do a majority of the leg work for the designers. It will work out the mathematical and logical building design choices for the set of parameters inputted creating a very efficient and cost effective building. I believe there will still be the need to check the building to ensure it is designed correctly and up to code. Also, I believe that this technology will most likely exist someday, but that is somewhat worrisome because there will be a lot of very similar buildings out there in 100 to 200 years because a computer is designing them. Some buildings are meant to be artistic and not the most sustainable or green in design, but that is because the owner and architect wanted to make a statement with the building. If we let the building design up to a computer software, it will simply spit out a cookie cutter building for a majority of sites in a certain region.

Sarina Tufano

I like the point that you make about people potentially losing the knowledge base they once may have had before they let a computer do all the work for them. I too can see that there is need and a want for a newer and better program all the time to do the various tedious and sometimes cumbersome calculations that go along with designing structural or MEP systems. We are lazy as a society so if we can get a computer to calculate all these numbers for us the happier we tend to be. While at the same time, there comes a steep learning curve with a program like that. The user needs to know what they are entering, why they are entering whatever it is they are entering, how to go about entering it, how to go about checking everything was entered correctly, and then ultimately checking to ensure the program spit out the “correct answer.”

Mark Oddorizzi

I like that you bring up the point of just blindly following what the computer does because it can be dangerous and make a critical mistake which will affect the operation of the entire building. I would like to discuss the first issue you brought up about the hardware that  computers are running on today do not have the capabilities to keep up with software being developed. My computer is about 4 years old, the second I open Revit for just a few minutes my fan runs non-stop and my battery dies within 20 minutes depending on the size of the project. This is because my computer does not have the ability to run Revit 2017 efficiently. Which, for a large company having to replace 50% of your computers for a $2,000 computer all so it can run a program efficiently will become costly and most likely become a negative selling point for a program like Revit. It could turn a lot of companies away because not only will they have to buy the computers, but they will need to purchase licenses every year for the software.

Post 1, Shuyuan Zhang

AI
After reading the latest reviews and news about the developments of artificial intelligent nowadays on Evernote, I am curious about how is it created and how is it works. So I researched this topic and found some basic explanations to help us understand the general principle of AI.

There are several methods to build an AI. They are Deep Learning, Machine Learning and Generative Adversarial Nets (GAN). The GAN is one of the most advanced and popular approaches for complicated tasks. Most of the researchers and practitioners in this field are making efforts to learn and improve this system. A GAN is composed of two major parts—generator and classifier. The generative model is converting random data to true data and the discriminative model is classifying fake data from true data. They are against and competing with each other. At the same time, they are growing together.

For example, if we want to create an AI painter that is able to draw an apple, we will need to start with training two models. The discriminative model will get some initial inputs such as pictures of apples. This will require another developing techniques called Pattern Recognition. It is because there is no two apples are exactly the same and it is impossible for us to input every single apple in the world to our discriminative model. So pattern recognition can help the computer to find the pattern of how an apple looks like. On the other side, our generative model is getting little inputs about apples. For instance, we only tell it that an apple is about 1-3 cubic centimeters and the color is varying from green to red on the chromatogram. And then we can start running it. At the beginning, the generative model will create some ridiculous stuff such as a pure green cubic or a blood red sphere. It will send its work to the discriminative model. The discriminative model could easily claim this data as fake and start up another create- classify loop. After running this loop for billions of times until the discriminative model is deceived by generative model, then we can say that we successfully made an artificial intelligent painter that is better than human artists in some degree.


Database & Future

According to above discussion, I realized that other topics for group E for this assignment are all having some connections. For example, database system is the key components for discriminative model since it is collecting data as the initial inputs for this model. Database system is not only collecting but also organizing and processing raw data that makes the pattern recognition process a lot easier. Network and sociology are providing support to this system from different aspects as well.

[1]Generative Visual Manipulation on the Natural Image Manifold.Jun-Yan Zhu.ECCV 2016.

[2]Generative Adversarial Networks.Goodfellow. 

[3]Unsupervised Representation Learning with Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks.Alec Radford. [4]Deep multi-scale video prediction beyond mean square error.Michael Mathieu. 

Comment 

Thomas Sisson

I am shocked when I read your MX3D article. I didn’t realize that our 3D printing techniques are so mature and advanced that it can be used in construction filed in real life. And I agree with you that this can push the boundaries of conventional concrete to be used in projects that are more architecturally complex in shape. Your work in ‘Future’ session inspired me as well. My post is about AI but I only focused on this technique it self. You mentioned some connections between AI and our field that makes me start to think this way.

Dee Dee Strohl

Your article about HVAC & Sensor is interesting. It is a convenient way to manage your house/ office and can effectively increase equipment’s efficiency. I am thinking in the future, if most of buildings are having sensor system installed and AI technique is mature enough. We don’t even need an app to manage this system by ourselves. HVAC equipment with AI will finish all of the work for us and a great amount of energy will be saved. Both of our energy and environment problems will be mitigated.

Milligan

I like the video about software you posted. Before I watch that and read your discussion, I thought we only use software in the design phase behind a computer. But with the development of mobile devices, we are able to use apps during construction phase on filed. This can make the project manager or construction engineer perform their work in a more safety and effective way.