How is steel detailing process significant for the durability of the building?

For the development of highly durable buildings and structures it is crucial that the design developed for them fulfills all design criteria effectively. Effective building design and its appropriate construction results into the development of high performing and durable buildings. Structural BIM Services design remains an important part when it comes to the development of highly load resistant and durable buildings. Steel detailing which a crucial aspect of structural engineering process plays an important part in the development of strong and durable buildings.

Durability of any building lies on the fact that its structural framework should be highly capable of resisting all kinds of applied loads. Load resistance is not enough its appropriate transmission is also important when it comes to analyzing the strength and robustness of the building in question. And for the achievement of these things it is important that steel members such as columns, beams, joists and trusses are effectively designed and fabricated. That means once the design is completed, design and construction professionals must generate detailed drawings for steel parts which can be utilized by manufacturers for their fabrication.

The drawings which are generated by steel detailers for the optimization of manufacturers are called fabrication/shop drawings and they incorporate fabrication related details in a very organized form. Complete details about the shape, size and dimensions of steel parts are incorporated in fabrication drawings which are produced by detailers with the close support of contractors, structural engineers and architects. Same process is applied when detailers create detailed erection drawings which are used steel erectors when they start assembling steel parts during structural installation. Durability of the building can only be assured if effective design is created for it, when its components are manufactured properly and finally when they are effectively installed.

For performing steel detailing it is mandatory that required steel detailing standards are utilized during the process. American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), World Steel Association, British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) and Canadian Institute of steel construction (CISC) are some of the important international organizations which have developed important steel detailing standards that are used worldwide. 

What process is implemented for the insertion of laser scanned data in Revit?

The technical term which is used by international Architectural, Engineering and Construction fraternity for 3D laser scanned data is point cloud data. The point cloud data becomes available to design and construction professionals after the application of laser scanning process which is extensively implemented for acquiring accurate building geometry and dimensions of the as-built building. For the effective accomplishment of renovation, contribution of 3D laser scanners is unforgettable since without them geometrical information and building dimensions cannot be captured.

Once the entire building is fully scanned, multiple scans which are captured throughout the process are clubbed together with a highly constructive intension of acquiring detailed design information of the surviving building. Once that motive is fully accomplished the scanned data is provided to AEC professionals (architects, engineers and modelers) for the creation of parametric Building Information Modeling for multidiscipline building systems such as architecture, structure and MEP. But the raw point cloud data cannot be inserted as it is in Revit so it is important that indexing and scaling is done for it which coverts it into effectual file formats. The file formats which are produced by Revit after performing indexing for 3D laser scanned data are .rcp and .rcs file formats.

 Design and construction professionals find no obstacles when it comes to linking these files in Revit projects and hence they can effectively refer geometrical information of the surviving building in 3D.  With the reference of 3D geometrical information about the existing building through point cloud files it becomes significantly easy for design and construction professionals to construct multidiscipline 3D models.  For referring as-built information point cloud files must be inserted appropriately in Revit projects. For inserting them users are required to click point cloud icon in the Link panel which can be accessed by going to Insert tab.  

After this for determining which file to link in Revit, users are needed to navigate to the folder which holds the files and then select it. If the appropriate point cloud file is selected by users they should next be selecting accurate positioning option for it. After the selection of positioning option, users should click OK, which results into the placement of the linked geometry in the specified location in Revit project. 

Over the years architectural visualization techniques have changed drastically

When it comes to Architectural Engineering and Construction industry, the application of architectural visualization techniques have always remained persistent. Design and construction professionals have always utilized architectural visualization techniques for communicating design intent to clients but there was a vast difference the way it used to be performed earlier. Prior to the emergence and integration of digital technology in AEC industry, the methods implemented by design and construction professionals for communicating BIM Drafting Services were completely different from the one that are used today.

Hand-made drawings, sketches and dummy models used to be optimized by architects and engineers for representing the design of the building to owners and potential clients. But the fact remains that manual sketches, drawings and dummy models are not that advantageous when it comes to representing distinct attributes of the building design. But even though, architects and engineers used to develop handmade sketches for the purpose of showing the design to government authorities, building owners and potential clients.

But with the passage of time, as digital technology got introduced to construction industry, design and construction professionals replaced the development of handmade sketches with realistic digital images and models. After which the demand for handmade sketches and drawings started to fall down, as life-like digital images started to be optimized both AEC professionals and their clients. Photorealistic architectural images and models developed with computers have tremendous advantages for architects, engineers, contractors, clients and owners etc, as they can be communicated to different people and organizations too fast. 

Home builders, owners and other important building stakeholders can use these photorealistic images for evaluating the design of the upcoming building. That means life-like architectural images as well as models are discussed by design and construction professionals when it comes to finding out pitfalls in design.  In AEC industry, these images are also very helpful when it comes to obtaining local permits and government approvals for the upcoming building. Apart from photorealistic images and models, AEC professionals also develop architectural animation videos (walkthrough and flythrough videos) for providing explicit information about the building to clients. 

There is a great necessity to identify clashes before final construction

I don’t think so that anyone would disagree with me if I say identification of clashes is immensely cardinal before final on-site construction. This is because, if architects and engineers start the construction on the basis of 3D models which include design errors in them, then they are sure to meet rework scenarios during on-site construction. If change orders are confronted in the middle of ongoing construction, it tremendously disturbs architects and engineers as they have to dedicate addition time to rectify the problem. They cannot go ahead with the process until and unless they resolve the identified design collisions and problems. If rework begins at actual location it affects a lot of things such as schedules, cost of the project and its delivery.

And all these situations are explicit indicative of unfavorable project productivity which is highly depressing for building owners and general contractors who have to provide required answers to owners for such ambiguous construction situations. So to avoid such unproductive construction situations architects, structural engineers, MEP engineers and BIM modelers take effective precautions during preconstruction such as they execute high quality clash detection and coordination services once development of 3D parametric models is completed.

Navisworks Mange which plays a highly supreme part in performing project review and in the development of 4D simulations is also optimized by design and construction professionals in clash detection, wherein its clash detective tool identifies complete errors. The design discrepancies are identified   between the elements of 3D parametric models which are generated in Revit architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP by AEC professionals. In other words Navisworks Mange can recognize and remove all the design errors from architectural, structural and MEP models which are developed in digital environment of multiple Revit disciplines.

Clash Detection Services tool that allow conducting clash tests can successfully manage their results which contain the identified element collisions. For the appropriate management of clash test results they are grouped by AEC professionals and then saved into folders which can be effectively accessed by modelers when they want to resolve them. In this way all these clashes can be resolved before actual construction.  

Loadable Revit families and their importance in creating 3D parametric models

Loadable families which are developed by design and construction professionals in the Family Editor tool of 3D building design software Revit are highly essential for the victorious or successful accomplishment of multidiscipline parametric models. Loadable families are those essential building components and elements which are created by Revit modelers and other design and construction professionals in Revit’s Family Editor Tool, which can be elucidated as a graphical editing mode in the software. 

Loadable Revit Family Creation Services  may include components such as door and window etc, which are extensively created in Family Editor and once they are completed they are placed by design and construction professionals into their Revit projects for finishing or accomplishing them. For example architects and BIM modelers are working on a 3D architectural model then for accomplishing the parametric model effectively they need to complete the design by adding windows and doors in the walls. Until and unless the model is not incorporated with these important building components it doesn’t look authentic and complete.

When a loadable family is created in Family Editor, it becomes mandatory for design and construction professionals to pick or select a family template which can help them in creating the geometry and defining the size of the family. Family templates work as the basic units which are required by design and construction professionals for building the family. For making it clearer let me explain that family templates convey essential information about the families or building components which are created in the graphical editing mode of Revit.

For developing a loadable family, Revit users are required to choose a family template, then create family framework with the help of Reference Lines and Reference planes. Once the framework for the loadable family is fully developed by Revit users they should then create its geometry. While creating family geometry permanent dimensions are provided by modelers to the building component which is getting created by them in Family Editor. After this it is also important for Revit users to determine family type variations.

Once the family framework and family geometry is effectively developed the family can be saved by users as an individual Revit file which can later on be added in the project. 

BIM Services: What is their necessity in construction?

As BIM has becomes the life blood of Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry today it is really important for readers to understand its significance and necessity along with the way it is applied in building process. BIM gets introduced in the construction project right from the preconstruction phase as variety of BIM services are hired by general contractors for providing high end architectural and engineering solutions to architects, structural engineers and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineers.

As soon as initial building sketches are generated by architects, structural engineers and MEP engineers, they are provided to engineering service providing companies which deal with BIM services for developing high end 3D models. For the purpose of constructing high performing buildings it is imperative for general contractors to hire Revit modeling services for all the significant building disciplines such as architecture, structure and MEP. When it comes to flawless construction, they also have to hire clash detection, BIM coordination, energy modeling and 3D rendering services etc from the service providing company.

For executing all these BIM services, basic sketches developed by architects, structural engineers and MEP engineers are delivered to the company so that BIM modelers can get an explicit idea about  design of multiple building trades. Individual modeling teams are allotted by the service providing company for the development of 3D architectural, structural and MEP models, wherein the teams have to refer the sketches which are provided by the clients. Information related to dimensions is clearly contained in the sketches and specifications that are developed by architects and engineers, which make it easy for Revit modelers to construct BIM models.

Completion of Revit Modeling Services is followed by the execution of clash detection and coordination services wherein the errors in the design are pointed out through clash tests. Clash tests which are conducted in Clash Detective tool allow design and construction professionals in finding out the collisions among architectural, structural and MEP elements. Once collisions between elements discovered it is quite easy to sort them out by changing the design in the model.  In this way error-free design is delivered to clients if they hire BIM services. 

3D, 4D, 5D and 6D BIM provide exceptional results for building construction!

Meeting up clients’ (building owners) requirements in terms of building design, construction drawings and delivery is becoming highly challenges as they always demand high quality and timely construction of the buildings with minimum cost possible. Now delivering a project within deadlines with reduced project cost is certainly not that easy as it sounds until AEC professionals make best use of cutting edge tools and technology that is available in the market. Planning, design and construction are integral steps of any building process which results into the effective management of construction activities throughout project lifecycle.

Now to carry out the whole process efficiently and productively Building Information Modeling must be brought into picture by AEC professionals which allow them to successfully address all the hassles and inconveniences that come across in the process. BIM both as a process and as a technology has come a long way since its initial stages wherein only 3D models were common among design and construction professionals for executing building projects. The assistance provided by 3D BIM models was only related to building design as they contained all inclusive information about design elements and their relationships. Nothing apart from design information could be extracted from these digital models which are developed entirely in Revit. But the industry experts felt that only design related information is not enough for developing cost-effective buildings which can be delivered to facility owners as per their demands (within deadlines) and such concerns brought into picture 4D, 5D and 6D BIM.

4D, 5D and 6D BIM are nothing but the new dimensions which are added little by little to 3D models.  A highly indispensable dimension which is added to 3D and which ultimately gives birth to 4D is ‘Time.’ When time is added to 3D it helps building professionals (architects, engineers, and general contractors etc.) to create highly productive and practical construction schedules which make the entire process efficient. 4D BIM makes it possible for AEC professionals to figure out or recognize time and schedule based clashes which can eventually lead to chaotic situations which are very unproductive for construction process.

Similarly, 5D and 6D BIM also provide huge advantages to building professionals when it comes to estimating the cost of the project and describing in details about the sustainability attributes of the building.