B6 - Reflection

This course has been one of my favorite courses at Drexel thus far. The main reason is because I felt like this course looked beyond how the AEC industry is functioning today. I enjoyed learning about the new technologies that will mold the building design in the future. For example, I found the topic of interoperability very fascinating because I think it has the ability to improve the network capabilities between themany types of BIM software which is still a continuing issue in today’s industry.

I also enjoyed learning more about Revit during the semester. I have had some experience with the program through my co-ops in which I had assisted in creating BIM models as part of my duties. However, I appreciated that this class gave me more experience with Revit that is relevant to what I will be doing after graduation. In addition, Dynamo is a new feature to me that I had never used before. I think this feature could be really useful for me in the future since it allows easy data pulling from the Revit model.

I also felt like I gained a lot from working in teams. Team work is a key aspect in engineering jobs, so I think that having experience working with new people from various disciplines will prepare me for my future co-ops, and eventually my future job. 

Furthermore, the articles I think also contributed greatly to my learning in the class. Although they were time consuming, I think it is important to take extra time to stay up to date on industry trends and new emerging technologies. I think this will make me a better professional in the future.

Lastly, I enjoyed gaining more insight into what makes a building “intelligent.” I had never taken into consideration how buildings could be more efficient by implementing technology and sensors. As society becomes more accustomed to convenience, I think that technology within building design will continue to expand and evolve. Therefore, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to be in a class in which I could get a glimpse of what the future of my profession and my industry will look like.

Greetings Manon,

I felt a similar way coming into class. I was also unsure of what it meant for a building to be intelligent, and I feel that this class has given me great insight into the future of engineering as well. I also really enjoyed hearing from industry professionals who are seeing the implementation of the technologies we are learning about as well. It is truly incredible how big data has the ability to impact the efficiency of buildings.

Hi Jake,

It is interesting that you are going to work with Revit to design electrical systems. That is what I worked on at my last co-op. I think what we learned in this class about Revit will give you a great foundation for your future job. Although Revit can be a daunting program, it becomes very intuitive after you use it for a while. I am positive you will be able to adopt it easily.

Greetings Varsha,

I agree that this class gives great insight on the extent of careers available with an AE concentration. I definitely wish I would have taken this course earlier during my time at Drexel so that I would have understood the various opportunities earlier. I also agree that the department should do a better job of integrating knowledge about the status of the industry within our various courses.

B5 - What is SQL and Why is it Important

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a database language that is used to communicate with databases. To start, a database is simply a library of information that is stored online. Data is extremely important in the world today and some databases may become enormous and hard to go through. This is where SQL comes into play. To put simply, SQL pulls specified data from these databases for the user to either analyze or manipulate. Furthermore, it is easy and is highly recommended to learn. This is important because in this advancing world, databases will only be increasing in size and to be able to quickly go through all of the data, SQL allows the ability to do that while filtering, modifying, and analyzing it. Because it is a universal language, it can integrate into other scripting languages. Another benefit of learning this is that it is high in demand in the job industry. A con regarding SQL is that it is a language that mainly only speaks to relational databases. A relational database is basically a tabular database. 

https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/5-reasons-every-aspiring-data-scientist-must-learn-sql-2bab007a8d76

https://tableplus.com/blog/2018/08/why-sql-is-the-most-important-skill-to-learn.html

Comments

Amanda,

I think object oriented databases would definitely play a role in our industry. Due to an object based database, the information that is being shared throughout the teams would be easily filtered or manipulated to portray/show what they want.

Douha,

This definitely helped me understand my research on SQL a lot more since SQL is used to pull data from relational databases. Databases are everywhere in our life and we use it for many different things and you came up with great examples.

Abdul,

Showing data through objects and classes seems extremely beneficial for our industry. It is easily managed and the information can be shared through many different teams. Learning this and understanding the many different types of databases allowed me to understand more of why there are so many different types. Some databases are more beneficial to certain applications than others.

B4 - Project Description

Our group, Amanda, Mika, and I, are planning on focusing green and sustainability design using various BIM software. This topic will talk about the advancement of BIM and how it has affected engineers and designers on their process of sustainable design. This topic was chosen because sustainability is something that is always talked about, however, not as well known aside from the popular options, like natural air circulation, low carbon-footprint, etc. Researching this will allow a better understanding of the extents of a sustainable/green building and then being able to tie it into the progression of BIM and its affects, whether it is advantageous, or a disadvantage. 

Its relation to Intelligent Buildings is mainly BIM itself as mentioned above. To dive further, a part of an intelligent building is to be able to analyze the building's system and data to understand how well it is operating. This would help the sustainable design drastically since it would assist the designer/engineer on what should be modified. Furthermore, using BIM, the building may be monitored over time to determine the best performance for the building. 

Having the ability to use BIM to help design sustainability and green would decrease cost and time since BIM would be doing most of the analysis. This would also benefit many other people than just the engineer/designer. As mentioned before, people would be able to consistently monitor the building. An example of BIM software that does sustainable design would be eQuest. It generates an energy analysis of the structure based on the inputs the user does. This allows the user to implement many different ideas and designs to get the best option. 

A few challenges regarding sustainability and green design would be how sustainable does it have to be? A green building certification program, LEED, has a some guidelines on how green the building is which is based on a ranking system. Like any program, LEED has issues which will be addressed in the research.

Comments

Steve: I think your goal for this project is great and makes a lot of sense. Taking advantage of this project to further your knowledge and experience in Revit would definitely make you stand out and be much more of a valued employee.

Andre: I think it is interesting that you are doing this project in an electrical engineering perspective. Having a co-op in electrical design, this would immensely help the design flow in projects and would allow unnecessary mistakes that are bound to happen.

Cory: The ability to prefabricate elements is very beneficial. Like you mentioned, there are definitely pros and cons regarding this type of construction and may be specific towards certain types of constructions only. I do believe that as the field advance, more elements will definitely be prefabricated to reduce the time and cost consumption.

B3 - What are the current problems with Revit/BIM?

BIM software like Revit can be very a very powerful tool when used correctly. However, like everything, it may have some downfalls. For instance, everyone has a different level of knowledge to using Revit which may cause issues with communications or collaborations with other disciplines or the owner. Being in different level of BIM knowledge could also fall under not being on board of using it at all. Clients could just not want the BIM service.

BIM is advancing the AEC industry at a rapid rate. Because of this, many people who work with and use BIM may not be able to catch up and cause more miscommunication. A solution I can think of regarding this is to be able to gain some experience as we are still learning and in continuing education. Each year, these software bring out a new program (ex. Revit 2020) and new things in this program can vary from minor changes like bug fixes, tools moved around, to a major change like a whole new addition of a particular system from electrical, structural, to communication. Because this issue may be yearly, people need to keep learning and adapt to changes.

Another issue would be the constant need to transfer data/information back and forth. This is and issue because things may get corrupt or lost through a transfer. With the advancement in data sharing, many problems regarding this were solved, but there are still more to be considered. Revit allows multiple people to work in a single project. Doing so, Revit has a feature, synchronization, where the people working in the project would occasionally "save" their work and updates the project to show everything else that people worked on. This helps with the data loss issue, however, still has some issues within itself. If there is a big project that many people are working on, the speed of the software would drastically decrease and would even periodically "crash", causing all of the work that has not been synced to be lost.

Source: https://aecmag.com/technology-mainmenu-35/450-the-trouble-with-bim

Comments

Spencer,


I believe interoperability will always be an issue due to what you mentioned in your first paragraph about how technology is continuously evolving. The best case to do is to find a method to secure the issue because it will most likely never to be resolved. I have never considered data waste although it is obviously there. It is interesting that no matter how "well-versed" you are in BIM, you are still ineffectively using it.

Jake,

It is definitely ideal to have Revit a part of Autodesk. Being connected to many different applications allows a greater communication. I also agree with its advantages over drafters. In addition to the pros, because everything is constantly updated, the designer would not miss any changes.

Andrew,

The future with BIM in the AEC field has many pros with minimal cons. I like how you mention how effective it would be for contractors as well. With them receiving more information quickly allows less time wasted which means less money wasted.

B2 - Interoperability

A major issue within the data world is to have files not being supported by certain systems. For instance, Revit not accepting an AutoCAD file. From this, the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) file format was created for interoperability. Interoperability is the ability to exchange data between applications, which smooths workflows and sometimes facilitates their automation. The AEC field was brought in and included since they are experts within the field, and would know what to include.

Initially, a decent sum of money was going towards translators (people who exchange data between different software and applications) which caused two companies, Boeing and General Electric, to develop IGES. With the new format adapted, issues regarding it came about varying from technical factors to procedural factors. There are three levels that are defined to achieve interoperability:

External Level: The user's view on information exchange requirements.

Conceptual Level: Data model on this level is considered a logical schema, which is generated by consolidating multiple users' views.

Internal Level: Also known as a physical schema. This level has the translator between two different systems implement the logical schema from the conceptual level into the software application.

The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a schema developed to address all of the building information from design and construction, to occupancy and operation. Building elements can be categorized and sub-typed. As it further advanced, it developed to be able to export/import specified data based on the subsets created. This type of exchange is called model views definitions (MVDs) whereas information delivery manual (IDM) is the specification of information requirements.

File based exchange data formats started advancing towards BIM servers. The two types of transaction/management are file-level transaction and object-level transaction. The FLT is a method to save the entire model file as one piece of information and OLT is a method to parse and save a model on an object level. Because these type of files tend to have multiple people working on them, FLT has issues with synchronization and will not resolve them. BIM servers are articulated towards the AEC field. The base requirements for a BIM server are: manage users, import and parse BIM models, query and export object-level data, manage object instaces, and control versions of stored data.

Interoperability allows a great method of collaboration and communication. It gives the ability for different software to have the same data file format which soon progressed to BIM. Interoperability will be something that will always be advancing in the AEC field as designs get more and more complex.

Source
Chuck Eastman et al., BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors (3rd Edition Wiley, 2018)

Comments


Cory
As you mentioned how BIM software allows different disciplines to work easier with each other, it makes me think of how it was before the BIM era. Although it does allow easier coordination with other disciplines, I do agree with Spencer's comment on how proper training is definitely needed to have a greater coordination. 

Varsha, BIM has definitely affected the AEC field drastically. Including contractors, like you said, would increase the efficiency and result in less RFIs in my opinion. They would have the ability to enter the model and observe any detail/cross sections, therefore, would not need to send an RFI. However, this would only be beneficial if the designers using the BIM software were properly trained and the materials and drawings were properly drafted.

Mika,
Looking at the same topic, it is interesting to see your perspective on it. The AEC field is becoming much more digital and virtual as it advances. With this, there will always be flaws that will need to be addressed. I think it's also important to mention that with the different file formats, there are other types that are more ideal depending on the project.

B1: BIM, 3D Printing, Structures, Future

The Future of BIM

As the world continues further into the future, building information modeling (BIM) is becoming more important. The internet of things (IoT), which is basically a large network that connects different devices together and gather/share data, is vastly being incorporated into homes and buildings. Examples are smart thermostats, talking fridges and reactive lighting units [3]. While BIM is already involved in home/building comfort, it is slowly taking effect in construction phase. Hilti, a tool company, invented adaptive tools that are networked together to provide data and communication between one another. These smart tools would also allow easier tool management and maintenance.

Because of the increasing complexity of BIM and its effects on buildings, softwares started integrating a cloud-based collaboration, like Panzura, which is a data storage service. Using a cloud-based storage allows a better intergration of information, archiving, and security. Because many different disciplines can access a cloud data storage, people can get information and questions answered much quicker than the normal RFIs or phone calls or emails. 

The Future of 3D Printing

3D printing has advanced very quickly on its technology from starting as only printing in plastic to specialized printers that may print a wide variety of materials that can be used for biology to construction. 3D printed structures and buildings are rapidly becoming a thing. A 3D printer used for construction may not look like the generic printers that are shaped as boxes. They could be "a giant robotic arm that looms over a platform" [2]. Depending on the structure, different materials will be used. In the article, their building, TERA, was created using a "concoction of basalt and biopolymers" [2]. The design of the structure was inspired by a prototype of a Martian habitat building named "MARSHA".

Printed houses has a advantage in the speed of construction, which will lower the cost of manual labor. Ideas of using this type of construction are forming around emergency housing or homeless shelters, however, the technology is still new. With every advantage, comes a disadvantage. Concrete designed buildings allow fire protection and strength at the cost of the environment due to the amount of CO2 released.

ICON, a construction technology company, is working with a nonprofit, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, to plan a 50 printed house village for the poor community in Latin America [2]. They produced a 500 sq. ft. welcom center over a time of 27 hours over several days.

The future of 3D printing will allow construction to be much quicker and less costly. It will also reduce the worker casualty rate.

The Future of Structures

As mentioned above, the the future of BIM and 3D printing is allowing structures and buildings to be much more innovative and have a better construction phase, but what does that actually mean about the structure? "There’s little point in designing a structure that you can’t build" [1]. Having new technology and processes being incorporated into the AEC field allows more complex ideas. BIM is used to make more interesting designs and interpret it into the physical environment. This new era in innovative design would become more practical more into the future when the AEC field uses more of the technology present, like 3D printing.

Comments

Abdul: I am amazed to find out that AIs can fully design the routing of electrical and plumbing systems in modern buildings. From my experience, that work is normally done by a designer. I understand that AIs would reduce the human workforce and prevent work site injuries, however, to play devil's advocate, would this cause the workers to lose their job? If not, would they lessen their responsibilities and take more of a managerial/maintenance role on the AI system?

Amanda: I find cobots to be a very important and necessary part of the world. They are able to do the repetitious and monotonous work in production and manufacturing as you mentioned. This will allow the workers to focus on more important matters. The advancement to delivery robots is a fascinating subject. As a starter, this would allow the deliveries to be quicker. I am excited to see the progression of this type of delivery system.

Reece: It is an interesting concept to have an integrated network of devices where it would work for anyone and everyone, however, I believe that the main concern is privacy, or the thought of privacy. In my mindset, having my own device allows me to have what I want on it and disregard what I don't need. In a way, it is similar to having all apple products and everything being networked together, although you would not be able to share these devices.

[1] “Architecture in the Age of Automation.” Evernote, 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] Lasky, Julie. “A 3D Print-Out You Could Call Home.” Evernote, 8 Nov. 2019, https://www.evernote.com/pub/aengineer/ae-510#st=p&n=0e18e88a-862b-42f9-b28a-e5419939c919&t=3db95129-c0cf-48a9-9fbb-4a68f8bd32ba.

[3] Williams, Dennis. “Three Tech Trends Shifting the BIM Industry in 2016.” Evernote, AECbytes Viewpoint, 21 July 2016, https://www.evernote.com/pub/view/aengineer/ae-510/da590e33-9e5c-4f32-a75b-5320ac4e2841?locale=en#st=p&n=da590e33-9e5c-4f32-a75b-5320ac4e2841.

Students in the Intelligent Building

These students are taking Intelligent Building in AY19-2.   This post is mostly here to allow creation of the labels.

Varsha Ajith Abdulrahman Alhafath Dane Bell Douha Alqudaihi Mika Awai Isabel Brooks Cory Christopher Manon Flamini Jacob Hall Brian Huynh Vishist Jain Spencer Kociba Amanda Kolar Abigail Kryszan Michael Manley Reece Masucci Brian Mynaugh Andrew Norris Liam Ossenfort Stephen Pettit Pritesh Prajapati Michael Sciarra Ina Sison Madeleine Walker-Elders