Monday, April 27, 2009

AEC CONNECT at SMART-GEOMETRY 2009

Recently AEC_Connect's Dominik Holzer attended the 2009 SmartGeometry event in San Francisco as a workshop tutor and invited speaker, and he gave a presentation together with Steve Downing of Arup Sydney on Optioneering and their research work on DesignLink , a collaborative design evaluation framework designed to support multi-criterion- and multi-objective optimizations and other optioneering techniques for use by multi-disciplinary design teams.

According to AECbytes' Latchmi Khemlani:

" ... increasing specialization in the AEC industry is an inevitable response to the growing complexity of our projects, so it would be helpful to find ways to make it work better. Also, with the introduction of ... increasingly sophisticated design and analysis tools, the process has been greatly speeded up, which brings about new challenges in the way in which the different disciplinary members communicate and collaborate on a project."

(L. Khemlani, April 2009, www.aecbytes.com/feature/2009/SmartGeometry2009.html)

We couldn't agree more, and we would add that making the AEC industry work better would not only be helpful but is actually critical in view of its by now well-publicized inefficiencies, the near-term challenges of the current economic crisis, and the longer-term need for more sustainable practices in the building industry as well as throughout society. Complex problems such as these demand intelligent and effective action by parties from a wide variety of backgrounds and having a wide variety of expertise, so the business-as-usual approach of specialists working in their 'silos' and throwing disconnected packets of information over the fence clearly won't cut it any more. Collaborative design decision frameworks may not be the whole solution, but they are certainly a key component.

More coverage of the event is available at:

www.aecbytes.com/feature/2009/SmartGeometry2009.html

and

http://www.smartgeometry.org/


AEC_Connect congratulates all who contributed to the 2009 edition of SmartGeometry (with special thanks to Jeroen Coenders, Axel Kilian and Shane Burger of the organizing committee, as well as Bentley who have acted as main sponsor of the event)




We look forward to seeing and supporting the further development of important modeling and analysis techniques on the various platforms utilized in the course of the workshops. Rule-based modeling starts to become increasingly accepted in architectural and engineering design practice. Utilising parametric design tools beyond the mere exploration of formal design aspects has been one of the main goals of the workshop sessions. Links of parametric design tools to building-performance analysis and to scripting input have been high priorities at Smart Geometry.



Friday, April 24, 2009

FACING AEC CHALLENGES in 2009 and BEYOND

Complex projects, multi- and trans-disciplinary teams, aggressive timelines, tight economic constraints, rising performance standards.

These and many other interrelated factors challenge owners, designers and constructors of buildings to establish effective working practices and also to continually improve them. While technology - these days mainly software - can offer significant advantages to those who adopt and properly apply it, technology is only one aspect of productivity in the AEC industry. We at AEC Connect have found that while software and other appropriate technology can be invaluable in supporting best practice efforts, it is not sufficient to apply it without significant attention to human and organizational factors.

AEC_Connect consulting offers building owners, designers and builders advice regarding Integrated Project Delivery and other AEC business practices requiring and promoting high levels of collaborative work. Our main areas of consultancy are BIM-readiness, Optioneering, and Sense-Making which together address most of the data management, decision making and communication needs.

With our insights and experience we aim to assist our clients in integrating leading-edge technologies with company cultures by bringing to bear a range of skills and techniques including: BIM, parametric/associative modeling, optioneering, multi-criteria and multi-objective optimizations, IPD and other collaborative contract structures, negotiation and communication skills.

For more information see our website (www.aecconnect.com) and feel free to contact us for a discussion of how AEC Connect can help better connect you, your colleagues, staff, clients and others who impact the success of your building projects.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

AEC CONNECT BLOG LAUNCH

Welcome to our blog, in which we post news and commentary about topics of current interest, especially those regarding innovative responses to current and future challenges in the AEC industry.

AEC_Connect consulting offers building owners, designers and builders advice regarding Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and other AEC business practices requiring and promoting high levels of collaborative work. Our main areas of consultancy are BIM-readiness, Optioneering, and Sense-Making which together address most of the data management, decision making and communication needs faced by our clients.

We welcome readers' comments in response and look forward to exchanging views.

Additional information about our services is available at www.aecconnect.com