I looked at articles pertaining to the futures in BIM, structures, and 3D Printing.
BIM
The BIM industry is quickly evolving, and it is becoming the common building strategy in a lot of architectural, and engineering firms. Building Information modeling is becoming popular because it allows the engineers and architects to see the building as a whole in 3D, without being on the site. There are many benefits to the BIM movement, and it also makes it more clear for contractors as well. For the co-op that I work for, whenever we do a revit job, we will often put 3D views of the ductwork and piping in the drawing set, so the contractors have a better visual of the locations of the mechanical systems. BIM is still involving, and there are some developments that are already being put into practice that will be used throughout the industry.
The developing idea is the interaction of the Internet of Things (IoT) and BIM. The IoT is basically the interaction and connection of devices and systems without the need for people to control it. Systems and sensors will be able to adjust to different situations in the building. There is already some systems that implement that such as thermostats, and lighting systems [3]. Hilti, a tool company, is already implementing the IoT into its tools to speed up the construction process. These tools will have sensors that will let it adjust its settings to "match the operator needs". This would speed up the process tremendously. They are also creating tools that provide maintenance to the equipment itself. Hilti is developing tools that help the construction industry with regards to time, money, and efficiency.
Another interesting development that I read is augmented reality in the building industry. What I found interesting that there are augmented reality headsets being used on site visits that will display a BIM image over the existing space. This is often used to make sure they did not miss anything important, or in case there is an error in the design. "Builders can get an exact sense of the dimensions, size, and the materials of the building."[3] This augmented reality will help engineers get a better sense of the space, and the existing conditions which would make it a smooth process for the contractors.
3D Printing
The article "Giant 3D printers for making boats, bridges, buildings and rockets" describes the different types of 3D printing that is evolving over time. When 3D printing first started to become relevant, the printers were designed to create small molds, and small models. The printers were very small, and often took awhile to produce the desired product. Now, technology has advanced so much that they are working on designing bigger projects such as boats, buildings etc. The size of the 3D printers is the main impact on the size of the product, and the speed of the processing. 3D printers actually make it more cost effective, and in some cases make the product more effective. Oak Ridge National Laboratory produces 3D printers that are capable to print objects that can be used in the building industry. A contractor used one of their systems to create small concrete molds for concrete casting that was actually more effective than the handmade castings. [2] Oak Ridge is coming up with solutions to print concrete itself, except it is irrational to be able to print out a whole concrete structure. It will be possible to print out portions of the structure, and then either have man power, or robotic technology to assemble the structure. [2]
A limitation to 3D printing now that is slowly making progress in the industry is the printing of metals. There is a way that involves robots welding metal inert gases. These robots essentially are the 3D printers. These robots are starting to be used for the building of rockets. There is actually a rumor that 3D printing could be used to develop structures for Mars, which in my opinion is unreal.
Structure
With technology advancing, the structure of the buildings is also advancing. Buildings are taking shapes, and different sizes that were never imaginable before. "Physics laws provide limits, but those are only limits".[1] Structures are now being implemented by 3D printing, 3D lasering, and robotics. These methods provide better efficiency, and accuracy. Like in the BIM article, digital tools, and smart tools will be used frequently very soon in the building industry. Complex designs will need be to taken with precise solutions, and these tools will be very beneficial.[1]
Comments:
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/ai-httpswww.html
Amanda,
I found your Artificial Intelligence section interesting with how it will bring more jobs in. My thought process is that with robotics and AI taking over the jobs that are generally held by humans, they will simply replace them. The ordinary human rely on some of these construction jobs, and if they lose it then they would not have the experience to work elsewhere. It would force people to go into college, but with my experiences with my friends, school is not for everyone. In my opinion it will make the rich richer but the poor poorer. I personally think unemployment would rise dramatically. I do however, believe robotics and AI would benefit the building industry, and would provide efficient solutions.
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/blog-1-mynaugh.html
Brian,
I enjoyed your review on the future. Smart homes are already in effect with voice recognition systems, and automated systems. I have a friend where he can say "goodnight Google" and all of the lights will turn off. The Thermostats will change to certain temperature. This is already happening now, and it is only going to evolve. Smart homes will eventually be more common, and there will definitely be more features and advancements. This is also occurring in commercial industries as well which will be beneficial for the work place.
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/blog-1-hall.html
Jake,
I agree with your opinion on Keen's model of the thermostat. It would be neat for thermostats to be able to adjust strictly off of activity in the room. Say I have a party, and there is about 20 people in my house. It would be cool for the thermostat to read how many people in there, and adjust the temperature to the total amount of heat giving off from all of the people. With technology advancing, thermostats are already getting improved to change based off room activity. This technology with thermostats will boom the building design industry, and you would most likely see these types of sensors in most buildings.
Works Cited:
[1] "Architecture in the Age of Autmation." Evernote. Created 30 Nov. 2019. https://www.evernote.com/pub/view/aengineer/ae-510/64c49362-4bb7-43f9-ae09-6fc03af1385d?locale=en#st=p&n=64c49362-4bb7-43f9-ae09-6fc03af1385d
[2] Sciene and Technology. "Giant 3D printers for making boats, bridges, buildings and rockets" Evernote. Created 17 Nov. 2019. https://www.evernote.com/pub/view/aengineer/ae-510/91966705-479d-40b8-b4db-6031a703cf2a?locale=en#st=p&n=91966705-479d-40b8-b4db-6031a703cf2a
[3] Williams, Dennis. “Three Tech Trends Shifting the BIM Industry in 2016.” Evernote, AECbytes Viewpoint, 21 July 2016. Created 31 Jan. 2017. https://www.evernote.com/pub/view/aengineer/ae-510/da590e33-9e5c-4f32-a75b-5320ac4e2841?locale=en#st=p&n=da590e33-9e5c-4f32-a75b-5320ac4e2841
3 comments:
What I found most interesting in your post is the comment about using AR in the building industry. I worked a little bit with this at my part time job and I found it to be an incredibly interesting and helpful tool for a multitude of reasons. One of the uses was using AR the show clients the finished product in presentations in a way that they can actually move and interact with what they're purchasing which from a business perspective is highly beneficial. It can also be used for survey purposes speeding up the process overall.
Stephen, you bring up a good point regarding 3-D printing. It has a lot of potentials when it is fully developed. I thought it was interesting that you brought up the downside as well. I agree that 3-D printing that the entire structure is a bit absurd. There will always be a need for human incorporation when materials and tasks become complex.
Steve,
Like you, I read the article about 3D printing various structures. While 3D printing entire buildings from scratch might seem like a reach, I do think it is important to remember how much time and money could potentially be saved. With the exploration of numerous new materials able to be incorporated into the printing action, the possibility of what can be created is endless. These larger printers still need more developing before we, as a society, can trust them to build my school or home in a month.
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