Changing how we practice with a ‘One Team One Model’ approach

Jessica O’Donnell, AIA O’Donnell is a project architect at Kitchen & Associates in Collingswood, N.J., where she focuses on multifamily housing projects and internal staff development initiatives and leads BIM management initiatives. O’Donnell has over nine years of experience in residential and mixed-use building design, holds an NCARB certificate, and is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Jake Timmons Timmons is a licensed professional engineer specializing in structural engineering and a principal at Riverstone Structural Concepts in Boise, Idaho. Timmons has over 15 years of experience providing structural engineering services on a wide array of projects, including bridges and industrial, residential, commercial, mid-rise, and hospitality structures.

Dustin Balton Balton is a project coordinator for Holstein White. Since early 2013, he has consistently executed plans and specifications for the company’s engineering assignments for commercial, municipal, educational, health care, senior living, hospitality/entertainment, dining, and residential projects. In this role, Balton is part of the mechanical department at HW, specializing in the design of mechanical, plumbing, and fire-protection systems.

Beresford Pratt (BP): Can you please describe the project? Who is on the project team to help make this project successful?

JO: Brook Street Lofts is a new construction, 245,000 square feet, transit-oriented development in New Jersey. The six-story mid-rise building consists of four floors of residential housing above two floors of non-combustible garage parking for building occupants. Additionally, there are walk-up residential units on the first two floors along Brook Street. This building contains a total of 146 residential units of mixed-income family rental housing. The design team started working on drawings in 2019, and construction is slated to wrap up this fall.

This was Kitchen & Associates’ first integrative-design project with out-of-house consultants working “live” in the same project file database. We collaborated with the Riverstone Structural Concepts team from Boise, Idaho, and the Holstein White MEP team from Feasterville, PA. BP: For those who may not be familiar, can you describe the tool ArchiCAD?

JO: ArchiCAD is a building information modeling (BIM) design software used internationally on projects of all scales and degrees of complexity. Within this software, the design team can take one project file from conceptual schematic sketches through construction documents. There are a multitude of features and plug-ins that enable designers to create realistic renderings, movies, and VR walkthroughs of projects from that same singular file. ArchiCAD also has several internal messaging options that allow users to communicate with one another within the database.

BP: What were some of the determining factors that encouraged the team/your firm to select ArchiCAD over other programs/tools on the market?

Above: Rendering of Brook Street Lofts

JO: In 2002 Kitchen & Associates (K&A) transitioned from a first generation 2D/3D CAD tool to the full BIM software tool ArchiCAD. At the time, the Firm was growing in staff and size of projects. This growth required a new way of producing design and documentation to achieve the goals for profitability, coordination, quality, and timeliness of service. Over the last 20 years, K&A has developed a robust custom template, custom object library, with a standards manual and in-house BIM development and training team. However, collaborating outof-house consultants still required importing and exporting dwg backgrounds and duplication of consultant work in the 3D BIM model. K&A added inhouse MEP engineering in 2014, but our volume of architectural work requires the additional use of outside consultants for both MEP & Structural engineering. To further facilitate our goals for service, quality, and profitability, we embarked on working with constants that could work alongside us in a single BIM model. This approach saves all the professionals time in importing exporting backgrounds, replicating the other disciplines’ work in each model and allows for real-time collaboration as the design moves forward.

JT: Our firm adopted the use of ArchiCAD as our only BIM/ modeling/drafting software with our firm’s inception in 2011 by our founding principal, Patrick Bird. The decision was simple when we saw the power of working together in the same live, virtual 3D model, in real time with our clients. We could watch walls move and windows shift without the hassle of background document exchange. For our clients, they could see the same. The structural model would develop in their model, and they would see the structural systems develop in real time as the project progressed. As footings moved in the structural model, their sections would automatically update to see the new footing locations. Coordination efforts quickly diminished. The time it took to review conflicts or coordinate issues was drastically cut, and we’ve never looked back.

DB: For us, we knew that we wanted to enhance our BIM capabilities. Before ArchiCAD was adopted by our firm, the majority of our production was primarily 2D-based as BIM and 3D modeling had yet to really take off in our industry (meaning MEP). We noticed the trends of the architectural industry and the move towards more and more 3D modeling and BIM. At first, we had one dedicated BIM station and one dedicated BIM team, which needed to change quickly due to the demands of projects/clients. We decided on ArchiCAD to be our primary BIM platform; however, we maintain copies of Revit, as well, and train our staff to be proficient on both platforms. Holding licenses of both Revit and ArchiCAD affords us the ability to seamlessly transfer files back to our clients in the format they utilize, while ensuring there is no latency or loss in translation of files.

BP: What did ArchiCAD as a tool mean for collaboration on the project design process? Were there any notable strengths and/or challenges?

JO: I am not aware of any other program that currently has the tools needed by all of the respective disciplines to design and produce a set of construction documents in one file from concept to close out. This tool allowed our project team to identify conflicts during the design phase which allowed us to address them before permits were issued. Having everyone “live” in one model helped streamline things immensely, but it did not allow the project to go on “auto-pilot.” The team still needed to have actual conversations and talk through different aspects of the project.

JT: Communication is always the biggest challenge. It’s easy to get lost in the 3D/collaborative environment and forget that you have eight to 10, maybe 15, other professionals working in the model with you at the same time. The design and documentation process is so streamlined, it’s important to not lose track of the importance of communicating changes or revisions. The ArchiCAD BIM server chat function allows us to all communicate fluidly in the model, review issues, and discuss solutions live in the model.

DB: A really exciting feature of the software to our firm is working in the same model live with clients also using ArchiCAD. The coordination process has been simplified and expedited through the implementation of BIM but is further realized through the sharing of one live model. Being able to see changes in real time without relying on transfer of updated files on, say, a weekly basis allows our team to tackle coordination issues head on—quickly and effectively. Setting the ground rules early in the project with our clients is important. Commonly, the most notable rule, aside from adopting and merging of standards, is: “If you create it, you can edit it, if not … ask first.” Setting this ground rule makes certain that your work will not be adjusted without your knowledge, even accidentally.

BP: What business case do you see for “one team, one model”/integrated project files?

JO: In a world where everyone wants things done yesterday, anything a design team can do to cut out dead time and provide deliverables to clients quicker is a benefit. Having each discipline in the same model with everyone designing and modeling their respective building elements to size in 3D helps the entire design team work more efficiently and more accurately. We no longer need to wait several hours or days for PDFs to be published and emailed, then reviewed and returned, since everyone is seeing the building come to life in real time. Shorter collaboration time for the design team means the design phase can be completed faster. Identifying coordination conflicts during the design phase results in less coordination issues in the field and a smoother construction process.

JT: From a business standpoint, the advantages are immense. Most notably, the reduced cost of timely back-and-forth communication and document exchange is huge. It seems small, but it adds up quickly. We save so much working in our client’s model, loading up the BIM server file, doing our work and leaving. We’ve been able to cut out a huge amount of time and budget to our projects that we instead can use to focus on 3D collaboration.

DB: Some of the above also applies here. Comparing 2D workflow to a 3D/BIM integrated file workflow, it is clearly a vast improvement. Furthermore, the ability to be in a file with the architect and structural engineer at the same time and being able to message them directly and have them pull open the exact view you are looking at cuts down greatly on coordination-effort timeframes. No longer necessary is the sharing of multi-page documents on a weekly (or worse) basis, where plans have been progressed before you’ve even received and integrated them into your 2D software.

BP: What are some educational benefits you see with the “one team, one model”/integrative design projects?

JO: As designers, we are generally all visual people. Seeing a structural engineer’s framing solution for a complex area in situ and in 3D leaves little room for misinterpreting 2D lines in a plan or in a sketch. This has enormous benefits to less experienced designers and those working with a new building type or new MEP systems for the first time. Seeing the ductwork with insulation or pipes routed from each plumbing fixture helps the architectural team locate walls, ceilings, and chases appropriately to evoke the desired feeling of each room and space.

JT: Many engineers coming out of school have a basic foundation of a building and its aspects, but very few actually start with a working knowledge of building design, detailing, or especially construction. By always living and breathing in the 3D environment, we can get our new engineers a better working understanding of a building structure through the 3D environment. Many new engineers will begin by focusing on the 3D-modeling aspect of what we do. This practice gives good experience to the inner workings of 3D modeling and ArchiCAD, but also how a building goes together. By understanding how the building will be built in a 3D model, we can improve the engineers’ skills and the way they might attack a certain problem.

Above: Model Animation 1

DB: So much of what MEP engineers need to focus on is things not seen in the 3D model. There is heavy importance in the in-depth calculations, code research and interpretation, utility coordination, preliminary coordination of large MEP equipment, routing of large ductwork, conduit and piping, and much more that is not visually seen in either the 3D model or in the finished product. These items are essential to set the stage for success of the project; however, the value of a 3D model is not forgotten. Using the 3D model as a tool for specifically the newer learning employees as seeing the 3D model allows them to more easily grasp the confines and constraints of a building. Being able to virtually look above the ceiling and see how much space there is below steel helps identify potential conflicts or indicates the need for lowering portions of ceilings. Being able to place a rooftop unit or condensing unit/heat pump on a roof in the model and see how it affects the aesthetics of the building helps us blend our needs with an architect’s vision more cleanly.

BP: How do you see this tool evolving and impacting the future of the practice?

JO: Graphisoft, the parent company of ArchiCAD, continuously uses feedback from the software users to improve the functionality for each discipline. This allows the platform to inform evolving practice standards. As technology becomes even more integrated with our daily lives, we are on track for virtual reality and augmented reality becoming standard deliverables within all size offices. JT: My vision for the future of this process is virtual reality. The next logical step in this workflow to me, is being able to design and document in full three-dimensional, virtual space. Coordinating with clients’ and contractors’ structural systems together in a virtual environment could revolutionize the way we see buildings. Standing in the virtual building as a designer before the building goes into the ground would change the way we approach everything.

DB: I’d like to imagine that one day there will be a shared language where we can more seamlessly view Revit files directly in ArchiCAD and vice versa. There are a lot of hurdles to making that seamless, but that would be ideal. The more projects that can be completed on an interdisciplinary basis in an integrated file workflow-type system the better. The importance of time being saved and coordination efforts being improved by this type of workflow is immeasurable

Above: Model Animation 2

Beresford Pratt, AIA, NOMA

Pratt is a design manager and architect with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He co-leads multiple J.E.D.I based architecture pipeline initiatives with Baltimore, Maryland K-12 students. He is the AIA Young Architects Forum communications director.