Students Learn with Integrated Building Modeling Prepared by: Abdulaziz Al-Sudairy ID#

Students Learn with Integrated Building Modeling  Architectural education tends to do better at teaching students the conceptual aspects of design than at preparing them for the realities of design development and construction.  About four years ago I began offering a design studio at Tulane University’s School of Architecture that asked students to broaden their approach and add issues such as development economics and cost estimating to their architectural design considerations.  In 2002, I rebuilt the course around Autodesk Revit, a building design and documentation system. As a “building information modeling” tool. Revit, a building design and documentation system. As a “building information modeling” tool. Revit encourages students to think about the building as a whole. It confronts students with some construction implications of their design decisions.

Student design, using Revit, for a technology center for a branch library. The students expressed the technology of building systems in the architectural character of their designs.

 I choose Revit also because I found it easy to learn. For a design studio running just 12 or 13 weeks, it’s important that the software familiarization process be short. Students can begin designing with Revit much more quickly than with traditional CAD software because it doesn’t require learning an intermediary set of commands to bridge between the design and the software. Instead, user enter information graphically.  Introducing Students to Real-World Problems  The studio begins with initial lectures on the project development process and the economic structure of a typical project. Next, students are assigned a project with a few fixed parameters such as building type and cost of land. Before starting design, students produce an economic pro forma – a rough projection of costs and anticipated revenue – to help develop the program and evaluate project feasibility. While developing their designs, students work on cost estimating to test their proposals against the pro forma.

 Revit manages information in a database in a database and tracks relationships among building components. As a result, it is harder for students to gloss over detailed design decisions. If a column on one floor doesn’t line up with a column on the floor above, Revit makes that obvious.  Students also have to carefully consider the components they’re designing. Using a building information modeling approach confronts students with the specific properties of materials and assemblies.  For instance, when asked that their building is made of, students may say, “concrete,” because it seems easy to work with and shape – whether or not it is an appropriate material for that particular condition. With Revit, however, they also have to take into account the design of the wall (or floor or roof) assembly. A wall becomes more than simply an abstract pair of lines.

Many students cho. glass curtain-wall technology to make lab activities visible the public. Student design, us Revit, for a technology center for a branch library.

 Student Projects  In the fall 2002 semester, students were asked to design a 5,000 – square – foot (465 – square – meter) technology center for a branch library, with programmatic information borrowed from a real-world project in our area. The project was of a manageable size, and the students’ schemes varied from a “single box” concept to fragmented elements expressed in massing and elevation.  In most of their projects, the students carefully developed and exploited the technology of building systems in the architectural character of the design – by exposing the structure, for example. Many students chose glass curtain – wall enclosure systems to make the lab activities visible to the public.  In the spring 2003 semester, students designed a combined residence/ art gallery. This project was more complex, and the economic parameters had a stronger effect on the program.

 The student projects were more developed than in the previous semester, as evidenced by the number of renderings and interior views and by their attention to finishes and smaller – scale components.  How the Course Is Evolving  The Revit 3D software allows my design studios to cover more ground than before. In the past, my students would design in plan and section almost to the end of the semester. Now, they can work with perspectives, renderings, and 3D models as well, at any time during the semester, because Revit calculates these automatically from the building model.  Student design projects are now more thoroughly developed and refined. Revit also requires students to think more deeply about how to integrate mechanical and structural systems into the design.

Student design, us Revit, for a combine residence/art galle. Residence/art galle. The number of renderings and into views were evidence the designs’ further development than studios.

 In the spring 2003 semester, I taught the course without the cost estimating component at the end to leave more time for students to develop their designs. For the fall 2003 semester, however, I plan to reintroduce the cost estimating element but develop the cost-estimating database myself for the elements they’ll be using.  Some faculty members, after sitting in on initial critique sessions, expressed concern that using Revit might limit creativity because the students select elements and objects from Revit’s libraries and customizing them for their individual projects. We plan to continue expanding this aspect in the future.  One colleague at Tulane is incorporating Revit in a design studio during the 2003 summer session, and another will do so in the fall. Students are generally enthusiastic because the focused nature of the course takes them farther along in the design process. I look forward to continuing to expand the set of parameters that inform these students’ designs.

Residence / art galle. Attention to the sme scale features were evidence of the des further development.