B4 - Generative Design

I will be working with Dane Bell on a paper about generative design. We touched on generative design a bit in class, but mostly in the guest lecture from last week from Kayleigh Houde. Generative design is similar to parametric design, with which we are more familiar with, that is assigning parameters to the design so that the computer can fill in the design within the constraints. This is different from computational design or traditional design, where every component is designed individually. In traditional design, the user must take it upon themselves to think of various design options; they definitely cannot come up with ALL the options. Generative design utilizes algorithms, where a computer can definitively come up with all the designs that fit the constraints or parameters applied, often including a cost parameter as well.

Generative design can be applied to many fields and industries, but we will be focusing on mechanical engineering--that is, mechanics, manufacturing, 3D printing-- and architecture--that is, building design, construction, intelligent buildings. Generative design and efficiency go hand-in-hand. Since the computer can determine which are the best models that fit our constraints, there is less time needed to revise and revisit options. Coupled with 3D printing, complex models can be developed on a small scale. Generative design also has the opportunity to revolutionize the architecture and construction industry. As design is refined through parametric/generative methods, the door is opened to new ideas never thought of before. On the microscale, objects like furniture can be optimized with generative design to determine the best way to incorporate size, shape, and cost of material into a singular design. On the macroscale, whole office buildings can be optimized to determine the best locations for desks, meeting spaces, and entrances to allow for the best, most natural layout of the place. Of course, this shouldn’t take away the creativity of the designer. If the designer realizes that the most optimal design that the computer has chosen does not fit the intended use or function of the object or space, design expertise must still be applied. The hope is that generative design can be used as a tool to aid and inspire new designs and ways of approaching problems.

Respones:

Spencer, 

I like that your topic directly relates to your field of interest. It makes what you are doing that much more worthwhile. From someone who knew very little about BIM, the clash detection feature is something that I think is fascinating. Interoperability is crucial to efficiency, and moving various models from one platform to the next is a waste of effort sometimes. I hope you are able to figure out a good way to make the transition more seamless, or at the very least, learn some things along the way!

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-automation-of-clash-detection-report.html

Abigail,

Robots in the construction industry in the capacity you have described is something I have never thought of before. Having actual robots construct actual buildings seems tricky. Like Spencer said above, the code must be flawless, or else something could go very wrong. I think that there would still really need to be a certain level of human interaction with the robot builders since as of right now, humans with proper experience and training are the only ones that would know if something is being done incorrectly, even though blueprints or plans may say otherwise. However, I guess with technological advances and AI, robots are learning, not just being told what to do. 

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4.html

Isabel,

I believe that sensors and building management systems are key to an intelligent building. Intelligent buildings are not just about how the structure is built, but how it interacts with the world around it and satisfies the users' needs as well. If sensors can tell when to increase/decrease the temperature based on (1) what the user wants, (2) what temperature already exists within the structure, (3) the outside environment (natural heat from the sun or cooling from the shade), and potentially even (4) costs of energy, that would truly be an intelligent building. I am excited to see what you come up with!

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-how-intelligent-building-technology.html

B4 - Automation of Clash Detection Report Generation Using Dynamo

Project Description: “Design Project - Write a code in Dynamo that generates detailed clash detection reports; synthesizing data between Revit and Navisworks and exporting a formatted document with meaningful information regarding model clashes.”

Some of the inspiration from this project came from the desire to learn more about automating certain tasks that would make my job easier. This spring I will be going on my third and final co-op as a BIM/VDC Co-op at CRB in Plymouth Meeting. I will be developing project documents, inspecting designs to be within industry standards and regulations, and coordinating interdisciplinary problem-solving during project development. I would love to be able to walk onto the job in April and be able to offer suggestions on automating certain practices directly related to my job. Also, as we have seen in multiple lectures now, the AEC industry is in the middle of an innovation hotspot and the use of technology and automation on the job increases every year. My main goal for the project is to explore the Dynamo interface and familiarize myself with its capabilities.

My project would automate one of the more common responsibilities of a BIM coordinator: clash detection in BIM models between elements and trades. While this is only the tip of the iceberg of what construction technology is capable of, it is one of the most used functions of integrating BIM into projects. Clash detection identifies problems early in the design phase, where its financial, schedule, and quality impacts can be minimized; however, clash detection is tedious and often has the BIM coordinator adapting model files back and forth between several software and manually running analysis programs. This is incredibly inefficient and could benefit greatly from automating the task using Dynamo.

I imagine the most difficult parts of this process will be learning how to accurately import and export data using Dynamo and developing a workflow for moving a Revit model from the Revit platform to the Navisworks platform efficiently and accurately. I am excited to, at the very least, familiarize myself more deeply with Dynamo, Revit, and Navisworks before starting my co-op this spring. Hopefully I can be successful in developing this workflow and potentially benefit future-Spencer on co-op.

Comments:

Andy,
I am very excited to see what you and Mike come up with for this project. I have used BIM as a general contractor, owner's rep, and designer and have seen first hand which features are most useful to which users. I am interested to see the research that the two of you come up with and see if it matches my personal experience.
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/bp-4-final-project.html

Abigail, Ina, and Varsha,
One thing to keep in mind with your project is the capacity of a robot's ability to think for itself (although with AI progressing like it has, this may no longer be an issue). A robot is capable of performing very complex tasks with the proper programming, but if the user tells the robot to do something incorrectly, the robot will perform those incorrect directions to the best of its ability. Technology in our industry is only as good as the training the end-users have received to capitalize on it.
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4.html

Andre,
Code compliance and regulations are some of the most frustrating components of the design process. I am interested that you've chosen to focus on life safety and general safety aspects of a design. It is a trade in construction that can pass or fail a project during the permit acquiring phase. With very clear guidelines and checklists for this aspect of design, it makes sense to code a program to check for those regulations rather than going through them by hand. I am excited to see the end results of this attempt to automate a critical part of project design.
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/code-compliant-automation-through-dynamo.html 

BP - 4 - Final Project

For the final project Mike and I are going to look at how BIM is used in the field, specifically looking at the contractor and engineer relationship with each other and BIM. We are going to look at how BIM is being used right now and how contractors and engineers have historically communicated. We are then going to look at the effect that BIM has already had on the construction industry such as contractors now being able to access everything from their phones.

We will state the question “how can engineers and contractors better use the tools they have now?”, which will look at the benefits that could come from this. These benefits include but are not limited to improving efficiency in design and construction which would lead to a faster schedule, lower cost, and most likely a more defined, simplified communication method. On this same topic we will look at what other software exists that could be used that might not be an industry standard and look at how implementing it would affect the above stated factors. This could include planning software, modeling software, performance analysis software and collaboration and integration of these different types of software.

We will then compare these new ideas to the current standards and look at whether or not they are feasible ideas. We will look at why the current BIM is not being used to its fullest potential and the training required to utilize these tools at an optimal capacity. We will further discuss the risks of implementing new software as well as the challenges that may come with it.

Finally, we will project to the future and what the future of the relationship between engineer and contractors will look like and how they will use BIM to communicate better. This will be a combination of what new tools can be used as well as which current tools can be used at a higher level to increase productivity.

Steven, (link)

This seems like a very useful project and it seems to combine both your personal goals and the goals of this class. Also choosing something that you want to learn more about outside of Revit is a good idea. For the first assignment I found it very useful to learn how to create a family.

Cory, (link)

Your project is extremely interesting and I look forward to seeing the examples you present. Earlier on in the class I read an article talking about how 3d printers might be used to prefab buildings. It would be cool to see an example of this if one exists.

Douha, (link)

This is a very relevant topic and I remember reading an article about a contest in which students competed to develop a 3d structure that could withstand the atmosphere of mars. I think the possibilities are endless.

Project Description - Michael Sciarra

In the pitch for our original topic, Andy and I wanted to pursue something related to BIM, given that we are both intrigued by modeling programs, and are seeking positions involving Revit and Autocad to be used on a daily basis. We decided to write a research paper on the effects of BIM on the Contracting world but then later came to the conclusion that the paper would be more beneficial to our own careers if we centered it around the Engineer/Contractor relationship and how BIM can either strengthen or weaken said relationship. 

We hope to cover, as presented in our outline, the History and Modern Presence of BIM in Contracting and Engineering, the benefits and detriments of implementing BIM, the applicable tools for each party, and the possible future implications of this new technology. 

Our paper will cover this topic’s relation to the course theme of Intelligent Buildings. The progression in technological design evolution toward 3d Modeling and Smarter Planning and Analysis technology will make for more efficient construction and therefore more Intelligent Buildings. With the help of BIM we can simulate more efficient sun, wind, rain, etc. analysis. This makes our buildings more adaptive to their environment which is commonly believed to be one of the core values of Intelligent Buildings in this class. 

We expect to encounter a few challenges on our way to completing our research paper. One of those challenges is providing a respectable list of applicable programs to the Engineering/Contractor relationship that does not become too abundant or too scarce. We need to find a middle ground that demonstrates BIM’s many facet’s while also not turning our research paper into a massive archive. Another challenge could be finding credible sources that provide a new light to our topic as opposed to the already witnessed repetition of expected knowledge. 

Liam: 

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-liam-ossenfort-future-of-artificial.html

It appears your paper will be very in-depth in its analysis of AI and what it holds for our future. I think it may be also interesting to inform the reader of the history of AI and how it has captivated human imagination in the past. You could maybe also describe how you, personally, define AI. 

Brian: 

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-project-description_3.html

I like that your topic is even applicable to our current lives as we’ve had to use BIM to model our buildings in AE-391. This paper will definitely be helpful in creating a more sustainable structure, of which the class pushes us to consider. I like that you consider how BIM will help many more people than just the engineer as this would make its implementation in modern firms more intriguing.  

Stephen: 

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-stephen-pettit-project-revit-families.html 

I like your idea for the final project. This would be something I would like to do for my final as it gets my hands dirty in some Revit Modeling while also serving the purpose of improving my experience and familiarizing myself with Revit’s interface. I think while it does make sense for you design something you are familiar with, I think it could benefit you to consider trying something new in each of the new families you create.

B4

Originally, Ina, Varsha, and I were going to write a paper on the evolution of construction technology. We would’ve researched historic methods, current methods, and made predictions of future methods. However, we soon realized this would be way too much information to squeeze into a paper. So, we narrowed our focus considerably. Now, our topic is simply robotics in construction. This topic interests everyone in our group for different reasons. I am a BS/MS student in structures. I am interested in how robots can be used to construct buildings. Would robots allow us to construct new connection types? Or would they reduce labor costs so significantly that most buildings become sustainable? It would be interesting to see if robots that built a building could also help monitor the building afterwards, since they’d be more familiar so to speak. 

Buildings that are built without 100% human labor are bound to fall into the category of an intelligent building. Thus, robots in construction directly relates to BIM and intelligent buildings. 

One challenge will be making an educated guess as to the role robots in construction will play in the future. The trend indicates that robots will become increasingly popular, but trends aren’t always reliable.  

Another angle to investigate would be the costs associated with using robotics in the construction industry. Are the costs associated with robotics too high to offset the costs of human labor?Logistically, getting a robot to a site might be tricky. This could increase the costs. What kind of upkeep and maintenance would the robots require? Do they have a long enough life that investment in them is worth it?  

Hopefully over the course of writing this paper, we will gain a better understanding on the pros and cons of robotics, as well as learn more about the currently level of usage in the industry.  

Brian,

I think your research is very relevant to the issues engineers face when designing buildings. The way buildings are built and designed currently just isn't sustainable. Hopefully by researching and discovering uncommon ways to design sustainable buildings, new buildings will be less detrimental to the environment.

Cory,

Modular construction seems like a very cost and time effective method of construction. It will be interesting to see what the downsides are, and if they are significant. I am curious if modular construction will become more or less popular over time. I suspect it will depend on how much human labor will be needed for the project.

Isabel,

It will be interesting to see how the increased usage of Smart Home technology will impact system design. Right now, they're an afterthought by homeowners who desire them. Maybe in the near future, homes will be designed with the usage of Smart Home technology in mind.

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.

B4 - Stephen Pettit - Project - Revit Families

For the term project, I will be designing two Revit families of mechanical equipment. I have decided to design an automatic pump packaged unit, and a rooftop unit. The equipment chosen has many components, and would give me good experience with developing Revit families. I have chosen this project because I know this exercise will benefit me in my career. At my co-op company, they design their own Revit families to their standards. I have not had experience in that part of Revit, and I believe that this project would strengthen my Revit skills. Revit is used frequently at work, and I want to be able to be proficient enough that I stick out at my company. Revit is starting to get more popular at my company, and there is a handful of people that are proficient with it. I want to be able to expand my skills to make myself more versatile in my career.

I chose the pump package unit and the RTU because I am somewhat familiar with them. I often run into those equipment throughout my projects. My goal is to create detailed enough Revit families that have adjustable parameters that suits different needs. Another one of my goals is to learn more about the equipment in detail, and the equipment operates. In addition to the Revit families, I will create a general building, and insert the equipment inside the building.

Comments:
https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/cory-christopher-modular-construction.html
Cory,

Modular building construction is a great idea. The construction industry is getting more involved with prefabricated elements. I definitely think you should talk about how they would transport elements such as a whole room or whatever aspect you touch on. Transportation is important in my opinion, and that is why I think that robotics and construction is starting to become a building option.

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/course-project.html
Michael,

I really like your project idea. I have no experience with Kaggle, but I like the idea of creating a model that will determine future outcomes based off past outcomes. I am excited to see how your project turns out because it something that is very important in the building industry. Characteristics such as loads, temperatures, and other weather measurements are crucial for project accuracy. I agree as well with your statement with how building owners will have a better idea with energy consumption on renovation projects.

https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-term-paper.html
Jake,

I find this topic very interesting. This topic intrigued me because I used to have family that lived in Dubai, and I am aware that they are great in the building industry. I am excited to see how far Philadelphia is from the advancements of Dubai, and how both areas can improve in their current advances. It might be a good idea to consider the current issues with what both areas are dealing with, and how they are planning to overcome those issues. Also, I am interested to see what kind of job openings will be available in those areas in the future of robotics, drones, etc.

Cory Christopher - Modular Construction

The idea I am going to explore in my paper is modular building construction. This is the practice of creating prefabricated architectural elements, or even whole rooms offsite and installing them into a building frame. This first came to popularity in the creation of mobile homes and trailers. Lately though, this method of construction has been used to create larger structures due to reduced cost and enhanced speed of projects. I will touch on some of the pros and cons of this method of construction, which kinds of building projects would benefit from this technique, and go over examples of projects wherein modular construction was used effectively.


Maddie,

I think your idea is very interesting. I agree with your sentiment that all of the technological design features in a building don't matter unless they are put to use by a facilities managers. I would be very interested in hearing some statistics about this subject, specifically, what features of intelligent buildings go unused most frequently and which are used most readily.

Manon,

I would be interested to learn about the potential use of sustainable materials with respect to additive production of buildings. I know as of now, concrete is one of the most energy intensive building materials in existence and I would imagine that if nothing else, additive construction processes would at the very least lead to a reduction in material waste if using a new more sustainable material isn't possible.

Varsha,

I agree with your sentiment that robots are very interesting, especially the prospect of using them in building. There is no question that the effective implementation of robots on a construction sight will lead to a much more efficient construction process and potentially, a finished product of higher quality.

B4 - Additive Manufacturing

My topic that I will study is 'The Future of Additive Manufacturing: How 3D Printing Can Lead to Sustainable Design." This topic interested Manon and I because the incorporation of 3D printing with construction fascinated us from the moment we discovered its existence. The project will be broken down into numerous sections, but overall, the concept revolves around these questions: How is additive manufacturing being used in the industry today? What are the future advantages it may have in order to create sustainable structures? What are the limitations and challenges it can face?

Manon and I set a criteria for Sustainable Design. What does Sustainable Design mean to us? Manon and I defined this as a design focused on optimizing a buildings performance by reducing its negative impacts on the environment, and the health/comfort of the buildings occupants. We then set some parameters of some objectives we think should met in order to be considered a sustainable structure. These parameters are: using renewable resources, keep waste at a minimum, reduce the amount of energy consumed, and be cost effective. 

In order to analyze how 3D printing in construction can be considered sustainable, we needed to study the construction industry of yesterday and today. Looking at the history of the construction industry, we are able to see how far we have come, and how far we have to go. Of course, there is always room for improvement. By looking at how additive manufacturing has already been implemented in construction, we can see the advantages it has.

The introduction of new materials is present with the use of additive manufacturing, such as Geopolymers. Geopolymer cement is an inorganic, usually ceramic materials used in construction. They have unique characteristics and are capable of forming long range bonds. They harden at room temperature, and is a more environmentally friendly alternative to conventional Portland cement. 



Comment to Michael:
Michael,

You have an interesting project. I have had a bit of experience with Kaggle before, as I was required to do a project on it from one of my classes about a year ago. It is cool to see you bring this knowledge from a different class and incorporate it into your term-long project!


Comment to Jake:
Jake,

Your topic interests me because I am particularly fascinated with architecture and construction located in Dubai. It is definitely on my bucket list to visit this city and study some of the structures there. I did not know that Dubai was not only the leader of architecture, but now the leader in robotics for the industry.

Comment to Ina:
Ina,

Your topic is particularly interesting because I am too fascinated at the incorporation of robotics in construction. What comes to my mind is the video of the robotic arm lifting packages and placing them onto the conveyer belt, getting ready for their shipment. I think it is funny though that people are frightened of robots taking over the world, because robots are only as smart as they are programmed to be.

Course Project

For my course project I decided to build a machine learning model to predict the amount of energy a building will use based on characteristics of the building and weather trends. The machine learning model will be trained on a dataset merged from two Kaggle datasets. One dataset includes information about each building including its primary use, total square feet, the year it was built in, and the number of floors in the building. The other Kaggle dataset includes information taken from each site the buildings are located at and includes air temperature, precipitation measurements, and wind speed. This model has two primary use cases. This model is useful as it will allow building owners to compare the expected future energy output given the current characteristics of the building to a theoretical version of the building with modified characteristics. This will allow building owners to make more informed decisions about energy consumption when planning modifications to their buildings.

In terms of methodology, this has been a difficult problem to build a good cross validation strategy for. Typically, in machine learning, datasets can be randomly split into training and test sets. Usually the training set has about 80% of the data and is used to make the model learn patterns in the data, while the test set is used to gauge how well the model is performing. However, for this problem I needed to set up a time series cross-validation strategy. In essence, I had to create the training and test sets in such a way that in any given split of the data, all the training data preceded the test data chronically. This step was necessary because it is not useful to gauge a model’s performance by training on ‘future’ data predicting ‘past’ data. Once, I implemented a working cross validation strategy, I was able to start creating new characteristics about each building from the existing ones and see measurable gains in performance on the test set. I am currently still working on creating more new features, and will soon be moving into feature selection and tuning the hyper-parameters of the model.

Comments
Abdul: https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/b4-ai-in-construction.html
I thought this was a very good introduction to some of the advantages and disadvantages of AI. You are correct in saying AI has successfully decreased human error across a variety of fields. Artificial intelligence can simultaneously keep far more variables in memory than the human mind can and learning can be simulated much quicker than the way in which we learn. This is fantastic for solving complex logic puzzles quickly.

Pritesh: https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/02/blog-post-4-project-description.html
Gaining more exposure to existing technology sounds like a great fun project to work on. I'm interested to see what type of design you can construct and hope to learn something new from it. I am also new to Revit so understand the amount of learning this will take.

Ina: https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/project-robotics-in-construction.html
I really liked your view on having robots automate the tedious heavy work to give humans more freedom. Metal and machinery is far better at lifting heavy things repeatedly without tiring out than us. By letting the robots take care of this labor intensive side we give humans more time to be creative and innovative. Although, this will initially get rid of some jobs I believe it has the ability to create time for more meaningful and enjoyable activities.