B9 - Eduardo Borja - Group E - Reflection

             From the beginning, even before starting to attend class I was interested in Intelligent Buildings, but I had a different idea of what intelligent buildings meant. Before I believed Intelligent Buildings were characterized as smart automated buildings. Through this course I understood that intelligent buildings are much more involved than the technological aspects of the final structure. Intelligent buildings take into consideration the design and the time efficiency of building a certain structure.

            I can definitely state that this class has had a great effect on my profession because it has fed my interest in aspects such as the creation of databases and BIM, which are becoming more and more important in the construction industry. Through AE 510 specifically, I have been introduced the creation of databases, as well as further deepening my knowledge about Revit. Through our assignment on databases I learned that planning before executing is quite essential in any aspect of design. If you didn’t plan the database before creating it, then this could have created a lot of problems once you tried to execute it. Also, databases prove to be quite effective once you want to find a specific set of points within a large amount of data. In regards to Revit, I have only scratched to surface on the program capabilities but from what I have learned in this class and from different tutorial videos, I have seen that Revit can become quite powerful. I can say that this class has affected my profession because it has showed me that the industry is changing and that this new technology regarding BIM will certainly be something I will need to fully understand.

            Regarding my future, this class has provided an introduction to an industry that is going to continue to grow and offer a lot of job opportunities. Understanding even a broad aspect of intelligent buildings and be able to discuss different aspects of intelligent buildings can certainly help me in my future job searches.

            Regarding actual class time, I personally would have enjoyed more small projects in order to learn a greater variety of BIM software. On the other hand, the lecture speakers in class gave an interesting perspective on how intelligent building techniques are applied and used outside the classroom. Similarly, the lectures provided by Dr. Mitchell were certainly useful and gave us as well a professional perspective on intelligent buildings and their applications.

Comments:

Alqallaf: From the beginning of your post I could identify with you. I joined this class even though I was taking another professional elective because the name caught my attention. Also, I can relate to the fact that the database project was quite instructive. I enjoyed how you related the project you did for your concentration.

Laura Hill: I enjoyed your post because it made me think of something really important in this class that i took for granted. The blog posts as you stated were quite helpful because it was an opportunity to reflect upon different new topics. The posts actually helped me understand and actually focus on the reading which ultimately helped me fully understand the different topics at hand.

  

B7 - Gary Reiff - Course Reflection

This was a very interesting course in my personal opinion.  I have never had a class go into this kind of depth on futuristic technology.  The first thing we discussed in class was artificial intelligence.  While this does not currently have as much of a direct effect on my future profession (structural engineer), I can see it impacting the profession in a major way in the future, especially during the construction phase of structures.  Artificial intelligence could have a positive or negative impact on my profession in the future depending on whose point of view your looking from.  From an owners point of view drones and other forms of artificial intelligence can be beneficial by saving money on laborers, as well as on insurance for the workers or any other type of injuries.  At the same time, artificial intelligence can take jobs away from hard working and innocent people just because owners want to save money and reduce the chance of injury on the job.  I will be very interested to see how this plays out over the next 10-15 years.

Next, in class we went into great detail discussing BIM and databases.  These two topics I believe will have less of an impact on my profession in the future.  While BIM can be very useful for a structural engineering working on buildings, I personally am working more on the transportation side with bridges.  Therefore, I will not be working with BIM very much.  Also, BIM is used more on the architectural side of buildings rather than the structural side.  The same can be said about databases.

So overall, I would say this was a very good course to have taken during my time here at Drexel University.  Not only did I learn an incredible amount about the future of the architectural engineering field, I learned a little about how the field of structural engineering might be effected as well.  I would highly recommend others to consider taking this course in the future.  My only critique is to focus a little less on databases on the future.  I just have trouble seeing myself ever making databases in my field in the future.  While I can't say that is the same for everyone else taking this course, I can personally say that about me.

Comments
1.) Rebecca Lynch's Comment
2.) Laura Worley's Comment

B7, Redus (Group D)

I really enjoyed this survey of trending technology for the built environment. From robots to BIM, we certainly covered a lot. Co-ops and classes have done an excellent job showing us the industry standards, how things are done now. It is easy to get stuck doing what you are taught: it works, why change? One of the responsibilities of “young people,” in my opinion, is to change things. When you’re too young to now that something will fail it may just succeed. This class introduced us to the cutting edge technology, allowing us to better understand current technology and hopefully anticipate future advances and making us aware of how we can improve design and construction technologies. I am particularly interested in watching how robotics changes the construction industry, and what the possibilities will be for 3D printed concrete.

The class mainly consisted of blog posts, lecture periods, and assignments. The blog posts were a great way to get us to understand the details of the different technologies, be they databases, BIM, or general groundbreaking stuff. It was good to research a particular topic and then have to form ideas regarding it. Commenting on other similar posts is interesting and allows us to learn more about our topic. There was so much that the other groups reported on that we did not learn about however. It might be worthwhile to have students comment on other group’s posts so they learn about a different subject. Students would not be getting as in-depth in their assigned subject, but this course does not strive for in-depth understanding. Students also would have trouble having productive conversations in the comments, since they were just learning about the topic. I did not see conversations happening often in the comments section however, so this should not be an issue. The class time was split between lecture and group activities. While some lectures features guests sharing their real world experience others covered broad topics that would be time consuming to research. By themselves, the lectures were not terribly helpful. One could easily not pay attention or leave and forget whatever they had just “learned.” The group activities were a good way to mitigate this. They forced us to think about what we had just learned and apply it to what we had experienced in Co-op. I think the activity week 9 was especially good at this. The various assignments were good opportunities to dive into a particular topic. The final project allowed us to learn about a topic that we found particularly interesting. Assignments and blog posts gave students a deeper understanding of an area of intelligent buildings, lectures gave us a broader understanding, and group discussion forced us to apply the information.

The concept of building information models, or BIM, was integral to the course. The assignment had us create a parametric family, which was interesting and will no doubt be very useful in practice. It also got us to think about BIM in general. While cumbersome and novice hostile, it is a very useful design tool. Programs such as AECOsim allow the designer to see how everything interacts. Is there a duct running through my beam? BIM knows. How much less energy will the building use if I specify triple layer windows? How much more energy does it take to make the extra layer of glass? BIM knows. We talked a lot about BIM, but we didn’t get into BMS much. I wonder, are their decisions we can be making as designers to make operation easier. How might BMSs affect our designs?

 The database assignment was also useful. We thought about how a database is structured, how the information interacts to allow easy entry, processing, and export. More importantly, it forced us to think about what kinds of information can be contained in a database. Computers have the power make our lives easier, but we rarely use them to their full potential. In a few years someone from this class will probably be sorting through spreadsheets (or worse, paper files stored in various parts of the building) and think, “hey, this could be better!”

Comment to Farnelli & Palma

B6 - Course Reflection - Mark Lodato

AE 510 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love BIM

                This course was very interesting and one of my favorite courses that I have taken at Drexel. It provided valuable insight on technological advances in the recent past and suggested possible advances that could take place in the near future as they relate to the construction and engineering industries. Examples of these advances were increased BIM integration in the architectural and structural design and construction processes, the increased roles of robotics in manufacturing and construction, and the importance of sensors and their outputs being stored in databases. The prevalence of guest speakers providing real world examples and stories about technology also helped to cement these ideas about technology.  I also enjoyed the emphasis of working in groups with my peers during class time. The ability to collaborate and gain multiple perspectives and viewpoints on the class topics was invaluable in regards to learning and fully digesting these topics.

                The portion of the course that I enjoyed the most was the guest lecturers. It is always beneficial to learn about BIM and how other technologies impact the world during normal class time, but actually hearing it first hand from engineers in the industry working for larger companies reinforces the class topics greatly. Each of the guest lectures was beneficial, worthwhile, and distinct enough so that each lecturer was separate from one another while still providing valuable information about the same topics. I also enjoyed how each of the lecturers had different perspectives and attitudes regarding BIM and technology in general as it relates to construction. I thought it was very important to look at the same issues from all possible sides and reference points in order to critically think about each topic effectively.

                The topic that I enjoyed the least was databases. This is not to say that the material was not relevant or applicable to the course or to us as engineers, but rather it just did not have the interest and wide appeal that the BIM discussions had. I think it would be beneficial to have a guest lecture about databases for future sections of the course to get another perspective and viewpoint about databases in general and the specifics about how they are applied in the industry.

                Overall, this course was definitely my favorite of the quarter and one of my favorite courses that I have taken at Drexel. I feel that it provided valuable information on the trends that the industry is taking in the professional world as it relates to technology and intelligent building. It definitely impacted me in terms of how I feel about the role of BIM in my professional career and the impact that BIM will have on me in the future. I definitely need to take a closer look at BIM as the technology develops further and familiarize myself better with more BIM software.

**Edit**

Comment 1: http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b6-group-b-alex-palma.html

Comment 2: http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b7-group-b-schroeder.html

Course Reflection - Adrian Kuzniarowicz

Prior to entering the Intelligent Buildings course, I did not have much knowledge about the capabilities of BIM programs or how databases worked at all. During my time in the course, I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge on the possible applications in which BIM software could be utilized. I found that Professor Mitchell's guest speakers were all very passionate about the BIM software which they use on a daily basis and really did an overall good job on explaining the benefits and downfalls to using BIM technology to model various systems within a building.

Throughout the term, I found Professor Mitchell’s weekly lectures to be very informative. The various examples which he presented, in both presentations and videos, to be highly interesting and informative. I also found the group discussions and activities that were held weekly during lecture to be very collaborative and intriguing. Having the opportunity in class to break into smaller groups and brainstorm creative ideas amongst other classmates was also very beneficial. The classes in which Professor Mitchell provided how-to tutorials were, in my opinion, the most beneficial, especially during the database portion of the class.

Between the in-class information and online video tutorials provided by Professor Mitchell, the assignments related to the course became much easier. The goal of the class was for students to understand the importance of BIM and databases and how they work. The class provided a good analysis of how each of these technologies work and how they can be integrated with one another.

Since starting this course in January, the best aspect I found in the class was having industry professionals come in to class to speak to us about how the engineering field is changing to incorporate Building Integration Modeling software into the design process at a very early stage. Given that I am planning on working as a transportation engineer in the rail discipline, I will most likely not be using Revit to assist in my designs. Although my goal is to become a rail engineer, the ability to understand the way Revit works may serve me in the future if the opportunity to change disciplines presents itself. 

Comments:

Samuel,

I completely agree that after taking the course, I feel as I can actually hold a conversation about intelligent buildings and have meaningful input. Unfortunately, I did not have as much ease as you with the database assignment. Although the class helped me understand how they work, I still don't know if I'd trust myself creating one in a professional setting. 

Karan,

Before coming into the course at the start of the term, I had also imagined it being similar to AE 390 and AE 391. I found the way that this course is taught to be much more open ended and I feel like that is why it was much easier to learn. I also agree that the Revit assignment was definitely a good refresher in demonstrating the power of this BIM program as well as other related ones. 

B5 - Databases in Construction - Eduardo Borja

            Computerized databases started in 1960’s. This happened when the computers became more cost effective options for different firms and organisations. Databases in general have great benefits for companies. Databases are essential in reducing the amount of time spent managing data. Data management can be tedious and mundane and if there is a large amount of data to handle, the time spent processing could be excessive. One interesting example of a database that was basically one of the first commercial successes was SABRE. SABRE was a system that was used by IBM in order to help American Airlines to manage its reservations.

            Specifically related to construction firms, databases can provide a particularly easy way to contact customers, suppliers, even employees. For example, something that could seem meaningless, such as being able to pull up an email address, could actually be as easy as typing a name. The ability to find information easily creates an effective and productive work force. Organisation in a database i believe is crucial as well. Making an element easy to find should be a goal of any creation of a database, but if the database is not organised then the database loses its purpose.

            Another example of how critical databases are in a construction firm relate to estimating. Estimating could be extremely tedious if you would have to input the data for each element of a structure. In this case, databases allow keeping records of a variety of properties of elements. Also, in construction firms, cost and scheduling is greatly affected by the use of databases. Also, databases can extremely facilitate the life of an engineer. This is due to the fact that in a database one can input many different trade information that could certainly prove to be useful when estimating a project. One example of a typical database used in industry is RSMeans. RSMeans is used when estimating the price per square foot of a structure. This database provides data for both renovation projects and new buildings and has costs for over 900 cities in the US and Canada. Construction firms could also establish a database for all of the past projects they have taken. This could be quite beneficial because the firm could reference any project that could actually help with a current bid or estimate.

1. http://www.rsmeans.com/
2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140724234418-100956650-coming-soon-construction-databases-why-use-a-database
3. http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/14_Organization_and_Use_of_Project_Information.html

Comments:

Mohammed Alqallaf: Mohammed, i particularly enjoyed reading through your post. I enjoyed the fact that you discussed how databases have evolved through time and how computers/clouds have helped with this evolution. I completely agree, and also i must add that organisation must be key with databases. Dealing with such a large amount of elements in a database must have a certain degree of organization. Also, i agree with the fact that the databases must be updated regularly. For example, if RSMeans does not update regularly the cost estimate of a construction firm could not be competitive.

Kuzniarowicz: I enjoyed reading your post because i also did some research on RSMeans. This is certainly a great database and its uses are quite extensive. The last point you touch on in your post is really interesting and i believe it is a future of many companies with their products as well as a future of BIM. I believe many companies will develop a database and have the ability to import their products into a BIM software in order to make the designers life much easier with regards to cost and scheduling.

B5 - Databases and Construction firms - Hamad Al-Hajri

What are the uses of databases in construction firms?
There are several reasons as to why databases should be utilized in construction companies. Though not all the reason may be illustrated below, however, I will focus on demonstrating an understanding of the importance associated with the use of the database in construction firms
1- Databases are good estimators of wealth, and when employed in construction firms, they enable the management of the company the opportunity to rates and them tendency to build up. This facilitates in the management the ability to have an overview of the scope of work that is underway or is to be taken. [1]

2- Databases are employed to ensure that firms are in a position to attain and maintain updated information appertaining to the project at hand. In construction companies, databases are used to enable the management to stand the opportunity to input their information to facilitate in them a check into the happenings that surrounds the project at hand. [1]
3- Through their use, databases enable firms to be in a position to understand the measures that must be put in place to improve their performance. When the appropriate considerations have been made, a construction firm attains the flexibility it desires to make the necessary estimations that facilitate in it the ability to improve its performance. [1]

4- Databases are used to measure the work that a construction firm is undertaking. With their application, and their ability to estimate the work at hand, a construction firm can understand the rates that are necessary to facilitate in it capacity to point out the measures that have to be taken to actually complete a project and with the right approximates to minimize losses. [1]

5- Databases are also used as an application to better help track materials and assortment of parts that are in office building. Furthermore, supervisors that are responsible of materials use databases to track complete project inventory and perform inventory-related transactions. Finally, through tracking, databases link items to bar coded labels that comprise all information necessary. [2]

Work Cited:

[1] Abdou, Alaa, Moh’d Radaideh, and John Lewis. "Decision Support Systems and Their Application in Construction." (2008). Print

 [2] Handheld Database Applications Solve Large Construction Problems. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. [http://www.syware.com/company/case_study/smb_pocket_sized_tools_solve_large_const.php]

Comments: 

Maria Ayon:

Thanks Maria for your post, I enjoyed reading through it. The most interesting part that I will need to read more on it, is database applications and its relation to office design and BIM software. Furthermore, I found the part on utilizing database in structural designing to be on point. I agree that using databases help tremendously with keeping information and utilize them later on when necessary.

Mohammed Al-Qallaf:

Great post Mohammed. It was very interesting to know that not only companies can incorporate the use of databases through PCs, but also in mobile devices and tablets! You are right, a great number of us have smartphones and with the technology developing everyday it makes thing easier to track. Furthermore, I also use AutoCAD viewer on my phone for a structural course I am taking and its enormously helpful. There are more advanced versions of AutoCAD, which can be found on the App store where you have to pay little to download, and it gives you the ability to do certain things.