BIM Assessments

A couple of days ago I found a website that does BIM Assessments.

http://www.bimexcellence.net/assess/192/take/20

Initially it looked very interesting because the tests are under different categories. For example You can check your BIM Level as an individual or as an organization.

You can also check your BIM skills on different categories. For instance you can be technically strong but what about Administration?

So I started with Administration.

It's soooo long. Question after question and since I have not seen any indication of duration or total number of question (I am not sure if there is any), I got really irritated and couldn't finish.

But otherwise, the questions are good. They make you realize all different aspects that you need to consider and develop your skills.

They have a nice dictionary with a quick search engine as well.

I advise this test to all the seniors who are involved with BIM somehow.

Have a great day!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Perfect BIM Engineer

Perfect BIM Engineer!

This is what many companies are expecting form me as the Xmas or New Year's gift.

Let me be more specific about what they want.

An engineer who

• understands BIM process very well
• has experience with large international firms
• knows ArchiCAD, MEP Modeler, Tekla, Vico, CADmep inside out
• is a good architect, engineer, planner, estimator, manager
• with good communication skills
• ready to start working with them immediately
• has a reasonable package expectation

Well, this would be a challenging gift even for the Santa Claus because such person does not exist.

Image courtesy of Feelart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A person can know all the mentioned softwares but he will not be an expert on all of them.

He might be a good architect but he will not be planner and estimator at the same time.

If a miracle happens and he has all the skills, then he will be very busy and won't be able to start with your project immediately.

If a super-duper miracle happens and an engineer with all those qualifications is ready to start immediately then you should prepare your budget accordingly. He will not come with a regular cost.

But it is nice to believe in miracles:) It gives you hope:))

Enjoy your holiday!
PS: I know all of you are on holiday and I am the only one working;(

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com



asas

EcoDesigner Online Seminar, 29 January 2013

We all know both BIM and Sustainability are the super hot topics at the moment.

Now, think of a seminar you spend only one hour and learn about both! Very efficient, isn't it? :))

EcoDesigner Online Seminar!

Graphisoft will present EcoDesigner Star building Energy Modeling Solution. (Please notice it is not "EcoDesigner". It is his big brother "EcoDesigner Star". )

EcoDesigner Star enables architects to use ArchiCAD's building information model (BIM) directly as a building energy model (BEM). This ensures streamlined collaboration between designers and energy consultants. Furthermore, EcoDesigner Star offers standard-compliant energy analyses on the BEM and produces a detailed building performance report, all within the familiar ArchiCAD design environment.

Here comes a "funny" teaser.

The seminar will be on the 29 January 2013, Tuesday at
17:00 - 18:00 Dubai Time
16:00 - 17:00 Kuwait, Jeddah, Doha Time
16:00 - 16:00 Cairo Time

You can register from here.

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

ArchiCAD Video Series - Wall Tool

Have you ever watched BIM software videos and did not learn anything?

It happens to me very often.

I hope to see a video that explains how that tools works but ending up watching a super marketing demo.

It is nice if you are new to BIM and trying to understand the benefits in general but if you are experienced it feels like watching FOX KIDS.

Most of the time, I search youtube for technical videos that explains the capabilities of the softare or a specific tool in that software.

Well, when it comes to this, Graphisoft is the best!

They are very transparent and crazy about sharing information.

If you agree with me, you will love the new ArchiCAD Video Series. They started with Wall Tool! 3 videos explaining the Wall Tool inside out.

Wall Tool 01/03 ArchiCAD Video Series

 Wall Tool 02/03 ArchiCAD Video Series

Wall Tool 03/03 ArchiCAD Video Series

BIM Forum at Heriot Watt University

I attended a BIM Forum at Heriot Watt University, Dubai Campus few weeks ago.

Let me start conveying my experience from the very beginning.

How I went there?

Well, the campus is located in Dubai Academic City area. An amazing location for universities. It's very easy to go there.

Image courtesy of bplanet / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Start driving on Emirates Road... Once you feel like you are completely lost and you will die soon and nobody will find even your body in the desert, it means you are few kilometers away from the Academic City:))

Taking this trip at night will increase the "thriller" effect with the help of dim street lights. The only missing item was the music however I handled it with the help of my GPS. My dear friend GPS lady constantly signed the song of "recalculating" which absulately worked much better than any other thriller music.

Here I have to admit, I don't have the best sense of direction:)) So there might be some exaggeration on the sentences above:)))

Anyway, after getting lost 38 times, I found the campus.

Let me share the agenda with you.

All the presentations were quite nice and informative but Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu's and David J. Carey's really caught my attention.

Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu is the structural design coordinator for TAV. Well Here I need to open a paranthesis and give more information about TAV. It's a Turkish company focusing mainly on Airport Project. They not only built but also operate. For instance, Ataturk Airport (Istanbul) is currently being operated by TAV and works like a perfect machine. They have recently been awarded the Abu Dhabi Airport Project which is "the project" of the region. TAV is in JV with CCC and Arabtec in this project. Himm, I think it's enough of information for now and I can close the parenthesis now:) 

Dr. Ahmet Citipitioglu, Structural Design Coordinator, TAV

 

Dr. Ahmet's presentation was mainly about their strategy on managing the BIM aspect of the airport project. The most striking figure was the BIM Budget. 

25 Million USD! Initial team of 30!

This is the biggest BIM budget I heard so far. I would love to see another presentation upon completing the project:)

David J. Carey, General Manager, National Services and Facilities Management LLC

The next one is David J. Carey. He is the GM of an FM company called National Services and Facilities Management LLC and as you can imagine his presentation was about BIM and IFM (Integrated FM). When his kids used to ask him what does he do, his answer was "he takes care of buildings":)) Quite a clear answer I believe. Leaves no question marks:))

Why I liked his presentation?

1. His presentation skills! He has the "cool" accent and has an interesting sense of humor. Although he makes quite though statements, you can't stop laughing. So it was a fun to listen presentation.
2. He knows his stuff! He has a vast experience of FM and communicates it in a very simple way even people like me who are not very familiar with FM can understand very well.

He also gave some interesting figures. For instance, currently the FM industry alone in the GCC is 6 Billion USD. 4 years ago it was 12 Billion USD!

What does he think about BIM?

Well, he is happy to see that BIM gives a much better platform to architects for visualizing the possible problems their design can cause for FM. Plus, he also likes the idea of storing all the information in a central database like BIM.

So overall, it was a nice conference.

Have a great day!

Diyane Koseoglu

www.bimes.com

3D is the way to go but what about 2D?

Do you remember ArchiCAD 11?

It was the version, which was focused mainly on 2D related new features.

I can remember the big debates just after the release. Some users were so upset and they felt incredibly betrayed.

Their point was, 3D is the way to go and Graphisoft should not spent time on developing the 2D features.

Well, I did not agree with them at that time and I do not agree with them today as well.

I agree with the "3D is the way to go part" but I do not agree with the rest. Here are my reasons:

Image from bdcnetwork

1- 2D is still the main form of communicating project information. Yes, we all saw these fancy pictures of site engineers playing with models using iPads. But let's be honest, it's not their main media. They still use 2D drawings and the model is just a supportive document. Will this change? Yes, but I don't know when...

2- We always need 2D input even while creating 3D Models. For instance we define the cross section of a complex profile in 2D. So it becomes very important for us how good is our modeling tool's 2D capabilities. Do we have enough methods to define an arc or a spline?

3- Clash detection is mostly considered as a coordination process between MEP and other disciplines. We all know why. MEP is usually the troublemaker of the project:) In this case, many BIM beginers believes clash detection should be in 3D. Not entirely! ArchiCAD 11's Trace Reference (a developed version of Ghost Story) has a vital role in our business. When we coordinate a project, we also check Architecture vs Architecture and Structure vs Structure by using trace reference. We compare the section generated from  our model to the design drawings etc. Believe me we normally find 10s of discrepancies within the same discipline drawings. This would not be possible with tools that provide only 3D Clash Detection Tools!

Please do not get me wrong! I am absolutely in love with the latest developments in ArchiCAD. Morph Tool saved our lives in one of our recent projects:)) I am just saying let's not ignore the relaity of 2D:))

Have a fabulous day!

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

ArchiCAD - BIM Product of the Year and Product of the Year

Today I have very good news!

ArchiCAD got Product of the Year and BIM Product of the Year awards at Construction Computing Awards, The Hammers.


Don't think this is it!

BIMx got Mobile Product of the Year award!

Very cool, hey:))

Curious ones can read further details below...

                                                                                                         November 27, 2012

ArchiCAD 16 is Product of the Year in the UK

BUDAPEST, November 27, 2012 – GRAPHISOFT, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) software developer for architects, is proud to announce that ArchiCAD 16 has won three prestigious awards at the seventh annual Construction Computing Magazine Awards in the UK.

Affectionately known as ‘The Hammers,’ the Construction Computing Awards showcase and reward the technology, tools and solutions for the effective design, construction, maintenance, and modification of commercial buildings, residential and social housing and civil engineering projects of all sizes.  In addition to the main category of Product of the Year, GRAPHISOFT also took home awards in 2012 for BIM Product of the Year for ArchiCAD 16, and Mobile Product of the Year for BIMx; the company was also runner up for the Environmental Project of the Year involving EuroBuild and their M-Labs project.

About ArchiCAD

ArchiCAD 16, the latest version of GRAPHISOFT’s award-winning design software for architects, introduces a comprehensive ecosystem of solutions to ease the creation, sharing, and finding of custom BIM Components. Built-in Energy Evaluation turns ArchiCAD 16 into the “greenest” BIM solution available on the market today.

About BIMx

BIMx is an interactive environment that allows users to explore full BIM models without holding a license of the professional authoring software in which the building model was originally created. With BIMx, ArchiCAD users have been able to publish self-running BIMx models for their clients to run on desktop computers (Win/Mac); on iOS and Android devices, BIMx puts BIM into the hands of all stakeholders not actively involved in the actual creation of the BIM model such as contractors, builders, clients, owners, and principals of design practices as well.

About GRAPHISOFT

GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD®, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server™, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and the GRAPHISOFT EcoDesigner™, the world's first fully integrated building energy modeling application. GRAPHISOFT’s innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate.  GRAPHISOFT has been a part of the Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007.