Course Reflection

Like most of my fellow class mates, I have had James Mitchell many times as an instructor for various classes throughout my studies at Drexel. I have always enjoyed the way he teaches the classes, always integrated into current topics, trends and new technologies. I expected no less from AE-510 as it may have been my favorite class yet with Professor Mitchell. One thing I did not like however was the seemingly long lectures. Sometimes I felt that Professor Mitchell was having a difficult time finding enough lecture material to fill the void. I believe that it should be at most 2 hours, but since it is a 3 credit class, there should be class at least 3 hours a week. Other than that, I felt that this class gave me a new view into today’s technology and advances, trends and future ideas that are being developed.

                One of the things I liked best about this class is having guest speakers actually in the field come in and discuss what they do and how they feel about whatever topics James Mitchell asked them to talk about. I also enjoyed how Mitchell exposed us to both sides of the argument, from people loving Revit and that one guy (Travis? I believe) who hated Revit. It shows that he is not bias in his views and wants us to make our own decision.

                My least favorite was probably the database portion. I just didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have. I completely understand and accept the power that databases fulfill in our society, but for me to completely understand how to build one, I just didn’t go all out learning it. My favorite part was building the family in Revit, it allowed me to create something that can be used in real life (virtual life that is).

                I thought the open-topic term project was a good idea and allowed the students to explore whatever we like to do in our lives and whatever we find interesting.

                Being a BSMS student in Architectural engineering, I always enjoyed AE classes much more than Cive and Mem classes. So I feel that this class has helped me, as I said before, it helped give me another view on today’s world and for that I give this class at 5/5!

Comments:

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/03/b7-shields.html?showComment=1457475037198#c2482983721249907348

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/03/b7-course-reflection-hamad-al-hajri.html?showComment=1457475182349#c5465718917348124413

B5 - Group B - Zabiega

Structured Query Language (SQL) is one of the reasons we have the World Wide Web as it is responsible for querying and editing information that is stored on databases around the world that manage the system. SQL has been around since the 70’s but now is far more flexible to users  with its capability of supporting distributed databases, which means computers are networked and connected at all times. This greatly improves processes strength and allows for new functionality such as support for XML, triggers, regular expression matching, recursive queries and standardized sequences.

SQL is based on many different elements that can handle all necessary language commands; Clauses, expressions, predicates, queries and statements make up these elements. This enables SQL to retrieve data, update/insert/delete records from databases, create new databases and can set permissions in those databases. These commands can be summed up as: Select, Insert, Delete, Create and Drop. These commands can essentially enable the user to do anything to databases.

In the end, SQL is a very useful and helpful program to sort, find, view and edit information stored in databases all around the world.

Sources:

https://www.ntchosting.com/encyclopedia/databases/structured-query-language/

http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_intro.asp

http://www.sqlcourse.com/intro.html

Comments:

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b5-group-b-shields.html?showComment=1455054859938#c5669809592686519000

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/sql-what-is-it-and-why-important-as.html?showComment=1455054995412#c4910510389648974239

B4 - Group B - Zabiega

I became an Architectural Engineer because I like understanding how buildings with individual systems (HVAC, electrical, structural, etc) can work together to produce a better building. So for my project I chose to do an analysis of if a building is considered green, is it considered intelligent? And vise versa. How do we define a green building or an intelligent? 

An intelligent building can be defined as:

“Use of technology and process to create a building that is safer and more productive for its occupants and more operationally efficient for its owners.”[1]

and a green building can be defined as:

" A green building is one whose construction and lifetime of operation assure the healthiest possible environment while representing the most efficient and least disruptive use of land, water, energy and resources. The optimum design solution is one that effectively emulates all of the natural systems and conditions of the pre-developed site – after development is complete." [2]

As you can read, there is some overlapping qualities such as making the building safer/healthiest. However, an intelligent building serves to make the occupants and owners more efficient whereas a green building is about making the environment more efficient. 

Right now LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) is the leading 'decider' on if a building is green and on what level is it green. Points can be awarded by numerous amount of criteria, such as reduced energy consumption of mechanical system, energy producing systems, water collection, use of reclaimed/recycled wood and even presence of bike racks. Not all of these criteria can be considered intelligent. 

During my paper, I will discuss what I believe, and what scholarly articles tell us what each building type is meant to be. In the conclusion I will decide if a building is green, does it mean it is intelligent? and vise versa.

Sources: 

1: http://automatedbuildings.com/news/aug05/articles/ibtpe/ibtpe.htm

2: http://www3.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/documents/pdf/12_8_what_is_green_GGGC.pdf

Comments:

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b4-group-b-schroeder_2.html?showComment=1454453598118#c435394374103359061

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/01/b4-group-b-cummings.html?showComment=1454454047091#c7953705749025343908

B3 - Group E: Adrian Kuzniarowicz

In today’s construction design process, there are many different CAD and BIM software technologies being utilized. Two of the most commonly used programs include AutoCAD and Revit, both of which are programmed and designed by a company called Autodesk. By initially releasing AutoCAD in December of 1982, Autodesk provided its users with the capability of creating, saving, and editing two-dimensional and three-dimensional CAD drawings which were drawn using a single line tool. Autodesk took it one step further when in 2000, they released their first version of REVIT software. The REVIT software allowed users to create a new type of file that consisted of a digital, 3-dimensional model that implemented the design of a building’s infrastructure, architectural plans, and utility design. New advances in REVIT software has allowed for the integration of construction schedules and budgets into its BIM modeling software to allow for more efficient building planning and budgeting.

As technology has advanced over the last decade, the ways which it is applied and the amount of different professionals that use it has grown tremendously. In the past, architects and engineers were the main professions which utilized software such as AutoCAD. Since then, professionals in trades such as Fire Protection or HVAC, and even Construction Managers, have begun utilizing AutoCAD software as well as BIM modeling technologies, like REVIT, to creating and analyze highly integrated and organized construction projects. The advancements in the development of REVIT software has even allowed for users to plan and track various stages in the building’s life-cycle, from the planning of the design to the post-life demolition of the structure.

Unlike AutoCAD, which limits it’s users capabilities to drawing extensively detailed two-dimensional plans using a single “line” tool, REVIT allows its users to simply create floor plans using “Wall”, “Door”, and “Window” tools. The program allows the user to specify material types, thicknesses, and other material properties, which are preloaded into the program, much more simply than AutoCAD, in order to create a highly integrated 3-D model of a building.

In addition to these programs, Autodesk has created a number of drafting programs to assist professionals in drawing of discipline-specific plans or drawings. AutoCAD Architecture, formerly known as Architectural Desktop, was initially released by Autodesk in 1998. Similarly to REVIT, the program allowed for architects to create 2-D and 3-D CAD drawings using architectural tools such as “Wall” and “Window” tools. Unlike REVIT, the AutoCAD Architecture software does not allow for the life-cycle analysis of a building, but it does allow for simpler drawing capabilities than AutoCAD.

I believe that REVIT software is one of the most valuable BIM technologies available on the market today. It is capable of creating simple 2-D and 3-D drawings while also being capable of much more. I feel that in order to create a fully functional and efficient REVIT model for a building project, it is up to all parties, including the construction managers, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers to be highly collaborative throughout the entire planning and construction process.

Comments:

Danielle Schroeder

Danielle,

I strongly agree with you when you say that for a civil engineering firm to adopt REVIT software, it would be very time consuming and costly. During one of my co-ops, although I had already known how to draft using AutoCAD and REVIT, I had to learn how to use Microstation well. It took me nearly 4 straight, 8-hour-days of watching online tutorial videos to simply get the basics down. Consider this: if it took me, who is fairly good with computers, that long to learn the basics of Microstation, imagine the time and money it would take an entire firm to be trained to become proficient with the program.

Allison Lock

Allison,

I like that you chose to write about Google’s Sketchup software as another form of drawing software. I have had limited experience with the program but I found it quite challenging to try to accurately model a building’s systems. I found it fairly useless for practical uses, unless one is trying to present a rendering of a proposed building. Although it is fairly simple to use, the capabilities of Sketchup are far inferior to those of AutoCAD, and especially those of REVIT.

Sources:

http://www.autodesk.com/solutions/building-information-modeling/overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoCAD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Revit