Features: Issues & Trends — September/October 2005

Contractors Scrambling To Master 3-D Modeling Technologies

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Some contractors are using 3-D and 4-D modeling on their complex projects now and more will adopt the technology as owners start to demand it

By Mary Buckner Powers

Top: The final step in 3-D modeling shows all connection elements such as plates, channels and bolts in their connected state. Bottom: A complete hung-shape, connected 3D model of the superstructure of the Denver Art Museum expansion.

It's coming and there's no stopping it. The only question is when will it get here. It's building information modeling, which produces three-dimensional, four-dimensional and even five-dimensional views of a construction project. Models are filled with information that can speed up estimating, help schedule work crews, fix problems before they reach the field, track the progress of work, detect clashes and show the properties associated with objects in a design.

But these new tools face the same simple obstacles that computer-aided design did 15 years ago.

"We've got old dogs and new tricks here," says David Hanson, senior vice president of Walbridge Aldinger Co., Detroit, and chairman of the Associated General Contractors' private industry advisory council and a member of its BIM task group.

It could take a generation for the cultural change-looking at a project visually rather than trying to visualize it-to take hold, Hanson says. A few companies are using BIM now and more will adopt the technology as owners start to demand it. Industry observers expect a boost in BIM use beginning in October 2006 when the General Services Administration will require companies to bid on its projects using the models.

A Complete Change

"If BIM fulfills its potential, it could change the way we do business over the next 10 years," says John Tocci, CEO of Tocci Building Corp., Woburn, Mass., and chairman of AGC's BIM task group.

The Beck Group, Dallas, saw the new technology coming more than 10 years ago, and in 1996 patented its own internal product, says Brad Phillips, managing director of the firm's Atlanta-based eastern division. Beck primarily uses the software to look at building alternatives and costs. "We use it to help clients make a go, no-go decision," Phillips says. "We can have a model for them in minutes." Phillips says the feedback loop often is slow and fragmented, and while "it can take months with paper drawings, we're collapsing it into a day."

A composite 3-D model of the steel-reinforced concrete foundation wall, structural steel and plumbing at the Denver Art Museum expansion project. This represents coordination with foundation wall sleeve penetration and beam penetration.

As owners begin to see the value in the models, they will begin to push it down to construction, say industry officials. Historically, owners have seen the bright line separating architecture and construction as a healthy adversarial balance between design integrity and costs. But it is the coordination between design and construction that gives building information modeling value.

Some owners already see the benefits of collaborative design, says Davis Chaviere, principal and chief information officer for Dallas-based HKS. For example, a model built for one project from the architect's two-dimensional model captured a large number of potential problems, he says. "The owner thought it was worthwhile. Our fees were more than covered by the savings," Chaviere notes.

Coordination

In the last five years, the focus of modeling has shifted from the design side of the business to the construction side and to the coordination of the two, says Chaviere. "And the devil is, in fact, the architect, who is usually conservative and tends to be behind the curve when it comes to technology," he says.

Some architects are reluctant to add the information to their models that the contractor needs. They argue that at the time they are doing their models, the specific information the builder needs is not available, says Chaviere. But they also insist that adding specific building information could transfer the building risk to the architect. "The question on the table is, 'If we give a model to a contractor and there are errors, what would be the liability?'" he says.

In a sense, the jump from CAD to 3-D modeling is much bigger than the move from manual drawings to CAD, says Chaviere. "What we are talking about is extending the process outside the architect's office," he says.

Webcor Builders is using building information modeling on its highest profile project, the new $370-million museum and research center for the California Academy of Sciences, designed by architect Renzo Piano.

Coordinating work between the designer and the builder does have benefits for the architect, says Chaviere. It ensures that what is in the shop drawings is the same as what the client thinks he's getting. "With the models, the designer can keep the owner informed of how changes affect the design," Chaviere adds.

Supply Chain Management

Fluor Corp., Aliso Viejo, Calif., likens BIM to supply chain management. "It's a set of processes, operations and tools," says Ray Barnard, Fluor's chief information officer. "It's not a product, it's a methodology." The ultimate goal is to capture as much of the process as possible to eliminate inefficiencies, he says.

Fluor is using a full suite of the technology for the complete life cycle of a high-speed rail project in The Netherlands. "The technology was critical in winning the work," says Barnard. It will model the full life cycle of the project and ultimately will provide information for maintenance service. A Fluor-led consortium has the contract to design-build-operate and maintain the 62-mile-long rail system.

Until the architects and contractors agree to take a more integrated approach in traditional design-bid-build projects, contractors can easily build models from the architect's 2-D drawings. The engineers and builders can add the data they need for the functions they want.

But that also is the source of a problem. Several popular specialized models now are available for HVAC, lighting design, structural analysis and others that need detailed modeling information, but they do not all speak the same language, says Jim Bedrick, director of systems integration for Webcor Builders, San Mateo, Calif. "Interoperability is the biggest problem modeling faces now," says Bedrick. Such challenges are worked out as they are identified.

"Development of a common language is in its adolescence," Bedrick says. Others are not so kind and consider the process to develop a common language slow and laborious.

The fact that computers do not deal well with approximate information is another problem, says Bedrick. Finished construction documents have exact information, but the design starts with approximate information and moves to specific and exact information. "We used to start with a napkin sketch and progress to hard-line drawings," he says.

To deal with that problem, generic objects can be assigned a range of costs. "Rather than saying an object costs $100 plus or minus 5%, which doesn't tell us much, the models say it costs between $95 and $105, which tells us the boundaries of the building system," says Bedrick. The design can be refined so more money is spent on the most important items.

The conservative building culture also is holding back the new technology, says Bedrick. Because construction companies cannot afford to botch a project, they are more likely to go with the methods they know work rather than experiment with new ones, he says.

A Fluor-led consortium is using a full suite of building information modeling technology on a design-build-operate rail project in The Netherlands.

Andrew Ball, Webcor's president and CEO, backs the new technology. "It makes it easy for us," he says. Webcor is using BIM on its highest-profile project, the new museum and research center for the California Academy of Sciences, designed by architect Renzo Piano. The 370,000-sq- ft, $370-million facility in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is scheduled to open in late 2008. It incorporates environmentally responsible construction technology and advanced seismic design and will replace some structures that were damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Three new buildings and a historic one will act as table legs to hold up an undulating roof covered with a layer of planting that will prevent 2 million gallons of rainwater a year from becoming stormwater runoff. Webcor has worked with Graphisoft, Newton, Mass., for 18 months to develop the model. "They honed the tool and we have a beautiful model with an incredible level of detail," Bedrick says.

Webcor looked for design conflicts by integrating the model into NavisWorks, which works well because it strips out unnecessary information to look for clashes, Bedrick says. NavisWorks also is a neutral environment that allows a variety of software, no matter what their language, to work together looking for clashes.

Benefits

The Academy of Sciences project is the most advanced BIM used on any of Webcor's projects. It has a timeline that Graphisoft developed for scheduling to test the coordination of work by building trades when construction begins in September. "Prior to this, 4-D models required so much labor they were only good for presentations," says Bedrick.

Meanwhile, Graphisoft has moved from software company to service provider, says Viktor Bullian, the company's director of construction service. It will build construction models for contractors to be used for estimating, scheduling, constructability analysis and coordinating subcontractors. "It gives a company the benefit of 3-D models without having to implement the platform and train someone how to do it," Bullian says. Graphisoft also is developing models for subcontractors that integrate directly to the fabricator, eliminating the need for shop drawings.

When designers build a model, a wall knows it is a wall, and a window knows it is a window because it is coded to national standards. The model's database describes how a wall should be built and what materials are needed.

Based on an object's code, a recipe of materials and methods automatically are assigned. The model then knows the number of bricks and the number of hours it will take to build a wall, as well as the cost. The model can be connected to an accounting system, and the tasks can be put in a schedule. In the end, the model will animate how the building will be built and how long each task will take.

"It shows the progress of construction from the foundation to the slab-on-grade to the walls coming together on the first floor, the second floor and on up," Bullian says.

The model also can show what needs to be built over the next few days, and the scheduling component can track how work crews will progress from one floor to another. "It pulls everything together, and the owners just love it," Bullian says.

BIM is a technology that allows a more modern way of looking at construction, says Jonathan Widney, president of NavisWorks, Phoenix, Ariz. "It's a huge work change from the traditional ways," he says. "Once contractors see the benefits, such as fewer change orders and fewer requests for information, and as projects become more profitable, they will come on board."