AEC Magazine May / June 2019 by X3DMEDIA

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

From digital design to digital fabrication ...

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Embracing digital fabrication 12 The move to the fabrication of buildings in factories is happening in a blink of an eye, but the current generation of BIM tools are not up to the job

Architectural viz for everyone 18 Epic Games is making a massive play for the arch viz market. So big, in fact, that it is giving away a fully-featured architectfriendly viz tool. No strings attached

NXT BLD 2019 preview 28 To say we’re excited about our London event next month would be a bit of an understatement. We’ve got an incredible line up this year. Have you got your ticket?

Meet Graphisoft’s new CEO 38

Out of the shadows 48 We gets hands-on with the Varjo VR-1, an incredible high resolution VR headset that’s like nothing we’ve seen before

Tekla Structures 52 With its latest 2019 release Tekla looks to make engineers more productive and build confidence in the 3D model, so data can flow freely from design office to site

AEC hackathon 59 We report from this recent event in Seattle, which aims to get people from various AEC disciplines together to think about new technologies in new ways

Digital twins for a sustainable future 62 As the world strives to meet climate change targets, the role of digital twins is set to become increasingly important

Transforming BIM with rugged tablets 65

At the London launch of ArchiCAD 23, we caught up with Graphisoft’s new CEO, Huw Roberts, to capture his thoughts on the company and the BIM market

From expedited retrofits to enabling nonspecialists to capture as-builts, we look at five ways rugged tablets can support BIM

Virtual learning 42

Dell Precision 3540 66

Paul Tallon talks through the process of building a virtual campus of the University of Huddersfield using everevolving 3D technology and drone data

We get hands on with Dell’s new budget mobile workstation, which looks to be a great machine for entry-level 3D CAD and BIM workflows May / June 2019

18/05/2019 09:49

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17/05/2019 15:04

News

Bentley’s site tool goes from concept to detailed design

Powerproject enhanced owerproject XV, the latest release of the project management/ planning software from Elecosoft, features an enhanced user interface, better control over the appearance of plans, greater flexibility and clarity in progress reporting and new tools to check the quality of schedules. The new release also displays BIM models much better, using animation to make timesimulation more realistic. PowerProject’s mobile device companion tool Site Progress Mobile has also been enhanced

■ elecosoft.com/xv

entley Systems has launched OpenSite Designer, an integrated tool for civil site and land development that covers the conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design phases. The software spans reality modelling of site conditions from drone imagery and scans (reality meshes and point clouds), geotechnical analysis, terrain modelling, site layout and grading optimisation, stormwater drainage modelling and analysis, underground utilities modelling, detailed drawing production, and ‘enlivened’ visualisations. OpenSite Designer features the analytics optimisation of Bentley’s SITEOPS technology and supports ‘rapid and

iterative conceptual design’. It can link to Plaxis and SoilVision, Bentley’s geotechnical engineering solutions, so site plans can be enhanced with information about the active properties of soil. Users can create intelligent 3D models containing site information, terrain data, parking lots, building pads, driveways, sidewalks, parcel layout, and related site features. During preliminary design, the site engineer can improve the layout while relying on further automated optimisations, which respond to the engineering changes. To complete the workflow, OpenSite Designer supports detailed design including the production of ‘all required project deliverables’. ■ bentley.com

Katerra unveils Apollo software aterra, a tech company that aims to optimise every aspect of building development, design, and construction, has unveiled its Apollo software platform. Apollo is designed to support the entire lifecycle of the building process, managing all critical resources – cost, teams schedule & materials – through one persistent data stream. Turn to page 12 to find out more.

■

Data exchange issues tackled by industry n industry-wide consortium of partners including BuroHappold Engineering, 3D Repo, Speckle Works, UCL Bartlett School of Construction & Project Management and Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group, with external support from HOK, Atkins and Arup has joined forces to tackle some of the key issues in AEC as part of the UK Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The Innovate UK-funded project aims to increase productivity, performance and quality in the construction industry via a £1m innovation grant. The consortium set out to address two industrial issues with their project entitled “AEC Delta Mobility”.

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Firstly, to help engage manufacturers in the early design stages and result in the increased pre-manufactured value of build assets across the construction sector, and secondly, to increase the productivity of construction projects by over 15%. The team focuses on the inefficient processes whereby software users manually exchange large files and 3D models to communicate design changes – called deltas – between designers, integrators and fabricators. Users will be able to live-stream individual changes with collaborators, instead of sharing large files over-and-over again. The project will take 18 months. ■ github.com/aecdeltas

katerra.com

BIM tech for health & safety ulti-disciplinary design and engineering company BakerHicks has launched the Risk Cube to help protect the health and safety of construction workers and end users. Risk Cubes are embedded within 3D BIM models to visually identify and detail risks. Information contained within a Risk Cube can also be brought into VR.

■ bakerhicks.com

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ROUND UP Cost management

Collaborative VR tool given speech-to-text annotation

Autodesk has added a new Cost Management module to its BIM 360 construction management platform to enable teams to manage costrelated construction activities in the cloud. The new module is available now as an add-on subscription to BIM 360 Build ■ bim360.com

Bridging the gaps Allplan has introduced a new version of its BIM solution for bridge construction, Allplan Bridge. The parametric tool is designed to support engineers in all planning phases, from the initial concept to construction, especially for reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete and composite bridges ■ allplan.com/bridge

Structural upgrade SCIA Engineer 19, the latest release of the structural analysis and design tool, features ‘substantial enhancements’ in terms of usability, interoperability and localisation. Analysis of multi-storey buildings and other civil engineering structures has also been improved ■ scia.net/scia-engineer

PlanGrid BIM PlanGrid, an Autodesk company and developer of construction productivity software, has introduced PlanGrid BIM, a new product integration with Autodesk Revit that enables users to ‘immediately’ access BIM data, in either 2D or 3D, directly within PlanGrid on their mobile devices ■ plangrid.com/features/bim

Vectorworks viz Vectorworks 2019 SP3 features tight integration with real-time rendering tool Lumion, through a new LiveSync. Meanwhile, Vectorworks says it is the first architectural software developer to achieve IFC4 Reference View 1.2 Export Certification ■ vectorworks.net ■ lumion.com

VR for BIM360 A new integration between InsiteVR and the Autodesk BIM 360 construction management platform allows users to host group model reviews in VR. The system can be used with VR headsets, including Facebook’s new all-in-one Oculus Quest, or on the desktop ■ insitevr.com ■ bim360.com

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he Wild has added several new features to its cloud-based VR/ AR immersive collaboration platform designed for architects and designers using Revit and SketchUp. These include a new speech-to-text comment tool, a new sketch annotation tool and video support. “VR is great for a lot of things, but

typing is not one of them. It’s bulky, frustrating, and inefficient,” according to The Wild design director Melissa Chan. “We want The Wild to be a place where people can communicate easily and naturally—that’s why our Comment tool uses speech-to-text to record and transcribe your comments.” ■ thewild.com

ISG transforms scan-to-BIM workflows lobal construction services company ISG is using Pointfuse laser scanning software to accelerate its scan-to-BIM workflows. Traditionally this laser data processing could take days to 3D model a single floor, but now ISG has reduced this to hours. Pointfuse has also helped ISG increase its point cloud outputs, with applications including clash detection and visualisation. “Scan-to-BIM modelling was previously

seen as undesirable by the construction industry due to the time taken to complete and the risk associated in doing so,” commented Ben Callan, BIM Coordinator in ISG’s UK Fit Out business. “However, using Pointfuse we have further improved our ability to push out point cloud data; accelerating analysis and modelling output and defining this output with improved tolerances and levels of detail.” ■ pointfuse.com

Accurate, dynamic 3D city models go live erial mapping company Bluesky is working with SkylineGlobe UK on a project that will make high accuracy, photorealistic 3D City Models available as off the shelf datasets and via an internet streaming

service. The dynamic 3D models will provide a visualisation and analytical platform for smart city projects, transport / infrastructure planning, development planning and more. To create these ‘unique’ 3D digital twins, Bluesky is

using its hybrid oblique imaging and LiDAR airborne sensor to capture the city imagery. Skyline is then processing and publishing the data into 3D digital twins using its 3D earth visualisation software and services. ■ bluesky-world.com

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18/05/2019 09:19

News

Intel changes the game for workstation memory ell, HP and Lenovo are to support the new 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor in their high-end workstations - the HP Z6, HP Z8, Dell Precision 7920 and Lenovo ThinkStation P720 and P920 (pictured right). Workstations with the new multicore CPU will feature up to 28 cores per socket, so up to 56 cores in a dual-CPU system. The big news, however, is the introduction of Intel Optane DC persistent memory, a new type of memory that sits between DRAM and Solid State Drives (SSDs) and is said to provide near-DRAM performance, but at lower cost. According to HP executives, Intel Optane DC will dramatically improve system performance by moving large datasets closer to the CPU. It will also mean larger capacities, which will be of big interest to those pushing the boundaries of engineering simulation or visualisation. Combined with traditional DRAM,

says Intel, it can provide three times more system memory capacity than the first-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor – up to 4.5TB of system-level memory capacity per socket. Optane DC Persistent Memory can work in two different modes: Memory Mode, where it behaves like DRAM memory and acts as a cache for the most frequently-accessed data; and App Direct Mode, where it behaves like storage, but because the data is persistent, it means there is no data loss after a power cycle or application closure. System restarts will also be much quicker. However, applications will need to be specifically written in order to take advantage of the new technology. At the other end of the workstation

market, Intel’s mobile CPUs have hit record speeds with the introduction of the 9th Gen Intel Core mobile H-series. The flagship Intel Core i9-9980HK reaches 5.0GHz and offers 8 cores and 16 threads. The CPU is fully unlocked, so can be overclocked for even more performance. Meanwhile, on the desktop, the top-end 9th Gen Intel Core processor, the Core i9-9900K, offers similar specifications. We expect to see 9th Gen Intel Core desktop and mobile workstations soon. ■ intel.com ■ dell.com/precision ■ hp.com ■

lenovo.com/thinkworkstations

Oasys GSA 10.0 improves model creation for simulation asys GSA 10.0, the latest release of the advanced structural analysis and design software, features improved tools for model creation so engineers can move away from working directly with a building’s analysis model, and with its design model instead. There are significant new developments in the GSA design layer for slab and wall entities. These allow a complete

description of the building to be defined in the design layer, with automated generation of analysis models. Oasys GSA is a ‘comprehensive toolset’ for model creation, analysis, design and results visualisation. It is compatible with leading BIM solutions used by engineers and architects. Users can choose from GSA Building,

GSA Analysis, GSA Bridge, or go for the complete GSA Suite. ■

oasys-software.com

Epic Games acquires viz tool Twinmotion, then gives it away pic Games, the force behind Unreal Engine, has acquired the easy-to-use viz tool Twinmotion and then immediately made it available for free. Users have until November 2019 to download the product before Epic Games starts charging. Twinmotion 2019 is based on Unreal Engine but is tuned for architects. It offers ‘instant rendering’ of architectural and

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urban models in real time and in VR and direct synchronisation with ArchiCAD and Revit. It also supports other 3D tools via neutral formats. The product is mature, and before the acquisition cost €1,650 per licence. The free software is not a cut down version, nor is it time limited. For more information on this ‘no strings attached’ offer see page 22. ■ twinmotion.com

May / June 2019

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News

ROUND UP McAlpine goes mobile After testing on approximately 20 construction sites, Sir Robert McAlpine is now fully implementing Dalux BIM across all projects. It will give all McAlpine employees access to linked construction drawings with combined models on their mobile devices ■ dalux.com

Off-site planning HoloBuilder, a provider of 360° reality capture technology for construction sites, has added a “JobWalk Planner” feature to its construction documentation solution. JobWalk Planner enables off-site stakeholders to pre-plan construction documentation sequences for their teams. ■ holobuilder.com

Collaborative VR Symmetry VR v1.2 features a new command that allows you to invite collaborators to gather around your position in VR. You can also teleport to others by selecting their names off a list. Other features include a laser pointer and a revised UI to aid in the usage of daylight and measure functionality ■ symmetryvr.com

MEP quantification London-based MagiCAD Construction Solutions has developed two tools for Construction and MEP. Cubicost ‘redefines’ BIM quantification & costing with intelligent automation. MagiCAD Quantity for Revit enables customers to generate complete MEP quantities directly from the model ■ magicad.com

Revit automation Enhanced analytics in Clarity 2020, the latest release of the task automation tool for Revit, show a more ‘complete picture’ of all activities taking place within the model and help managers understand how different aspects of the model impact project performance ■ imaginit.com/clarity

Autodesk digital twin Global firm Capgemini is partnering with Autodesk to deploy ReflectIoD, a cloud-enabled digital twin ‘BIM’ platform. Building and infrastructure operators can integrate natively 1D to 3D, point cloud, geographical information, and Internet of Things (IOT) data ■ capgemini.com

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Speed boost for ArchiCAD 23 rchiCAD 23 is said to deliver more performance improvements, including software startup, file opening, working in multi-project environments and switching between different views of the BIM project. The architecturalfocused BIM software also includes new tools for openings, columns and beams and improved interoperability with engineering disciplines. “Everyday tasks such as firing up your software and switching between projects or views in a specific project may end up being the very roadblocks to achieving the flow, which is the ideal state for architectural design,” says Graphisoft’s Peter Temesvari. “We removed these roadblocks, putting the architect more firmly in the driver’s seat, with the software responding to the way architects think and work.”

ArchiCAD’s re-engineered column and beam tools mean architects can now model faster and create accurate construction details and quantity estimations for reinforced concrete, complex steel, timber, and composite beams and columns. There’s a new opening tool dedicated to model and coordinate project design voids, recesses and niches, and better links to Solibri, dRofus and Grasshopper. ■ graphisoft.com/archicad

Revit 2020 enhances wall modelling ith Autodesk Revit 2020, the latest release of the popular BIM tool, architects can create more advanced wall geometry including elliptical and curtain walls. A new PDF underlay tool means users can bring 2D data into Revit and snap to the PDF to help model new elements. Sketchup 2018 import means early stage designs can be brought into Revit. A new Path of Travel tool simulates the shortest path between points to help designers understand how people will move in a building or navigate a space. There have been several advancements

in structures. For concrete projects, there is improved rebar copy and move logic, better support for rebar in stairs, and new tools to help produce better documentation. For steelwork, there have been several steel connection improvements to help engineers create more accurate modelbased and documented design for detailing and fabrication. The “Autodesk Steel Connections 2020” Dynamo package brings computational design to Revit, helping automate and accelerate the insertion of multiple steel connections based on user-defined rules. ■ autodesk.com/revit

Solibri extends reach of BIM model QA olibri has introduced a new product family (Anywhere, Site, Office and Enterprise) that is tailored for different roles, including officebased BIM manager and on-ground site manager. The company is well

known for its quality assurance and quality control software which centres on rules-based model checking. Now, as BIM matures, it is looking to close gaps in the workflow to allow all project members to access one set of verified quality

data throughout the entire build. The new products are tailored in terms of features and price points, and there is a free version. Meanwhile, UK and Ireland reseller Cadventure has been appointed a Solibri Gold Partner ■ solibri.com

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18/05/2019 09:19

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May / June 2019

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Embracing digital fabrication It has taken almost 20 years for the building industry to widely adopt 3D modelling and espouse BIM processes in the design phase. By comparison, the move to the fabrication of buildings in factories is happening in a blink of an eye, writes Martyn Day

IMAGE COURTESY OF KATERRA

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he Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is undergoing a revolution; we live in the era in which we will likely see its complete digital transformation, from concept to fabrication. While many may think the adoption of BIM is an end in itself, moving from 2D to 3D was really only an initial phase in a longer digitisation process. It will eventually lead to computationally assisted design, automated manufacture and assembly. While this all sounds farfetched, we have seen this happen before, in the world of manufacturing. AEC’s destination is a case of history repeating itself. There are firms now racing to get the benefits of digital prefabrication, modular in mass production of buildings in mainstream markets - houses, offices, hotels - through the convergence of many technologies and processes appropriated from the rather more mature market of industrial-scale manufacturing, such as aerospace and automotive. To add fuel to the fire, there has been a huge level of interest and investment from Venture Capital firms hoping to back the ‘Tesla’ of buildings. This has led to a massive increase in the creation and development of ‘building factories’, with new start-ups and mature players all spending billions to be the first to dominate the market. In preparation for this article, I found all sorts of new wannabe building design and digital fabricators: FactoryOS, Katerra, D*Haus, Boklok, Go Modular, connect-home, Popup House, Cube Haus, Fabcab, Kiss house, Plant Prefab, Blokable, Module, Kasita, Fullstack Modular – to name but a few! Then there are the players who are already deeply invested in housing or functional buildings, like Marriott, or in the case of the UK, Berkley Homes, Legal and General and Ilke Homes. There will be at least six more factories for producing prefab buildings in the UK within the next three years. Additionally, many architecture firms have experimented with producing their own in-house modular teams/ May / June 2019

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Cover story

Hospital, designed brands and tried some form of many designs by Foster + by Nordic Office off-site construction with varyPartners, Zaha Hadid Architects of Architecture, ing degrees of success and failand others who turned to shipincludes a high level ure; many working with prefab builders and their CAD systems of repetition makers in China. and processes to fabricate largeThere have always been innovators in scale components for buildings. Frank the AEC space; few know that Thomas Gehry, who famously said he couldn’t find Edison (he of the Lightbulb and phono- the power switch on a computer, let alone graph) was absolutely fascinated with use one, has a team of experts who take his concrete and realised it could be used to paper models and use Dassault Systèmes’ make cheap housing. He set up a firm Catia to define the structure and digitise around a 1908 patent for cast-in-place the metal cutting so his practice can make concrete houses made from single-poured, a warped wall for the same price as a facades in reusable formwork. He didn’t straight one. What’s important here is that stop there; concrete roofs, partitions, bath Gehry chose to be outside of typical protubs, floors, picture frames and even a viders of architectural design tools, opting piano. He lost millions in the process, but for a system more commonly used in aeroit’s not a million miles away from fans space, automotive and shipbuilding wanting to see 3D printing buildings because the key benefit was in the digital onsite. But for the scope of this article, fabrication element. even I deem that 3D printed buildings will Prior to using this system to precisely be an atypical way of mass constructing model the structures, Gehry’s buildings complete buildings for quite some time. were seen as too high risk and cost to I will admit that there are cases where make, due to the complexity which gener3D printing has been used to great effect, ated wildly inflated quotes from fabricasuch as by Laing O’Rourke on the con- tors. When 2D drawings were dropped in crete panels at the new Crossrail stations. favour of explicit Catia models, Gehry’s Laing used a 6-axis gantry robot with a fabrication quotes all came in within 1% 3D printing attachment to make 1,400 of each other. moulds for the 36,000 concrete panels. In the mass market, there has obviously been a longstanding prefab building Digital Fabrication market and many, many attempts at modSignature architects, those pushing the ular modernist designs, but these have boundaries of form and materials, have always been niche. Very few of these have frequently had to look outside of the AEC benefitted from true digital fabrication, industry to fabricate components, with as they are more often assembled within amazing results. I’m thinking of Herzog a factory by builders and then shipped Du Meuron / Arup Sports’ Bird’s Nest onsite. This offers the benefit of rapid Stadium for the Chinese Olympics, or assembly onsite but keeps the inefficien-

May / June 2019

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cies of manual labour. However, connecting building design to digital fabrication has the potential to change the game, with automated cutting and configuration systems to enable customers’ design choices to be fed directly into the production system. The big drivers for this methodology have been in countries where timber-frame is popular, such as USA, Australia, Scandinavia, Switzerland and mainland Europe, ranging from ‘garden offices’ up to the famous German Huf-Haus and the ‘off-the-shelf’ Katerra 8 floor Office Blocks (the current tallest Cross-laminated timber (CLT) building is 18 storeys, 85.4 metre Mjøstårnet in Norway, by Voll Arkitekter). This concept is now catching fire even in countries without a strong history of prefabrication. In the UK, Legal and General and Berkeley Homes are building huge factories for the assembly of mass housing, requiring significant investment. These are just two of at least six UK house builders changing the way they will, in future, deliver residential new builds. This has gone beyond the early experiment stage and is now a race for house builders to improve their efficiency and adopt more automation. It will be interesting to see if timber frame takes off in the UK, and if timber frame will be acceptable to a population that has tended to shun wooden houses. Also, will they be mock Tudor, brick clad or will people want something more modern? Developers such as Urban Splash have built a number of developments using modern pre-fab aesthetics. www.AECmag.com

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The $4 billion ‘startup’

its own cross laminated timber been created with manufacturKaterra’s Apollo software suite covers When examining this movement to digi- factory and aiming to be one of ing and assembly from the outthe entire building tal fabrication, it’s perhaps best to look at the world’s leading suppliers. lifecycle set. The firm has its own intefrom inception one of the more extreme examples of a In fact, owning resources has and design to operation grated team of architects and firm which is attempting to significantly become a key part of the comengineers to define wall and change everything about the process, pany’s mix, having expanded from tim- floor systems, casework, bathroom, from the role of the developer, through ber frame assembly, to CLT production, kitchen kits, including multiple configurthe manufacture of the building, to its to steel frame and now having acquired a able elements, such as finishes. Each sale, rental and lifespan. concrete firm too, with eyes on markets design complies with 48 State building Katerra is a Silicon Valley design build in the Middle East and Beyond. and energy codes, comes with a complete firm, owned by Michael Marks, Jim In many respects, Katerra is aiming to bill of materials and provides developers Davidson and Fritz H Wolff. Marks was be a ‘Boeing’ of buildings. It will offer a with swift feasibility, permitting and cost former CEO and chairman of Flextronics range of scalable and configurable resi- estimates. (a huge electronics design, fabrication, dential and office designs, which can be But the company isn’t just stopping at assembly, and test company) and a former bought and ordered ‘off the peg’, or a range the building framework, it has completeinterim CEO to Tesla. The ly developed its own enercompany was only started gy efficient windows, reinin 2015 but has since trail- While BIM isn’t going to go away any time soon, vented the heating and blazed following significant system for each there are certainly rumblings in the heartland. cooling investment. It is now worth apartment and developed an estimated $4 billion. In In a digitally fabricated new world, today’s BIM its own AI-enabled power just four years it has grown cabinet for the whole tools will need to be rewritten or replaced to over 5,000 employees building. If the engineerand is working on $3.7 biling team finds an element lion worth of projects in the US alone - but of pre-configured modular parts, like floor of a building that can be improved, they rumour is that it may have ten times that systems which have multiple applications. seem inclined to do it. The packaging for in its global bookings pipeline. The company is refining its own end-to- the bathroom when shipped to site, even The aim of the company is to remove end production system, which utilises forms part of the installation. the inefficiencies in the construction manufacturing-level CNC precision, One of the interesting drawbacks to facindustry by defining its own processes to together with parts management, using tory-assembled buildings is quite surprishandle everything from the architectural IoT technology to track and deliver all the ing. Katerra’s dry walls contain everydesign of a building to off-site construc- flat pack assemblies and components nec- thing when shipped - electrical, plumbing, tion and installation. To do this it’s rely- essary onsite, requiring considerably less heating, controls - for quick assembly. ing heavily on new technology and auto- labour than before and enabling comple- Each State has different rules on building mation in its factories, as well as for site tion measured in days and weeks. inspection, but it’s usual that if a wall is development, schematic design, fabricaAEC Magazine attended the launch shipped out of State it has to be opened up tion of parts and onsite construction. event of its new building platforms in Las during construction so it can be inspected The scale of the company in terms of Vegas in February. We saw a number of and checked if it conforms to code. This is mass timber is really incredible, having residential and office designs which had like buying a Ford motor car in London

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May / June 2019

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Cover story

and driving to Scotland, only to be stopped to check its wiring conforms to UK specification. It’s clear that the building regulations and inspection needs to catch up with prefabricated components. The rapid rise of Katerra from 2015 to now, zero to working on $3.7 billion in projects, is just astounding. The reality is that it’s still early days for Katerra, which has really only just started to properly define its processes and it’s clear that a lot of what’s available, should that be building components or off the shelf software, will not be up to scratch, so they will develop it themselves.

ating platform with its own applications delivering ‘persistent data so teams can better execute timely decisions as well as increasingly automate tasks’. This software provides a source of persistent data with zero loss from program inception, across design, construction, and the duration of the building’s life. From what I can tell, the intention was to first develop an application, similar to Procore construction management software, for its own internal use, which will be the first offering to the development and building community, having proven it on its own process. Very soon afterwards, Apollo will add several other components. Apollo Insight for rapid site evaluation, automated site planning, early cost and schedule forecast, and 3D design analysis tools. Apollo Connect for material selection, design configurations and design review. Apollo Construct for construction management, budget and schedule tracking, centralised documentation. Apollo also features an open API for further 3rd party integrations. By all

tools at the design end, or possibly using one to drive the other. Revit’s family of parts methodology isn’t that far away from the way modular works. It would be possible to have a definition of an architectural model which linked to a pre-defined assembly in Catia. In fact, London-based Facit Homes (facit-homes.com) has already developed a system from which GCODE can be derived from the Revit model, for cutting on site in a shipping container although not at this scale. Bruce Bell’s view of factories to make buildings offers a very different perspective. He spoke last year at NXT BLD (nxtbld.com/videos/bruce-bell). Katerra and CAD Over the past year, our contact with We all know the AEC market has suffered Dassault has increased and there is a from tremendous inefficiencies. Building growing interest and excitement inside Information Modelling was seen as an the company about what Digital advance on old 2D systems because the 3D Fabrication means for the potential of its model could generate all the drawings solutions in the AEC market. Dassault legally required with co-ordinated told us it is working with six or more updates when edited. The additional benlarge modular fabricators to optimise efits of renderings, potential analysis and their design to fabrication processes, being a central repository for all relevant learning from automotive and aerospace. data has further excited the industry. The one key takeaway for me was that, However, and there really in today’s AEC world, all are no two ways of saying the concern is on digital this, all the BIM systems document or model manWe will see factories of robots producing currently on the market agement; it’s still all about buildings, factories with humans producing were never designed to PDFs and collaboration. In buildings, and mixtures thereof, but the trend a digital fabrication / modudrive a digital fabrication process, to actually gener- has to be towards full automation at some point lar world, it’s all about comate the GCODE that runs ponents, assemblies and CNC machines. They have process and this is throughpredominantly been written to address accounts the launch and feature set did out the fabrication and lifecycle of the the current workflows based around doc- not go down too well within Autodesk HQ. building. Product Lifecycle Management umentation. The phrase Digital Twin is Currently the backbone of Katerra’s (PLM), championed in the world of manunow being used in the context of BIM but development work has been Autodesk facturing, most certainly becomes a new the reality is that BIM models do not con- Revit, with models having to be exported key repository for factory-made buildings, tain enough information to be a real ‘twin’, and then fed/remodelled through a range and connections to other fabrication systhey are just geometrical representations, of other applications to get the Gcode tems like ERP for fabrication are essential, lacking fabrication level detail. required to drive the cutting machines. more essential than BIM. To drive fabrication machines, models As the process has become more autowould have to be created with a much mated, the building types larger, and the Design for Manufacture higher level of 1:1 detail and accuracy, a company relying more on digital fabrica- Another impactful role, in the drive for level which would quickly kill their per- tion, the gap between traditional BIM automation, resides with the initial formance and become unusable. Today’s capabilities and those required for manu- designers. If the architects have no conBIM tools will not provide an end-to-end facturing made for an interesting conver- cept of what is possible in the production solution for any digital fabricator, who sation with the design team. process, then they can create inefficientend to use manufacturing-based tools The topic turned to CAD systems such cies or devise assemblies which increase like Solidworks or Tekla Structures. as Dassault Systèmes’ Catia, the benefits the cost or reduce the quality of the finFrom talking to the Katerra team, the of which had not been lost on them. In a ished building. In the engineering world, company is re-evaluating its product conversation with the architectural team, it is still possible to find design engineers development technology stack and in fact the idea that you could model 1:1 with all who create product assemblies which the has hired a host of ex Autodesk employ- fabrication details, not have the system production engineers have to amend, to ees to join its software division. In the slow down to a crawl and be natively able enable the manufacture of components. same vein of developing or redeveloping to produce GCODE to drive manufacturThere will be very few architects who building equipment which it thought it ing, together with other downstream pro- fully understand the digital fabrication could do better, Katerra launched its cesses such as analysis, ERP, and PLM limitations of building fabrication sysintention to deliver what it calls, Apollo, a was an attractive thought, even if that tems. Design for Manufacture and cloud-based SaaS, which will be an oper- meant having less architectural flavoured Assembly (DFMa) is a separate discipline

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within itself and requires a holistic view of what is possible, what’s available and the cost implications of early design decisions such as processes, material use and serviceability. With growing use of computational tools and algorithms, it is becoming increasingly possible to produce complex geometry, which may benefit from new digital manufacture processes, such as 3D print or Knitcrete. The software could also be deployed to check designs for manufacturability, based on rules, or take a form and approximate it with the tools a digital manufacturer has. In the manufacturing world this is already possible; Autodesk has developed a system which can look at a part and optimise the geometry for the intended production process. Sand casting (cheap) would look dramatically different to metal 3D printed (expensive) but both would meet the functional criteria. I envisage a future where you could simply state the material for a building structure and the geometry would change based on whether it were timber or steel.

Flexible workflows The reality is there won’t be one correct way to implement digital fabrication in www.AECmag.com

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the building industry, because everyone currently involved is having to work it out for themselves. We will see single platform, end-to-end players like Katerra, who will develop and refine everything it needs. Then there will be firms that choose not to be software developers, relying on existing systems, a more componentised approach to design and assembly, and a network of suppliers for trusted components. We’ve already seen design teams create modular designs and then go off to find a fabricator to work with, knowing their skill is in the ideation and not in the fabrication. We will see factories of robots producing buildings, factories with humans producing buildings, and mixtures thereof, but the trend has to be towards full automation at some point, as it is in nearly every manufacturing industry. Not all factories are going to survive. As with all trends, we are seeing a glut of investment, as people are betting big on backing the big winners in a multi-trillion dollar industry. The benefit of today’s federated approach to designing construction is its flexibility in being adaptive to the ebbs and flows of building cycles, booms and busts. When you have an asset like a factory, it

1 Laing O’Rourke’s FreeFAB, a 3D printed formwork technology 2 ETH Zurich’s DFAB house, with steel reinforcement placed by robots 3 Urban Splash house factory 4 Factory_OS constructs modular units on a factory assembly line

really needs constant throughput to make economic sense. One only has to visit the old shipyards around Britain to see what happens when the orders dry up. Therefore, the factories for buildings need to be as flexible as possible to shift from low-cost residential, to offices, to hospitals, to schools, to universities to McMansions. Today’s digital tools, programmable robots and flexible design systems, should enable well-planned factories to be able to dynamically change to meet different economic winds.

CAD competition Looking at the current focus within the CAD world, there are two standout companies that see the potential of the digital fabrication market - Autodesk and Dassault Systèmes. Trimble does have strong capabilities in digital fabrication through the highly competent Tekla Structures but, May / June 2019

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with SketchUp, doesn’t have the same depth of functionality for front-end design. Other traditional CAD / BIM software developers are not vocal within the space. Bentley Systems MicroStation and Nemetschek Vectorworks both use the Parasolid solid modelling engine, which is inside Siemens PLM NX, a CAD tool used by many automotive and Aero companies, so the potential is there. Nemetschek is also progressing with McNeel Rhino for computational design. BricsCAD has the ACIS solid modeller and has a manufacturing feature set in the same tool, so also has some potential. There is also always the chance that Siemens PLM could enter the fray as DS’ main competitor in manufacturing and PLM. It already owns 9% of Bentley Systems and has some co-developed AEC tools, based around factories. PTC, another big player in the manufacturing space, has had aspirations in AEC before, but is showing no signs of re-kindling its interest (the company acquired Reflex from Dr Jonathan Ingram, which it then spun off with the developers who created Revit, which, in turn was bought by Autodesk). For now, we see Autodesk and DS jostling for position. Autodesk has Revit for

traditional AEC workflows, Dynamo and Maya for computational generation, Inventor and Fusion for manufacturing and has stated its vision to develop for digital fabrication in the building space. Dassault Systèmes owns Solidworks, which is already popular in architectural component manufacturing, and Catia, which is already used by Zaha Hadid Architects and Gehry and is certainly developing something with Vinci Construction, which remains top secret. It also has a range of limited AEC tools. The interesting thing here is that the strengths of these two main competitors are diametrically opposed. Autodesk is strong in AEC development to document, weak on large-scale digital fabrication. DS is strong in large-scale fabrication, engineering management, but weak in architectural design tools. Will the market opt for the manufacturing bias or the architectural design biased tools? Neither technology stack is quite perfect. This could be an epic battle between Titans.

Autodesk makes its play We talked with Robert Bray, Sr. Director Preconstruction at Autodesk, who is responsible for BIM360 Design and all

offerings around pre-construction, including Assemble Systems that it acquired last year. In January, Bray took ownership of a project that had been running for 18 months inside Autodesk, around the convergence of construction and manufacturing. This project, (for which they will not divulge the name), is not a commercial product yet but Bray said, “We are certainly headed that way and there is very much a need for an end-to-end solution because people today were solving it with bits and pieces. But the problem is, the data doesn’t flow between them very well at all, so there are a lot of manual reflows and remodelling. “I’ve been to see customers who are prefabricating at a very large scale, they are modelling in Revit, which they are very good at, but then they are handcrafting shop drawings and bills of materials because they just can’t get that level of detail out of Revit. “The problem I see, from an industry perspective, and the reason these firms are mainly taking a vertically integrated team approach, is because, if you’re going to build something in a modular way or in a componentised way, you pretty much have

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is renowned for using a plethora of design tools: Revit, Maya, Rhino, Grasshopper etc., and whatever digital skillsets are in each team determines the toolsets used. It’s perhaps best known for being one of the early adopters of ‘Digital Project’, an architectural flavour of Catia V5 which Gehry Technologies created. Digital Project was used to design the incredibly complex Guggenheim Museum Bilbao because the software was able to handle huge, complex geometrical forms and send data to be directly manufactured from. In 2014 Trimble bought Gehry Technologies. Catia persists in ZHA today although in the form of what Dassault Systèmes (DS) calls the latest version, the 3D Experience Platform (3DX). At a ‘BeyondBIM’ event in London earlier this

year, held by DS reseller Desktop Engineering, Cristiano Ceccato, associate director at ZHA gave an example of how modelling in precise detail enabled the architects to convince the construction firm for the Danjiang Bridge in Taiwan to trust their innovative design and enabled distributed collaboration based on a common platform in the construction process. The topic of collaboration was key for Ceccato and it’s not just about sharing models, but tracking changes, tracking issues and having all the information ‘unequivocally’ in the cloud. Also at the event, Michael Sims, lead designer at ZHA, gave a demonstration of how teams use cloud-based 3DX in R&D to create a BIM Level 2 + workflow. Given the complex geometry and detail of all ZHA buildings, the speed and power of Catia was self-evident. Sims admitted the learn-

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ing curve was ‘a bit steep’ leaving the file-based world. He also explained how ZHA works very early on with engineers and fabricators to establish the limits of the

design shape and how Catia is that common language. From talking with the ZHA speakers, there seems to be a feeling that the practice does want to standardise

on a single platform with one version of the truth, which easily links to fabricators and engineers with collaborative components. The idea is very compelling.

DANJIANG BRIDGE IMAGE COURTESY OF ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS AND MIR

Zaha Hadid Architects and Catia

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to design with that intent in mind, at the start. One of the things that we’ve been struggling with, and I’m just going to be brutally honest with you, is we’re struggling with how you reverse engineer a standard architect’s model, now how do you reverse engineer modularity? You literally can’t. You have a very ‘Dirty BIM’ and trying to reverse engineer modularity on that, it’s an incredibly difficult problem. Bray explained that his team are building a platform on top of Jim Awe’s Project Plasma (see last edition of AEC Magazine). Autodesk has a proof of concept that’s about 18 months into development, with considerable research and prototyping. The concept is that there is a design model, this could be BIM, or even a bunch of PDFs, the customer imports these into the platform and the software automatically creates what Autodesk calls ‘system structures’. These are lay out frames, a simple abstraction of all the geometry, decomposing the BIM into its elemental systems. From there, the system ingests the design criteria for the elements to be fabricated – this data will never come from the BIM model, it will be the specification, the manufacturing notes. “The second part of what we are doing”, Bray added, “is taking the parts content and using Inventor at the moment. We are using that to prototype with but we realise in the future, we need to be open. We recognise the amount of Solidworks out there. Then there’s some logic as to how those parts fit together using a rules-base engine, based on logic and the captured design criteria. We could then automate the generation of a curtain wall system which knows the constraints, or in fact that could be any panelised system. From all this we generate a fabrication solution, which will produce the BOM and the shop drawings.” I pointed out that this doesn’t stop any architect designing something that can’t be made or perhaps doesn’t exist. Bray replied, “That’s why firms that are doing this are vertically integrated, because at the end of the day, the only way this really works is if the designers are actually designing based on these parts catalogues that are robust, rich and have the fabrication of logic. So, my thinking is our initial target with all of this will likely be those already vertically integrated. That’s an easy target for us. Start with early proof of concept. We can work backwards towards broader industry after.” I raised the point of PLM being needed in the digital fabrication realm of AEC to manage the complex process. Bray said, www.AECmag.com

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“We need the part catalogue see a dramatic phase change in Urban Splash has built a number of content, and it really needs to be the industry within the next developments using managed inside of a PLM systen years. That said, one wonmodern pre-fab tem, whether that’s Fusion ders where all the talent and aesthetics Lifecycle, or some future other knowledge will come from, product, I don’t know yet. But there also possible we will see manufacturing engihas to be a way for this content to be neers enter the industry. shared and consumed with Revit. This is While traditional design build is nothwhere the Plasma workflows will really ing new, and is frequently looked down come in and help us make representations on, I think it’s a matter of when, not if, of this and use it in a different context.” this new segment sequesters a permaBray concluded, “We are working with nent percentage of the building market. a bunch of firms who are looking how to In the manufacturing space, aerospace optimise their process end-to-end. And led the way, driving its supply chains and we are building technology for them, not defining process. Similarly, I think leading in a one-off way, but we’re trying to get to advocates of digital fabrication will come a point where we feel like we have a value up with best practice. In manufacturing, proposition we can offer them that solves the software vendors learnt from aerosome subset of their problems and then space and codified these processes, for all start working outward.” to benefit. There will be design build firms who invest deeply and define their own Conclusion processes to make them Industry leaders. It only feels like yesterday that it seemed I suspect again the traditional CAD venBIM would finally revolutionise the dors will learn, codify and popularise best building industry and deliver the effi- practice. Until then everything is going to ciencies which it so sorely missed. I think be a little bit ‘Heath Robinson’, getting the reality of BIM is that it is a stepping tools to drive systems they were never stone to the automation and industriali- intended to work with. sation of mass-produced buildings. In a digitally fabricated world, the 1:1 fabrication model holds more value, than a Digital fabrication rough approximation. at NXT BLD on 11 June The current generation of popular tools were all designed to enhance the 19th-cenIf you’re interested in digital fabrication and tury workflow of documents in federated the topics raised by processes. While this isn’t going to go this article learn more away any time soon, there are certainly at NXT BLD in rumblings in the heartland. In a digitally London on 11 June. fabricated new world, today’s BIM tools You’ll hear from some will need to be rewritten or replaced. of the early adopters, including Katerra. Digital fabrication and modularisation ■ nxtbld.com bring lower cost, higher-quality, more speedily delivered solutions. We could May / June 2019

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Feature

Arch viz for everyone Epic Games has acquired Twinmotion, an easy-to-use arch viz tool powered by Unreal Engine. This is big news in itself, as it gives the company exactly what it needs to get its powerful game engine technology into the hands of architects, but the even bigger news is, it’s giving it away for free by Greg Corke

ast year Epic Games made a huge In short, it’s simply too complicated for under our noses, in the form of a thirdplay for the architectural visuali- your average architect - particularly when party product called Twinmotion. And sation market with the launch of compared to architect friendly viz tools today, Epic Games has acquired the softUnreal Studio beta. And it like Enscape, Lumion and LumenRT. ware from its developer Abvent for an sounds like it’s been a huge success. To Such tools offer optimised workflows undisclosed fee. Amazingly, it is making date, it has attracted 250,000 subscribers from BIM software and, with relatively the software completely free until and it’s still free to download until little effort, allow users to produce high November 2019. September 2019. quality visualisations with realistic mateUnreal Studio solved many of the work- rials, lighting, etc. and then to go into VR Viz for architects flow issues faced by those using the pow- at the push of a button. While Unreal Twinmotion is a mature viz tool designed erful game engine to create arch viz expe- Engine is great for creating polished ani- for architects and visualisers. The prodriences for desktop, mobile, AR and VR. mations and fully interactive experiences uct has been out for over a decade (we “We’re taking all the ‘boring’ work out of for marketing and presentations, it’s reviewed version 2 in 2011) but over the the process and giving users more time to much less suited to quick design valida- last couple of years the developers have be creative,” said Marc really stepped things up, Petit, Unreal Engine’s genintroducing live links to eral manager at its launch and ArchiCAD and If you’re an architect working in 3D, especially if Revit in March 2018. swapping out the original you use Revit or ArchiCAD, you’d be crazy not to real-time engine for At the heart of Unreal Studio was Datasmith, a take up this offer, even if the software initially sits Unreal Engine. toolkit that allowed users The workflow for archion a virtual shelf gathering dust to bring in Revit, tects is very slick. Simply SketchUp, Rhino, 3ds max click the “See in and other CAD / BIM Twinmotion” button in data, optimising and cleaning up geome- tion than these applications are. Revit or ArchiCAD and the entire project try along the way. The FBX file format In our conversations with Petit is synchronised in Twinmotion in a few was no longer the only viable route in throughout 2018 he maintained that the seconds. Once the data has been brought and, most importantly, Datasmith could objective at Epic Games Enterprise was in, it’s easy to use and even novices are also manage change. Users could import to make a tool that can be used by every- able to create compelling output with new revisions of BIM models and still body, not just viz specialists. At the time ease, including images, panoramas, videmaintain any investment they had made we couldn’t quite work out how this os and 360° videos. in their Unreal Engine scene. would be achieved with Unreal Engine as Scenes can be brought to life with All of this was great for design visualis- it was, particularly as Simon Jones, direc- dynamic vegetation, characters and vehiers as it dramatically reduced the amount tor, Unreal Engine Enterprise, ruled out cles as well as lights that simulate real or of work they needed to do. But Unreal the introduction of multiple versions of artificial lighting. There are 600+ Engine has a huge array of features and the software, say one for architectural Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) matethe interface can be bewildering to those visualisation, another for auto design. rials and an object library that includes used to traditional Windows applications. It turns out that the answer was right chairs, tables, furniture, street lights and

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Twinmotion supports animation and scenes can be filled with moving vehicles or pedestrians

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Feature

Twinmotion offers a push button workflow to VR. It supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and HP Mixed Reality headsets

street signs. There is also a phasing tool which comes with more than 90 construction objects, such as excavators and cranes, and allows you to view projects at different stages from ground breaking to final delivery. Twinmotion also offers an easy route into VR with a push button workflow. Users can also share 3D scenes through www.AECmag.com

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self-executable BIMmotion files that allow clients to navigate projects in real time or in VR without having to have Twinmotion installed on their machine. But arguably one of the most important features as far as Epic Games is concerned is that there will soon be a link between Twinmotion and Unreal Engine. This is a major step forward in its ambi-

tion to make Unreal Engine a hub for AEC data throughout the design process. It means an architect can start using viz from a very early stage for design validation or communication and then hand over the asset to a viz specialist for further development in Unreal Engine. This could be to improve visual quality, add interactions (such as opening doors or May / June 2019

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Feature

turning on lights) or for light baking, which pre-renders the scene in order to reduce the load on the GPU and improve 3D performance.

tual shelf gathering dust. But how long will Twinmotion 2019 remain useful? As one of the major attractions of the software is the way it works seamlessly with ArchiCAD and Revit, we wondered whether it would stop working to its full capabilities when architects upgrade to future versions of these BIM tools. Amazingly, the answer is no. Petit told us that the plan is to keep Twinmotion 2019 current with the latest CAD software releases. There really do appear to be no catches to this incredible time limited offer.

and grow the team, therefore pass the word, we’re hiring in Strasbourg! The team will naturally benefit from having a direct access to all of Epic Games’ resources.” When asked about specifics, Petit Free really does mean free remained fairly tight lipped, although he Epic Games has a long history of giving did confirm that there were plans for away software gratis. In the games mardirect synchronisation with other CAD / ket, Unreal Engine is completely free, and BIM tools, such as SketchUp or Rhino. developers only pay royalties on games We got a bit more out of Twinmotion’s that they sell. Martin Krasemann in our September 2018 When Epic Games told us under interview, although roadmaps could have embargo last week that it had some excitchanged since then. He said Nvidia RTX, ing news coming up for architects, we did the real time ray tracing technology, is predict this could be the expected to be in the next acquisition of release in Summer 2019. Twinmotion. What we Twinmotion 2019 feaTwinmotion looks to be a perfect fit for Epic didn’t see coming was tures a measurement Games, supporting its ambition to make Unreal that the software, which tool, which could be conpreviously cost €1,650 a sidered very basic design Engine an essential tool for the design process licence, would be given review and Krasemann away for free. confirmed there were Until November 2019 plans to increase this you can download Twinmotion 2019 on What next for Twinmotion? type of functionality. “We see a great Mac or PC for no cost and then continue Epic Games has big plans for interest in features for design and project to use it for as a long as you like, ‘no Twinmotion and will accelerate develop- review. You’re going to see more of that in strings attached’. This isn’t beta software ment so (one would presume) those that the next release,” he said. or a cut down version often seen in pro- take up the offer of the free software will We wonder if this might make use of mos like this; it’s a fully-featured soft- see compelling reasons to upgrade to a BIM data that is already retrieved during ware tool that has been available in the paid version in the future. the direct synchronisation with market for nearly a year. “The Twinmotion team under the ArchiCAD and Revit and made accessible If you’re an architect working in 3D, visionary leadership of Raphael Pierrat inside Twinmotion under the especially if you use Revit or ArchiCAD, has done a fantastic job, it will continue to Scenegraph panel. you’d be crazy not to take up this offer, focus on Twinmotion,” said Petit. “We In our previous discussions with Petit even if the software initially sits on a vir- plan to accelerate the pace of development he talked about the huge potential for

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Twinmotion features a huge library of physically-based materials, lights, vegetation, vehicles, characters and furniture

Unreal Engine in the AEC sector. He envisions it becoming part of design – an aggregation platform for colossal multidisciplinary models with support for features like clash detection and collaborative design review taking advantage of the built-in multiplayer gaming capability. “Right now, you aggregate in 3ds max and do a beautiful picture and aggregate in Navisworks to make all the decisions,” he said in our September 2018 interview. “People will soon realise they can do this in the same platform; it will generate a lot of saving.” We now wondered if Twinmotion would become the foundation for a more advanced product like the one he described last year but Petit says Epic Games is looking to keep things simple. “We see Twinmotion as a very generic presentation and storytelling tool, we plan to keep the interface simple so that it can be learned in a few minutes like it is today,” he said. “More advanced engineering and analysis workflows belong to Unreal Studio as users can tap into our Blueprint visual scripting system and access to BIM metadata.” Of course, development of a highly visual collaborative design tool doesn’t necessarily have to be done by Unreal’s Enterprise team. Epic Games is actively looking for third-party developers to bring industry-specific workflow expertise to the game engine. www.AECmag.com

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Our thoughts Twinmotion looks to be a perfect fit for Epic Games, supporting its ambition to make Unreal Engine an essential tool for the design process. Developing a tool like this from scratch would have taken years. Now Epic instantly has a mature architect-focused product to push out to market, plus a compelling message that any asset created in Twinmotion can then be developed further in Unreal Engine. The icing on the cake is that it’s currently completely free. When most software developers acquire a commercial product, it’s expected to deliver revenue immediately. But Epic is playing the long game here. It’s happy to seed the market now with the prospect of even bigger returns in the future. The timing of the deal is also critical as the AEC viz market hots up and key vendors make their moves. Last year, Epic’s main competitor, Unity, signed a deal with Autodesk to help data flow more freely between select Autodesk products, including Revit and 3ds Max, and its real-time Unity 3D development platform, which offers similar capabilities to Unreal Engine. Unity’s Mark Schoennagel told AEC Magazine last month that the goal is to make an official announcement about the new app at Autodesk University London, 18-19 June 2019.

We don’t yet know details of Unity’s developments in this space, but as the company is working with Autodesk at source code level, we know there will be very tight integration with geometry, meta data and textures flowing easily. But the big question is, are there any plans to make the new offering architect friendly? With Twinmotion, Epic Games certainly looks to have this covered. If you’re an architect using any kind of 3D CAD or BIM tool, on Mac or PC, we highly recommend you download it now and give it a go. For more details, and to download Twinmotion 2019 for free, visit ■ twinmotion.com

See Twinmotion in action at NXT BLD London Epic Games will be showing Twinmotion in the UK for the first time at NXT BLD in London on 11 June. Ken Pimentel from Epic Games will also be presenting the company’s vision for the future and how the multiplayer game Fortnite will change how AEC works – think smart cities, collaboration and digital fabrication. ■ nxtbld.com

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nxtbld.com

The future of AEC technology The construction industry is on the verge of a revolution which will change the way buildings are designed and built. New technologies are having a profound impact on architecture, engineering & construction. At NXT BLD you will find out how

EC Magazine’s NXT BLD is an open forum where architects, designers and construction professionals gather to hear from key developers, researchers and practices which are experimenting with revolutionary future technologies. This year’s event is bigger, featuring two conference streams and a larger exhibition space in its new home at the QEII Centre. The main stage will feature inspirational presentations on advanced architecture, digital fabrication, computational design, autonomous robots, 3D printing buildings, design for manufacture and lots more. There’ll also be a dedicated stream for design visualisation and VR, where topics include real-time viz, real time ray tracing, viz tools for architects and immersive design and collaboration (see page 35).

A new dawn The way in which buildings are being fabricated and constructed is changing dramatically, from robotic assembly of steel facades to 3D printing in situ. This will have a profound impact on architecture and design, a theme that will be explored by several of our main stage speakers . This includes Melike Altınısık (Melike Altınısık Architects), who has designed a building that will be built entirely by robots, Federico Rossi, who heads up

DARLAB (Digital Architecture & Robotic Lab), and Mariana Popescu (Block Research Group), who is exploring new forms of concrete design. Every aspect of building design, from materials supply to construction is being optimised by leading US firm Katerra. Richard Harpham and Abhijit Oak will share the company’s transformation strategy for the global construction industry, which combines cutting edge fabrication technology with its Apollo software platform, a suite of applications designed to support building projects and teams from beginning to end. Software is changing. Xavier De Kestelier (Hassell Studio) will show the ultimate example of optimised design to fabrication with a breathtaking 3D printed habitat on Mars. Meanwhile, Paul Ehret (Felix Construction) will explain how knowledge is being embedded in facade panels to facilitate better design productivity together with improved fabrication. Sophisticated computational design tools are also playing an increasingly important role as architects develop ever more complex forms to drive new construction techniques. Marc Fornes (Theverymany) will present leading research, designed to advance computational protocols and complex assemblies in architecture and beyond. You can see one example of his inspirational work on the facing page. It

Event details Tuesday 11 June 8:30am - 6:30pm (conference starts 9:45am) Queen Elizabeth II Centre 5th Floor (Cambridge / Windsor rooms) London, SW1P 3EE For a special 2-for-1 ticket offer see page 37. Conference program + more info | nxtbld.com

Marc Fornes Theverymany

Michael Perry Boston Dynamics

Melike Altınısık Melike Altınısık Architects

Marc Fornes’ Brooklyn Studio, Theverymany, is all about advancing computational protocols and complex assemblies in architecture and beyond. Over the last ten years it has designed and built a number of thin-shell pavilions, installations and building-scale works that push the limits of form, structure and space.

What if human-like mobility could be added to automation on construction sites? Michael Perry will answer this and more as he shares Boston Dynamics’ vision for applying robots to the challenges of sensing and manipulation. He will be joined by the SpotMini, a robot that can handle objects and climb stairs.

How would you build a museum for robots? With robots, of course. Melike Altinsik will talk innovation and share details of the Robot Science Museum in Seoul. One team of robots will assemble the museum’s curved metal facade. Another team will 3D print concrete for the surrounding landscape.

• Architecture / Comptuation / Fabrication 28

really is something to behold. Mariana Popescu is also using computational design to define her complex stay-inplace knitted formwork, leading to bold new architectural forms in concrete. There’s no escaping the fact that the robots are coming, whether that’s small autonomous machines that monitor construction progress or behemoths for fabrication on site and in factories. To say we’re excited to have Boston Dynamics’ autonomous SpotMini robot to visit us in person (Ed: In person? A robot?) would be an understatement. You’ll learn how human-like mobility can bring automation to construction sites — think monitoring building progress through laser scanning, plus lots more. You’ll also see the incredible four-legged machine navigate the throngs on the NXT BLD exhibition floor (see page 34 for exhibitor information). We’re secretly hoping Boston Dynamics will train it to serve drinks at the networking reception!

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• Robots / Reality Capture / Construction

• Architecture / Robots / Drones / Fabrication www.AECmag.com

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London 11 June 2019 THEVERYMANY BOOLEAN OPERATOR - CREDIT NAARO

Marc Fornes, Theverymany, will explore advanced computational protocols and complex assemblies in architecture and beyond

Richard Harpham Katerra

Abhijit Oak Katerra

Carlos Cristerna Neoscape

Richard is VP Software Products at Katerra, who believes that better, faster, cheaper building projects are long overdue and that the global construction industry is ready for change, moving beyond incremental fixes to an era where every aspect of building design, materials supply, and construction is optimised.

Abhijit runs software development at Katerra. He developed the Katerra Apollo software platform, designed to support the entire lifecycle of the building process. It manages all critical resources – cost, schedule, teams, and materials – all through one persistent data stream, for better productivity and collaboration.

Carlos has over 15 years’ experience in arch viz and leads research and development at Neoscape. He will reveal how the New York agency uses real time raytracing (Nvidia RTX) and its impact on the internal design and decision making process, as well as its clients. Tools include 3ds max, V-Ray and UE4.

• Design / Digital Fabrication / Modular www.AECmag.com

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• Design / Digital Fabrication / Modular

• Arch Viz / Real Time Ray Tracing / RTX May / June 2019

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Cobus Bothma Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)

Federico Rossi DARLAB

Mariana Popescu Block Research Group

Cobus Bothma is Applied Research Director at KPF and is involved in many aspects of advanced design, visualisation, and geometry. At NXT BLD he will explore KPF’s visual design workflows to enhance the process of design and design review both internally as well as for its clients.

Federico heads up the robotic fabrication laboratory – DARLAB (Digital Architecture & Robotic Lab) research platform that aims to expand the boundaries of architectural practice. He has extensive experience working in various practices in London including Nigel Coates, SOM and Zaha Hadid Architects

Mariana is an architect and PhD researcher at the Block Research Group. Her research focuses on the development of KnitCrete, a costeffective formwork system for casting of doubly curved geometries in concrete. The technology was used recently a pavilion designed in collaboration with Zaha Hadid Architects

• Arch Viz / Real Time Ray Tracing / RTX 30

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• Robotic Fabrication / Architecture

• Architecture / Computation / Fabrication www.AECmag.com

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London 11 June 2019 IMAGE COURTESY OF MELIKE ALTINISIK ARCHITECTS

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Melike Altinsik will talk innovation and share details of the Robot Science Museum in Seoul. One team of robots will assemble the museum’s curved metal facade. Another team will 3D print concrete for the surrounding landscape

1 Melike Altınısık will be coming from Istanbul to highlight her methodology and approach to using technology and innovation to change the construction of her projects, including this amazing Robot Science Museum in Seoul 2 Lenovo will be offering advice on the latest AR/VR technologies and showcasing its ThinkStation workstations. This will include new desktop and mobile models with Nvidia Quadro RTX technology that can dramatically accelerate ray tracing and VR

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Hilmar Gunnarsson Arkio

Johan Hanegraaf Arkio

Mike Leach Lenovo

Hilmar is the founder of Arkio, a collaborative VR/AR design tool that allows designers to quickly prototype and validate designs with project stakeholders, wherever they are in the world. Designers can sketch out buildings and entire urban plans while experiencing and adjusting their designs at human scale

Johan presented his R&D project at NXT BLD in 2017, a VR design tool based on Unity. He has now joined Arkio, a startup creating a unique collaborative VR/AR design tool for architects. On stage he will lead a live, multiperson demonstration of how Arkio can be used for collaborative design.

With use cases of AR/ VR exploding and HMDs ranging in features and price tag, it’s hard to know what solution works best for your budget and workflow. Mike Leach will help you navigate the challenges surrounding AR/ VR hardware and the impact workstations have on creating and experiencing AR/VR

• VR / AR / Collaborative Design www.AECmag.com

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• VR / AR / Collaborative Design

Workstation / AR / Workstations technology / Graphics • VR

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THEVERYMANY MINIMA MAXIMA - CREDIT NAARO

IMAGE COURTESY OF PHILIPPE BLOCK

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Sophisticated computational design tools are playing an increasingly important role as architects develop ever more complex forms to drive new construction techniques

’’

Ken Pimentel Epic Games

Sandeep Gupte Nvidia

Xavier De Kestelier Hassell Studio

Ken Pimentel, AEC Industry Manager at Epic Games, will review how Fortnite, the hugely popular game built with Unreal Engine, is also fueling the adoption of the game engine in the AEC sector. This goes beyond visualisation of high fidelity images and into the realms of design, digital twins, smart cities and more.

Sandeep Gupte will explore how real-time ray tracing, engineering simulation, virtual reality and AI-enabled applications are transforming AEC design workflows and empowering users to re-imagine cities of the future. Sandeep is a senior director in Nvidia’s professional visualisation business.

Xavier is head of design technology and innovation at Hassell. He will present the international design practice’s human habitation on Mars project, which relies on sophisticated parametric design and intelligent autonomous robots with interchangeable roles, from battery storage to scout excavation and 3D printing units.

• Arch Viz / Real Time Ray Tracing / RTX 32

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• Real Time Ray Tracing / GPUs / AI / VR

• Parametric Design / 3D Printing Buildings www.AECmag.com

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London 11 June 2019 IMAGE COURTESY OF NVIDIA

1 Learn from Marc Fornes how Theverymany uses advanced computation and complex assemblies to design and fabricate innovative architecture 2 How can we create new architectural forms in concrete? Find out from Mariana Popescu 3 Find out how real time ray tracing is set to change the rules for design visualisation

Paul Ehret Felix Constructions

Moritz Luck Enscape

Nassim Saoud Trimble Consulting

Paul Ehret was one of the founders of Gehry Technologies in 2008 and then moved to Zaha Hadid Architects. More recently he joined Felix Constructions, a Swiss-based facade company specialising in semi-standard and highly performative elements, in order to implement digital processes and methods.

Moritz Luck will present the latest developments in design visualisation, including real-time ray tracing. Mortiz is cofounder and managing director of Enscape, a technology company developing real-time rendering & VR software for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry.

Nassim Saoud is an architect and service director at Trimble Consulting (formerly Gehry Technologies). He has a vast experience in Virtual Design and Construction methods. At NXT BLD he will explore the latest VR and AR developments and future applications for Microsoft HoloLens.

• Digital fabrication / Facade Design www.AECmag.com

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• Real Time Viz / Viz For Architects / RTX

• AR / VR / Virtual Construction May / June 2019

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Get hands-on with the latest technology NXT BLD isn’t just a conference; it’s an incredible opportunity to get hands on with the latest tech in our dedicated exhibition. Whether you’re starting out in arch viz / VR, want to push your workflows to the limit, or simply explore new tech for collaboration and more, then you’re in for a treat. Lenovo will showcase its latest ThinkStation workstations, including new desktop and mobile models with Nvidia Quadro RTX technology that can dramatically accelerate real time ray tracing and VR. Unreal Engine will show how you take your designs from BIM into real time / VR with Unreal Studio and Twinmotion, its new, completely free, easy-to-use tool for architects. Enscape will demonstrate the latest developments for its real-time rendering and VR tool, including real time RTX ray tracing. Tridify will show how to take BIM models, complete with BIM data into Unity and XR (VR, AR and MR) using its cloud service.

Symmetry will be demonstrating its VR workflow tool for architects and designers that bridges the gap between ideas and reality. Arkio will invite you to try out its brand new collaborative design tool that lets multiple participants model directly inside VR. Revizto, will present its real-time issue tracking software that focuses on collaboration and BIM project coordination. bimstore will showcase its new bimstore 4.0 platform that allows users to connect, share and learn + high quality manufacturer objects. Bluesky will be showing how to get the most out of its geospatial datasets for precision planning, analysis and interrogation. Cadline will be providing guidance on the latest design, analysis, data management, collaboration and business process platforms. Dalux will demonstrate how its BIM Viewer helps improve visibility on construction sites, increase productivity and reduce errors. Kenesto will introduce its cloud-based document management solution that offers sharing, collaboration and viewing for SMEs.

Xinaps will show Verifi3D, a cloud solution for real-time building model data validation. More details and more exhibitors can be found at nxtbld.com/exhibitors

1 Enscape, the real-time rendering & VR tool, features a live link to Revit, SketchUp and Rhino 2 Arkio is a brand new collaborative design tool that lets multiple participants model directly inside VR. It’s so new, in fact, that this is possibly the first UI image that’s been seen in public 3 Real time viz and VR tool Twinmotion is powered by Unreal Engine and offers live links to Revit and ArchiCAD. Now under the ownership of Epic Games, it is completely free 4 Nvidia will explain how exciting new technologies, including real time ray tracing, are transforming AEC design workflows

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www.AECmag.com

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London 11 June 2019

IMAGE COURTESY OF NVIDIA

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Real time ray tracing promises to have a huge impact on arch viz, not just for polished presentations but for design validation with easy-to-use, push button tools

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Arch viz / VR - a dedicated conference stream for experts and novices For the first time, NXT BLD will feature a dedicated conference stream for design visualisation and VR that runs in parallel to the main stage presentations. One of the central themes will be real-time ray-tracing, the holy grail of design visualisation, powered by Nvidia RTX technology. Ray tracing has historically been slow, taking minutes or hours to render a single frame. Being able to get results in ‘real time’ promises to have

a huge impact on architectural visualisation, not just for polished presentations but for design validation with easy-to-use push-button tools designed for architects. You’ll hear from Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) on how the global architectural practice is using real time viz to enhance design and design review, and from leading New York Studio Neoscape on how it is pushing the boundaries of ray tracing. Enscape will show how Nvidia

www.AECmag.com

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RTX technology is being applied to its architect-friendly real-time viz tool and Nvidia will explore how real-time ray tracing, engineering simulation, VR and AI will help AEC firms reimagine the cities of the future. From Epic Games, discover how Fortnite, powered by Unreal Engine, will change AEC & urban design. The company will also present Twinmotion, an architect friendly viz and VR tool which it is giving away completely free (see page 22).

Lenovo will help you choose your path into VR/AR with expert advice on the latest headsets and workstation technologies. And if you want to try out these tools and more, you’ll also be able to get hands-on with the latest technologies from Epic Games, Enscape, Tridify, Symmetry, Revizto Lenovo and Nvidia in our exhibition. More details and more presentations can be found at nxtbld.com

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The way buildings are being constructed is changing dramatically, from robotic assembly of steel facades to 3D printing in situ, even in challenging environments like Mars. This will have a profound impact on architecture and design

IMAGES COURTESY OF HASSELL + EOC

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London 11 June 2019

The robots are coming - well, they’re already here, in fact, and heading to NXT BLD Boston Dynamics’ SpotMini will be roaming the show floor and appearing on stage with Michael Perry as he explains how the autonomous robot’s human-like mobility can bring automation to construction sites. Think monitoring building progress through laser scanning, plus lots more

‘‘

The robots are coming, whether that’s small autonomous machines that monitor construction progress or behemoths for fabrication on site and in factories

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How can we support life on Mars? Hassell Studio will share details of its NASA competition project, exploring how a human habitat could be delivered on Mars using autonomous 3D printing

www.AECmag.com

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Watch the presentations from NXT BLD 2017/18

Exclusive 2-for-1 offer for AEC Magazine readers

To help get you in the mood for NXT BLD 2019, all of the videos from our past events are available now at nxtbld.com/videos Highlights include Tim Geurtjens (MX3D) on 3D printing structural metal objects, Bruce Bell (Facit Homes) on Digital Construction, Hedwig Heinsman (Aectual) on 3D printed building products, and Stefana Parascho and Arthur Mamou Mani on robotic construction.

For readers of AEC Magazine, we are offering a strictly limited number of tickets on a special 2-for-1 offer. Simply use the promotional code 241AEC and you can pick up a pair for £65. Tickets include full access to the conference and exhibition, refreshments, lunch and drinks at the networking reception. When they’re gone, they’re gone. nxtbld.com/buy-tickets

2-for-1 tickets

May / June 2019

17/05/2019 16:55

Interview

Graphisoft’s new CEO With the London launch of ArchiCAD 23, AEC Magazine had the chance to catch up with Graphisoft’s new CEO of two months, Huw Roberts, to capture his thoughts on the company and the BIM market

raphisoft was originally founded in 1982 by Hungarian software developer Gábor Bojár. Bojár was the head of a mathematical department in the Geophysical Institute of Budapest, where he developed terrain modelling software on microcomputers. Apple’s Steve Jobs saw the early developments in 2D/3D architectural CAD that Bojár had made. He was so impressed that he shipped him an Apple computer, which had to be smuggled into the country, as it was behind the Iron Curtain at the time. This development became ArchiCAD, the first desktop BIM system. Since then Graphisoft was sold to Nemetschek, a holding company for many brands, such as Solibri and Maxon, and has gone on to be a key global player in the architectural movement from 2D drafting to 3D modelling. Now in its 23rd release, ArchiCAD runs on both Mac and PC and competes head on with Autodesk Revit. Huw Roberts recently took over the reins of the company from Viktor Várkonyi, who has since moved up to become chief division officer at the Nemetschek Group. In his ten-year tenure as CEO, Várkonyi tripled the company’s revenues and took it into new regions, primarily in Asia and South America. AEC Magazine has known industry veteran Huw Roberts for almost 20 years, as previously he was global VP of marketing for Bentley Systems’ portfolio of AEC products, from TriForma to MicroStation and Projectwise, and was responsible for forming strong partnerships in the industry. Roberts is a trained 38

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architect and still proudly keeps his licence to practice. He is a former chairman of the Technology in Practice committee at the AIA and prior to joining Graphisoft last year (initially as VP of Americas) he was Chief Marketing Officer at BlueCielo, a European CDE developer. He brings a lot of American marketing experience to the role. AEC Magazine: What are your plans for Graphisoft? Huw Roberts: I started with Graphisoft in September (2018) and was initially focussed on learning the company, learning our customer base and seeing how we position ourselves in the market. Two months ago I took over as CEO, so I’m still early in my observations, but we are going to keep our approach to business by continuing to focus on the core of what we’re great at and that’s delivering great software for architects and designers, expanding the capabilities of ArchiCAD and our commitment to OpenBIM. The company is in a really good place; not just Graphisoft and ArchiCAD, but as a key component in the Nemetschek portfolio of companies. We have a broad range of technologies for the desktop, mobile and cloud, adding value across the AEC market. Looking at where we’re going to grow, we have to anticipate where the market is going and what will benefit our industry next and be ahead of that change. AEC: What got you into the BIM world? HW: Before I worked in the architectural software world, I was an architect and

I am still an architect. I ran a studio in one of the largest US firms based in Philadelphia. I used to design hospitals, sports facilities, large and complex projects – and I pushed the available technology to its limits. My interest in technology grew and I got involved with all the professional organisations in my space, especially the AIA, in trying to work out best practices for how we should collaborate and share data between disciplines. I’m a strong believer in community and open standards. While at Bentley Systems, I continued this with international organisations like RIBA, Construction and Owner organisations, the Smart Geometry group and buildingSMART. AEC: What are the key barriers to successful implementation of BIM? HW: Being a global company we can see how there are different levels of success with and adoption of technology in all geographies, and we have the opportunity to see those different pieces and start connecting the dots. I like the William Gibson quote that ‘the future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed’, and I think that’s certainly the case in our industry. There are fantastic things happening, but they’re spread out. Our job is to see the larger landscape and share that knowledge with our customers through our relationships and see how we can fold that back into the software to bring benefits to all our customers around the world. So in effect a lack of awareness or education is the main issue. www.AECmag.com

17/05/2019 16:43

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Forget thinking of IFC as just a file format, start thinking of intelligent workflows for sharing information amongst software tools, technologies such as smart devices, digital twin buildings, AI, digital manufacturing

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AEC: Graphisoft scores highly on customer satisfaction. What’s the secret? HW: I think it’s central to Graphisoft’s culture to be customer focused. We’re not going to succeed by playing business games with our customers or trying to lock people into software. We’re not trying to manipulate the market with a business model. Our central focus is to understand what we can do to help our customers succeed. It’s actually fundamentally really refreshing to me, to see how dedicated the company is to that approach, across the team in Graphisoft HQ and around the world. I think that’s kind of a driving principle for us to just add value as our approach to opportunities in the market. AEC: What changes will you make to the company? HW: Graphisoft, as a company is strong, we are having good business success, we have good financial performance, good customer satisfaction, good growth -but perhaps we are not particularly publicly bold or proud of that. We don’t market strongly; we could better leverage that strength. I’ve been in this industry for 30 years and when I look at the numbers and I look at the status of ArchiCAD in the architectural BIM market as number one or number two in most of the major markets in the world and, in many of those number two spots, we are on a trajectory to take over number one. I think it’s our job to actually leverage and build on that strength, and to promote that strength to validate our customer’s choice. We should do a better job www.AECmag.com

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of broadcasting and being proud about that, so we’re going to start cranking things up to 11 to go Spinal Tap on you! In addition, while there’s a lot of really successful implementations of ArchiCAD in the professions, we need to see how we can accelerate this out to other users, and here maybe, the most powerful force is not actually the technology it’s the human brain, helping people learn from each other, understanding how to apply these technologies and methodologies. So we’re looking at aligning the learning offerings we could provide customers to where they are in the process – and delivering them on demand, in person, online in a large format, short format, just in time, all to help customers make the most from applying the technology The other thing that I think is important to the industry (and I’m proud of the Graphisoft attitude) is support of OpenBIM workflows. The Nemetschek group at a recent buildingSMART international conference, held in Dusseldorf in March, helped drive through a set of principles an extension of the OpenBIM approach and philosophy to all the participating software companies that were there. This wasn’t just about software or APIs, but about the behaviour of the software companies. We all know that a software company could say “Yes we support IFC, it only takes 40 minutes to open that file in our software” That’s not real, that’s fake. That’s a checkbox on a marketing brochure, to pretend that you are supporting Open BIM. Software firms have to actually commit to it and make it practical and promote it as the preferred method of sharing, rath-

er than something a software company feels it has to do. We propose that members of the buildingSMART organisation internationally commit to that approach. Forget thinking of IFC as a just a file format, start thinking of intelligent workflows for sharing information amongst software tools, technologies such as smart devices, digital twin buildings, AI, digital manufacturing. There’s all sorts of things beyond BIM models that need the same open mindset across the industry if it’s going to advance properly. AEC: Any particular areas where BIM workflows needs to do better? HW: As you move information through a building’s lifecycle there are these discontinuity points where information is ‘thrown over the wall’ to the next phase or the next participant in the design. There are all sorts of reasons for this; legal, process, and technical reasons through all the phases as information moves between subcontractors, designers, engineers, it goes out to bid and tender, comes back again, then it drops down to the general contractor and the construction team, and finally gets to the owner for operations. It’s a very well understood and inefficient challenge across our industry. I think that the goal is to try to enable as integrated teamwork as possible. Achieving full workflow transparency and free flow of information at these points in the process and to solve these challenges will require a combination of technologies to find a solution in conjunction to changes in the legal and contractMay / June 2019

17/05/2019 16:43

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13/03/2019 09:20:16

Interview 1

1 ArchiCAD 23 introduces a new opening tool dedicated to modelling and coordinating project design voids, recesses and niches 2 ArchiCAD 23 features reengineered column and beam tools that enable architects to model faster and create accurate construction details and quantity estimations

ing systems, especially concerning liability. Most of the thinking in this regard has been done at a document level bid documents, design documents, engineering calculations, building codes, whatever… but these big transaction dumps are a big kind of block to information flow. Our vision is to not only think about the problem at that level, to not think of these big monolithic transactions as the primary method of getting asset information through that lifecycle. We think it’s not just at a project level, or even at an element level. Our approach is to make the information exchanges at the attribute level and to give customers dynamic control in a practical and effective way. AEC: There have been changes within Nemetschek with a more coordinated front at exhibitions. What’s driving this? HW: To date, the Nemetschek Group has kind of been a holding company for an array of different businesses that operate on their own and we are still discreet and separate businesses. However, simultaneously to my taking over as CEO at Graphisoft, we’ve done a reorganisation of the Nemetschek Group which better integrates the brand CEOs for better collaboration. It will allow us to figure out our synergies between the brands with a focus on our shared customers. We can better discover areas that are not internally competitive where we can add value and share information, we can share our roadmaps and some of our ‘secrets’ a little bit more than we can with the outside world. We’re going to take advantage of this in a big way. Of course, we also want to continue expanding our integration with www.AECmag.com

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companies that are not Nemetschek Group as well.

the

AEC: What will be your approach to development? HW: On the first day I was in Budapest, Gábor Bojár, the company founder, gave me a copy of his book about the history of Graphisoft and very proudly highlighted that Graphisoft invented BIM and so we are founded on innovation. But 1984 is a long time ago and we are still innovating at a healthy pace. Great things are coming! I want to look at how we can accelerate that and how we can make sure innovation meets and anticipates customers’ needs. We’re going to be tackling this on three fronts. First, within the product, where we have a great team understanding the feedback wishes from our customers and the market, and we will continue advancing the product as you are familiar with.

Second, we have an exciting set of new technologies which we will be presenting at our Key Customer Conference in Vegas in June. And thirdly, we are going to do a lot more with our Labs initiatives, looking at all sorts of interesting areas like IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and more where there are some amazing potentials. It’s all about us learning how we can best apply these disruptive opportunities in useful ways to add value to what customers are trying to achieve. So, our job is to continually add value to what we offer our customers so that they can be successful in producing great buildings and competing more effectively. We do that by continually learning about new technologies, new industry trends, new challenges and opportunities architects face, and delivering innovations that really add value to our customers. I’m very excited for the future we will be building together. ■ graphisoft.com

May / June 2019

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Virtual learning 42

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Paul Tallon, design and visualisation Manager at the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC) in Huddersfield, talks us through the process of building a virtual, to-scale version of the University of Huddersfieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus using ever-evolving 3D technology and drone data www.AECmag.com

16/05/2019 07:48

Case study

echnology is advancing at an incredible rate and as a designer it’s crucial to stay ahead of the game and embrace new advancements to enhance our work. A couple of years ago my team started a project with the University of Huddersfield, well known for its striking buildings, to create a ‘virtual campus’ that could be viewed on screen or on a VR headset anywhere in the world. A campus that was realistic and allowed prospective students to explore www.AECmag.com

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Still taken from and get information about their often varied and on occasion, the Huddersfield courses, facilities and even inaccurate. Using electronic University campus advice from staff. data and paper plans, suppleUnreal Engine We were fortunate to get hold mented with photographic visualisation of the original architect’s 2D reconnaissance, we could capplans of each campus building from the ture precise details, colours and comparilocal authority and the University’s sons between neighbouring buildings. Estates department. Usually this infor- Each building has its own character, mation is available from planning appli- ranging from Victorian gothic stone to cations, however the campus has evolved contemporary glass and concrete. so much over the years and meant that Converting the records into CAD forthe format, scale and completeness was mat enabled us to correct any errors, get

May / June 2019

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BIM Product of the Year ARCHICAD 22 delivers design tool improvements and also introduces enhanced design workflow processes. These represent significant performance improvements as well as productivity enhancements to its core design processes as well as to multidisciplinary collaborative workflows. For further information on ARCHICAD 22 contact GRAPHISOFT at graphisoft.com or call 01895 527590.

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Case study

1 3D visualisation of Huddersfield Train Station 2 Initial 3D models before rendering process 3 2D architects’ plans from Kirklees Council and the University of Huddersfield

consistent scales and build a portfolio covering every building on campus. These were modelled in 3ds max and then scaled using a current map of the town to ensure the correct gauge. We also captured other Huddersfield buildings, such as its iconic train station and Victorian bank buildings. Working with a qualified and licensed drone pilot and with the permission of the University, using pre-submitted flight plans, we carried out a comprehensive aerial scan early on a Sunday when the campus was deserted. Using photogrammetry to process the photos, this provided us with a 3D mesh of the area and an accurate ‘footprint’ of every building. The buildings we had modelled accurately from plans could then be matched to the drone scan data so they could be positioned precisely to the exact scale and relative to their neighbours. Initial versions of each building were modelled with all the structural details but left white or grey. Each building was rendered with colours, materials and textures to provide an accurate, photorealistic structure in the virtual campus. Pavements, grass and trees were also added to give virtual depth and realism. Although this method was effective, it produced a very dense mesh containing many thousands of polygons - around 4 gigabytes of data and over 12 million triangulated points. It was too bulky to handle efficiently so we restructured the area in a more GPU/CPU friendly polygonal form. It took us roughly two to three days of modelling per building, but once this was achieved we converted them to an FBX file format, built out a fully rendered version of the campus and then put into a www.AECmag.com

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Case study

Bird’s eye view of game engine - Unreal Engine. rate detail (roughly 13 microns the University of You can walk around the per layer). 3D printing the Huddersfield campus buildings and also use an captured using drones buildings needed to be reconOculus or any VR headset to sidered for their wall thicknavigate around campus. This benefits nesses and facade orientations ensuring Building Information Modelling (BIM) as that they faced in the right direction and we can add in functionality as and when that their walls were the correct thickwe need it; for example, for disabled ness for printing to avoid warping. This users we can change the viewing height was particularly important to help us and the gait of the character to see how understand the scales between buildings they can interact with the buildings. when printed out. We recently started using the Lumion The possibilities with these advancing 9 software, a new addition to technologies are endless and Revised render of our arsenal that offers a much can be adapted to enhance the University’s main faster pipeline. It has has town planning projects or BIM courtyard using Lumion 9 software allowed us to improve on our and can also be used on variety previous work and add even greater levels of photorealism to the visuals. Using this software, new buildings can be added, even at the concept stage and we can assess the potential impact on the built environment or neighbours as part of the planning process. 3D printed models of buildings have also been created of each of the buildings. Sometimes a physical 3D model makes it easier for the client to understand the dimensions of their building in relation to existing buildings. We also find it helps when designing process models and printing in 3D; the client can get to grips and quickly re arrange the “ elements” to have a new design. We used the 3D Systems ProJet 2500 to print in SLA as this gives the most accu-

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of platforms. We are working with companies such as Value Chain based at the 3M BIC, that can map data sets, such as footfall onto the physical model of the campus and accurately pinpoint where students move across campus. This is something we are looking at developing in the next phase of the project using an avatar of the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan. Using a scan of his head and shoulders by means of the 3M BIC’s Artec Eva Spider handheld scanner we can implement this avatar to give users a virtual tour across campus in different languages. ■ 3mbic.com

May / June 2019

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Feature

Out of the shadows The race for enterprise VR is heating up. Stephen Holmes gets hands-on with Varjo’s first headset and discovers an experience that goes far beyond anything he’s seen before

hile the low-end consumer others we’ve tried (the kerb weight is 905g, scene truly pays off here. market for virtual reality compared to the 550g of the HTC Vive The depth of field created by the effect (VR) headsets has become Pro), but given the quality of fit, it makes of peripheral vision soon becomes seca mass-produced race to little difference once you’re strapped in. ond nature, just as it does with human the bottom, vendors developing new techTwo eye surrounds come as standard: sight, and adds an extra degree of realism nologies have shifted their sights away a spacious universal fit that can accom- to the experience. from mere entertainment, to focus on the modate a wearer’s thick-rimmed spectaneeds of high-end professional users. cles; and a tighter fit that narrows the Eye-tracking capabilities Varjo, meaning ‘shadow’ in Finnish, is perspective and brings the user closer to High resolution is just the first trick up a good example: its VR-1 head-mounted the action. Varjo’s sleeve. Its proprietary eye-tracking display (HMD) has an effective resolution The VR-1’s ‘human eye resolution’ technology adds another string to this of 50 megapixels per eye, over twenty- capability works just as the name sug- device’s bow and gives a tantalising times that of consumer devices. gests: an item in the centre of the viewing glimpse of the direction of travel for VR. With that in mind, the company is window is seen in rich detail, while those After a pleasingly brief calibration setfocused purely on industrial sectors in the periphery are presented at similar up (you only need to focus on half a requiring pin-sharp visual fidelity, resolution to other high-end HMDs. dozen dots, and you’re done), a demo including architects, automotive and The VR-1 does this by using two differ- seats you in a virtual airport control product designers. ent displays within the headset: the high tower, whereby your eye movement highThe design of its headset owes much to pixel density ‘focus window’ in the cen- lights different vehicles and buildings, a pedigree that stretches back bringing up useful information further than its February 2019 or activating animations. launch might suggest. At present, this might seem Stitching and the grain of leather In fact, the Varjo team came like a slightly gimmicky sideout of Nokia and its ill-fated furniture and the exact finish of concrete show, but Varjo’s aim is to evenwalls pop into life in realistic detail acquisition by Microsoft. Its tually match up the VR-1’s highmembers helped to develop the resolution focus window with latter’s HoloLens mixed reality its eye-tracking capabilities, to headset for the enterprise sector, before tre, and the ‘context display’ for the more closely mimic human sight and add leaving to set up on their own, raising peripheral vision, with the images from true depth and realism to immersive expesome impressive funding along the way. both displays blended together. riences. This is truly the Holy Grail for The fruits of this can now be seen in the It takes a little time to get used to this VR, and achieving it will require further VR-1. It’s a polished product, in many sens- set-up and some deliberate head move- hardware and software development. es. A mirror-finish front gives it a strong ment is required to position the focus For now, the next step on the horizon is visual identity in a market crowded with window on what you want to examine in an augmented reality (AR) upgrade, matte black plastic. And careful thought detail, but the rewards are great in terms whereby the mirrored front of the existing has clearly gone into materials, fit and the of clarity and resolution. HMD pops off, and the VR-1 can be used to process of putting the headset on: a selfIn short, it quickly becomes clear why overlay digital content on the real world, tightening headband mechanism makes it the VR-1 should be on the wish list of with its eye-tracking proving useful in a fast and simple to achieve a comfortable fit, anyone working in high-end visualisa- range of scenarios, such as training. but users can also opt to simply hold the tion. Stitching and the grain of leather VR-1 up to their face, in order to perform a furniture and the exact finish of concrete Next steps quick check of a 3D model, for example. walls pop into life in realistic detail. Tiny Looking forward, Varjo promises to Connected to a workstation via a USB-C text, which might be nothing but a blur provide native support for a range of Link Box and 10 metres of optical fibre on other headsets, is easily legible. And architectural CAD and visualisation cable, the headset is a little heavier than the effort that goes into lighting a virtual software, beginning with Autodesk

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Feature

and its VRED software favoured by the automotive industry. It already has the four-channel output required to power the two displays needed for each eye in the VR-1’s Bionic Display, and was made ready for the headset back in January with release 2019.3. A quick demo of VRED with the VR-1 is as sharp as expected, allowing the wearer to move around a virtual car, with realtime editing of the design and the same pin-sharp focus-window details. For architectural visualisation we saw a number of demos for showcasing interiors - changing the furniture, fixtures and fittings on the fly – visually all a class

Comparison images above what else is out there. prove very useful for virtual shot through HTC Vive Yet, the same showcase also site visits. Pro (left) and Varjo VR-1 had ability to strip everything Yet there may be a snag prototype (right) Image courtesy of Varjo back to show the building as a for some prospective customers: shell, acting as an X-ray for one reason Varjo is targeting where the utilities and HVAC run. professional users is that all this wonderful While the minute detail might not be a technology doesn’t come cheap. key requirement for positioning pipes and Current HMD offerings, including cables, the level of realism did make the Facebook’s Oculus Rift, HTC’s Vive and process feel much more natural, and addi- Sony’s PlayStation VR, all cost below tions such as pop-up labels powered by $500. The ‘prosumer’ HTC Vive Pro is the eye-tracking would find great use here. around $800, and the newly announced Additionally, we looked at some HDR HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap will start at images captured from existing buildings. around $3,500 and $2,295 respectively. From an inspection point of view, being So buyers need to be prepared for quite able to read small text on signs would a ramp-up in price when it comes to the VR-1: the headset retails at a cool $5,995, plus an additional annual service licence of $995 – and that’s before you consider additional GPU hardware requirements. The smooth-as-silk output that we experienced, for example, was provided by a Nvidia GTX 2080, while a GTX 1080, or the latest range of high-end Quadro GPUs, will also provide enough grunt to power scenes. At the same time, the technology here goes way beyond what we’ve previously seen in HMDs for pro users, and Varjo is targeting the VR-1 at the upper echelons of design and architecture, where price should be less of an obstacle. Beyond power walls and cave set-ups, few VR technologies are able to conjure this kind of experience, let alone this level of close-up detail. ■ varjo.com

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Software

Tekla Structures 2019 With its latest Tekla promises to make engineers more productive. Accelerated production of GAs is the most obvious benefit but the end goal is to build confidence in the 3D model, so data can flow freely from design office to site by Greg Corke

ith Tekla Structures being ers, angle, tread, stringer, fixings etc., then were missing marks, quickly highlight one of the most mature clone those annotations to the second, objects of a certain type, or globally structural BIM tools on third or fourth floor. Previously each floor change the way they were displayed. This the market, by now one had to be done manually, which was very was limited to a default set of properties would think it would have 2D drawing time consuming (and monotonous). It’s but now you can add any property that production nailed completely. But the lat- important to note that this isn’t just copy- exists within Tekla Structures, even cusest 2019 release shows there is still room ing and pasting dumb geometry. All tom properties. for innovation. It also demonstrates how cloned annotations are made fully associaFor example, you can now quickly important the humble 2D drawing contin- tive to the model objects in the new loca- identify items that need special notes, in ues to be. Tekla Structures might excel at tion. For example, part marks and infor- order to draw attention to them - beams delivering construction ready 3D models, mation about levels and heights will be over a certain length, for example, or complete with every nut, bolt and weld, automatically updated. Then, if any rebar over a certain weight that will but the 2D drawing is still considered to changes are made to the model, the anno- require special lifting on site. You can be the bread and butter deliverable for the tations will update accordingly. also use it to quickly add notes to custom AEC industry. As one can imagine, this works best objects like lock nuts or objects with speFor some time now, Tekla Structures with repetitive structures, such as foun- cial paint finishes. has offered optimised drawing production dation plans, anchor plans, rebar placeThere are a few other drawing related for fabrication drawings, updates. GAs can now be including pre-cast, cast in rolled back in time, so if situ and steel. Simply cresomeone has made an error It’s easy to extol the virtues of model-based ate a model, hit a button when editing a drawing, deliverables where data flows seamlessly from and the software automatyou can revert to any numically runs off all the design office to contractor/fabricator, but for this ber of previous versions. process to be fully embraced, everyone needs to You can also compare verdrawings. All the user needs to do is a little bit of sions by overlaying one have confidence in the accuracy of the data tidying up and sometimes over the other. none at all. This level of Third-party data automation is hardly surprising, as much ment drawings or elevation drawings. of the work done by fabricators or contrac- But the geometry doesn’t have to be iden- According to Tekla, its users are increastors is based on project-specific templates tical, only similar. The software is smart ingly working with third party data, and is highly repetitive. enough to handle variations. including BIM objects and those exportFor engineers, things are a bit different, Of course, for this feature to work reli- ed from mechanical CAD systems in foras they spend a lot of time producing GAs, ably, annotations do need to be associated mats like IGES and STEP. However, the and as each project varies, often working with the correct objects. For example, a quality of these objects can vary. Some with different architects, it’s hard to build single point on a 2D drawing could relate can have faces missing, which means true automation into the process. to many things - a plate, a beam corner they are not solid. Previously, these may What Tekla has done for this new point, or even a grid. Now with the new have looked OK in certain views, but in release is add tools to help reduce the version, users can specify exactly which other views, including details and secamount of manual clean up needed on objects dimension points should follow. tion, the objects may have completely disGA drawings. Users can now clone annoThe drawing environment also gets the appeared. Now, the software ensures that tations, such as dimensions and marks, kind of search and edit capabilities you’d these objects are displayed in all views as well as linework and hatching styles. typically find in the modelling environ- regardless. Tekla says this tool will prove So, once things have been laid out cor- ment, with an enhanced version of the particularly useful when importing comrectly on one part of the drawing, they Drawing Content Manager. When first plex formwork models for cast-in-place can then be applied to other similar areas introduced in 2018, it allowed you to concrete construction. - bit by bit or all in one go. check and edit objects and drawing conThe way third-party objects can be With a staircase, for example, simply tent in the current drawing. For example, positioned within the software has also annotate on one floor, adding info for ris- you could easily check which objects been improved, using direct manipula-

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1 The new Revit Geometry Export tool allows firms to comply with mandated deliverables without having to invest in a license of Revit Structures 2 Built on Unity, The Tekla Structure Visualizer allow users to visualise large structural models much more realistically and create animations 3 The new ‘Bridge Creator’ tool is designed to make early phase bridge design faster and easier 4 The way third-party objects can be positioned has been improved, using direct manipulation handles and interactive preview

tion handles and interactive preview. In the past this type of control was only possible for native Tekla custom components, so users first had to convert the third-party object and add it to the custom component library, which took time. Again, this is especially useful when working with cast-in-place concrete structures, says Tekla. The way Tekla Structures manages IFC files has also been enhanced. When importing a revised IFC file, you’ve always been able to compare old and new to see what’s changed. Now, rather than having to go through every change, you can tell the system to look out for specific things like changes in length or area. You can also set tolerances, so it doesn’t pick up those which, in the grand scheme of things, are insignificant. Improvements have not only been made to data import, but export as well. While Tekla is very much committed to IFC for sharing data, some clients specify RVT files as the project deliverable, so the new Revit Geometry Export tool allows firms to comply without having to invest in a license of Revit Structures. The extension, which is powered by technology from the Open Design Alliance, is available through the Tekla Warehouse.

Trimble Connect enhancements Trimble’s collaboration platform, Trimble Connect, has also seen some significant enhancements. First, it is now much better at viewing colossal IFC files, which can be hundreds if not thousands of megabytes. Rather than trying to open a heavy IFC file directly which could take minutes, or might not work at all, a new viewing technology converts the data into a much lighter format without losing fidelity. This feature, currently in beta, should be particularly beneficial when taking data on site on mobile devices. The workflow between Tekla Structures and Trimble Connect has also www.AECmag.com

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Users can now upload been enhanced. It’s now possitre-precision Catalyst GPS. NC files and drawings to ble to upload NC files and The second is the Trimble Trimble Connect and link drawings (assembly, part or XR10, a wearable mixed reality them to the respective GA) to Trimble Connect and objects within the model hard hat built around link them to the respective Microsoft’s HoloLens 2. Both objects within the model, all in one go. are in early development. This is a neat feature for collaboration as it gives the whole project team easy Visual enhancements access to in-context documentation. In For the new release, Tekla has turned to short, the 3D model becomes the index game engine visualisation and made two for project deliverables. Simply click on a new visualisation extensions available beam, for example, and you can instantly through the Tekla Warehouse. The Tekla view the associated data. Structure Visualizer and Trimble The new release also allows you to Connect Visualizer are both based on overlay 2D information on the 3D model, Unity and allow users to visualise large which can further aid checking, valida- structural models much more realisticaltion, and communication. ly than can be done in the viewport and also create stills and animations for proj-

tions and the system then smoothly transitions between them. The animation can be played in the software or, if a video file is required, captured using third-party software, such as the Xbox technology built into Windows 10. The Trimble Connect Visualizer is similar but opens up the model for sharing and also works with referenced models, such as IFC or RVT.

Bridge Creator

The Grasshopper-Tekla live link, introduced in 2018, gave engineers access to powerful algorithmic modelling tools, which could be used to good effect for bridge design. Now Tekla has given bridge designers their own ‘Bridge Taking data on site Creator’ tool that is designed Once data is inside Trimble to make early phase design Connect it can be pushed out faster and easier. Users can now clone annotations, so, once to many different devices for things have been laid out correctly on one part In essence, users can take a use on site. This could be a road/rail alignment from a of the GA, they can then be applied to other standard tablet for viewing civils design tool in similar areas - bit by bit or all in one go 3D models and drawings or LandXML format, then autoan Augmented / Mixed matically apply key sections Reality device to see construcalong that alignment to tion ready models in the context of where ect presentations and marketing. define the bridge deck. they will be built. The push button workflow for Tekla Trimble is investing heavily in aug- Structures Visualizer is very simple. A Steel modelling enhancements mented / mixed reality and has developed base set of materials – steel, concrete, Tekla Structures now has enhanced modtwo hardware devices. The first is Trimble grass, timber, etc. – are automatically elling tools so it can better handle SiteVision, a handheld system that com- mapped. Users can create animations bespoke steel work such as bent plates or bines a 2D display with Trimble’s centime- simply by placing the model in key posi- conical plates. This could be useful for

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Software

highly architectural staircases, for example, or ductwork corners and flues. It’s also now possible to add self-tapping screws and nails to the model without creating a hole. Previously, this was done automatically, regardless of the type of fastener. Now you can ensure that the model is completely accurate, which is particularly important when generating Bills of Materials or NC files. Welds have also been enhanced to allow users to more accurately define them within the model. Previously, fabricators would often define welds simply by adding manual marks to drawings. Now, there’s a growing demand to share more accurate models, improve traceability and use robots, which rely on precise information.

solution for your projects. Tekla Structures is renowned New tools help reduce the amount of manual There are also enhancements for its ability to generate clean up needed on GA to the tools that automate moddetailed fabrication drawings drawings elling and detailing for double quickly. Now, by delivering new wall structures. New Half Slab tools that can dramatically accelerate the Reinforcement tools let you automatically production of GAs, it is looking to build a add optimised, detailed reinforcing and stronger presence in the engineering secbraced girders to half slab floors. tor. The big challenge will be getting engineers into the mindset that because the Conclusion model and the drawings are inextricably Structural engineering continues to be linked, both assets can be shared. Then, as heavily reliant on 2D drawings. Even if a next step, if you remove the drawings an engineering model is available, most altogether, you remove the traditional contractors or fabricators still prefer to time-consuming approval process. build their own from scratch. Of course, for some firms this is It’s easy to extol the virtues of model- already becoming a reality. There are based deliverables where data flows engineering consultancies and fabricaseamlessly from design office to contractors effectively working on the same Tekla Structures model via Tekla Structures Model Pre-cast concrete. Sharing and Trimble Trimble is putting things in place for what it Version 2019 introduces a Connect. So, everything calls the Constructible Process. And then, of new design-to-cost tool for just goes straight through course, the industry needs to join the dots the pre-cast industry that and design changes are allows engineers to comalso dealt with much pare different alternative quicker. designs and find the most cost-effective tor/fabricator, but for this process to be The next step is to take those models on solution. Users define the unit costs for fully embraced, everyone needs to have site with data flowing seamlessly, so what different element types in the model and confidence in the accuracy of the data. you model in Tekla Structures is exactly the system then costs up the whole model But why should they, when far too often what is built. Trimble is putting things in or selected parts. Tekla says that because the 3D engineering model is just a start- place for what it calls the Constructible you can immediately see the cost impact of ing point and 2D drawings become dis- Process. And then, of course, the industhe changes in the model, you can more connected when polished in a 2D CAD try needs to join the dots. easily find the most economical precast tool like AutoCAD? ■ tekla.com

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04/04/2019 14:50

AEC hackathon

Salla Palos, Director of Transformation Services at Microsoft, shares the challenges of creating new office space to encourage innovation

Randall Newton reports from the recent Hackathon event in Seattle, which aims to get people from various AEC disciplines together to think about new technologies in new ways

n AEC Hackathon is like no other AEC industry event. The most recent gathering in Seattle included carpenters, programmers, software vendors, general contractors, urban planners, real estate managers, and many other professionals in the wide spectrum that exists between napkin sketch and demolition. The setting was a large shop in which all the equipment was pushed to the side to make room for benches, chairs, and tables. A gantry crane emblazoned with a giant purple W — for University of Washington — lurked in a corner, a symbolic triple reminder of AEC industry physicality, the event location, and the intellectual passion driving the event. A one point during the three-day event, the presentation subject was the role of virtual reality in design/build/sell. A member of the audience asked a straightforward question: “Paper to eyes is still a major use of drawings in this business. What can we do to change things?” The answer came not from the speaker but from another member of the audience: www.AECmag.com

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“We can’t change the world using the same language that got us here. We should not call them drawings anymore. Until we have a single source of truth for thousands of apps to access and use equally, we haven’t gotten there.” This was an example of the kind of dialogue that took place all weekend long at AEC Hackathon Seattle. The April 2019 event was the 41st gathering of an international grassroots organisation launched in 2013. AEC Hackathon “is dedicated to hacking the $10 trillion building industry,” says co-founder Greg Howes, a Seattle area residential builder who also owns a timber fabrication company (cutmytimber.com). Howes has attended “almost all” AEC Hackathons. With the help of a cadre of co-founder enthusiasts who include an AEC startup CEO, and a Smart Cities consultant, these three-day-weekend events pop up several times a year across the globe. Other board members who travelled to the Seattle event were Damon Hernandez, AEC Hackathon Executive Director and a programmer at Samsung USA, and Steve Holzer, founder of BIMobject.

The 2019 lineup began with Copenhagen and Silicon Valley; other AEC Hackathons this year are scheduled for London, Shanghai, Helsinki, and Austin, Texas. Each will be organised and hosted by locals. Like hackathons in other fields, teams form at the event, work on a project for the weekend, and compete for prizes and recognition. The goal is to get people from all the various disciplines in AEC together to think about new technologies in new ways. The events are designed to benefit both the regional AEC community and the industry at large. Most speakers and sponsors are local, while attendees are a mix of regional enthusiasts and passionate software developers and other AEC professionals who might be from anywhere. Of the approximately 120 attendees, at least 15 travelled more than 500 miles to participate in the Seattle event; a few flew in from Europe and South America. Primary sponsors for the Seattle event included Microsoft, Unity Technologies, the University of Washington, Zillow, BIMobject, Magic Leap, HTC Vive, and Autodesk. May / June 2019

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Feature

Game engine developer Unity was on hand to provide technical support to any development teams wanting to add visualisation to their efforts. A RevitUnity connection was demonstrated; the app will be formally announced soon

The AEC Hackathon website lists 182 present and former corporate sponsors. Those who formed project teams had from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon to plan, code, and test their ideas. For those who were not on coding teams, there were several panel discussions and presentations scattered through the weekend.

An industry newcomer A few years ago a few cutting edge architectural firms experimented with using game engine technology to take architectural visualisations to the next level. The advantage in using game engines to drive visualisation is the ability to offer realtime rendering so that a viewer can choose their own path and own view of a project instead of watching an prerecorded animation. Now the two leading commercial game engine companies — Unity Technologies and Epic Games Unreal Engine — have launched initiatives to serve AEC. Game engines already have hooks to virtual/augmented reality viewing devices as well as computers and mobile devices. “Real-time is the future,” says Unity’s Mark Schoennagel, the company’s lead evangelist for AEC and Automotive. “We don’t want to visualise the flashy way things have been,” he said. Instead, Unity sees a role in streamlining visualisation at all stages of a project. “All that BIM data, sometimes you want to visualise it, sometimes you don’t.” The goal of using game engines for visualisation is to have one visual pipeline that can show clients how the boardroom chandeliers will catch the morning sun and at the same time help structural engineers understand how the curtain wall needs to interact with those same ornate ceiling fixtures. “Don’t put a skyscraper in Unity,” Schoennagel says. “No game engine can render that.” The goal is to make changes in CAD and see them immediately in the Unity viewer. Unity and Autodesk announced a collaboration in 2018, starting by working together on a FBX importer (the file format used by 3ds max and Maya). In the initial release, changes to FBX models update in Unity automatically. “It is great for game developers, not much for AEC,” 60

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notes Schoennagel. Coming soon is a round-trip workflow for Unity and Revit. “We are working with Autodesk at source code level,” Schoennagel says; “generally Autodesk doesn’t work that closely” with other vendors. Schoennagel says the goal is to make an official announcement about the new app at Autodesk University London, 18-19 June 2019. Schoennagel also lauded a third-party Unity plug-in. PiXYZ (“pix-zee”) can export an IFC model from Revit for use in Unity. It eliminates the use of 3ds max as an intermediary, and features a rule engine to optimise what details need to appear in the visualisation and which ones can be ignored.

Hacking real estate and finance New to the AEC Hackathon movement was the participation of real estate and finance professionals. A panel discussion on the subject was wide ranging, with topics as diverse as “Certainty as a Service” to the potential of blockchain technology to sort out the residential financial services supply chain. Drew Meyers of Geek Estate defined Certainty as a Service happening when Real Estate sales agencies buy houses and build an inventory, as opposed to only representing owners in the sales transaction. Meyers said Certainty as a Service was being driven by “i-buyers,” busy young professionals who want to choose a house online and close the deal instantly, instead of touring homes for weeks or months only to be beat by a competing bid when they make a selection. Such fast-paced buying may be one way blockchain technology makes an impact on the real estate industry, says Mollie Fadule, a partner at equity and venture capital firm Cephas Partners. “Digital trading is

coming,” Fadule says, as real estate and financial transaction technologies merge. The question becomes, “how do we use ownership to track and support?” all stages of the financial side of AEC.

The projects After a weekend of working, the Hackathon teams revealed their work to the conference and to a panel of judges. To speed things along, only judges were allowed to ask questions after each presentation. A percentage of ticket revenue was equally divided among those who won an award, netting each team about $250. Notable projects include: Excabot: A remote control/autonomy hack for small rental construction equipment. New World Coordinates: A Hololensbased spatial tracking system to identify and virtually transport the viewer to a construction site with a reported issue. Terra Cognito: Using open source and government GIS data along with drone video and real-time feeds for low cost early access to accidents, disasters, or construction progress. Work Nest: A construction dashboard in virtual reality, with the Home setting of a soothing workspace. Portals in the Work Nest lead to real-time video of construction sites. A potted plant in the Home space would begin to wither if a job was falling behind schedule. Inverse: A board game inside virtual reality that challenges players to balance urban planning concerns, using real data provided by government agencies. ■ aechackathon.com

www.AECmag.com

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Feature

Digital twins for a sustainable built environment As the world strives to meet climate change targets, the role of digital twins is set to become increasingly important, writes Don McLean, CEO & founder, IES

Project SCENe: Trent Basin he digital twin - a digital repro- their distributed energy network. duction of a physical entity, Undoubtedly, digital twin technology Trent Basin is a low-energy community linked by sensors - will become and other technological advances have located within Nottingham Waterside. increasingly important as we the potential to revolutionise how we The development is supported by the attempt to improve the energy efficiency of manage, interact and operate the build- Energy Research Accelerator and the our building stock in order to meet climate ings in our local communities, campuses Innovate UK funded Project SCENe, a change targets. The UK Government’s and cities. However, this technology isn’t research project led by the University of Industrial Strategy Clean Growth Grand yet being utilised to its full potential. Nottingham and ATKearney. It is home to Challenge (tinyurl.com/UKgreener) recognisBuilding simulation software has been a ground-breaking energy project, where es that the UK is already playing a leading around for decades and architects, engi- energy is being stored on site in the largest role in providing the technologies, innova- neers, construction companies and city community energy battery in Europe. tions, goods and services for a Clean planners have long used building inforIES used digital twin technology to creGrowth future, but within the construc- mation modelling software to help them ate an interactive platform that enables tion industry we can do more. design, construct and operate buildings. the Trent Basin community to visualise Our buildings have changed signifiHowever, with the addition of real-time its energy data in real-time. The platform cantly over recent years, but the way we sensors, big data and cloud computing, it’s provides information on renewable enerdesign, handover and operate gy generation and storage, them unfortunately has not. alongside energy consumption The building industry there- Digital twin technology is already making data, and general information fore needs to catch up with the homes. a significant impact in reducing the built about other industries in their use of The aim of the 3D environment’s carbon footprint, and these Community Interaction Model digital technology and data. The good news is this is was to provide a visual tool that numbers are continually rising beginning to happen. There are promotes public engagement in many pioneering projects, both the community energy scheme within the UK and globally, that are now possible to create digital twins of and communicates the results of this low pushing the boundaries in the use of dig- entire communities and simulate how energy housing development. It integrates ital twin technology to create better per- things will look and interact in a huge real-time data of the energy used, generatforming, more sustainable buildings and range of different scenarios. For example: ed and stored at the Trent Basin, allows communities. “What opportunity is there to use renewa- residents to compare household-level data For example, at IES we have used our bles?” and “What savings could be with the community average and see how latest environmental digital twin technol- achieved through a community-wide solu- much energy the project is producing and ogy – the Intelligent Communities tion, such as a district heating system?” selling to the grid. Lifecycle (ICL) - to discover 12% energy Throughout development of the ICL, The project makes use of cutting-edge savings for an existing net-zero energy we’ve been involved in many ground- smart home and Internet of Things techbuilding in the tropics. That same tech- breaking pilot projects and rigorous test- nologies to better understand and predict nology has also been used to create a ing to bring the technology to the con- energy use and behaviour. This provides Virtual Campus Energy Model to sup- struction industry. Some of the most residents with information they need to port the Dundalk institute of innovative pilot projects are Project make informed decisions and to help Technology’s Net Zero Energy Campus SCENe in Nottingham, UK and the optimise the operation of the community aspiration, providing analysis and Nanyang Technological University energy scheme. understanding of the dynamics within (NTU) EcoCampus in Singapore. Whether using the online platform or

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www.AECmag.com

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the 147-Inch Touch Screen, residents can move virtually around the real-life site, see how much energy is being generated, assess the charging state of the battery in real-time and compare this with the other real-time data available such as the weather. The aim is to make energy easy and compelling to understand, to help citizens realise its potential as an essential component for wellbeing and resilience. The touch screen is part of a suite of methods to support this, including voice-activated helpers, bespoke and mainstream social media platforms, a customised smart metering app compatible on any smart device, and community-based activities.

NTU EcoCampus, Singapore IES delivered a 3D masterplanning and visualisation model, virtual testing and building performance optimisation for Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s flagship EcoCampus. Delivered in two phases, the project used digital twin technology to provide high-level visualisation and analysis of testbed energy reduction technologies on site, before delving into detailed simulation and calibrated modelling of 21 campus buildings. NTU firstly wanted to understand, at campus level, which testbed solutions were performing the best, and identify the optimum scale and location for their deployment. The EcoCampus initiative covers the entire NTU 200-hectare campus and adjoining 50-hectare JTC Corporation CleanTech Business Park. There are over 200 buildings on site with a 1.1million m² floor area. Phase 1 of the project concentrated on www.AECmag.com

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creating a masterplanning model of the operational data management and analyEcoCampus, complete with energy signa- sis tool, iSCAN, to investigate issues/ tures for each building on the campus. faults across a selection of 21 buildings The model was accurate to 91% for total on the NTU campus. energy consumption and 97% for chiller Virtual models were created in the IES energy consumption. A corresponding Virtual Environment (VE) for each of the online cloud based Campus Information buildings and calibrated using the operaModel for communication and engage- tional data. These models established an ment with campus staff and students was accurate baseline for the existing buildings also created and connected to the master- in operation, enabling IES to ‘Compare’ planning model for automatic updates. and determine potential savings for a The masterplanning model was used as range of technologies in the ‘Invest’ stage. a baseline to simulate and analyse testbed The results demonstrated that the techtechnologies ranging nologies simulated from improved thercould achieve 31% mal performance of average energy savthe building enveings and a total cost lope, to lighting sensaving of approxiThe digital twin - a digital reproduction of a physical entity, linked by sensors - is sors, chiller optimisamately $4.7million. a new, exciting tech development that is tion and smart plugs growing in momentum, not only in conConclusion that turn equipment struction, but across all industries. off out of hours. Project examples like In the built environment, Digital twins act as a live digital model of a physical asset These measures comthese prove that digiand can function as essential problembined reduced energy tal twin technology is solvers, providing decision support inforconsumption across already making a sigmation needed to improve asset perforthe campus by 10%, nificant impact in mance, influence future building design saving $3.9M and reducing the built and ultimately reduce risk. 8.2kt of carbon. environment’s carIn Phase 2, the bon footprint, and implementation stage, the best solutions these numbers are continually rising as from the Phase 1 ‘testbed’ were chosen more and more building professionals and applied. understand the social, environmental and Using real operational data from utili- economic benefits of using this technology ties and NTU’s Building Management and integrated performance analysis tools. Systems (BMS), IES identified opportuniWe should be proud of what we’ve ties to achieve optimal performance in achieved so far. However, with recent cliexisting buildings across the campus, mate reports issuing stark warnings on using its innovative Ci2 (Collect, the urgency to act on climate change (ipcc. Investigate, Compare, Invest) process. ch/sr15), the call to action is clear. Let’s During the ‘Collect’ and ‘Investigate’ evolve in our use of digital technologies stage, building information was gathered and make a significant impact. and operational data imported into IES’ ■ iesve.com

What is a digital twin?

May / June 2019

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P O WE RT O

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Feature

rchitecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms are continually challenged to deliver successful projects on budget and on schedule—in a very tight labour market. While BIM has greatly improved traditional building design, the use of BIM throughout construction has lagged. One obstacle is keeping the BIM up-to-date in order to reconcile site changes, errors, equipment substitutions and owner-driven scope change. Traditionally, this means getting professional survey crews, either specialty service providers or in-house teams to deploy specialised equipment to capture the as-built state of a project and then updating the model. This can be costly as well as challenging to schedule. But recent technology innovations are transforming BIM in more ways than one. Newly developed rugged tablets with 3D scanners and software can be used by a broad range of workers for instant digital data capture with surveygrade positioning accuracy. Construction workers can now use highly durable, yet simple-to-use mobile devices in the field to efficiently document the as-built state of a project and this documentation can be used to keep the BIM current and allow data to be shared with the owner, general contractor and subs. Here are five ways rugged tablets with 3D technology are transforming BIM processes: 1) Non-specialists capture as-builts The foremost way rugged tablets with 3D technology are redefining BIM processes is by enabling non-specialists to document the as-built state of a project. Professional surveyors are still needed to establish survey control networks – but decoupling the surveying process from the subsequent as-built documentation process improves efficiency and shortens schedules. A collateral benefit is that instead of deploying senior engineers to walk down the site, organisations can use non-specialists to quickly capture this information and transmit it back to the senior engineers in the office, thereby allowing them to supervise multiple projects. www.AECmag.com

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2) Single device for capturing / geo-referencing point cloud data & HD Images The ability to use a single device for capturing and geo-referencing 3D data, and high-resolution photography enables better coordination with subcontractors. Fast and accurate construction validation is also key to shortening payment cycles. The compute power of the rugged tablets and the digital deliverables of the point cloud software ensure the captured data can be integrated with CAD, BIM traditional survey and tripod-based laser scanning. The same device can also generate georeferenced, high-resolution photographs that are equally vital for field walk

downs and documentation. Georeferenced HD images complement 3D scan data and can be readily communicated to non-specialist stakeholders. 3) Precision improves safety Precision accuracy for measurements is pivotal for the safety of workers and the public—especially when mapping complex networks of fibre optic cables, gas lines, and other equipment affecting underground utilities. Non-specialist workers can easily generate sub metre accuracy to centimetre level accuracy measurements in real-time using rugged tablets with 3D software coupled with Real Time Kinematics from GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO satellites.

A recent explosion in San Francisco that ignited after workers installing fibre optics struck a gas line, exemplifies the importance of having accurate digital measurements available for underground utilities. 4) Expedited retrofits and revamps Brownfield work, such as revamping an existing structure, often means working with incomplete or out-of-date 2D drawings—if the drawings exist at all. Rugged tablets with 3D technology are also an efficient means of capturing the assets in order to produce design documentation and BIM. Mobile devices provide a rapid, portable way to capture the 3D data required to generate CAD/BIM models and to identify elements that will be demolished for new construction. 5) Risk mitigation for asset owners and contractors Using rugged tablets with 3D technology for BIM processes shortens project cycle time, which is desirable for owners because it gets their infrastructure running quickly, while simultaneously expediting payments for contractors. The highly accurate digital measurements with photographic images combined with quick data transfers to IT systems are ideal for mitigating any risks associated with discrepancies—especially once assets and construction are covered up underground. The 3D and 2D images with data are ideal for establishing the condition of the assets and their surroundings before and during implementation. If something goes awry, this data can be isolated to determine how best to address the issue and contractors can revisit how building assets were delivered at the point of installation as proof against any claims or issues. The ensuing protection is critical in what can be the tenuous world of BIM and building asset construction.

The bottom line Organisations that use rugged tablets with 3D technology for BIM allows companies to leverage a single investment multiple times. This innovative technology enables a broad range of workers to generate highaccuracy measurements in the field, capture data in multiple ways, improve safety, simplify retrofitting, and mitigate risks for asset owners and contractors. By Mario Gosalvez, business development manager at DT Research and Tom Greaves, chief marketing officer at DotProduct. ■ dtresearch.com ■ dotproduct3D.com

May / June 2019

IMAGE COURTESY OF BOND BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION

Five ways rugged tablets with 3D technology are transforming BIM

18/05/2019 09:41

Review

First look review Dell Precision 3540 Greg Corke gets a quick hands on with Dell’s new budget mobile workstation, which looks like a great machine for entry-level 3D CAD and BIM Price from $769 (£886) dell.co.uk/precision

Dell is making a big push for the lucrative entry-level mobile workstation market with the new Dell Precision 3540 announced this month. With a starting price of $769 (£886) it’s a true budget machine targeted at price conscious architects, engineers and designers. Last month at DEVELOP3D LIVE we had a sneak preview and got hands on. Here are our first impressions. The Precision 3540 might be a budget mobile workstation, but it’s no brick. It feels well-built, is only 20.35mm thick and weighs 1.83kg. The keyboard comes with a numeric keypad, which you don’t often see with a machine of this class, but we felt a little bit of flex in the deck when typing. There are premium features like a webcam privacy shutter and an optional fingerprint reader. It’s adequately equipped in terms of connectivity with three USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports and one USB-C with optional Thunderbolt. There’s HDMi and RJ45 Ethernet and a choice of Qualcomm or Intel wireless cards with Bluetooth. The laptop is built around 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processors. These are lowpowered 15W quad core models up to the Intel Core i7-8665U. With a Turbo of 4.8GHz, on paper this should offer great performance for single threaded CAD and BIM applications, on par with mainstream mobile wo r k s t a t i o n s . B u t

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with a base speed of 1.8GHz don’t expect great performance when using all four cores for ray trace rendering. Here you’d get much quicker results from the Precision 5530, which offers six core CPUs like the Intel Core i9-8950HK (2.90GHz, 4.80GHz Turbo). Graphics is either integrated Intel UHD 620, which is really for 2D CAD, or the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 w/ 2GB GDDR5, which should be well suited for entrylevel 3D CAD and BIM. This could be part and small assembly modelling in Solidworks or even larger models in Autodesk Revit, as that application is very CPU limited. Unlike mainstream mobile workstations, which tend to feature two fans - one to cool the CPU and another to cool the GPU - the Precision 3540 features a single fan. However, with the CPU and GPU having such a low power draw, we don’t foresee this being an issue. The machine supports up to 32GB of memory, half that of Dell’s mainstream mobile workstation, but this should be more than adequate for most CAD / BIM workflows. There are some trade-offs. Disappointingly, you have to choose between an SSD or an HDD; you can’t have both - a combination which offers much better price per GB and still gives you good performance. However, the 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD isn’t too expensive – it costs $125 more than a 500GB 7,200RPM HDD. But because there’s such a big performance trade-off between an HDD and an SSD, we would only ever recommend an HDD if budgets are exceedingly tight. The base model comes with a 15.6” HD (1,366 x 768) display, but you can upgrade to a FHD (1,920 x 1,080) display, starting at $65. All display options are basic to keep costs down and there are no optional UltraSharp IPS panels, which offer better colour depth and sharper lines. The default battery is a 3 Cell 42Whr but it’s only $24 to upgrade to a 4 Cell 68Whr, which should almost

certainly be money well spent. Dell states it offers ‘outstanding battery life’. The base price of $769 (£886) is really for a very entry-level specification. But we priced up what we consider to be a good solid mobile workstation for CAD or BIM. The following specification will set you back $1,336, which is really quite impressive for a fully certified CAD-class laptop. The Dell Precision 3541 is available now. We look

forward to reviewing one in depth soon.

• • • • • • • •

Intel Core i5-8265U (1.6GHz, 3.9Ghz Turbo) CPU AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 (2GB) GPU 15.6” FHD WVA, 1,920 x 1,080 display 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD 4 Cell 68Whr ExpressCharge Battery Backlit Keyboard Dual Pointing, Touch Fingerprint Reader, Thunderbolt 3 Windows 10 Pro

The big brother Dell has also announced the Dell Precision 3541, a sister product set for release in late May. It will offer additional power, with 9th generation 8-core Intel Core and 6-core Intel Xeon processor options as well as Nvidia Quadro graphics with 4GB of dedicated memory. Dell says the Precision 3541 also features extreme battery life – “quite possibly the longest battery life in its class”. As with the Precision 3540, the Precision 3541 comes with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and optional features to enhance security such as fingerprint and smartcard readers, an IR camera a camera shutter. At 1.97kg, it’s slightly heavier than the Precision 3540. There are no details on pricing yet. www.AECmag.com

16/05/2019 10:00

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