Dominik Holzer of AEC Connect appointed as Senior Lecturer at The University of Melbourne

As of early February 2013 AEC Connect’s Dominik Holzer occupies a half time position as Senior Lecturer in Digital Architectural Design at The University of Melbourne where he complements his activities as a consultant with an 'academic edge' at this highly regarded University.

As one of the leading academic institutions in Australia, The University of Melbourne provides a fertile ground for critical reflection on contemporary architectural and construction practice.

Dominik looks forward to a rich discourse with his colleagues at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, as well as expanding his horizon through research, teaching and learning with potential partners across the entire university.

BIM MEP Aus Forum 2012 - Review

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

The BIM-MEP Aus guys are at it again! For the third year in a row now, the BIM group within the BIM group within the organisation of the Association of Mechanical Subcontractors in Australia (AMCA) is hosting their national forum in Melbourne.

Revit Technology Conference (RTC), Australia 2012

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

This year's Australian RTC was held in the coastal town of Woollongong (NSW) with a 400+ strong crowd of Revit users and affiliates. Over the past year's the RTC has established itself as the primary user forum of computational design tools in Australia (and it is on the to follow this path with its US and European offshoots as well). Its strength is derived from the mix of hands-on user feedback related to Revit and associated tools, plus an increasing focus on strategic BIM implementation and the use of innovative technology in practice. I presented my paper on the Seven deadly sins of BIM on behalf of AEC Connect  during the 'Principals' Stream' on day one of the three day conference.

Meeting the Vasari developers

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

A large number of architecture and engineering firms currently undergo a major change in their tool infrastructure. BIM software is continuously gaining ground on traditional CAD tools as means for documentation. BIM software developers are not satisfied with limiting their tools to the documentation aspect of design and they aim at introducing options for conceptual modeling within their suite of software.  A prime example these developments is the approach Autodesk has taken for offering tools that assist their clients in early environmental checks. With several (partly complementary) products on the market, the frontrunner in that niche seemed to have been Ecotect  (acquired by ADSK in mid 2008).  When considering the lack of development after its purchase, ADSK rather seemed interested in extracting some of its features than retaining it as a standalone product. A strong indicator for this to be true is the current development of Vasari that is slowly making its way out of the Autodesk Labs.

Autodesk University (AU) 2011

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

With the main focus on promoting new features and capabilities of Autodesk products for architects, engineers and contractors (in particular in the realm of BIM), the AU also included a series of seminars and innovation forums that dealt with BIM culture, process and implementation strategies in practice.

I’ve predominantly been attending these less technical and more management oriented sessions in order to investigate BIM directions globally. I heard from other Design Technology leaders about the progress they are making and the challenges they are facing in the transition from CAD to BIM.

Overall my impression was that the problems outside Australia are very much the same we face here. Even further, I got the impression that Australia is actually on par if not ahead of other countries when it comes to the BIM implementation effort across our industry.  The reasons for this are as follows:

Designing the Dynamic

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

AEC Connect has been strongly involved in a 5 day event titled Designing the

Dynamic’ this November at RMIT University in Melbourne. Hosted by RMIT’s Design Research Institute (DRI) and the Spatial Information Architecture Lab (SIAL), Dominik was part of the organising committee and Andre presented via Video link from overseas on the opening day of this 4 day workshop plus one day symposium.

AIA (Aus) Seminar Series, BIM – beyond Software

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

I’ve been invited by the Australian Institute of Architects to run an Australia wide (see locations and dates below) seminar series on BIM. Titled: BIM, beyond software, I chose to focus on informing participants about the process and changes they are likely to experience when running projects using Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Learning outcomes:

The seminar participant will learn the difference between traditional deliverables and specific BIM requests in project briefs.  The seminar will then explain the impact of BIM deliverables on the work-flow and the design/documentation approach. Attendees will learn to respond to client BIM requests by aligning the services requested with responding in-house activities and ultimately with responding fees for the provision of those services.

Informa BIM Summit, Sydney

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

The inaugural two day BIM Summit in Sydney defied the usual trend of consultants gathering to update each other on their BIM progress. Instead, the event attracted a large number of contractors as well as some clients and government bodies in addition to the ‘usual suspects’. The level of presentations was high with both top national as well as international speakers from architecture, engineering, contractor, PM and legal background.

BIM for Manufacturers and Suppliers

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

How should manufacturers and suppliers promote their products in a BIM context?

In my role as the newly appointed chair of the first BIM and IPD Steering Group of the Australian Institute of Architects and Consult Australia, I’ve been invited by the Institute to address their sponsor on how manufacturers can leverage BIM to promote the use of their products. I’ve put together a presentation with a strong focus on Product Lifecycle Data and its relation to BIM. My colleague Bruce Gow from BVN Architecture who is one of the leading BIM content experts in Australia has been pivotal in assisting me in preparing for this task.

buildingSmart MESH Seminar Series

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

Under the ‘Mesh’ logo, buildingSmart Australia organised a conference series in several Australian capital cities, weaving together multiple aspects of design technology, collaboration and product lifecycle data.

Some of the questions raised during Mesh were as follows: How do we collaborate with multi-disciplinary models; what opportunities are there for optimisation, improved environmental performance, sustainability, life cycle assessment? How is planning compliance, Local Government management, etc affected? How do modellers get access to life-cycle product data?

Design, analysis and the Cloud

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

In collaborative design practice, computational tools are becoming ever more utilised to help bridge the gaps between designers, consultants and contractors who search for streamlined exchange of information. Despite early promises of BIM software developers to provide us with tools that assist collaborative design practice, most BIM authoring tools facilitate tasks of individual professions such as architects, structural consultants, MEP consultants or quantity surveyors.

Optioneering

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

If one investigates the information-flow of traditional architect - engineer collaboration over the last century one will most likely encounter a process where engineers are asked to join a design project at a certain stage to help realize the architect’s ideas. The shortfall of such a work-method is the relative disconnectedness between performance feedback and design morphology.  Those architects and engineers who aim for more integrated design-practice are in search for ways that allow them to design more concurrently and to exchange information bi-directionally.  Such a process requires a high level of skill, trust and confidence in those involved. It forces architects to let go of their role as sole-authors to admit outside involvement from consultants. It requires engineers to become more proactively engaged in the design process and it prompts them to consider the bigger picture of how their input affects the overall design, both technically and aesthetically.

Humble Parametrics

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

Design computation and in recent years particularly parametrics and scripting have opened up a vast array of possibilities for creative minds to approach design problems in unprecedented ways. Taking advantage of the rule based approach computational design offers, many architects have done what they do best: exploring the possibilities of new tools at hand by testing the grounds in a playful and investigatory manner.

Smart Geometry 2010 (Barcelona)

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

There is certainly a fresh breeze detectable at this year’s Smart Geometry workshop and conference in Barcelona. Whereas in previous years, experimentation during the workshop was mainly limited to tasks resulting in computationally generated geometry (on people’s laptops) this year was certainly different. Practitioners and researchers combined sophisticated computational design with the creation and testing of physical models. The activity of ‘making and breaking’ seemed like a relief compared to the usually narrow focus of individuals creating virtual masterpieces on their laptops. There was a sense of illustriousness and productivity previously unseen at SG and the IaaC delivered the perfect backdrop for this.

ACADIA 09: reForm()

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

AEC Connect attended the 29th annual conference of the association for computer aided design in architecture (ACADIA) that was held in Chicago, Illinois from October 22nd 025th with a line-up of presenters from academia and design practice. There was a notable difference to the usual workshops that we have seen preceding conferences such as ACADIA, Caadria, or eCAADee over the past few years. This year a staggering number of 12 workshops were on offer in Chicago with parametric modelling and scripting in Rhino as well as environmental analysis in Ecotect raising most interest. The workshops attracted nearly as many visitors as the conference itself and some participants didn’t even stay on for the main event. It makes me wonder if the focus of architectural computing conferences is shifting towards more pro-active participation and training.

Highlights of the 2009 buildingSmart conference in Sydney

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

The 2 day ‘buildingSmart’ conference is the main event amongst ‘Building Information Modeling’ (BIM) supporters in the industry. ‘buildingSmart’ is a global organisation with the goal to promote design collaboration and a streamlined flow of design data across design teams and CAD platforms. In the past few years the focus has shifted on BIM and on the promotion of the standardised design exchange format ‘iFC’.