buildingSMART : The NEw Name for IFC Interoperability

AECbytes starts off this month with a Viewpoint article by Mario Guttman, vice-president and the Firmwide CAD Director for HOK, a leading, multi-disciplinary, international design firm with 22 offices in six countries. In a provocative yet highly articulate style, Gutman presents his candid and blunt take on BIM, shares the status of BIM implementaton at HOK, and highlights the importance of the IAI's IFC interoperability movement. Despite increasing discussions of interoperability in AEC technology forums, as well as critical endorsements from the GSA mandating the use of IFC-based BIM to support concept reviews for projects starting from 2006, IFC interoperability has not yet captured the imagination of the average AEC professional. To break this impasse, the IAI has launched a major re-branding initiative by referring to IFC-enabled BIM interoperability as buildingSMART. HOK has been a champion of industry-wide interoperability standards, and is strongly committed to the IAI. As Guttman points out, HOK sees the IAI as the best forum for developing rigor in how our industry exchanges information, and insuring that this process truly serves all of our interests. He strongly advocates the active involvement of all AEC firms in the buildingSMART movement.

This will be followed by the review of the new release of one of the industry's hottest products: SketchUp 5. It features new terrain modeling tools that work in the same intuitive way as the other SketchUp tools, the ability to add depth to drawings, improved ability to organize and manage component models, enhanced 3D export, new import formats such as DEM and 3DS, and several other improvements.

I will also bring you a report of the Alabama AIA Annual Convention, held earlier this month, where I was invited to present a session on BIM. While mine was the only technology-focused talk, we will see how the other issues that were discussed—sustainable design, hurricane-resistant design, and even the ancient science of feng shui—can all be facilitated with technology.

Thank you
Lachmi Khemlani

Editorials > August 2005