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

B5, Group D, Redus

It is frequently acknowledged that databases have transformed our world in general and engineering offices in particular. But what is a database anyway? Dictionary.com defines it as a “comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access, generally in a computer.” Databases do not analyze the data within except to classify it. Some people consider St. Isidore’s etymological encyclopedia, Etymologiae, of the 600s to be the first database [1]. This is not quite accurate however, because there was only one way to view the information – by subject. Indices and library catalogs that present sources of information in multiple ways were really the first databases in my opinion. The first digital databases were developed in the 1960s to improve private company’s ability to store and access their data. The first databases were used for personnel and financial data and were not useful to engineers. It would take further development for engineers to see their practicality.

Relational databases, or the idea that the structure and organization would be disconnected from the physical information storage, were invented in the 1970s [2]. They allowed many different applications view the information they needed how they needed it. By the early 1980s engineers were publishing articles extolling the value of databases for structural engineering [3]. Interestingly, there are now no standalone databases for the structural engineer. Instead BIM systems store geometry and section properties that can be used by analysis software. The analysis software queries the data stored in the BIM file to create a report of relevant information, then analyzes that information. This makes analysis tools much easier to use as technicians do not need to spend time creating a separate structural file and changing it with every change the architect issues. MEP engineers also transfer data between BIM and analysis software.

While databases in the form of BIM have had a profound effect on the building industry, most people do not think of BIM as a database. Research databases such as ASCE’s civil engineer database look like a database is “supposed to look”. There are forms to query the articles which produce reports of relevant articles. These make finding relevant information much easier for engineers. (As a side note: Google is a search engine, not a database. Databases have classes of entries; they match keywords, titles, topics, etc. Search engines match characters or phrases.) Other databases compile sets of design information. The California Energy Commission’s DEER or AISC’s shapes database are examples of this. Databases can also be used to manage the business information of a practice. Databases are the perfect tool to hold client and project information. Do you need to know who’s the contact at Irritating Owner LLC? It’s in your database. Do you need a reference for school HVAC design? Look it up. This is especially useful when managing large government contracts that require reams of similar reports.

Databases have two major uses to design professionals. BIM stores building information in a way accessible to analysis software. More typical query databases store quick access information and replace libraries of research, materials manuals, or business information.

[1]          Rotunda Scheduling Software. Volunteer Scheduling Software Blog. “Celebrate St. Isidore – Patron Saint of Technology,” 4 April 2013. Rotunda Software. Accessed 6 February 2016, Available

[2]          Intuit. A Timeline of Database History. Intuit QuickBase. Accessed 6 February 2016, Available

[3]          Fenves, Steven J; Rasdorf, William John. Role of Database Management Systems in Structural Engineering, 1982. Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Accessed 6 February 2016, Available

Comment: Bynon, Revit
Comment: Alexis, Object-Oriented Databases

B4, group D, Redus

As I have progressed through my education I have always enjoyed picking up the background information related to whatever I was learning. Linear Algebra was OK, but Moshe Kam’s history lessons about Isaac Newton’s feuds with Robert Hooke were so much more important to my education. In all seriousness, “background” information will be critical to my job as an engineer. I could just enter numbers into RAM and record the outputs, theoretically the building will stand. Using RAM (or other design software) without understanding the principles behind it is a dangerous proposition though: garbage-in, garbage-out as they say. This quest for information is one of the reasons I took this class, I want to understand the framework behind what we see as “Intelligent Buildings”. How does Revit work? How do BMS utilize databases to store and process information? What are those fancy sensors really doing?

For the final project Bryan and I wanted to delve into building sensors. Sensors are used for many different things in buildings: measuring beam deflections, weld quality, temperature and humidity, occupancy, and many, many others. We decided it would be difficult to learn how every single sensor worked, so we decided to focus on indoor air quality, specifically air particles. The EPA states that particulate matter can include acids, organic chemicals, metal, dust, pollen, and mold [1]. Particles occur inside for a variety of reasons (infiltrating from outside, solid mass stoves, cooking, tobacco smoke, laundry, and industrial processes, among others). These pollutants can have a variety of effects on occupants, few of them positive (reduced lung function, heart attacks [1], cataracts, TB, asthma, adverse pregnancy outcomes [4], even brain shrinkage [3]). Zhang and Smith found that “Tobacco smoke accounted for about 4% of the global burden of disease in 2000.” 

A lovely brown haze over Philadelphia [2]

Most Building Managers try minimizing the concentration of particles in their buildings and they use sensors to measure the effectiveness of their strategies. For this project Bryan and I will be examining how these sensors work, how they convert real particles with mass and volume to digital signals. We will research the different methods that are used to physically “find” and measure the air particles. This will allow us to determine the functionality (usefulness and limits) of such processes. We will also study how this information is converted into a readable digital signal by modeling one (via MATLAB or Excel). There will be a number of challenges that we will need to overcome. Chiefly, we are not very familiar with the physics behind the different particle detection methods. We also do not have a lot of experience with signal processing. In addition, many of the specific processes used are propriety protocols that are closely guarded by the companies that developed them. This will make research challenging. The project should be very interesting however, and I am already enjoying learning about particle sensors.

[1] Office of Air and Radiation. “Particle Pollution and Your Health”. EPA. Accessed 29 January 2016, Available

[2] iStock. Philly.com. 24 April 2015, “Smog May Be Harming Your Brain.” Philadelphia Media Network LLC. Accessed 29 January 2016, Available

[3] Reinberg, Steven of HealthDay News. Philly.com. 24 April 2015, “Smog May Be Harming Your Brain.” Philadelphia Media Network LLC. Accessed 29 January 2016, Available  

[4] Zhang, Junfeng (Jim), Kirk R. Smith. British Medical Bulletin. 2003, Vol. 68, Issue 1, “Indoor Air Pollution: a Global Health Concern,” p.209-235. Oxford University Press. Accessed 29 January 2016, Available

Comment: Frasca, Drones

Comment: Flint, Daylight

B3, Group D, advantages of BIM, Redus

Building information Modeling, or BIM, has many positive effects. The article last week pointed out that it reduces the need to repeat work, increases the ease of collaboration, points out conflicts, and can aid evaluating designs through energy, cost, and circulation simulation add-ons.

In class, Huw showed us a lot of newer (and developing) BIM technology. Currently, the only information transmen have access needs to be on “construction documents” – 2D plan sheets. In the future Bentley’s modeling system will let the user see the proposed 3D model of the space in front of them. It will also show them the section drawing of a wall they are working on. This can greatly improve a tradesmen’s understanding of what he is working on, improving accuracy and allowing him to observe how his system interacts with others and make suggestions. While contractors have been eager to adopt BIM technology, this will probably encourage them even more. The tradesman could also verify the equipment he installed, which would be very useful to building operators as well. Maintenance personnel could simple pull out a surface device and see exactly where their part of interest is located. Huw also pointed out that Yelp can point out where local restaurants are and display reviews, pricing, hours, and distance to each restaurant. This could be coupled with a model to show where the different junction boxes are and which lines go into them. This information could help the electrician to troubleshoot and fix the problem much faster.

McGraw Hill Construction wrote an interesting report in 2014 examining the value of BIM for owners. They found that 85% of owners in the UK felt that few problems occurred during construction because of BIM (The UK has higher BIM usage than the US). This is most likely because of the collaboration that BIM enables and fault-finding software that most systems include. 72% also believe BIM improves control of construction costs, which is somethings most owners appreciate. These reductions are probably due to fewer design errors as well as allowing contractors to effectively plan and schedule the project. Importantly 98% of owners said BIM visualizations allowed a better understanding of the design. This is significant because owners are who pay the engineers and architects. It does not matter who has the best design, it matters who can communicate that the owner will like their design. BIM makes making 3D, schematic, and other visualizations easy, these visualizations give owners a better understanding of the design. Owners also appreciate BIM because it makes post-construction operation significantly easier. 78% perceive value in utilizing BIM for facilities management.

McGraw Hill Construction. SmartMarket Report. “The Business Value of BIM for Owners,” 2014. McGraw Hill Financial. Online.

Comment to Flint, Surveying
Comment to Beynon, Data-Rich Models

B2: Group D, Redus

Eastman begins his chapter on BIM for designers by talking about different methods for contracting the work of creating a building. Design-bid-build contracts separate the design and construction parties and are the current industry standard. He points out that there are various efficiencies associated with the system because the different parties cannot communicate all their information so the other party has to do the work again. Another method is design-build where a single company is responsible for the entire building. It (theoretically) eliminates the poor communication because all the parties are jointly responsible. While this probably does improve communicate and reduce waste, many engineers would prefer to work for a small company, the type of company that cannot exist in a design-build world.

Eastman then talks about the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) system where all the involved parties “enter into a single collaborative contract,” (Eastman, 200). Theoretically this type of contract rewards all the parties when a project goes well and only punishes the parties that cause issues. This means that small companies can still exist but eliminate the waste of design-bid-build. BIM is what allows this system to function – all the parties work on the same model instead of different, sometime conflicting, sets of plans. While BIM systems still need to improve for this to be a common reality it does show that it will be possible for small firms to exist and reduce waste.

Eastman goes on to talk about different ways BIM can help designers conceptualize a building. I found the case study on Georgia Tech’s GSA courtroom software very interesting. This software could analyze different designs to compare them based on programming and circulation, energy consumption, and cost. This then allows the GSA to pick the best and most economical design. One of the really cool things that Georgia Tech developed was an integrated naming convention. For a variety of reasons different industries have different naming conventions, they developed a system that linked the names across industry lines thereby allowing different analysis tools to examine the same information.

While this is obviously very good, a few limitations stuck out to me. The first is that this can only work if there is a huge standard manual describing the building type (such as P100 2005). This would work well for a McDonalds or warehouse but would probably be more difficult for a home or laboratory that needs to be very customizable. The cost estimate system would need to be designed with great care. A design firm could put one option in simply because it showed up as cheaper in the GSA database even though there were other issues with it. The design firms could also be smarter than the system; they might know an inexpensive way to span a certain area with concrete when the computer will think it can only be done in an expensive way.

I found Eastman’s comments about structural engineering firms reluctance to adopt BIM software interesting. He essentially states that engineers deal with idealized world and BIM brings them too close to the real world (Eastman, 224). I believe that reality is a little more complicated. While BIM can certainly improve efficiency and decrease repetition (Eastman, 255), it takes a lot of initial over head to redeveloped standard libraries and retrain engineers. This is also the second round of new major software for many engineers, especially those at small firms. He also talks about how data can be quickly imported from BIM to structural analysis software, eliminating the need for reentry. A SAP 2000 and Revit interface was only developed in 2015, four years after he wrote this chapter. I imagine that as BIM systems become easier to use and interface with analysis tools to a greater degree more structural engineers will learn to use them.

Eastman, Charles M. BIM Handbook, 2ed. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2011. Accessed 14 January 2016, Available: ebscohost (online).

Comment to Danielle, BIM in conceptual design
Comment to Kate, Workflow

B1: Group D: Redus

HVAC (& BIM)

The design of HVAC systems has changed significantly BIM systems have increased complexity. Until relatively recently man regulated the air quality and temperature of their dwellings by windows and fire. Obviously these primitive systems did not require advanced modeling techniques. During the last century people have developed many new tool to condition the air. Buffalo Forge was an early company that invented dehumidifiers and air filters. It was the fan however that created the HVAC industry [1]. Fans and pumps allowed air and other fluids to be piped from a central unit to auxiliary spaces. This allowed buildings to expand: rooms did not need windows to ventilate or a hearth to heat them.

The expanding complexity of HVAC systems also meant that designing them was more difficult. The loads of the spaces had to be calculated, and the engineer need to discern how best to condition them. The engineer and architect also needed to make sure the HVAC system did not interfere with any other systems. As the quality of indoor spaces improved people became fussier about the quality of their indoor space. Fortunately for the designers of such systems, humans were inventing computers simultaneous to fans, refrigerators, and filters. Enter BIM.

The concept of Building Information Modeling was first published in a 1962 paper by Douglas Englebart [2], it would take some time before his ideas would become a reality (rendering is difficult for punch cards). The first significant step was Charles Eastman’s Building Description System (a similar system was developed in the Soviet Union). Quirk describes it as a GUI that could render view and had a “sortable database that allows the user to retrieve information categorically by attributes,” (it was written on a PEP-10). BIM began to gain traction in the design community of England during the 1980’s with a variety of now forgotten systems. The 90’s saw an interesting development in BIM (of equal importance: I was born). Lawrence Berkeley National Labs (LBNL) developed the Building Design Advisor which could perform simulations and evaluate a model against given criteria. The International Foundation Class (IFC) file format was also developed in 1995 to ensure that different BIM systems could communicate with each other. The promised that structural engineer, MEP engineers, and architects will be able to communicate with each other.

The first popular BIM software was Revit, first released in 2000. Revit created a “ visual programming environment for creating parametric families [a set of related objects that are defined by a set of parameters] and [importantly] allowing for a time attribute to be added to a component,”  [2]. This time attribute allows contractors to simulate the building process. Other companies have created other BIM systems since Revit’s inception. The main advantage of such systems to an HVAC engineer is the ability to coordinate drawings among disciplines and reduce unforeseen conflicts.

Much more interesting to the engineer are the simulation programs. These programs can predict peak and annual loads to optimize system sizing and selection. Revit can produce such simulations, but there are many free software systems such as eQuest and OpenStudio that are also capable. eQuest operates on the U.S. Department of Energy’s DOE-2. Created in 1998 DOE-2 is a building energy analysis program that employs building and weather data to create an energy simulation (in hour increments) [3]. It is also capable of estimating the building’s utility costs (interestingly, it was also designed by LBNL, among others). eQuest utilizes wizards to input the data into DOE-2 and presents the results in a user-friendly format. This allows HVAC designers to evaluate and compare different system selections. EnergyPlus is the next generation of DOE-2. It can handle additional complexities such as air movement between zones and more advanced fenestration models [4]. Simergy is the GI for EnergyPlus. OpenStudio is an open source collection of software tools for energy modeling. It uses EnergyPlus and a daylight analysis program called Radiance. There are many other energy modeling tool that a engineering firm can utilize to help select the best system design.

Sensors

Merriam-Webster defines a sensor as “a device that responds to a physical stimulus (as heat, light, sound, pressure, magnetism, or a particular motion) and transmits a resulting impulse (as for measurement or operating control.” Cornelis Drebbel, the famous inventor, built the first thermostat prior to 1630 [5]. The 1880s saw the invention of the first electric room thermostat. Many different sensors have been developed since that time. The Clapper is a company that sells a system to turn ones lights on or off when they clap. Some of the more common building sensors include temperature, humidity, motion, CO₂, and light.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is practice of simulating human intelligence, especially through computer science. One interesting recent development in AI is the ability of computers to “see.” While the first digital cameras were developed in the mid-1970s and facial-recognition in the late 1990s computers have been unable to comprehend what they are looking at (beyond basic geometry). One fascinating project by Baidu aims to change that. Their produce, called DuLight, generates an audio description of a live image [6]. While the goal of the project is merely to increase the perception of a blind person, there is a lot of potential from this project. Computers can already operate from written words (this is what modern programming is based on). A computer that can see can operate based on its surroundings.

Database

Wikipedia defines a database as “an organized collection of data. It is the collection of schemas, tables, queries, reports, views and other objects. The data are typically organized to model aspects of reality in a way that supports processes requiring such information.” In other words, database software provides convenient ways to enter, store, and retrieve relevant information for a set of events. They are the backbone of BIM systems. The wonderful thing about BIM is that each object has a useful description built in. A slab in AutoCAD looks like a rectangle. A slab in Revit has a thickness, materials, construction time, R-value, and many other specifications. Revit knows all this information because the project file is really a database file, the UI simply a wizard.

Future

What does the future hold? No one really knows, but it looks pretty exciting (if the politicians don’t screw things up). When our parents were born (the 60s), computer memory was just transitioning away from paper. When we were born (the 90s) laptops and the internet were gaining popularity and computer games were becoming a thing [7]. Now (2015) we carry the entirety of human knowledge in our pocket and consider computer programming requisite part of elementary education. In the 60s every building was drawn on paper by hand, the only calculation aid a slide rule. Today we have many complex applications to model and simulate our buildings (Revit, SAP2000, Simergy, etc.). What will our industry look like in 2070? While I really have no idea, I can guess one thing based on history: we won’t be bored.

[1] Stonecypher, Lamar. Bright Hub Engineering. 26 November 2009, “History of HVAC: Knowing the Timeline.” Accessed 9 January 2016, Available: < brighthubengineering.com>

[2] Quirk, Vanessa. Arch Daily. 7 December 2012, “A Brief History of BIM.” Accessed 9 January 2016, Available: <archdaily.com>

[3] James J. Hirsch & Assiciates. DOE2.com. 2012, “Welcome to DOE2.com.” Accessed 9 January 2016, available: <doe2.com>

[4] U.S. Department of Energy. Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. 11 December 2015, “EnergyPlus Energy Simulation Software.” Accessed 9 January 2016, available: <apps1.eere.energy.gov>

[5] Tierie, Gerrit. Cornelis Drebbel. 1932. Accessed 11 January 2016, available: <drebbel.net>

[6] Metz, Cade. Wired. 1 January 2016, “Artificial Intelligence Finally Entered our Everyday World.” Accessed 11 January 2016, available: <wired.com>

[7] Computer History Museum. Timeline of Computer History. 2016. Accessed 11 January 2016, available: <computerhistory.org>

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Group D Video Discussion

Comparing the two videos, the robots in the more recent video definitely showed advancements in interaction and "construction". In the older video, the robots were only picking up and dropping the materials, whereas in the newer video the robots were moving in more complex ways with the ropes. The robots in the older video did not interact as much with the other robots involved, but in the newer video the robots were interacting at many parts of the process. Another improvement of the robot technology was that they were able to move more quickly and efficiently in the more recent video. Also, the robots are constructing a more complex "structure" in the more recent video than the older one.

With these improvements in technology for construction, the applications include less room for error since the movements and placements from the robots are more exact and less manpower is required for the actual construction. However, limitations include the inability to work in various weather conditions outside and the robots would need to be stronger in order to carry and construct with heavier materials.

James Redus

I am James Redus. I am an Architectural Engineering Junior, I have had two co-ops: The Philadelphia Streets Department Bridge Section and Elton & Thompson, a small structural firm in Glenside. I am originally from Massachusetts.

“Intelligent Buildings” describes a class of building (or structure) that readily adapts to optimize the space for the occupants. Clearly the easiest way to achieve this is with a computer (or network or computers). The building industry calls such a system a “BIM” system (for Building Information Modeling).

In this class I expect to learn about the databases that go into the different BIM systems. I think this would be both interesting and helpful to my career.

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