AIA: BIM, Energy and More…

This year’s AIA conference highlighted sustainability. The keynote speaker, Thomas Friedman, brought an entertaining style to some rather bleak facts about ‘the way things are.’ His solution to most of the problems involves the development and use of clean, reliable, and cheap energy – which is something almost everyone can agree upon. Friedman concluded that ‘green’ basically needs to become so much a way of life that the term itself becomes obsolete.

In line with this emphasis, a number of new energy estimating tools were on display at the convention. Bentley has developed AECOsim Energy Simulation allowing energy performance simulation and also reviews a model for ASHRAE and CIBSE standards. Additionally AECOsim Compliance Manager monitors and helps a project meet LEED certification standards.

A class session at the convention gave hands on training in the use of COMFEN, a free program that gives designers the capability to compare various energy aspects for different facades. http://windows.lbl.gov/software/comfen/comfen.html

Energy Star tools for assessing energy efficiency were also highlighted at a booth on the convention floor. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm

An integration of Trelligence’s Affinity and IES’ VE-Gaia was announced. IES also showed VE-Ware, a free energy/carbon usage analysis tool that works with SketchUp and Revit. Of course they also offer more advanced analysis tools for sale, but VE-Ware is quite useful on its own, and the price can’t be beat!

Autodesk, Bentley and Graphisoft always like to roll out new versions or accoutrement at the AIA Convention and this year was no exception.

AutoCAD 2012 is becoming more BIM-like with automatic modeling directly from documentation and dynamic arrays which allow easy 3D object replication.

Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD 15 also has increased BIM tools – Shell makes complex forms easier to create and maintain as 3D objects. Graphisoft has also included a new Renovation Palette to go with today’s emphasis on re-building.

Bentley’s ProjectWise and Navigator are now iPad compatible. Navigator, which can be used to view and mark-up models, also produces close to photo-quality renderings. 3rd party rendering solutions in a variety of formats were on display as well, among them SU Podium for SketchUp, a cloud rendering service from Limitless Computing, and the high-end Maxwell Render.

An interesting 3rd party service called GreenWizard specifically assists designers in comparing and selecting products for ‘greenness’ and compatibility with LEED. It also provides BIM ready models of these products.

New Products & Materials

A few products which drew attention from AIA and Dwell Show attendees:

Pilkington OptiView™ anti-reflective glass reduces visible light reflectance to less than 2 percent, while blocking more than 99% of UV transmittance. http://www.pilkington.com

Firestone announced its “From Roots to Rooftops” initiative. The metals division introduced its Una-Foam Insulated Metal Panel System. The high-performance system features concealed fasteners, several panel thicknesses and widths, and a variety of reveal options. It offers more than 25 colors and multiple finish options. http://www.firestonebpco.com

Alcoa: Smog-eating, self cleaning aluminum siding http://www.fastcompany.com/1752324/introducing-the-self-cleaning-smog-eating-building

Below Left: Simulated double-hung windows - mimicking the look of historical windows, Wausau Window and Wall Systems’ introduced “simulated double-hung” windows with offset glass planes to replicate double-hung sash, while providing the ease of operation, durability and low air infiltration of projected windows. http://www.wausauwindow.com

Below Right: Cross-section - Tubelite ForceFront Blast curtain wall and entry door systems for high-security projects seeking blast hazard mitigation in low- and mid-rise applications. http://tubeliteinc.wordpress.com

Above Left: With a focus on high thermal performance, Kawneer featured Thermal Entrance Doors. http://www.kawneer.com

Above Right: Dorma tempered folding and decorative glass systems www. Modernfold.com

Celebrating the architecture of Moshe Safdie, who has several projects opening this year both in the US and abroad, including Above: the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City

Below: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Arts/2011/0603/Designing-for-dignity

News to Use:

Safetea-Lu expires in September. What then for the country’s infrastructure? The problem of funding – as cars become more fuel efficient they consume less gas, hence pay less tax per mile driven. As congress tries to find an answer to the budget deficit, funding does not look good in the short term. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/11q2/the_state_of_the_union_s_roads_an_investigative_report-feature/when_a_highway_falls_apart_page_2

New Kentucky hydroelectric plant on schedule http://www.maysville-online.com/news/local/article_901ae5a4-9085-11e0-a02a-001cc4c002e0.html

$300 house competition winners http://www.300house.com/blog/2011/06/300-house-open-design-challenge-winners.html

Yale announces free online access to museum, library collections http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-11/news/29532887_1_collections-yale-center-british-art

Collaborative design is not the same as compromise http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature359.htm

Use of color is more than decoration http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature357.htm

Sidenote from AIA: Architect Barbie has been introduced with the idea of interesting young girls in architecture http://www.aianys.org/main/build_barbies_house.shtml 

 Events

 Aug 3-5: Memphis is… AIA Tennessee convention http://www.aiatn.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=68

August 12-13: CSI Gulf States Regional Leadership Meeting: Nashville, Tennessee, 2011  http://csinashville.org/

Aug 24 – 26: Build Business 2011: Chicago http://www.buildbusiness.org

Sept 13 – 16: Construct 2011 & CSI – Chicago http://www.constructshow.com/attendee/show#information.aspx

Sept 23 – Oct 2: Solar Decathlon Washington DC http://www.solardecathlon.gov/

Oct 30 – Nov 2: ASLA 2011 – San Diego http://www.asla.org/2011meeting/index.html

Nov 2 – 4: World Architecture Festival – Barcelona http://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/

Dec 5 – 9: Ecobuild 2011 – Washington D.C. http://www.aececobuild.com