for Revit

Collaboration for Revit

BIM project collaboration has always been essential but CAD software developers often had poor tools for the job, even between users of their own software. Autodesk now globally launches its cloud-based collaboration tool for Revit

by Martyn Day

If there is a word that is bandied Capabilities individual team members and can hanabout too much in this industry it is Collaboration for Revit is designed to dle text and images, bypassing email. collaboration. It is a great term and help project teams overcome the barriers There is a project tab which acts like an an essential process but so often the of corporate firewalls and ‘physical loca- archive and can be used to keep everytools we have to work with make that tion’ by enabling centralised access to one updated on the changes that have process a CAD manager’s nightmare. It Revit models. Team members in all disci- been made. was all so simple in the days of 2D draw- plines — Architectural, Structural, As A360 Collaboration for Revit is in ings, but by going to the third dimension Contractor, Engineers — from multiple the cloud, it is possible to access 3D modand adding lots of intelligence, metadata firms or sites worldwide can access and els and 2D plans on mobile devices, such and more proprietary file formats it has work in models hosted on Autodesk’s as Apple iPads, offering zoom, pan, secbecome a massive ‘data wrangling’ job. A360 cloud servers. Autodesk says this tion and real time interaction.

You would think that working with one virtual colocation means that Revit cusBuilding Information Modelling (BIM) tomers do not have to invest in worka- Conclusion system would be easy? Well that certainly rounds for sharing models such as use of It has been a long time coming, but it was not the case for a very long time. At FTP sites, sharing software, or email. looks like with A360 Collaboration for the start of the BIM-rush, tools for collabo- The model is centrally hosted and Revit, Autodesk has managed to crack the rative teams were thin on the ground from access to project data is permissions- network infrastructure issues that Revit’s any of the software developers. software architecture and proHowever, things have steadily improved, even if some firms have had to spend a lot of With A360 ‘‘ Collaboration for Revit, it pensity to create large files has traditionally created for teams wishing to share large models money on expensive network looks like Autodesk has managed to crack between multiple offices and and server infrastructure, IT the network infrastructure issues that disciplines. and compression technology to connect their own offices over Revit has traditionally created I suspect that after this roll out there will be a lot of netVirtual Private Network (VPN). One of the worst offenders ’’ work data compression encoders on ebay. here has been Autodesk Revit, which based, which makes it secure. It can be The only caveat is whether firms are builds huge files, creating bandwidth and accessed by project teams anywhere, happy with putting their data on a publatency issues, and has undergone a even from home. So, when collaborative lic cloud. Autodesk is confident in the number of attempts to solve the team con- projects are discussed between firms, security layers that have been put in, but nectivity problem. Autodesk’s Skyscraper they no longer need to define and build there may be issues with where exactly project was aimed at sorting out internal their own expensive VPNs for each these servers reside — and there are and external connectivity by placing the project. some countries in Europe that flatly Revit database in the cloud, synchronis- A360 Collaboration for Revit connects refuse to have their data hosted on US ing users without the need of expensive teams with a real-time chat capability servers on US soil. network infrastructure. built within project models, while obvi- Autodesk has been actively boosting

Eventually coming out in the US as ously beneficial between different offic- its server presence in countries that have A360 Collaboration for Revit in 2014, the es, it is also useful for teams operating in this position, but I am sure there would company has perfected the offering and is the same building. The chat window sits need to be assurance as to exactly where now ready to roll it out as a commercial on the right hand side of the Revit win- Autodesk is hosting the projects. solution worldwide. dow and displays communications for ■ tinyurl.com/collab-revit

Case study Newman Architects embraces the cloud

Newman Architects is an architectural and planning firm with offices in New Haven, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm undertakes a variety of projects, from historic building renovations to mixed-use urban planning, and institutional projects such as schools, libraries, and sports facilities. The company uses 20 seats of Autodesk Revit as its primary design tool, as do most of the firm’s consultants and partners.

Newman Architects has two offices that are connected via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and sometimes work together on Revit projects — with the designers using the existing ‘worksharing’ features in Revit. “As the model gets larger and larger, the time it takes to open, synchronise, and save work to the central file over our VPN can be frustrating,” says the firm’s IT director Jeff Cap. “So we started to investigate network appliances that can speed performance across wide area networks.” But these compression boxes are expensive and require additional investment for each office or project partner.

Workarounds to facilitate shared model access have included establishing a VPN connection between the design firms and the use of a virtual desktop for the Revit software. However, this set up requires additional hardware, more powerful graphics cards, increased bandwidth, and extra software licenses/subscriptions on the part of the firm hosting the Revit central file. “So beyond the access and security risks caused by this arrangement, the host company must shoulder a significant IT burden in terms of cost and support,” says Mr Cap.

Going cloud

In 2014, the firm began using Autodesk A360 Collaboration for Revit, which gave gives project teams centralised access to a Revit project file in the cloud. “Our jaws dropped when we first tested the service,” says Architect/ Revit & CAD manager Leo Gonzales. “We could open or save our work to a Revit central file in the cloud in virtually the same amount of time as it does on our local area network. Our partners and consultants can access Revit projects as if they’re sitting in our office, but without the security risk of accessing our internal network and without the cost of additional hardware or Revit software licenses.”

The firm’s first use of Collaboration for Revit is on a joint venture project for the design of an elementary school in Baltimore, Maryland, pairing Newman Architecture’s experience in designing schools with a Baltimore architect’s local presence.

The Revit central file for this project is approximately 150MB. Before using Collaboration for Revit, project team members outside of the firm’s New Haven office would only have been able to work on the project model using VPN and virtual desktops, and it took those users anywhere from two to five minutes to open or save their work to the Revit central file. In addition, whenever someone working on a virtual workstation ‘saved to central’, the Revit sessions of the users inside the New Haven office would essentially freeze for a few minutes. “All those delays quickly add up,” Gonzales said. “By implementing Collaboration for Revit, I estimate we’re saving approximately two hours a day on this project.”

In addition, Newman Architect staff who work remotely can work seamlessly on a Revit project regardless of their location. “Collaboration for Revit provides us greater flexibility,” Gonzales said. “If they’re on the road, at a job site, or just working from home, our users can access their Revit projects as if they’re sitting in one of our offices.” And if an office needs to bring on additional staff to accommodate new Revit projects, Collaboration for Revit can alleviate the need to acquire Images of Newman Architects’ impressive institutional projects. Top: West Side Presbyterian Church. Middle: Slover Library. Bottom: Lynne Snyder Sanctuary

additional office space by providing anywhere-access to the Revit central file.

The result

“From an IT point of view, Collaboration for Revit offers outstanding value,” Cap said. “We don’t have to purchase additional hardware or spend time on hardware installation and management.” In fact, the firm expects that eventually most of its Revit projects — particularly projects shared between offices and definitely project shared with joint venture partners and consultants — will be moved to the cloud. ■ newmanarchitects.com

Case study Martinez + Johnson Architecture

Martinez + Johnson is an architectural firm specialising in the restoration and adaptive reuse of historic structures and performing arts venues from its offices in New York City and Washington D.C. The firm uses Autodesk Revit as its primary design tool and often works on joint venture projects with other design firms that are also using Revit.

One of the firm’s currents projects is the modernisation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKML) in Washington D.C. The 400,000 square-foot library is the main facility of the city’s public library system.

The steel and glass structure, designed by famed modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is a rare example of modern architecture in D.C. and was designated an historic landmark in 2007. Martinez + Johnson and Netherlands-based Mecanoo Architecten, which also uses Revit software, are design partners on this project.

The challenges

“Our distributed design team, as well as staff working remotely, needs 24 hour access to Revit design models,” says Martinez + Johnson director of technology Kal Houhou. “We have a lot of experience with WAN optimisation, acceleration, and other virtualisation processes that provide shared access to Revit models. But these processes can require additional software, costly hardware, and a substantial IT commitment for implementation and on-going management.”

In addition, project communications based on these solutions occur outside of the main design environment — using Skype or email or instant messaging for example — thereby disrupting design work. Moreover, these workarounds to enable access to Revit models can pose security risks when design partners are accessing internal networks and servers. Even for internal projects, the entire firm must shoulder expenses associated with shared access, although not all of its projects require this type of inter-company or even inter-office collaboration.

The solution

In mid-2014, the firm began investigating cloud collaboration strategies for the MLKML project, particularly ways to provide shared access to Revit models and deployed A360 Collaboration for Revit. “The setup was very straight-forward — simply downloading and installing a Revit plug-in,” says Mr Houhou. “It only took 30 minutes to train a dozen designers on how to access the Revit project information and how to collaborate and communicate from within the Revit environment.”

On the MLKML project, Martinez + Johnson and Mecanoo have 12 designers using Collaboration for Revit, with more being added as the project progresses. “It doesn’t matter if the designer is in D.C., in another state, or at an airport hotel — they can access the Revit project model as if they’re all in one office,” says Mr Houhou. “And after almost a year of using the service, the most common words we hear from our designers are ‘flexible’ and ‘user-friendly’.”

Communication by design

The Communicator feature within Collaboration for Revit provides real-time chat functionality with other project members, as well as an awareness of who is working on which models at any given time and of their model changes. While working in Revit, a person can chat with other team members and attach files, images, or Revit screen captures. “Communicator makes it easy for our designers to collaborate and communicate with each other, and without leaving their design environment,” says Mr Houhou. “They don’t have to open their email or pick up the phone. They can stay engaged in their design environment and the design process.” In addition, integration with A360 enables The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKMM) Revit model of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created by Martinez + Johnson. Teams benefitted from moving the model to Autodesk’s Collaboration for Revit cloud portal to connect and manage the data edits from participants

project participants to view models, even on a mobile device without the use of Revit.

The result

Already Martinez + Johnson has expanded its use of Collaboration for Revit. In May of 2015, the firm was awarded a new project working with an architectural firm in Pennsylvania on the renovation of the Cincinnati Music Hall in Ohio and their first submission was due just two months later.

The two firms are working together using a centralised Revit project model. “In the past, it would have taken several months and probably the purchase of additional hardware to set up a collaborative environment for this project,” says Mr Houhou. In addition to the expense, the set up time would have jeopardised the project schedule. With Collaboration for Revit, the firms were able to start working together in a matter of days.

“Collaboration for Revit is a great solution for joint venture partnerships, inter-office collaboration, and staff who work remotely,” says Mr Houhou. “Using the cloud to collaborate on our Revit projects is no longer on our ‘ wish list’. Instead, it’s just how we work.” ■ mjarchitecture.com