More on the BIMForum Event and a Review of Vectorworks Architect 2011

Last month, AECbytes published the first of a two-part series that provided an overview of the AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) BIMForum organization and captured the highlights of its recent event, which was held on February 10 and 11 in San Diego, California. The event was focused on the theme “BIM and Building Enclosures,” which stemmed from the recognition that the building envelope is one of the most litigious and expensive aspects of building construction. The follow-up article published this month on the BIMForum event discusses additional presentations from AEC firms such as JE Dunn Construction, HNTB Architecture, and PCL Construction Services on using BIM for the design and construction of building envelopes. There were also presentations focused on the performance analysis of building envelopes, including acoustical analysis, on fascinating new projects around the world including the Baha’i temple in Chile and the SaRang Community Church in Korea. Additionally, it discusses initiatives by the GSA and NIBS, and the latest offerings from vendors such as McGraw-Hill, Precision 3D Scanning, Scenario VPD, and Eagle Point. It concludes with my overall impressions of the event and how it compares with other technology-focused conferences in the AEC industry.

Earlier this month, we looked at the newly released Eighth Edition of Newforma Project Center, which features some ground-breaking enhancements including BIM integration enabled by a Revit add-in, additional add-ins for contract management and mobile access, and several improvements to the core application for document control, contract administration, and project collaboration. Another product that will be reviewed this month is Vectorworks Architect 2011. While a detailed comparative evaluation of this application was included in the recently released BIM Evaluation Study Report, this would be the first time the application has been reviewed in AECbytes. While Vectorworks Architect is a relatively late entrant into the field of architectural BIM applications and does not have all the bells and whistles of the more established applications, it has a lot to recommend it including advanced 3D modeling, rendering and documentation capabilities, a price that is almost half of that of other BIM applications, cross-platform capability, and strong IFC support. We will explore the BIM capabilities of Vectorworks Architect and see if it is indeed possible to create a full-fledged BIM model with it. 

Also on the agenda for this month is a Viewpoint article by Gustavo Lima, Principal and Director of Construction Administration at Cannon Design, who works on developing and coordinating construction quality initiatives for the firm’s 17 offices and overseeing its construction-related performance in more than 200 projects annually throughout North America. He focuses on the need for Project Management applications to speak a neutral language to each other, so that they can be used by all AEC professionals to communicate directly with one another, without the need for duplicate data entry and while keeping their own data secure and private. BIM seems to have grabbed the lion’s share of attention in the AEC industry the last few years, so it is especially important to highlight the additional software challenges we face as well.

Be sure to check out the new Research Reports section in AECbytes with its inaugural offering, the BIM Evaluation Study Report that was commissioned by the AIA Large Firm Round Table (LFRT) CEO Committee.

Thank you!

Lachmi Khemlani

Editorials > March 2011