Yep it's here.
Finally we are starting to see a significant change in the way we all work together.
Integrated Project Delivery or IPD (as our industry likes to create acronyms) has become a new method of project delivery that really starts to grasp the full potential of Bim and true integrated practice. A couple of books out there such as "Integrated Practice in Architecture" by George Elvin and "Construction Partnering and Integrated Teamworking" by Gill Thomas and Mike Thomas really start to dig into the more in depth part of the discussion, but I'd like to give you all a brief rundown of what it really means.
I wanted everyone to know what Lean Construction and Integrated Project Delivery means. As we start to use BIM technology more and as the industry starts to change we will see more and more knowledgeable owners asking for better project delivery methods.
Know that we are currently driving to be able to provide this type of delivery method. Recently we have even been requested to use this method yet, keep in mind that it will be a learning curve for everyone in the process.
First of all, Lean Construction was initially a concept developed by Toyota when they noticed that the amount of material, time and resources that they lost in the design to construction phase of their automobiles was almost 50% of their project cost. In essence, Toyota then developed a collaborative team approach right from the initial design meeting. This involved ALL players. From the engineers who were designing the engine, wiring, and computer systems to the interior designers who were designing the buttons, knobs, dashes etc… And what they saw was a huge increase in profitability (about 34%). I have heard that the typical project cost for a single car is somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 million dollars give or take. Needless to say when profitability increased by 4.5 million a car, they integrated it as a company standard.
In addition to management savings there were two more areas that increased the bottom line. The first was they began to notice as the teams worked together more and more that the amount of staff actually needed was significantly less (almost half) because the teams started to refine the process of knowing what questions to ask their teammates. This freed up other personnel to assist in other efforts or projects and again drove up the profitability of the project. The second area of savings was the amount of material. Toyotas own internal green effort was established to try and eliminate product waste. So while the teams were designing, the manufacturers (in the meetings) of the materials were able to produce their product based on the design to save waste. The example I heard was that instead of using a 4x6 standard piece of vinyl door covering that they switched to a 3x4 piece that worked just as well and again reduced cost and almost eliminated waste.
This concept then carried over to the construction industry. And the best definition I could find was as follows:
Lean construction is a “way to design production systems to minimize waste of materials, time, and effort in order to generate the maximum possible amount of value (Koskela et al. 2002) ”. Designing a production system to achieve the stated ends is only possible through the collaboration of all project participants (Owner, A/E, Constructors, Facility Managers, End-user) at early stages of the project. This goes beyond the contractual arrangement of design/build or constructability reviews where constructors, and sometime facility managers, merely react to designs instead of informing and influencing the design.
This is the opposite of 'business as usual' in the construction sector, where people do things on project after project in the same old inefficient ways, forcing each other to give up profits and overhead recovery in order to deliver at what seems the market price. What results is a fight over who keeps any of the meager margins that result from each project, or attempts to recoup 'negative margins' through 'claims', The last thing that receives time or energy in this desperate, project-by-project gladiatorial battle for survival is consideration of how to reduce underlying costs or improve quality'.
In essence Integrated Project Delivery and Lean Construction are synonymous terms. Both involve bringing all players to the table at the beginning of the project and both involve using the other teammate as a resource to create a “PROJECT FOCUSED” team as opposed to a Profession Focused one. In Australia, they call this “Project Alliancing”. Recently, I was lucky enough to work on a couple of projects that involved the entire team in this type of method and to be honest it was the most fun I’ve ever had. Both in learning what information contractors need and how the architect wants the design to look (not to mention shrinking the paper trail and endless phone calls).
The best example I can give of this collaboration was in a large scale projecte that dealt with local and international architects and us as the contractor, when we sat in a meeting recently where the American architect mentioned we would be drawing bathroom partition details. Our PM/contractor laughed and asked “Why?” The architect responded by saying, “So you guys know how to install them.” Our PM/contractor had obviously been through this before and his response was a series of questions that smacked the architects in the forehead, “Have you been trained in how to install those? Are you holding the warranty on the partitions? And lastly are you willing to take the phone call and go fix the product due to incorrect installation?” Our International architecture team kind of chuckled and the PM then said, “Please just dimension their locations and mounting heights and let me worry about installing them.” This sort of collaboration saves everybody on the team time and money and ultimately allows us as a contractor to have input in the actual construction, staging and phasing of the project from the beginning instead of trying to figure out how to do it later.
Iit is pretty important that you all know what we can start to expect from owners more and more. Also keep in mind that BIM is really the platform that allows this sort of collaboration and delivery method most effectively. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions, but keep in mind this is not “Design-Build on Steroids” but rather a totally new project delivery method.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Model To BIG??
Here's a helpful tip for those of you doing those hundred plus million dollar, multi-phased projects. When you notice that you're model is starting to drag (views and pan movement are chunky) close out of the project and try this:
File-->
Open-->
Now select the model you want to open, and in the bottom right hand of the open screen you;ll notice a pull-down menu that asks
all
editable
last viewed
specify
slect the specify option and you can then tell revit which specific worksets you are working in and thus shrinking the amount of file size and load time it takes for you to open and work in the model.
Internal Teaching Tool
Teaching tool...not finger pointing right? the new release of architecture revit 2008 has a nice little tool added called show history which allows you to see who has edited the model along the design and construction process. Refer to the image below, but it's
File -->
Show history -->
then select you're Revit model in question. This will help especially if someone had a computer crash and you're trying to find out who still owns elements that need to be relinquished or saved...
File -->
Show history -->
then select you're Revit model in question. This will help especially if someone had a computer crash and you're trying to find out who still owns elements that need to be relinquished or saved...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Revit BIM and the unmentionable
I wanted to drop a quick note to everyone to let everybody know that as a whole this is what I am starting to see as the trends emerging in the world of Revit/BIM, as well as the fundamental changes that I believe will occur over the next two years in the architectural profession.
1.) FMI group in the 2007 annual owner survey says that the biggest problem owners have with architects are incomplete documents.
2.) Contractors surveyed replied that overall the largest problem that contractors have with architects are incoherent CDs and communication.
3.) Lastly the American Census Bureau now reports that over the past twenty years the entire AE industry as a whole is declining in perceived quality/value, technology use, and profitability.
Where we are at is a crossroads in our profession. I have said it before, and it couldn't be truer in our practice as architects and designers we are beginning to get away from the reputation and perception of master builder and are now being perceived more and more as "design professionals," with little or limited knowledge of the actual inner workings of a building and a total disconnect witht he actual construction process.
Here's where I'm headed...the Superdome in Louisiana, (the one that stood up to Katrina) was built using 31 pages of working documentation and was constructed in less than four years from 1971-75.
35 pages.
270,000 s.f., a complex laminella beam structure, advanced modern design and multiple trades.
How many pages would that take today?
Here's the tougher question. Why?
With BIM technology where it is and the professionals that form the very foundation of the AE communityI seriously question the practice of over-documentation. The CYA approach to design and construction is dead. Here's why:
Contractors don't look at your drawings. Gasp. I know. Be offended be scared. But you should be hacked off and wondering why the bathroom partition mounting detail that took you three days to draw won't even garner 2 seconds worth of the contractors attention. I know this is shocking and I know it was a detail in the standards library, but it is yet another point on the ever growing space in between what information architects thick need to be on drawings and what information the construction crews actually use to build. How it is actually built using the contractors "means and methods" to get it done, needs to be second knowledge to architects. Second to the necessary design language needed to create a better and more healthy and environmentally friendly world to live in.
I got asked this question five years ago when i was six months out of school by a contractor, "Why (when it is the contractor's responsibility to use the means and methods of construction they see most fit) the architect is detailing the head jamb and sill detail for a window they have not been trained to install, don't know the tools necessary to install it and will not be responsible for carrying the warranty on that aluminum storefront framing?" I asked what was important to show and the contractor looked surprised and just answered "Tell me at what depth you want the window to sit in the wall...you could even show it in elevation."
Think about it.
Engineers drawings are worthless. Ok so that might have been a bit harsh let me rephrase and say that engineers who draw information that is completely different from the MEPS subcontractors calculations and shop drawings...they're useless. Why waste time drawing what won't be built? The entire idea of a drawing is to graphically represent to the constructor what is to be built and installed. By using BIM, engineers now have the tools to grab the responsibility and rewards of a truly coordinated model and potentially stop many of the issues before they hit the field. The question that I've heard a couple of times now is why are subcontractors drawing in 3D and my engineers (who are supposed to be more techno-savvy) aren't?! Ask your ductwork subcontactor on your next project, it's scary. Also ask the steel fabricators too, sometimes they'll have 3D models they're using as well that might possibly help you link into your revit model and use for interference checking.
Integrated Project Delivery (US), Project Alliancing (Australia) or BIM Huddle, BIM Pit etc... Although some of these differ in detail the fundamental delivery concept is the same. Integrate the team. Will the subcontractor who barely knows how to turn the computer on be competitive in this process? No. Sadly. But more frightening are the firms both engineering and architectural who seem to think that they can wait until the last minute jump into the new technology and still remain competitive to their counterparts who have already used a successful implementation strategy. Will these firms be successful? Again unfortunately no. I've had some of the older guys here in the office reminisce about the good old days when CAD just entered the AE marketplace as a tool. Many of the hand drafting firms thought it was a fad or wasn't as effective as hand drafting. I was told many of those firms went belly up when they couldn't remain competitive in the industry.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not spitting on the little guy, but moreover giving the little guy the heads up and maybe even a step forward. BIM will change the industry. BIM has changed the industry.
Right, wrong or indifferent what we are seeing is the profession as a whole start to compete in the global marketplace. Firms in Kansas City are designing hotels in Dubai. New York firms are designing greening methodologies in China. This isn't a secret, but architecture is still a business. I remember when I was in architecture school that the Howard Roark (The Fountainhead, great movie with Patricia O'Neal and Gary Cooper) philospohy was that if you were a great designer clients would come to you, you could sketch some quick lines on paper and magically by the scene's end a building would appear. For the most part, this simply isn't true. If it is true then you are Frank Gehry or Stephen Holl and I am flattered you're reading my blog.
Here's the truth.
Our profession is choking. Am I saying that BIM is the answer to all of the professions problems? No. But what I am saying is that it is currently the only solution that I have heard of lately that even eludes to an improvement in the industry, making it more effiicient and frankly more profitable. I believe in the technology because I have used it. I believe them because as the "Old Guard" begins to retire that we are going to see more and more people file through the ranks of the profession with a working knowledge of relevant technologies. I also have seen the look on a workers face when he "gets" the 3D flashing detail you're able to represent to him, so he can build it correctly.
Tomorrow Integrated Project Delivery....
1.) FMI group in the 2007 annual owner survey says that the biggest problem owners have with architects are incomplete documents.
2.) Contractors surveyed replied that overall the largest problem that contractors have with architects are incoherent CDs and communication.
3.) Lastly the American Census Bureau now reports that over the past twenty years the entire AE industry as a whole is declining in perceived quality/value, technology use, and profitability.
Where we are at is a crossroads in our profession. I have said it before, and it couldn't be truer in our practice as architects and designers we are beginning to get away from the reputation and perception of master builder and are now being perceived more and more as "design professionals," with little or limited knowledge of the actual inner workings of a building and a total disconnect witht he actual construction process.
Here's where I'm headed...the Superdome in Louisiana, (the one that stood up to Katrina) was built using 31 pages of working documentation and was constructed in less than four years from 1971-75.
35 pages.
270,000 s.f., a complex laminella beam structure, advanced modern design and multiple trades.
How many pages would that take today?
Here's the tougher question. Why?
With BIM technology where it is and the professionals that form the very foundation of the AE communityI seriously question the practice of over-documentation. The CYA approach to design and construction is dead. Here's why:
Contractors don't look at your drawings. Gasp. I know. Be offended be scared. But you should be hacked off and wondering why the bathroom partition mounting detail that took you three days to draw won't even garner 2 seconds worth of the contractors attention. I know this is shocking and I know it was a detail in the standards library, but it is yet another point on the ever growing space in between what information architects thick need to be on drawings and what information the construction crews actually use to build. How it is actually built using the contractors "means and methods" to get it done, needs to be second knowledge to architects. Second to the necessary design language needed to create a better and more healthy and environmentally friendly world to live in.
I got asked this question five years ago when i was six months out of school by a contractor, "Why (when it is the contractor's responsibility to use the means and methods of construction they see most fit) the architect is detailing the head jamb and sill detail for a window they have not been trained to install, don't know the tools necessary to install it and will not be responsible for carrying the warranty on that aluminum storefront framing?" I asked what was important to show and the contractor looked surprised and just answered "Tell me at what depth you want the window to sit in the wall...you could even show it in elevation."
Think about it.
Engineers drawings are worthless. Ok so that might have been a bit harsh let me rephrase and say that engineers who draw information that is completely different from the MEPS subcontractors calculations and shop drawings...they're useless. Why waste time drawing what won't be built? The entire idea of a drawing is to graphically represent to the constructor what is to be built and installed. By using BIM, engineers now have the tools to grab the responsibility and rewards of a truly coordinated model and potentially stop many of the issues before they hit the field. The question that I've heard a couple of times now is why are subcontractors drawing in 3D and my engineers (who are supposed to be more techno-savvy) aren't?! Ask your ductwork subcontactor on your next project, it's scary. Also ask the steel fabricators too, sometimes they'll have 3D models they're using as well that might possibly help you link into your revit model and use for interference checking.
Confused? Wondering why the information is going to the CNC machines more detailed and accurate then ACAD lines? You got me too. Seems that it would be a whole lot more useful to the entire AEC team if either the subcontractor was brought on board in the documentation phase or that engineers stepped up and created BIM's of their portion of the project.
Collaboration = Success. I don't think I need to elaborate on this point any more. I think we've seen that the current way just doesn't work. The endless trails of phone calls and emails are bordering on ridiculous. Not to mention using old technology to meet today's needs! We have the tools and those who have chosen to use them are seeing the rewards.
So what's the new thing then? Anyone can complain about all of this, what works?Integrated Project Delivery (US), Project Alliancing (Australia) or BIM Huddle, BIM Pit etc... Although some of these differ in detail the fundamental delivery concept is the same. Integrate the team. Will the subcontractor who barely knows how to turn the computer on be competitive in this process? No. Sadly. But more frightening are the firms both engineering and architectural who seem to think that they can wait until the last minute jump into the new technology and still remain competitive to their counterparts who have already used a successful implementation strategy. Will these firms be successful? Again unfortunately no. I've had some of the older guys here in the office reminisce about the good old days when CAD just entered the AE marketplace as a tool. Many of the hand drafting firms thought it was a fad or wasn't as effective as hand drafting. I was told many of those firms went belly up when they couldn't remain competitive in the industry.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not spitting on the little guy, but moreover giving the little guy the heads up and maybe even a step forward. BIM will change the industry. BIM has changed the industry.
Right, wrong or indifferent what we are seeing is the profession as a whole start to compete in the global marketplace. Firms in Kansas City are designing hotels in Dubai. New York firms are designing greening methodologies in China. This isn't a secret, but architecture is still a business. I remember when I was in architecture school that the Howard Roark (The Fountainhead, great movie with Patricia O'Neal and Gary Cooper) philospohy was that if you were a great designer clients would come to you, you could sketch some quick lines on paper and magically by the scene's end a building would appear. For the most part, this simply isn't true. If it is true then you are Frank Gehry or Stephen Holl and I am flattered you're reading my blog.
Here's the truth.
Our profession is choking. Am I saying that BIM is the answer to all of the professions problems? No. But what I am saying is that it is currently the only solution that I have heard of lately that even eludes to an improvement in the industry, making it more effiicient and frankly more profitable. I believe in the technology because I have used it. I believe them because as the "Old Guard" begins to retire that we are going to see more and more people file through the ranks of the profession with a working knowledge of relevant technologies. I also have seen the look on a workers face when he "gets" the 3D flashing detail you're able to represent to him, so he can build it correctly.
Tomorrow Integrated Project Delivery....
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Revit boat
For the record, yes you can model a boat for a parade float in Revit....
Just in case any of you weren't able to sleep at night.
Tomorrow's post promises to be much more educational.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Collaborative Website
all,
apologies for the lack of new content. I have been putting this new collaborative website for the midwest together and doing some other jazz.
Fell free to join and sign the guestbook even if you don't live in the midwest. The first meeting is looking to be huge!
http://www1.freewebs.com/bim-midwest/meetingdates.htm
apologies for the lack of new content. I have been putting this new collaborative website for the midwest together and doing some other jazz.
Fell free to join and sign the guestbook even if you don't live in the midwest. The first meeting is looking to be huge!
http://www1.freewebs.com/bim-midwest/meetingdates.htm
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
DWF viewer
Obviously i don't claim to know it all and from time to time i run across new tools that many people might have known about but not many have used. I got a chance to use the Autodesk DWF viewer this past week. The viewer allows a user to view, orbit, rotate, walkthrough and make comments on the model at any given time. The beauty of this of course is that they can't directly edit the model, but they can click on buildling components to get exact square footage measurements and updated wall assembly and component information.
The real value we are seeing in this is that we have started including not only our ususal 3d renderings of a proposed building or space, but our BIM DWF file and the DWF viewer as well. The funny part is how involved the owner starts to get in the process and how they feel like they are more a part of the team when they can zoom around this thing.
It doesn't cost a thing to download and even from a marketing effort including the DWF viewer and file is a good way to put your firm ahead of the curve.
The real value we are seeing in this is that we have started including not only our ususal 3d renderings of a proposed building or space, but our BIM DWF file and the DWF viewer as well. The funny part is how involved the owner starts to get in the process and how they feel like they are more a part of the team when they can zoom around this thing.
It doesn't cost a thing to download and even from a marketing effort including the DWF viewer and file is a good way to put your firm ahead of the curve.
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