AEC Magazine September / October 2013 by X3DMEDIA

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Architecture, Engineering and Construction

editorial

Managing Editor Greg Corke greg@x3dmedia.com

Consulting Editor Martyn Day martyn@x3dmedia.com

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Financial Controller Samantha Todescato-Rutland sam@chalfen.com AEC Magazine is available FREE to qualifying individuals. To ensure you receive your regular copy please register online at www.aecmag.com about AEC Magazine is published bi-monthly by X3DMedia Ltd Rooms 108 -109, 4th Floor 65 London Wall London, EC2M 5TU T. +44 (0)20 3355 7310 F. +44 (0)20 3355 7319 www.x3dmedia.com © 2013 X3DMedia Ltd All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without prior permission from the publisher is prohibited. All trademarks acknowledged. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author and not of X3DMedia. X3DMedia cannot accept responsibility for errors in articles or advertisements within the magazine.

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Facit Homes: BIM Design visualisation to fabrication 10 gallery 22 A British bespoke housing architectural firm is linking its BIM design to a portable onsite computer controlled fabrication system. It is design build but not as you know it. Martyn Day reports.

National BIM library 16 Without well-organised, comprehensive and connected content the opportunities available with BIM will not be achieved, writes Ian Chapman.

BIMobject 19 In the world of freely downloadable BIM components, BIMobject is an emerging player offering consistent quality, ‘real world’ products for BIM-based designers.

Mountain blend 20 How Vectorworks helped ensure a French mountain resort complemented the stunning landscape.

Harbin Twin Towers will create an iconic new cityscape to complement China’s high speed railway network.

Trimble integration 25 Martyn Day investigates Trimble’s first steps to link its acquired products.

Raising the roof 26 Parametric modelling helped explore a range of design alternatives for the roof of London’s Francis Crick Institute.

Workstations 33/34 Fujitsu’s highly serviceable Celsius W530power and Dell’s tiny Precision T1700 Small Form Factor (SFF). Also this month: 4, 6, and 9 News; 29 HP Designjet T920 and T1500 large format printers; 32 Samsung SSD 840 Evo solid state drive up to 1TB. September / October 2013

8/9/13 18:37:56

News Revit and other Autodesk applications will soon be able to be rented month by month

Trimble links contractor software rimble has linked new versions of WinEst, Modelogix, Prolog, Proliance and Vico Office to help ease budget management and planning for general contractors and construction project owners. The software applications, which belong to the Trimble Buildings Design-Build-Operate (DBO) portfolio, feature enhanced data integration capabilities designed to boost the ease, accuracy and transparency of conceptual or detailed timeand cost-modelling estimates.

Autodesk to offer ‘Pay As You Go’ licensing for suites utodesk has announced ‘pay as you go’ licensing for all of its ‘Suites’, including the Building Design Suite which features Revit. Customers can now pay to use Autodesk desktop software on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, in addition to traditional perpetual licenses and related Autodesk Subscription. Customers who opt for monthly, quarterly or annual rental plans will receive similar benefits to Autodesk Subscription customers including staying current with the latest product updates, access to subscription-only Autodesk 360 cloud services, as well as basic support. Based on UK suggested retail pricing, monthly rental for a ‘top of the line’ Building Design Suite Premium will be £390 a month, £1,165 quarterly and £3,100 annually. This compares to £7,460

for a perpetual licence including Autodesk Subscription. Over a typical three-year period the total PAYG cost would be £14,040 (if paid monthly), £13,980 (if paid quarterly) and £9,300 (if paid yearly) versus £9,980 with perpetual licensing on subscription. Timed licensing is handled via the Internet but only once every two weeks, so PAYG software can be used offline until it needs to check in with the licensing server. The option to purchase a monthly, quarterly or annual rental plan will be available starting September 16, 2013. New rental plans apply to products including AutoCAD Design Suite, AutoCAD Revit LT Suite, Building Design Suite, Infrastructure Design Suite and others, plus Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, and the new Autodesk Maya. ■ autodesk.com/pay-as-you-go

AEC-focused mobile apps on the rise entley has introduced two new mobile apps. Field Supervisor for the iPad extends the reach of information managed by ProjectWise and eB to construction workers in the field — providing online and offline access.

Bentley Map Mobile, enables users to share Bentley Map Geospatial information via Android. Meanwhile, 4Projects has launched 4Mobile, which allows 4projects users to access to project data on mobile devices. Users can view RFIs, issues and

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change orders; create new tasks and respond to discussions; view contact details and upload photos taken on site. 4Mobile is available for Apple iPad or iPhone with Android coming soon.

■ buildings.trimble.com

Site layout driven by CAD & BIM utodesk Point Layout is a new software for construction site layout. It automatically creates points from BIM and CAD models within Autodesk Revit, Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Navisworks. The software is designed to remove error-prone manual layout techniques by giving contractors and sub-contractors laser-guided accuracy for the placement and verification of building elements. The software drives robotic total station hardware, such as Topcon’s line of positioning systems and related hand-held devices or tablets.

■ autodesk.com/pointlayout

■ tinyurl.com/BentleyMobile ■ 4projects.com

www.AECmag.com

9/9/13 15:36:43

ArchiCAD 17 provides a one-of-a-kind BIM-based documentation workflow. It simplifies the modeling and documentation of buildings even when the model contains a high level of detail. ArchiCAD’s end-to-end BIM workflow allows the model to stay live until the very end of the project. For further information on ArchiCAD 17 contact Graphisoft at www.graphisoft.com or call 01895 876222

Copyright © Graphisoft UK Ltd. All rights reserved world-wide. All other company and product names may be tradenames or trademarks of their respective owners. Image: Multifunctional dwelling complex on Mosfilmovskaya street, Moscow, Russia. Sergey Skuratov Architects www.skuratov-arch.ru Photo © Ilya Ivanov

News

ROUND UP AutoCAD mapping Landmark Information Group has launched a free AutoCAD 2014 plugin for its Promap digital mapping service. The plug-in provides users with a seamless way to incorporate accurate Ordnance Survey MasterMap data from Promap, directly into their AutoCAD projects. ■ promap.co.uk/autocad

Laser scan advice The government’s BIM Task Group has published a guide to 3D scanning and data capture that identifies the wide range of applications and benefits of 3D laser scanning. The comprehensive 31 page document focuses on the technology, procurement, contracts, service providers, and BIM integration. ■ tinyurl.com/LaserscanBIM

BIM co-ordination Tekla BIMsight 1.8 is the latest version of the free software tool for BIM project co-ordination. The new release enables real time sharing of notes through a Project folder that stores models and notes on a cloud service or on a network drive. ■ teklabimsight.com

Civils meets BIM Cadline has earned the new Autodesk civil infrastructure specialisation designation for value added resellers. “This specialisation recognises our ability to integrate infrastructure and GIS into the BIM workflow,” said Cadline’s Richard Robertson. ■ cadline.co.uk

Cloud collaboration Autodesk InfraWorks, the new name for Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler (AEC Jan / Feb 2012), has a new 360 Pro version that enables geographically dispersed project participants to publish, store, collaborate and manage models in the cloud via desktop or mobile devices. ■ tinyurl.com/InfraWorks

ArchiCAD to Revit The Graphisoft ArchiCAD Connection is a free add-in for Autodesk Revit designed to improve the IFC model-based and bi-directional data exchange between ArchiCAD and Revit. ■ tinyurl.com/ArchRevit

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Image rendered in V-Ray, courtesy of Polynates

V-Ray 3.0 renderer enters beta haos Group has announced the beta program for V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max — the lighting, shading and rendering toolkit popular with architectural design viz professionals. According to the Chaos Group, Speed will be the first improvement most users will notice as ray tracing calculations are running up to five times faster. Also debuting is a new simplified user interface design that is designed to provide quick access to common controls and settings. With production presets and quick settings right up front, users can fine tune quality and speed from the start of their design process. Also new is progressive production rendering, which is described

as an intuitive one-click action that allows artists to set up a scene in seconds and iterate quickly, even when using V-Ray’s most complex features. ■

v-ray.com

CSC introduces FE analysis tool ‘Solve’ olve 2013 is a brand new FE analysis package from UK structural software developer, CSC, which is claimed to feature fast performance and a host of powerful advanced analysis functions. Developed in conjunction with Bassam Izzuddin, professor of computational structural mechanics at Imperial College, the software can analyse models quickly irrespective of their size and complexity.

According to CSC, engineers can build models quickly using a simple and intuitive interface, analyse in any material and work with intelligent objects, such as beams, slabs and walls. They can also make use of automated wind loading and load combination generators, and perform a wide range of analysis types including P-Delta, nonlinear and vibration. CSC has also released a new version of Integrator, its Structural Buliding

Information Modelling (BIM) integration software for synchronising codecompliant models produced in CSC’s building design software, Fastrak and Orion, with Autodesk Revit 2014. Using Integrator, full and part models can be synchronised between Fastrak or Orion and Autodesk Revit, with the ability to manage added, deleted and modified members and their associated design data. ■ cscworld.com

Autodesk offers European BIM models utodesk has opened up its Seek website to Europe, enabling architects and engineers to download BIM models, drawings, and product specifications for Revit, AutoCAD, 3ds Max and other CAD tools. Revit users can use the

Seek Configurator to download fully configured product models, insert them directly into Revit and specify them in their project environment. With the help of Autodesk Seek Content Services, manufacturers can make their products ‘BIM-ready’.

According to Autodesk, its modelling service can generate accurate and informative BIM content that “architects and engineers can depend on”. Products range from doors, windows and curtain walls to trees, toilets and sofas. ■ seek.autodesk.com

www.AECmag.com

8/9/13 18:36:44

Building Success Image courtesy Foster + Partners

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www.Bentley.com/BuildingSuccess © 2013 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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News

Nemetschek unveils Vectorworks 2014 AEC magazine got a sneak peek as to what is coming in the next release of the popular CAD tool which, in recent years, has expanded into Building Information Modelling (BIM) ectorworks is available in a number of flavours: Designer (Draft, Model, Present), Architect (BIM, take offs, schedules, analysis, rendering, presentation, construction documents) and Landmark (landscape architecture and design). But in this preview of Vectorworks 2014 we will focus on the software’s core capabilities. At time of writing the software has not been officially announced so we do not have full information about the new features. Instead we were privy to some short demo videos of forthcoming capabilities. Here is a summary

DWG enhancements — There have been numerous updates to the DWG and DXF import and export capabilities. The software now supports AutoCAD’s 2013 files format and supports the referencing of DWG, DXF and DWF. Any changes made to the original file will be pushed into the Vectorworks drawing manually or automatically. Linetypes are now properly supported, named true colours on import and export. There is now a log for imported DWGs, so the import settings can be checked and applied again in the future. Section Views — Vectorworks has a ‘clip cube’ sectioning capability, which is applied to models to see inside designs. This has now been expanded to generate a section viewport that can be used in design layouts or on drawing sheets. It is possible to return to the clip cube view for editing in situ. This goes some way to improve the creation of elevation sections. Flattened Views — With the introduction of section viewports Vectorworks has allowed sectioned views to be locked to their flattened view, as opposed to dynamically updating when the model is manipulated. As changes are made to the model, these will also be visible on the flattened view. Interactive — To reflect the fact that more architects are working in a 3D view, as www.AECmag.com

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opposed to plan, sections and elevations, it is now possible to stay in OpenGL 3D view while drafting. While working in rendered mode, it is also possible to snap to geometry not displayed. There is also a fantastic X-ray tool that lets you see though the render to the geometry behind. Space Improvements — An essential element in any BIM modeller, Vectorworks has streamlined its implementation of spaces and now allows spaces to be allocated by class based on 2D boundaries. Using a drag and drop labelling tool it is also very quick to customise room labels. The company claims that some space operations are up to 100 times faster than previous versions.

Walkthrough — The walkthrough tool has seen considerable improvement and utilises enhancement to the faster, interactive display. In the past the controls have been keyboard-based but in the 2014, mouse gestures can be used to move the viewpoint forward, left, right and elevated, in a rendered view. A ‘look around’ mode locks the position but pivots the camera without changing the location. You can also enter the viewer’s height, keeping Hobbit clients and 12ft tall blue aliens from Pandora happy. Displacement Mapping — For advanced rendering, it is now possible to add a displacement map, as opposed to a ‘bump map’ to textures. Displacement maps actually alter the surface geometry to give a more realistic view such as casting shadows on itself. This is great for grass, carpet etc. Publish — This is a new command, which allows the creation of document sets from within a simple dialogue. This applies to sheets, saved views or other Vectorworks files. PDF, DWG, DWF to a specified folder as well as a straight print/plot.

A new X-ray tool allows you see though the render to the geometry behind

Keynote legends — Labelling of keynotes has been improved, offering direct control over the automatic renumbering of keynotes. Removing a keynote and adding in new keynotes allows the user to reuse these previous positions. A ‘remove gaps’ option expels fields from deleted keynotes and renumbers the list. Taper and Twist — Nemetschek has put effort into expanding the Vectorworks’ 3D geometric complexity and this release offers Taper and Twist. Taper allows a draft angle or taper to the face of a 3D object. First select the anchor face and then pull the face that needs modifying. Twist is very powerful and it can twist an object or objects into twisted forms around a defined axis. This removes the need for creating some complex extruded forms along paths.

Programming — Vectorworks contains the Vector Script language, which is used by power users to create custom plug-ins. This was limited and now the company has added support for the popular Python3 open source language. It is now possible to create custom Python plug-ins through the newly redesigned plug-in manager. To show the power of this, Vectorworks has included the web link plug-in, which allows linking to web images from within a Vectorworks session. This free add-on can be used to pull in satellite images from Google Maps. There are a range of other updates, too many to list here. Check out the Vectorworks website to find out more. Meanwhile, turn to page 20 to find out how Vectorworks helped ensure a French mountain resort complemented the stunning landscape. ■ vectorworks.net

September / October 2013

8/9/13 18:37:09

Case study

BIM to Fabrication A British bespoke housing architectural firm has developed a highly innovative process linking its BIM design tools to a portable onsite computer controlled fabrication system. It is design build, but not as you know it

‘‘

Facit Homes’ approach to design is fundamentally based on harnessing the power of computers and specifically BIM

’’

by Martyn Day

(Left) Each Facit Home design is broken down into flexible, modular building blocks made from standard sheets of timber of size 2,440mm x 1,220mm (Right) Initial design of a bespoke Facit Home: Large, south facing windows help to keep the house warm in the winter, and solar shading help to keep heat gains to a minimum in summer. The house uses natural, unfinished materials to blend in with its rural context (Bottom right) Facit Homes’ CNC machine cuts raw wood panels onsite. Each manufactured component has a number inscribed, defining its location and type

n this digital age of 3D modelling, and advanced manufacturing, there is huge potential for revolution in the construction process, which connects the design system to digital fabrication. There has been much been written about the potential of ‘3D printing’ buildings. But the fact remains that the technology is still highly experimental and there can be longevity issues with ‘printing’ an entire single structure. As we wait to see if 3D printing lives up to the hype, London-based Facit Homes is leading its own revolution. Its bespoke design / build service relies on a unique digital manufacturing and fabrication process (which it calls the D-Process) that is driven directly by Building Information Modelling (BIM) data. Its on-site CNC machine, housed in a shipping container, cuts raw wood panels, which are then assembled in minutes.

Origins Bruce Bell is managing director of Facit Homes, who runs the company along with business partners Andrew Goodeve and 10

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Dominic Wilder McCausland. Mr Bell studied Industrial/product design, but changed to fine art while following his interest in 3D computing and imaging. After completion, he worked at Foster + Partners visualisation and then moved on to specific project teams, doing 3D modelling and design development. One project in particular, the Chesa Futura in San Moritz, which Mr Bell describes as “a big wooden bubble”, guided the development of his ideas, as it used parametric design, together with timber and digital manufacturing techniques. Mr Bell left Foster + Partners and completed a product design MA at the Royal College of Art, where he did a lot of experimentation with digital manufacturing techniques, including rapid prototyping, CNC routing, and punch pressing 3D wire bending. Mr Bell was amazed at how cheap it was to digitally fabricate design components and felt that there must be some way to apply these technologies to building design. He set up a practice with two architects

which started on extensions and graduated to newbuild housing. The practice designed in 3D, rendered in 3ds Max and became an early adopter of BIM tools. But ultimately these digitally defined buildings were all being made by hand, by contractors out of brick and block. To Mr Bell this digital/manual divide was ripe for modernisation.

Research and development Having experimented with a complete digital design and fabricate process at the RCA, Mr Bell felt there was a process disconnect that could be overcome through digital manufacturing, on a small scale, on-site. He secured funding from the London Development Agency (LDA) to set up a research project on ‘The Digital Craftsmen’ in conjunction with the RCA. The project’s aim was to evaluate the advantages of digital manufacturing technologies and methodologies on the market, from factory assembly of complete forms to looking at modularisation and modular construction. The origins of Facit Homes comes from www.AECmag.com

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www.AECmag.com

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es are based on either a full size sheet or a half sized sheet. Our design system is based on getting the maximum efficiency, minimum cost and waste out of the sheets, as opposed to starting out with just an architectural perspective and working towards definitions of individual components. We have to work in both directions to minimise

waste and get the maximum efficiency.” Having established the timber modular concept, the firm set about to create full-size wall and floor prototypes from these modular components, which were machined externally and assembled in-house. The team quickly realised they would need an in-house CNC machine. Working

Images courtesy of FaCIT HOMES

this research. “We found that there is very little differentiation in the construction world and architectural world between manufacturing and fabrication,” says Mr Bell. “While you can pre-fabricate something in a factory if it’s still all made by hand then it’s not really that advantageous, the construction is just being done somewhere else. For us the core issue is combining manufacturing with digital technology. It is not about pre-fabrication, on-site or offsite, that really doesn’t matter. “For the research it was pretty obvious that CNC routing was the perfect technology for us to engage with as it was very accessible, low cost, and required no set-up. We secured a second round of funding and set about designing a modular methodology. The CNC machine and capabilities gave us our limitations, as to what materials we could use and what our maximum sheet sizes could be, which in turn defined our maximum modular size. “This meant we fairly quickly defined what our basic building block would be. Standard sheets of timber are 2,440mm x 1,220mm (8ft x 4ft), so component face-siz-

September / October 2013

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Case study

with Mr McCausland, who Mr Bell met at the RCA and comes from the architectural interiors ‘making’ side, they bought an 8ft x 4ft machine on hire purchase (total cost around £30,000) which could be used for this and other projects, together with subcontracting to do work for other people under a company called CNC Workshop, which provides cutting services (and which has since been sold). In 2007 the first full sized ‘proof of concept’ two storey prototype of the building system was shown at the Architecture Foundation’s premises in London. “We got a lot of interest from other architects but nothing really came from it. Over the subsequent few years what become apparent was that it was all about linking design and manufacture and as soon as you split it out and become a timber frame company and gave it to another architect to design with, it just didn’t work. The value is in combining all elements but it took a long time to work out how we could confidently make this into a business.”

sold off his stake in the architecture practice and set up Facit Homes, with a view to making it a company on its own. The first year was spent finding clients, creating designs and applying for planning permission and generally trying to convince people that this methodology was viable. This culminated in four home builds in 2011. A year which Bell describes as: “Probably the most stressful year of my life, having built nothing in January, to having four shells by May/June.” One of these early clients featured on Channel 4’s Grand Design program (clients Celia and Diana), which was aired in 2012 and followed Facit Homes’ process of CAD design and on-site digital manufacturing, covering everything from breaking ground to all the high quality final fit and finishes.

The D-Process Facit Homes created its own family of parts to handle standard building components, based around the size limitations of the CNC router. “In Revit we have a whole bunch of family parmetricised component categories and these are fairly generic but contain the fundamental things we need, height, size, thickness, height of holes,” says Mr Bell. “There are many bespoke details that we have to design too, which is basically like doing carpentry on a computer.” “The parametric capabilities of Revit are absolutely essential to us, as well as providing reporting details, scheduling, quantities. We do two overlaid models, a structural detailing model with our family of components and then a standard Revit model with standard walls, sockets etc.”

Grand design In 2008 the team built another full-sized prototype at ‘Grand Designs Live’ over six days and again failed to get much interest and so Mr Bell carried on with his traditional architecture practice. But in 2009, he decided that he really wanted to make this digital building process work and so www.AECmag.com

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(Top) Bespoke made components drop between beams for instant and easy setting out (Right) The Facit Mobile Production Facility features a CNC machine housed in a shipping container

September / October 2013

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Bruce Bell on prefab vs digital fabrication For a long time AEC Magazine has tracked the modernist ‘prefab’ market and seen it fail to gain any real traction, despite some fantastic designs. Most architects that venture down that route may only get as far as the design stage, some a website and a few, somewhat ironically, get to build a single example of their mass-manufacturable house. We asked Mr. Bell for his thoughts on prefab vs digital fabrication. “From our research we found that there have been many attempts to design the ‘ultimate building system’ and that lead to standardisation, which leads to repetition, which leads to boredom and then disappointment. This is particularly true of factory production. “There is a direct correlation between factory fabrication and repetition because you can’t have factories sitting idle due to the overheads. So as soon as you have a factory, you need turnover and in order to have turnover, you need standardisation and you end up producing the same thing over and over again. “While if you build on-site, which the vast majority are, the constraints are completely different and has benefits such as having no heating, storage costs etc, as a factory would. “The economics (of Prefab) just don’t stand up. It leads to standardisation and people don’t want the same, and every site has its own requirements. There is no one size fits all. “Big home producers have tried volumetric production. There have been £60,000 house competitions, which pair up manufacturers with house builders but this doesn’t take the industry very far from where we are already. “Maybe we are making a few more panels in a factory but then you have to get them onsite. There is no value in producing whole houses in factories with the additionally high transportation costs, which may be up to 20% of the price. Those that are doing that, like Huf House, service the higher-end of the market and are fairly inflexible. While there are options, essentially every house is the same albeit high quality, high finishes etc. “We want to give that manufactured product quality but without the cost so let’s integrate technology and digital design into the traditional process, rather than trying to revolutionise the industry.”

www.AECmag.com

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A ‘secret’ process creates the end delivery in G-code, the common numerical control programming language which tells the CNC router the cutting paths. This G-code is sent to the remote site wirelessly and provides the cutting program code to produce the required components and each part is labelled with its own unique identifier and provides essential information to the constriction team on site. While the architectural designs and G-code are created from Revit at the company’s London offices, all the cutting and assembling is done on site. A shipping container that houses the CNC router is sent to the site, along with the raw wooden panels. Components are made just in time for placement. Although they did have to work out how to run three-phase workshop equipment at locations where there was only single phase domestic available. Once the sheets are cut, the panels are assembled, and rubber hammers fit the joints of plywood boxes and then a nail gun is used to pin them together. This work is relatively unskilled and components can take minutes to assemble before being taken to the structure for fitting. The company works between a 0mm2mm tolerance on the panels as an interference fit is required. “Its a balance between being too tight, too loose, between the cut out parts that make each component and then the mechanical fixings between these components,” Mr Bell said. “Then, of course, you have the weather, with sun, cold and rain all having their effects of expansion and contraction. All take their toll when you are working to very tight tolerances.” The box sections are filled with specially treated newspaper insulation and are sealed. If similar insulation levels were to be achieved through block work, with insulation and a brick skin, the walls would end up being incredibly thick and expensive. Facit Homes also completes all the internal fixtures and fittings as well as internal and external finishes, which vary from simple render to laser cut metal louvres or cladding, depending on the client’s wishes.

Future Maintaining intellectual property is a key concern for Facit Homes. It initially thought to license the libraries and lease on-site CNC machines to allow other architectural firms to design houses, and send

them back to Facit Homes to do the details and produce the G-code. However, the company now appears to be favouring setting up joint partnerships as it has done in Denmark and more recently in Australia. The company is always evaluating what new technologies have come on the market, as capabilities change every 6-12 months as performance increases. The core chassis of the modular system is also continually evolving with each project adding to the library of components they create. Improving buildability, weight, size, speed of assembly are key factors and after each build, adjustments are made to the components and the process.

Conclusion Facit Homes’ approach to design is fundamentally based on harnessing the power of computers and specifically BIM. Through research and dogged persistence the company has connected this 3D information rich front end to a modern digital fabrication back end and come up with a system to break down buildings into flexible, modular components. It would be wrong to consider these buildings or this approach as prefabricated. The system Facit has come up with is flexible enough to create modern contemporary homes, or replicate more traditional tastes, such as the Georgian build I visited in research for this article. In many ways Facit Homes is an architectural firm that has reclaimed ownership of the build process, offering a reassuring single point for clients to go from art to finished home at a fixed cost. Facit Homes’ green credentials are built into the design and are insulated above regulations, approaching Passivehaus standards. All the off cuts and timber ‘waste’, of which there is inevitably some, gets sent back to the saw mill and is used to power the factory. The company rightly guards its intellectual property, but I cannot help wondering why others are not considering this approach. The system has many applications, producing temporary structures, houses for disaster relief or, dare I say, the timber prefab market that never really took off in this country. Perhaps the greatest accolade I can give having seen the process and the quality of the end result, is that I definitely want Facit to build my dream home. ■

facit-homes.com

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Images courtesy of Auer+Weber+Assoziierte GmbH.

Case study

Comment

The right information a Without well-organised, comprehensive and connected content the opportunities available with BIM will not be achieved, writes Ian Chapman

the many parties involved in hrough Building designing, constructing, using Information Modelling and maintaining a built asset is (BIM) the construction vast and more often than not it industry is undergoing is created in different ways its very own digital revolution. using a variety of methods. Tools are developing rapidly, To achieve data integration, processes are changing and this Ian industry needs a common will all lead to better value for Chapman approach to information and money and better buildings. Director of The the necessary protocols and Software technology will take National BIM Library standards put in place. While care of itself but effort needs to be at NBS and also a collecting data is necessary, it is placed on the all-important ‘I’ in Director of buildingSMART UK&I also important to avoid inforBIM. Without well organised, Email: mation overload by developing comprehensive and connected ian.chapman@ methods that allow individuals content the opportunities availthenbs.com to focus on providing, accessing able with BIM will not be Twitter: and using information that achieved. @ianchapmannbs really matters at any given The need for construction inforpoint in time. mation is not new; it has been preThe Government’s BIM Task Group labs pared, shared and used for centuries. What is new is the opportunity to: area website (bimtaskgroup.org/task-grouplabs-portal) is full of help as to the way for• build upon information throughout ward in this regard. There is the digital the workflow in a more efficient way plan of work; its stages 0-7 are discipline • collect information in a standardised independent and encompass the whole project life cycle. Guidance describes the manner • use technology in analysing that digital plan of work as the “articulation of the project delivery stages and the level of information more thoroughly. detail/definition that needs to be delivered Other industries are busy collecting infor- by each supplier/discipline to the employer mation in far greater frequencies and vol- at any point in time”. This, essentially, umes than ever before; with information defines the information that needs to be collection comes analysis that can result created and supplied throughout life of a in vastly improved intelligence and more built asset. Why is this important? Well, informed decision-making. Just look at the answer can be found in the data hierarthe plethora of apps now available for chy section of the labs area. The Ministry of Justice created a set of mobile devices. You can track every step, every mile, “plain language questions” that, as a client, every heartbeat, every calorie and every they intend to answer at each stage of a unit of alcohol consumed. Collecting health construction project. Key decisions such as information regularly and on a large scale whether to proceed to the next work stage has proven to help identify problems or not will be made based upon the before the patient experiences any symp- answers to these questions. A series of properties can be collected at toms. The same can be said for the ‘health’ of construction projects and the resulting each stage for objects such as ceiling sysbuilt asset. By analysing the data, issues tems, structural elements and products, can be spotted before they become a prob- and recorded in the demand matrix section lem. Preventative measures can then be of the labs area. Project information is implemented, which will inevitably result added to the demand matrix at each stage in better buildings from both value for so that it can be reviewed, and this is where the COBie testing tools come in. money and user experience perspectives. The amount of information produced by Information collected in a common format 16

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can be readily compared with previous stages and analysed. If the ceiling budget changed from stage 3 to stage 4, it can be automatically reviewed. The tools on the BIM Task Group labs area give us a glimpse of some simple automated checks that can be achieved with applications such as Microsoft Excel. NBS is a member of the BIM Technology Alliance which supports the government’s BIM objectives. Together with other members of the alliance, we are developing software solutions that will enable sophisticated information checking and analysis. The electronic co-ordination of information between disciplines as part of the design process, that has been a regular activity since the introduction of CAD, is rapidly being surpassed by the need to integrate information. Project teams embracing integration are standing out from the crowd and winning business. NBS BIM content supports this integration. BIM is all about supporting the workflow and the role BIM content plays in achieving this is central. Most built assets start with the site arrangement, masses and forms, and evolve at each project stages with increasing levels of geometry and technical detail. Developments such as shopping centres and university campuses are combinations of buildings, roads, pavements, bridges and external spaces. As the project progresses, buildings become combinations of activities and spaces which, in turn, are defined by elements such as roofs, walls and floors. With further design work the elements become combinations of systems, such as blockwork walling, plastering and painting systems. Finally, once product selection decisions have been made, these systems become combinations of products. At any point these objects can be described in generic or proprietary terms — roofs for example. Also, at any level or project stage, these objects can be described in performance terms — thermal performance for wall elements and acoustic performance for ceiling systems for example. The availability of BIM content to supwww.AECmag.com

8/9/13 18:35:26

n at the right time The National BIM Library features concept objects for use at early project stages, generic objects for use when design decisions have been made and then proprietary objects for use once manufacturers have been selected. Pictured from left to right: Concept tile, generic tile, Kalzip tile

Manufacturers’ BIM objects are the digi- and Vectorworks is starting to show the port this process is critical to the success of BIM. BIM objects are needed for use at all tal representation of their product ranges benefits of BIM. In years gone by, many project stages and are provided by the free and NBS is working hard with manufac- project claims were attributable to poor to use NBS National BIM Library. The turers to extend the availability of proprie- coordination of information. Now, being able to synchronise and verify a BIM approach taken by the National BIM tary BIM objects. The construction industry needs a com- design with the associated technical specilibrary is as follows. Concept objects such as a wall element can be used for space prehensive library of manufacturer objects, fication using plug-in technologies is posplanning during the early project stages. these objects need to be of the right quality sible and will bring design and specificaOnce the internal arrangement is complet- and connect with generic objects and associ- tion activities far closer. Mistakes in the ed the concept objects might be replaced by ated technical specifications. Achieving con- contract documentation such as items generic objects such as brickwork and sistency between generic and proprietary annotated on a drawing using a reference blockwork. Generic objects are valuable as information is what NBS has been doing for that does not appear in the specification they enable precise solutions to be deter- 40 years and our entire product range is can now be archived in history. However, BIM does not stop when a geared around supporting the plan of work. mined at subsequent project stages. This deferral of decision-making is com- Products such as NBS Create exist to sup- building is handed over. The government’s soft landings project is all monly influenced by factors about collecting information such as method of procureand analysing during the inment and design duties. The “I” in BIM is vast and there can never use phase. Is the building Generic objects when partperforming as designed? nered with performance critebe too much information; but at project Were the energy targets met? ria are a valuable component level, it is making the information concise Using soft landings lessons of the information evolution learned can be fed back into for a built asset. Once conand work hard that is crucial the briefing process for new structed, a built asset is a comprojects; this is how clients, bination of proprietary and design teams, contractors site built products. The availability of manufacturers’ BIM port the information evolution along the and manufacturers can truly benefit from objects is an important factor in the achiev- project timeline with content, tools and BIM. The “I” in BIM is vast and there can ing success with BIM. The number of man- guidance that enable outline specifications never be too much information; but at projufacturers engaging with BIM is rising but to become performance specifications or ect level, it is making the information condetailed product based specifications. This cise and work hard that is crucial. not fast enough. BIM is about avoiding information loss Those that are investing will benefit soon- is no different to our approach with the er and be in prime position for centrally National BIM Library; it has concept objects and encouraging information accumulafunded and private projects adopting BIM. for use at early project stages, generic tion through the normal project stages. In Designers and contractors will become reli- objects for use when design decisions have time, the construction sector will move ant upon these BIM objects and use them to been made and then proprietary objects for from a focus on information collection to optimise the supply chain for greater effi- use once manufacturers have been selected. information connection. Connected inforIntegration of BIM geometry informa- mation will lead to insight, and analysis ciency and accuracy. A manufacturer who does not make BIM objects available will tion and BIM technical information via will lead to prediction. And that is when NBS plug-ins for applications such as Revit buildings become intelligent. lose out to competitors that do.

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Feature

BIMobject.com

Generic versus real world components

BIMobject is building a reputation for free ‘real world’ BIM components of consistent quality. By Martyn Day

ince we started looking into the world of Building Information Modelling (BIM) content, it’s quite stunning to see how many websites offer downloadable content. As BIM adoption grows it seems that manufacturers and third parties see massive potential in serving the BIM community. On the surface this is great news for increasing the productivity of designers, as it means less time creating families of parts, or modelling specific manufacturer’s components from catalogues. However, as firms spend a lot of time and money in producing BIM models for their clients, it makes sense to use trusted suppliers of these BIM components, ones that have consistent levels of quality and accuracy of data. Swedish firm BIMobject is quickly building a reputation in this area. It has developed a portal to host freely downloadable BIM content from building component manufacturers. The company provides content creation, maintenance, publishing and analytics for a fee to building merchants while providing these intelligent objects for BIM users containing much of their associated product information.

There is also a built-in mail system to contact manufacturers to ask for more details.

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One of the benefits / drawbacks of BIM is the way it compounds the front-end of the design process. The nature of 3D and use of components requires data to be input, meaning decisions have to be made earlier than in the traditional process. I suspect that many firms conceptualise using standard BIM components — after all it lightens the models — but if a designer has a favourite supplier for doors and windows and already has the objects on his or her system, inclusion of realworld manufacturers’ data could appear in the design very early on indeed.

For manufacturers

Historically speaking, manufacturers have tended to lag behind the market in supplying electronic data of their building products. With the advent of BIM this has changed. If a firm does not provide free BIM components of their products, there is significantly less chance of them being used over a competitor’s product. BIMobject provides a service for manufacturers to create digital libraries of their real world components. The fee is relative to the size and complexity of the library and the manufacturer can select which BIM formats its data is provided in. It gets its own store on BIMobject.com, which can also run within a frame on its websites and those of its suppliers and distributors. All BIMobjects are designed to be digital replications of real-world items, support configurations, 3D models / 2D drawings and include all the product information data. Objects are optimised for web search, so appear in a Google search (unlike zipped components on websites which can’t be indexed) and support social media For users promotion via Twitter and LinkedIn. BIMobject’s ecosystem also provides a Registered users can download real-world components that can be used directly in powerful back end for manufacturers to pretty much any of the major BIM systems. analyse the usage and identify customers that are using However, as mantheir BIM comufacturers pay per ponents. The format some comBIMobject analyponents might not sis reporting be available in the page shows comless popular BIM ponent usage in systems. each country and All components identifies which offer 2D drawings formats are the (plans, details), 3D BIMobject offers plug-ins for leading BIM tools most popular representations (Revit, SketchUp, (section-3D), materials (views, characteristics) and all ArchiCAD etc.). There are lists of ‘top required properties (CE, heights, configu- viewed’ and ‘top downloaded’ to find out which products are popular or perhaps rations, constraints, etc.). For products such as Autodesk Revit and need more marketing. While manufacturers will never have a Graphisoft ArchiCAD there are freely downloadable apps which provide an addi- direct email link to the customer, it’s postional toolbar within modelling sessions sible to communicate with them through granting access to the BIMobject library for the mail system within the BIMobject porsearch, browsing and direct insertion. tal. If the customer has downloaded a www.AECmag.com

When it comes to BIM components, a question often asked is when to use generic components and when to use real world manufacturers components?

On page 16 Ian Chapman, director of National BIM Library, makes a case for using generic BIM objects from the NBS libraries at early design stages.

BIMobject application this can even be done within the BIM system. This is especially useful for qualifying leads, or warning designers that they may be using objects of obsolete products.

Conclusion BIMobject is a lot more than just an online library for BIM content; it’s an ecosystem for manufacturers and designers. On the one hand it increases productivity for architects who save time modelling libraries, searching for product information and using up to date products. On the other it gives manufacturers exceptionally clear insight as to who is looking to use their products in future builds, in what BIM packages and in what country. Looking to the long term, it’s worth pondering the consequences of embedding such externally linked data. Most 2D and 3D CAD systems allow the inclusion of URL links (perhaps to manufacturers’ websites) and as we all know, the web is forever changing and links die. It is perhaps unsurprising that these haven’t been used that much. At least with objects / components the geometrical representation will always be there and if that is the actual component that is installed in a building, the information it contains will always be relevant. The industry needs these providers to be financially stable and have long-term plans to be around and stay independent to keep downloaded BIM content up to date. ■

bimobject.com

September / October 2013

9/9/13 12:07:38

Case study

Mountain blend To stay true to its design philosophy of creating distinctive architecture that emerges from the site’s conditions, Auer+Weber+Assoziierte GmbH used Vectorworks to help ensure this French mountain resort complements the landscape

ith offices in Munich and Stuttgart, Germany, Auer+Weber+Assoziierte GmbH has been increasingly involved in the design and realisation  of international projects. Its staff of about 130 people has designed administrative, cultural, educational, research, and residential buildings, hotels, and sports and transportation facilities. The firm also works in urban development and master planning. The common characteristic of all these projects lies in the distinctive and coherent development of architecture, which emerges from each project’s site conditions. “Auer+Weber’s architecture draws its unique character from an exhaustive examination of a building’s function, as well as from the conditions and potential offered by a site,” says Philipp Auer, a principle at the firm. “The design process, therefore, encompasses finding appropriate means of formal expression with the collaboration of all parties involved in the conception and realisation.” This process leads to individual and customised solutions that cannot be categorised into a defined style. As such, the range of architectural conception extends from sculpturally defined volumes to structurally open landscapes. The common denominator of the architecture generated is openness and accessibility for the mind and senses. In other words, the clarity of the design provides orientation and enables various occupancy and interpretation possibilities for both the user and the observer. 20

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Auer+Weber views its work as a social and cultural service of a highly artistic, functional, and technological standard, whose architectural quality and sustainability must be measured by how open and flexible it is for the diverse forms of living for which it creates a setting. One example of this open-concept approach is reflected in The Grandes Combes Courchevel in France, a recreational resort currently under construction and located prominently between two mountain peaks — close to where France, Switzerland, and Italy converge. Its main building, therefore, will function as both a connection and a gateway. A connecting bridge will tie together the two fringes of the accompanying building areas, allow pedestrians to walk around unaffected by entering traffic, and act as a gateway on the journey up to higher skiing areas. Inside the building, the soft, flowing design language of the exterior continues. Indoor spaces will be optimised to interact with the landscape and provide stunning views of the outdoors, all while meeting the space requirements of the overall project plan.

Achieving the design requirements When the project originated, the City of Courchevel tasked Auer+Weber to create a complementary range of options for tourism, so that in good weather, guests could choose to ski or climb. Similarly, multiple design options were needed to entertain guests when poor weather blew in, such as wellness activities, saunas, and indoor swimming, as well as attractions that would sustain business in both winter and sum-

mer months. The facility’s design, therefore, features an aquatics centre for 1,000 people, a sports centre with various sports halls, a conference centre, and a hotel—all of which complement the existing skiing attractions. Bringing these concepts together will be achieved through a unique feature of the resort — a square on the street level that widens the space, inviting passersby  to linger in an urban centre full of amenities. In addition, all amenities will be integrated into the countryside, so they look like they naturally belong. “We set out to create a design that integrates into the landscape, partly fusing with it,” says Mr Auer. “We also wanted something that would exist on its own and radiate an architectural confidence with sharp edges while providing an open window to the main access road. The project evolved into a design with many facets.” To stay true to their design philosophy of creating a type of architecture that would be distinctive yet emerge from the site’s conditions, designers needed to understand the terrain and how the resort would complement the landscape. The building is defined by a mountain stream in the west and the main access road to the three Courchevel altitudes in the north and east. In the south, the view of the valley is free. Therefore, the main building will sit mostly in the mountains in a sloping terrain and be composed of materials and colours that mimic the surrounding landscape. A fifth façade, made up of the landscape-like roofs and their integration into the surroundings, influences the overall appearance. www.AECmag.com

8/9/13 18:33:44

Images courtesy of Auer+Weber+Assoziierte GmbH.

The Grandes Combes Courchevel resort clearly acknowledges the prominence and visibility of the site, offering considerate treatment to its picturesque surroundings

The structural engineering, building services, energy planning, and lighting design teams met these design goals by using the 3D design tools, commands, and capabilities found within Vectorworks software. For example, intuitive layout options made it possible  to create a sophisticated design and full schedules directly in the software without having to work in a separate program. This capability applied to integrating gradients and mosaics, as well as to adding and referencing raster images as a fill. Another tool that proved useful was the site model, which helped designers identify cut and fill volumes within those sections and ensure the building’s complex shapes would integrate homogeneously into the topography. “This tool saved us from having to perform complex computing of the volume of this intricate terrain,” says Tina

Kierzek,  a project architect at Auer+Weber. The team also relied on databases and data sheets within the software to help them manage the scope and scale of the project. “It would have been very time-consuming to create space lists and room door lists by hand,” says Ms Kierzek.  “The automated reports within the Vectorworks program saved us a lot of time. Plus, the fast connectivity of the various wall assemblies, managed in the object library, proved to be another time-saving tool.” Auer+Weber’s command over Vectorworks is keeping the project on schedule. Excavation work on The Grandes Combes Courchevel has wrapped up, and the site laid quiet during the winter months. Structural work is now beginning, and the last part of the project, the aquatics centre, should be completed in the summer of

The Grandes Combes Courchevel resort integrates into the surroundings; the architecture becomes part of the landscape

www.AECmag.com

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2015. When it is all done, guests will readily enjoy a resort whose design clearly acknowledges the prominence and visibility of the site, which offers considerate treatment to the surrounding wilderness. When Auer+Weber looks back at what it is achieving with this unique project, the designers are pleased. “Our biggest challenge was to manage the complexity of the task — all while integrating such a largespace programme into its surroundings in a way such that the architecture became part of the landscape,” says Ms Kierzek. “The result is a resort that will offer a flowing and open access point to the outdoors, and create a space for guests to enjoy year-round that is unlimited in functionality—just as our design philosophy intended.” ■

vectorworks.net

The facility’s design features an aquatics centre for 1,000 people

September / October 2013

8/9/13 18:33:54

Designviz Harbin Twin Towers will create an iconic new cityscape to complement China’s high speed railway network. by Stephen Holmes

Harbin Twin Towers The proposed Harbin High Speed Railway West Train Station Twin Towers looks set to become an iconic fixture of China’s longest rail network. Much like the great cities and towns that sprouted along the British and American railway projects of the mid nineteenth century, the city of Harbin, and the new West Train Station, will grow to become a business hub and northern China gateway. Connecting to China’s major cities with daily high-speed links to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the buildings will contain office spaces, residential apartments, retail spaces and a hyper link to a new underground infrastructural hub. Sharing the same styling, but positioned differently, the towers act as a ‘Digital Gate’ framing the city and station with integrated media facades. “The Towers create a balanced relationship between empty and full, mass and void, private and public,” explains Spatial Practice director Erik Amir. “Each tower creates a program specific dialogue with the site, with the north service apartment tower atrium opening toward the plaza, and the south office tower atrium oriented toward the business district.” With Spatial Practice directing the process, three specialist rendering companies from Harbin, Beijing, and Buenos Aires were involved to ensure the project met its six week deadline. The architectural CAD data was taken from Rhino into 3ds Max, with a lot of the test shots being done in house. Amir explains: “As always the most important part is to find the right atmosphere that express the concept of the project, the site and the time of the year. This was particularly challenging with Harbin’s harsh climate.” Once the renders were completed Spatial Practice’s team picked out details such as the interior green terraces using Photoshop during post processing, adding in ethereal light qualities to the glasswork, and increased interior textures. ■

spatialpractice.com

September / October 2013

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www.AECmag.com

9/9/13 11:49:39

Gallery

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7/9/13 08:32:09

Comment

Trimble integration Last edition Martyn Day looked at Trimble’s acquisition strategy to expand into construction. This month he investigates the company’s first steps to link the products

rimble started off as a geospatial company, but has now acquired an impressive portfolio of products across the design, manage and construct disciplines. While these have largely stayed as disconnected islands, the launch of its dedicated buildings website (buildings.trimble.com) indicated that the company has decided to create its own BIM product ecosystem to compete with the likes of Autodesk and Bentley. While the big question is what will Trimble do with the exceptionally popular SketchUp modelling tool it bought off Google, the company has announced data integrations between its various construction management, planning and estimating tools to aid information flow and merge workflows in what Trimble calls the Design Build Operate (DBO) space. AEC Magazine talked with Steve Watt, market manager, estimating / cost planning with Trimble Buildings’ GC (General Contractor) division, and formerly president of a Trimble-acquired planning and estimation developer WinEst and Marcel Broekmaat, director of customer success for the Vico software team within Trimble Buildings’ GC Division. NB Vico was originally a spin off from Graphisoft under the then CEO, Dominic Gallello. It came about from the realisation that architectural BIM models were not the same as BIM models for construction, where procurement, scheduling, constructability and cost were more important.

Integration Trimble has announced data integration capabilities between the planning, estimating and management software applications that it has acquired. The integration of data is designed to aid accuracy and transparency of conceptual or detailed time and cost modelling estimates for building contractors and construction project owners. At their core, the five new software versions provide a synchronised way to plan, track, and capture costings before, during and after construction projects. There are five solutions connected with this integration: WinEst 15.0 — database-driven software www.AECmag.com

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delivers similar benefits, enabling owners to develop detailed budget estimates directly from WinEst or conceptual budget estimates from Modelogix. Proliance also has a new contingency-analysis tool, which uses statistical methods for recommending contingency amounts, based on the project risk profile represented in the Modelogix cost model.

3D, 4D, and 5D construction

Trimble’s virtual construction software, Vico Office 4.2

that uses a spreadsheet for creating, adjusting and presenting cost estimates. Modelogix 3.1 — software for collecting and analysing past-project data and generating cost models for future projects. Prolog 9.61 — project-management and cost-control software for building contractors and construction managers, aimed at streamlining project workflows and providing access to information from anywhere. Proliance 5.5 Office Application Pack — Microsoft Office extensions for Proliance, combining capital planning and program and project management capabilities. Vico Office 4.2 — virtual construction software, augmenting 3D models with constructability analysis and co-ordination, location-based quantity takeoff, 4D (time) scheduling and production control, and 5D (cost) estimating.

Data round-tripping At the earliest feasibility planning stage, when a new project is proposed and a budget estimate required, Modelogix is used to create a new project, and then push an historic cost proposal from Modelogix to WinEst to create a detailed estimate. Once a budget has been agreed, the WinEst estimate can be moved to Prolog to manage the project budget to track and reconcile costings throughout the project’s life. At the end of a project, the final budget can be sent back to Modelogix so that completed project data can be used to generate accurate cost models for future projects of similar scope. For building owners, the new Office Application Pack in Proliance software

A new integration between Vico Office 4.2 and Tekla Structures (the structural BIM tool also owned by Trimble) provides location-based quantity takeoffs to improve the accuracy of scheduling and estimating. Tekla Structures users can also take advantage of Tekla’s Model Organizer to label model content so it is seamlessly registered as an element type (eg walls, slabs, beam profiles, rectangular columns, stairs, etc) within Vico Office. These element types have specific quantity-calculation parameters, which help drive more precise quantity takeoffs and therefore better costing predictions.

Conclusion It is perhaps unsurprising that the first point of integration for Trimble would be with its many costing and planning products as it is here that the greatest financial benefit of a modelling approach to design, construction and operation can be seen. It also helps that at least three of the five applications involved were all developed originally by Meridian systems, which Trimble acquired in 2006, so could be seen as a natural progression between bedfellows. The Vico / Tekla integration is more of the kind of product linking we were hoping to see. However, while the geometry is always the sexy part of BIM, as it is highly visual, the devil is in the details and those details, the ‘I’ in BIM, is where the money can be saved, especially in the construction and operations. Historically, Trimble’s products in this estimation space have not been pushed particularly hard in the UK and so the immediate beneficiaries will be users that already have a foot in the Trimble construction ecosystem. Tekla however does have a loyal following here and the work with Vico should help promote that applications abilities for costing steelwork. ■

buildings.trimble.com

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8/9/13 18:32:32

Case study

Raising the roof Associative parametric modelling enabled PLP Architects to rapidly explore a range of design alternatives for the roof of London’s Francis Crick Institute

he Francis Crick Institute is a external design of the building in accor£600 million biomedical research dance with its civic status, aspirations of the centre funded by the Wellcome science and academic communities, and the Trust, a charitable foundation surrounding residential area. Understanding the proposed design and supporting biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Institute will the established precedents and constraints, accommodate 1,500 researchers on a site the design team engaged in an integrated adjacent to the British Library and London’s community consultation strategy. This resulted in a proactive and constructive St Pancras International railway station. Reconciling the unique operational debate, which alleviated neighbours’ conrequirements of the research centre while cerns, contributed to the project, and created respecting the wishes of the local communi- tangible benefits for the local community. In response, PLP’s design of the facades ty, and building a structure that would be in keeping with the look of the historic archi- expresses the internal organisation of the building — designed by HOK — and celetecture was extremely challenging. To overcome this, PLP Architecture used brates the unusual level of public engagethe real-time modelling tools in Bentley’s ment for this building type, while concealing GenerativeComponents to test more than 100 design iterations of GenerativeComponents enabled the building’s innovative roof PLP to produce and later verify the fabrication details for the structure and to demonstrate the complex roof louvres to minimise impact of changes throughout the the visual effect of the gaps extensive consultation process with the planning authority and the local community. This rapid process enabled PLP to create a gently vaulted profile on the skyline that creates a strong identity, while the receding roof reduces the building scale and minimises the impact on local residents. The parametric 3D model continuously informed and transformed options for the roof geometry as well as the building’s servicing requirements in a dependent geometry of exterior walls and recessed roof volume. interior steel work. Notable features of the To better integrate the building with the design included accommodating a transverse surrounding area and the historic context, atrium and photovoltaics to attain BREEAM PLP assisted HOK to modify the building. certification for sustainable buildings. “In the north where there is a low rise resi“The research group at PLP Architecture dential area we pushed down the building, is dedicated to utilising new and emerging and in the south towards the British library technologies, and Bentley software helped we lifted it up,” Mr Schling said. “We also us to overcome the challenges presented by opened up the front and pushed down the the biomedical research centre,” explained public entrance toward St Pancras. This Eike Schling, architect at PLP Architecture. created a natural involvement with the “By using GenerativeComponents, the urban fabric.” design process was less restrictive enabling PLP then created a single sweeping us to complete the design of the Francis design for the roof. This fluid rounded roof Crick Institute.” shape encompasses the physical plant, including HVAC and other mechanical sysRoof modelling tems located on the top two floors. The HOK and the Francis Crick Institute curved receding roof provided a huge southembarked on a new collaboration with PLP facing area to support photovoltaics orientArchitecture to review and advance the ed toward the sun, while maximising day26

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light and minimising the impact on the neighbourhood and creating an overall visual identity for the Institute.

Increased design efficiency PLP decided to use GenerativeComponents to test and inform the design and advance design discussions; helping to gain the support of the planning authority. “Once PLP had designed the roof, it was essential to know every single module of that roof by dimensions and to change it quickly and efficiently, which is why the decision was made to use GenerativeComponents,” Mr Schling confirmed. The associative parametric modelling system enabled PLP to rapidly explore a range of design alternatives, model geometry, capture relationships, and generate forms using scripts and/ or direct manipulation, enabling highly creative flexibility. While traditional 3D software may have restricted tests in the same time scale to potentially ten options, GenerativeComponents allowed PLP to test up to 100 options.

Planning approval Critically, this activity was not limited to closed meetings within the architectural offices but also played a fundamental role as a presentation tool in discussions with city planners and the team of consultant engineers to meet the project’s environmental criteria. The use of GenerativeComponents also helped PLP respond to last minute requests prior to the planning meeting, including lowering the front of the roof by up to 3.5 metres. “The speed of iteration was critical. It made an immense difference and allowed PLP to refine and further develop the design of the roof and, following ongoing appraisal by the planning authority, the detailed planning application achieved a resolution to grant planning consent within 15 weeks,” Mr Schling said.

Information sharing Another challenge HOK and PLP had to overcome was the fact that PLP used Bentley’s MicroStation, while HOK used Autodesk products. Using traditional inforwww.AECmag.com

8/9/13 18:31:47

Images courtesy of Bentley systems

GenerativeComponents allowed PLP to test up to 100 different options when designing the roof for London’s Francis Crick Institute

mation sharing techniques, HOK would have had to continually produce 2D extractions of PLP’s 3D model to insert into their own drawings, which would have made the process inefficient, not only for communicating between PLP and HOK, but also communicating with the entire project team. Bentley Architecture was used to streamline the process and integrate design development and feedback from all team members both to advance the design of the roof and the facades in the parametric model. The information was then incorporated into the lead architect’s model, and reissued in various formats to the consultants. The roof geometry and dependent geometry, such as walls and interior steel, was modelled in a single Generative Components file and shared with a team of up to 70 people.

Accurate visualisation The detailed model based on parametrically placed cells was also shared directly with contractors — including the fabricators of the steel roof louvres supported by a number of cantilevers that range significantly in height. In addition to the digital model used www.AECmag.com

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to cut sections, PLP created an information model — a polygon grid providing the dimensions of the louvres. Loading this information into an Excel spreadsheet with the exact number of each type and length of panels allowed the fabricator to rationalise and batch fabricate louvres within 30 or 50 millimetre iterations. Once the fabricator had completed its batch schedule, PLP fed that information into its 3D model. “PLP remodelled the entire roof using data from the fabricator,” Mr Schling said. In some areas the remodel revealed the gaps were too big as a result of the batching, enabling PLP to request changes to minimise the visual effect. “Using traditional modelling techniques, this would have taken at least two weeks; taking every number, modelling each louvre, and trying to place it correctly,” Mr Schling said. “It would have been far more complex and time consuming to do so.” Sustainability principles are embedded in the design and operational concept for the Francis Crick Institute. The roof and façade design addresses the environmental impact of its orientation, minimising solar heat gain while maximising daylight. By

using MicroStation’s ability to calculate the solar exposure of the building’s façade, PLP was able to maximise the efficiency of the photovoltaics. The development is expected to achieve a rating of BREEAM Excellent.

Better productivity PLP’s experience with Generative Components on the Francis Crick Institute has reinforced the company’s commitment to this approach. Indeed, Generative Components is now being used across a number of building projects and the company is teaching GenerativeComponents to create a larger pool of architects who are able to take advantage of the cost and efficiency benefits of the software. “Reputation is critical. The Francis Crick project is PLP’s first project using GenerativeComponents; the productivity we have achieved and the timeline of the development will undoubtedly provoke interest from prospective clients. PLP’s GenerativeComponents expertise, combined with design innovation, should deliver significant competitive advantage,” Mr Schling said. ■

bentley.com/gc

September / October 2013

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Review

HP Designjet T920 & T1500 large format printers

Similarly, media input has been revised, giving true front-loading capabilities to both the single-roll T920 and the twin-roll T1500. This not only makes it easier to switch between paper types and sizes, but means the printers can be pushed flat against a wall, saving office space. Combined with the ability to HP’s large format printers Price mix and match a range of ink continue to evolve, with the cartridge sizes — from the stanlatest incarnations benefitHP Designjet T920 dard 40ml to the new 300ml ting from improved function(1 roll + 32GB) ■ £1,672 available at the end of this year ality and ergonomics HP Designjet T920PS — these mid-range workhorses (1 roll + 32GB) will fit well in a variety of archiAlready the dominant force in ■ £3,760 tectural and planning offices. Large Format Printers (LFP), HP Designjet T1500 The ink colours, now stanHP could have happily rested (2 rolls + 64GB) dard across the HP range, conon its laurels with its impres■ £4,820 sist of Cyan, Magenta and sive Designjet product line-up. HP Designjet T1500PS (2 rolls + 64GB) Yellow, with separate gloss and From the entry level A1 ■ £6,165 matte blacks, and ‘true’ grey. (610mm wide) desktop, the hp.com/designjet On the inside a few improveDesignjet T120, to the multiments have also been made. functional A0+ (1,118mm wide) A1 printing takes a quiet 21 monster, the Designjet T2300 eMFP, the range is equipped to provide seconds, partly thanks to the new wider everything from large-scale prints of plans print head, which is designed for long life usage and guaranteed for one year on the or renders, right up to scans and copies. So to radically alter the design of its mid- T920, and two on the T1500. A brisk onerange Designjet printers would seem a minute warm-up time follows an environgamble, yet it is one that pays off with HP’s mentally friendly standby mode that new T920 and T1500 in terms of function- kicks in after 30 minutes. Both printers feature an inbuilt, full ality, usability and ergonomics. Featuring a single paper roll the T920 is colour touchscreen, which allows docudesigned for small workgroups, while the ments to be previewed before sending to dual roll T1500 is designed to suit the print, meaning paper waste is reduced. A USB port allows users to print directly increased output of larger design offices. Both machines support a maximum from a USB pen drive, though files will paper size of A0 (914mm wide), which has have to be in JPEG or TIFF format on the fast become the standard as fewer AEC non Post Script (PS) version of the printer. With the PS version the printer will print customers require full A0+ capabilities. The most noticeable changes are the new PDF files directly as well. NB this does not small footprint, squat stance and topside mean that the non-PS version cannot print PDFs, but they will need to be printed ‘flat’ collection tray. By keeping the height of both printers low using Adobe viewer. HP’s useful Designjet ePrint & Share softit allows the flat top surface to be used as a viewing table — something users already ware still comes as standard, allowing attempt to do — allowing them to inspect users to allocate the printer an email address, and print to it from anywhere in their freshly printed work. The top collection tray keeps prints flat, the world simply by sending it an email. Also included in the free software bundle unless they are of an extended size, when they curl around the back of both machines is the HP Designjet Embedded Web Server, which can be set up to help produce costinto a standard catch basket below. A viewing window on the top surface ings for printing via department or indiallows users to spot any errors and cancel viduals, making accountability simpler for the job well before any wastage mounts up. organisations whatever their size.

In addition to the number of rolls, another element that differentiates the T920 and the T1500 is virtual memory. The single roll T920 has 32GB while the double roll T1500 has 64GB. This additional virtual memory should enable it to handle multiple job submissions simultaneously, processing files quicker, something it may need to do in a larger workgroup.

Conclusion The low, quiet, compact nature of the T920 and T1500 make them ideal for use in architectural practices, fitting closely against a wall or in a corner. The dual roll ability of the T1500, and the fast, simple roll changes of both machines, gives a good range for all sorts of architectural prints. Simple to use, little training is needed to change rolls or use the printers, with most day-to-day maintenance aided by the printer’s inbuilt screen, which walks through any issues using visual guides. The new design is more than simply a facelift for HP’s mid range LFPs, and its latest innovations should see HP maintain its popularity for some time to come. Stephen Holmes

3 1 The new flat top surface can be used as a viewing table 2 A full colour touchscreen means documents can be previewed before sending to print 3 The Designjet T920 and Designjet T1500

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September / October 2013

8/9/13 18:30:37

Review

Samsung SSD 840 Evo

Samsung delivers 1TB of exceptionally fast storage in this brand new Solid State Drive. By Greg Corke

olid State Drives (SSD) are one of the most exciting technological developments to happen in workstations for some years. The drives are lightning fast, incredibly responsive and can make a huge difference to any machine, old or new (see our SSDs for CAD article — tinyurl.com/AECSSD). But world domination of these drives, which use NANDbased flash m e m o r y instead of rotating platters, is still some way off. Capacities need to increase and prices need to drop before SSDs completely take over from traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). Until recently SSDs plateaued at 500GB — plenty of storage for entry-level CAD use but not really enough when large CAD/

Upgrade your HDD in minutes Upgrading your HDD to a Samsung SSD is incredibly easy and can be done in as little as 10 minutes depending on the size of your data and the speed of your hardware. All drives come with Samsung’s easy to use Data Migration software, which creates an exact clone of your current drive in a few easy steps. Once the clone is complete you simply pop in the new drive, boot into Windows and away you go. Your workstation will look exactly the same but it should feel a whole lot quicker. There are some caveats to this. If a file is in use it will not be copied. For example, we found that our

Outlook OST file did not copy across in the cloning process. Also, if your target drive does not have enough capacity to copy all of your source files a ‘Custom Cloning’ option can be used to exclude large media files and automatically copy them to an external drive. This is great if you just want to grab your entire collection of AVI or MP3 files, but unfortunately there is no way to customise the software so it excludes entire folders or large CAD or BIM files. We would recommend a bit a housekeeping first — manually move your data files to a USB or network drive until you have freed up enough space for a straightforward clone. Cloning can be done via SATA

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BIM datasets start stacking up. In contrast HDDs go up to 4TB and win hands down on price. A typical HDD costs £0.04 per GB whereas an SSD might be anywhere from £0.50 to £0.80. That is a big premium to pay and another reason why SSDs are commonly found alongside HDDs inside desktop workstations. SSDs deliver incredible performance for operating system, apps and current datasets, while the HDD is used to store the bulk of the data. The good news is the technology is moving incredibly fast. In just a few years Samsung has established itself as one of the world’s leading SSD manufacturers. Unlike its competitors, the South Korean giant manufactures virtually every component of its SSDs (from the NAND flash memory to the memory controller). This not only helps it bring new products to market faster but also price them aggressively. The new Samsung SSD 840 EVO is a case in point. It is not only the first true 1TB SSD for mainstream use, but it comes in at an incredible price — £0.43 per GB. This may still be ten times the cost of a typical

or USB. SATA 3.0 is quickest, but you will need a spare SATA port and power cable inside your machine. USB 3.0 is also quick but USB 2.0 can take a few hours. Samsung offers two optional upgrade kits, which provide all the hardware you will need for the swap. Each kit adds around £10 onto the cost of a standard drive. The desktop kit includes a SATA data cable, a slow USB 2.0 to SATA connector and a 3.5-inch bracket with screws, which converts the 2.5-inch drive so it can fit into a standard desktop chassis. The laptop kit includes a fast USB 3.0 to SATA connector and a mounting spacer bar, which adds more thickness to the 6.8mm drive so it can fit snuggly into the laptop’s drive bay.

HDD but, considering the technology on offer, it is market leading.

A class divide? As the name suggests Samsung’s SSD 840 EVO is an evolution of the Samsung SSD 840 that launched in 2012. It offers the same three-year warranty but delivers bigger capacities, better performance and includes some smart features designed to boost read / write speeds in certain scenarios. Like most modern SSDs the 840 EVO uses the SATA 3.0 (6Gb | 600GB/s) interface. It will also work on SATA 2.0 (3Gb | 300GB/s) and SATA 1.0 (1.5Gb | 150GB/s), so is compatible with older workstations, but its speed will be throttled. There is a choice of five capacities: 120GB, 250GB, 500GB, 750GB and 1TB so there is something for pretty much everyone. Read performance is virtually standard across the range but write speed tails off with the lower capacity drives, though much less so than it does in the original SSD 840 drives. The 840 EVO is positioned as a consumer drive for client PCs, meaning the Samsung 840 PRO will continue to focus on professional users. The 840 PRO promises better reliability (backed by a five-year warranty) and faster consistent performance, particularly with large datasets, both of which are attractive to workstation users. However, this does not mean the 840 EVO is not suitable for CAD / BIM workstations. On the desktop there is plenty of scope for entry-level workstations where cost is critical. At £73 (ex VAT) the 120GB SSD EVO is an extremely cost effective way to boost system performance, partnering with a traditional 1TB HDD to store data. For those that want to load and save large CAD datasets at lightning quick speeds, it is

To clone a disc simply connect the target disc (Samsung SSD) via SATA or USB and Samsung’s Data Migration software then checks for space. If the target disc has enough space for all of the source files cloning can start immediately. A 500GB SATA SSD can be cloned in as little as 10 minutes

www.AECmag.com

8/9/13 18:27:21

Samsung 840 EVO 120GB

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB

Samsung 840 EVO 500GB

Samsung 840 EVO 750GB

Samsung 840 EVO 1TB

Samsung 840 PRO 256GB

Form factor

2.5-inch

Interface

SATA3.0 (6Gb/s) (compatible with SATA 2.0 (3Gb/s) and SATA 1.0 (1.5Gb/s))

Reliability

MTBF: 1.5 million hours

Warranty

5 years limited

3 years limited

Sequential Read / Write (MB/s)

540 MB/s 410 MB/s

540 MB/s 520 MB/s

4k Random Read / Write (IOPS)

94,000 35,000

97,000 66,000

98,000 90,000

100,000 90,000

Price (ex VAT)

£73

£124

£242

£347

£425

£155

Price per GB

£0.61

£0.50

£0.48

£0.46

£0.43

£0.61

an interesting alternative to a slower HDD in a traditional SSD / HDD setup. Here a 500GB, 750GB or 1TB 840 EVO could be used for data, while a 128GB or 256GB 840 PRO does the more demanding work for operating system and applications. The 840 EVO is also likely to appeal to mobile users where fast, high capacity storage is of paramount importance. A lot of mobile workstations only support a single drive so users traditionally have to choose between capacity (HDD) or performance (SSD). A 750GB or 1TB EVO 840 could offer both.

Performance On paper there is very little difference between the 840 EVO and the 840 PRO, which we reviewed back in March 2013 (see tinyurl.com/AECSSD). This was confirmed when we put both drives through their paces in a Dell Precision T1700 workstation (see page 33). Our ‘Pack and Go’ test, which reads / writes CAD parts at the same time, and the widely used AS-SSD benchmark, which tests for sustained and random read/write performance, both delivered virtually identical scores. When pushing the drive to its limits, however, particularly when working with large CAD models, some users may start to see the limitations of Samsung’s so-called consumer drive. The 840 PRO’s fast read and write performance is largely down to the type of NAND flash memory it uses (2-bit MLC). The EVO 840, on the other hand, uses slower memory (3-bit MLC) so it owes its fast write speeds to ‘TurboWrite’ a new technology that temporarily writes data to a high performance buffer. Then, when the drive is idle, the buffer gets flushed into the main 3-bit MLC storage freeing up space for the next write. www.AECmag.com

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The size of the buffer varies according to the capacity of the drive — 120GB drive (3GB buffer), 250GB (3GB), 500GB (6GB), 750GB (9GB) and 1TB (12GB). If the buffer becomes full, any outstanding data will be written straight to the main MLC storage, which is significantly slower. While the 1TB drive should be able to handle some pretty sizeable CAD / BIM datasets without saturating the buffer, the 120GB and 250GB drives will fill up a lot quicker. This is an important consideration when selecting the size of your drive, as is the fact that the 120GB and 250GB drives deliver slower random write performance (see chart above). This may also point you more towards the slightly more expensive 840 PRO, which will deliver fast, sustained write speeds all of the time. The 840 EVO has another trick up its sleeve with ‘RAPID’, a software mode that can be toggled on and off within Samsung’s bundled Magician software. RAPID mode (Real-time Accelerated Processing of I/O Data) aims to boost performance by using the workstation’s system memory (rather than the SSD) to serve up frequently used data. The software continually analyses the application and data usage and caches the most frequently used files into DRAM (1GB max). Then, when this data is needed, it can be retrieved much quicker than would have been possible over the SATA 3.0 interface. The ‘cache map’ that builds up over time is stored permanently on the SSD so it can be recalled between reboots. RAPID mode sounds great in theory, and our AS-SSD benchmark results show some incredible increases in performance in both read and write speeds, more than twice as fast in some instances. But results are inconsistent (though always fast) and it should not be forgotten that AS-SSD is a synthetic

benchmark. Long term testing is the only real way to ascertain exactly how useful it is. RAPID mode is not exclusive to the Samsung 840 EVO SSD. It will also be supported in the Samsung 840 PRO SSD.

Magic trick Samsung’s Magician Software is a free tool bundled with Samsung SSDs. It performs a number of roles, ranging from performance optimisation and drive health monitoring to firmware updates and secure erase. The software is very easy to use. Simply choose one of three profiles: Maximum Performance, Maximum Capacity or Maximum Reliability and the software will fine tune Windows accordingly. Users can also dive in and manually customise features of the OS. Magician also gives a running analysis of drive health, showing how many bytes have been written over the lifetime of the drive and warning the user in advance when the drive might need to be replaced. And, of course, there is RAPID Mode, which we just covered in the previous section.

Conclusion The 840 EVO is an impressive addition to Samsung’s hugely-respected family of SSDs. It delivers exceptional performance and has the potential to give any HDDbased workstation a completely new lease of life. And with the bundled Migration software the transition can be completely painless. The EVO might not have the same workstation-class credentials afforded to its sibling, the 840 PRO, but it wins hands down on capacity and price per GB. And for these reasons alone it should still be considered for design and engineering — as a companion drive to an 840 PRO or going it alone in a budget or mobile workstation. ■

samsung.com/ssd

PCI Express the future of high-speed storage The SATA 3.0 interface was launched in 2009 but few would have predicted that we would already be hitting the limits. The fact is many drives have pretty much saturated the 6Gb (600MB/s) available in sustained read / writes. The real innovation in SSDs is currently coming from improvements in random read / write performance. Samsung is already waiting for the next standard to arrive. SATA Express, which should appear commercially in 2014, will make use of PCI Express (PCIe), the same interface used for high-speed 3D graphics. Interface speeds may increase to 8Gb/s or 16Gb/s and future motherboards will offer slots for SATA Express and traditional SATA. SATA Express will be backward compatible with the standard SATA 3.0 interface.

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Three Complementary Themes One Outstanding Roadshow

Business Software

TUE

Leeds

NOV

Green Building

TUE

NOV

2013

London

Facilities Management

TUE

Cardiff

DEC 2013

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Review

Dell Precision T1700 Small Form Factor (SFF)

very fast storage. The Precision T1700 SFF boots to Windows in a lightning quick 15 seconds and read / write speeds of 495MB/s and 424MB/sec show it is no slouch at handling big datasets. It is This mini workstation is ideal Product spec by no means the for 2D CAD or entry-level 3D fastest solid state modelling ■ Quad Core Intel Xeon E3-1270 v3 drive out there but ‘Haswell’ CPU it does make the Small Form Factor (SFF) work(3.5GHz) Precision T1700 stations are very much in ■ 16GB (4 x 4GB) 1,600MHz DDR3 SFF feel incredivogue. But while HP and Non-ECC memory bly responsive Lenovo have sold these micro ■ Nvidia Quadro when juggling machines since 2012, it has K600 (1GB DDR3) GPU (310.90 driver) apps and opening and saving taken Dell a little longer to ■ 256GB LiteOn files at the same time. acknowledge that good things LCS-256M6S SSD The 2.5-inch drive is housed do come in small packages. ■ Dell motherboard (Intel C226 chipset) in a caddy located under the Dell’s new Precision T1700 ■ Microsoft Windows slimline DVD drive, which SFF is tiny. With a compact 7 Professional 64-bit slides out smoothly simply by 290 x 312 x 93mm chassis, it is ■ 3 year ProSupport pulling on a blue lever. The significantly smaller than a and Next Business Day On-Site Service caddy needs a bit more encourstandard desktop workstation. ■ £1,672 agement to leave the chassis, It is also leaner than the comdell.co.uk but once you understand how petition: Lenovo’s E32 SFF is the mechanism works, it actu338 x 375 x 102mm, while HP’s ally pops out very easily. Z230 SFF comes in at 339 x 382 Adding a second 2.5-inch drive is pretty x 105mm. In part this is down to an exceptionally straightforward — the major challenge was clever chassis design, which layers compo- attaching the SATA cable to the mothernents on top of each other, but also because board. For larger capacity drives, the caddy the T1700 SFF can only squeeze in a single converts so it can accommodate a single 3.5-inch drive or two 2.5-inch drives. In 3.5-inch HDD. Despite the T1700 SFF’s diminutive contrast, HP’s and Lenovo’s SFF machines frame there is no trade off in processing support up to two 3.5-inch drives. The limited storage options in the T1700 power and Dell offers a wide choice of the SFF will not be an issue for some, particu- latest Intel ‘Haswell’ CPUs including Xeon larly those who keep their data on a net- and 4th Gen Intel Core. Our test machine’s Xeon E3-1270 v3 is work. But it will mean users will not have the luxury of having a high-performance fast: one notch below the top-end Xeon 2.5-inch SSD and high-capacity 3.5-inch E3-1280 v3 so you get good performance HDD in the same system, a popular choice without paying the biggest premium. With four cores running at 3.5GHz it is ideal for in mainstream workstations. Our test machine’s 256GB LiteOn SSD CAD or BIM. It also includes support for might be a little light on capacity, but it is Intel HyperThreading, which is great for

Dell Precision Performance Optimizer Dell workstations now come with a free mini app to help users keep track of their workstation resources. The Dell Precision Performance Optimizer (DPPO) presents dials for memory, CPU, storage and GPU that show how each component is being utilised at any point in time or over a set period. This information can

then be used to identify where bottlenecks occur, which components might benefit from an upgrade, or how workflows could be adjusted. Of course, this is all possible with diagnostic tools like Microsoft Process Explorer, but the neat thing about DPPO is that it is all presented in one easy to understand user interface. There are some other features, including application profiles that tune the system for specific software, but application support is currently quite limited and

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multi-threaded renderers, such as mental ray used in 3ds Max and Revit. Dell has not scrimped on memory either, with 16GB (4 x 4GB) of 1600MHz non-ECC DDR3 more than enough for mainstream design. The machine has a maximum capacity of 32GB, but you will need ECC memory to max it out, which will cost a little more. The big tradeoff in the T1700 SFF is when it comes to graphics. The low-profile Nvidia Quadro K600 (1GB) is the only real option for 3D CAD here, but its entry-level status means it is probably best suited for working with small BIM models. Those who need a bit more oomph should look at the Precision T1700 Mini Tower (MT), the big brother to the T1700 SFF. The T1700 MT expands the choice of GPUs to the Quadro K2000, Quadro K4000 or AMD FirePro W5000. It also supports up to two 3.5-inch or four 2.5-inch SATA drives so there are more options for storage. Of course, the beauty of the T1700 SFF is in its incredibly small footprint. It is practical as well: two fast USB 3.0 ports on the front are nicely spaced so you are not constrained when plugging in chunky USB memory sticks. If you work with 2D CAD or small to medium BIM models and are in the market for an entry-level workstation the T1700 SFF is an excellent alternative to a standard tower. In terms of warranty, our test machine includes three years of ProSupport, but pay attention if you are buying the T1700 SFF off spec. Unlike other Dell Precisions, it only comes with one year as standard. Greg Corke

focused on manufacturing rather than BIM. It also appears to be mostly about enabling / disabling CPU cores, HyperThreading and power saving, so will probably appeal more to novice users. The software can also be used to update, software, drivers and firmware and these can be scheduled for times when your workstation is idle. Overall, DPPO is an interesting little tool very much in the same vein as HP’s Performance Advisor. tinyurl.com/dell-DPPO

September / October 2013

8/9/13 18:24:29

Review

Fujitsu Celsius W530power workstation

500W power supply instead of the 300W on offer in the standard Celsius W530. Our test machine’s Nvidia Quadro K2000 with 2GB of onboard memory is pretty much a perfect fit for mainstream users of BIM software. With three outputs (2 x DisplayPort and 1 x DVI-I) it can also drive multiple disFujitsu’s new Intel ‘Haswell’ Product spec plays, which is great when you workstation offers impresare juggling lots of windows or sive serviceability in an ■ Quad Core Intel Core i5-4570 applications. entry-level machine ‘Haswell’ CPU Considering this is an entry(3.2GHz) level machine the Celsius When it comes to worksta■ 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1,600MHz DDR3 W530 has some serious potentions, Fujitsu likes to do things Non-ECC memory tial when it comes to storage. differently. At a time when ■ Nvidia Quadro While the standard Celsius most major manufacturers are K200 (2GB GDDR5) GPU (311.15 driver) W530 supports up to three expanding their entry-level ■ 1TB Western Digital drives (1 x 2.5-inch and range with desktop, miniWD1003FBYX hard drive 2 x 2.5/3.5-inch), the Celsius tower and Small Form Factor ■ Fujitsu W530power edition takes this (SFF) machines, Fujitsu is motherboard (Intel up to five (1 x 2.5-inch and consolidating. C226 chipset) 4 x 2.5/3.5-inch). That adds up The Celsius W530 is the ■ Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit to an incredible 17TB of storage company’s new entry-level (Windows 7 also if you go for 4 x 4TB 3.5-inch workstation, a jack-of-allavailable) HDDs and a 1TB 2.5-inch HDD. trades that combines many of ■ 3 year on site warranty With such large capacities the features of the previous ■ £959 available, our test machine’s generation Celsius W420 and fujitsu.com 1TB Western Digital Celsius W520. WD1003FBYX HDD does feel It offers plenty of choice for a little anaemic, but it should processor, graphics and (parbe noted that this is 1TB of ticularly) storage, but does so in a mini-tower chassis that comes in enterprise quality storage, commonly at a relatively compact 175 x 419 x 395mm found in read / write-intensive servers and backed up with a five-year warranty for (W x D x H). The driving force for this new machine is piece of mind against failure. Standard HDDs are also available, which Intel’s fourth generation core processor, commonly known as ‘Haswell’. There is a should save a bit of cash and, for those who huge choice of processors on offer, from the place a higher value on performance, there high-end Intel Xeon processor E3 v3 series, are plenty of SSDs to choose from in 128GB, taking in Core i7 and Core i5 all the way 256GB or 512GB capacities. One of the best things about the Celsius down to Core i3. Our test machine’s Intel Core i5-4570 is W530 is that it is incredibly easy to add or very much at the sweet spot for main- replace drives. Spare drive bays, which sit perpendicustream users of CAD or BIM software. Running at 3.2GHz, going up to 3.6GHz lar to the motherboard, are kitted out with with Intel Turbo Boost, it provides the all- two of Fujitsu’s excellent Easyrails. When important raw performance required for fitting a new drive, remove these from the 3D design. But, with no support for Intel bay and use them to grip the drive on both Hyper-Threading, those who ray trace sides so it can be guided into the bay. No render in applications like Revit, 3ds Max screws are needed. Unlike the Celsius M720, which uses or ArchiCAD will miss out. Here, an upgrade to a Core i7 or Xeon E3 v3 will be blind mate connectors, power and data money well spent as GHz for GHz, these cables still need to be attached. However, higher end processors should reduce ren- in our test machine these were already clipped next to each drive bay and attached der times by 10%-15%. The Celsius W530 offers a big choice for to the SATA 3.0 ports on the motherboard graphics, which should pretty much cater so there is no fiddling around. This is a for all but the most demanding of 3D really nice touch as it means new drives really can be added in less than a minute. users. Our test machine was primed and ready This includes the entry-level Nvidia Quadro K600 or AMD FirePro V3900, for 4 x 3.5-inch drives, but not a 2.5-inch right up to the powerful Nvidia Quadro SSD drive. However, if you are planning to add one later, Easyrails and cables can K4000 or AMD FirePro W7000. However, in order to support these last be bought as extras or configured during two GPUs you will need the Celsius a build to order. Alternatively, many W530power edition, which boasts a SSDs, including Samsung’s excellent SSD 34

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840 EVO (see page 30), offer desktop migrations kits, which include an adapter so the 2.5-inch drive can be securely housed in a 3.5-inch bay. There are some other neat features of the chassis, which is tool-less throughout. This includes the side panel, which can be pulled off with one hand, and the PCIExpress cards, which clip in and out of place. There are four USB ports on the front for easy access, though only two of these are USB 3.0. It should also be noted that the Celsius W530 is incredibly quiet in operation. In fact, we hammered both CPU and GPU with rendering and 3D graphics tests, and fan noise was barely noticeable. Like most modern workstations, this is down to low duty fans which efficiently move air from front to back. The top fan is dedicated to cooling the CPU, memory and hard drives 4 & 5, while the bottom fan takes care of the GPU and hard drives 1, 2, & 3 thanks to a metal plate that re-routes some of the air. The W530 is an impressive addition to Fujitsu’s Celsius workstation family and its engineers must be applauded for making maintenance so easy, particularly in an entry-level machine. At £959 our Celsius W530power edition review machine is also competitively priced, but you can shave £60 off this straight away by opting for the standard Celsius W530. Unless you think you might upgrade your graphics card or kit your machine out with four or more hard drives, you will not ever benefit from the premium model. Greg Corke

www.AECmag.com

8/9/13 18:23:10

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