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Despite liability issues, A/E/C
teams are benefiting from sharing their 3D models
By Michael Bordenaro
In addition to tracking the structural-member
sizes, the model has the capability of graphically displaying
all of the individual members for each building iteration
created. “The models generate a range of information,
including accurate truss lengths, heights, and member size.
If there are additional snow or wind loads, the model would
increase the size of members according to an extensive set
of rules established in the model,” he says.
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Integration of the structural-steel
computer model with models of cladding and other building
systems is the goal of 3D computer modeling. On the
Idaho Place project, architect NBBJ and engineer Skilling
Ward Magnusson Barkshire standardized computer models
on Triforma software to ensure smooth integration of
structural steel with other buildings systems.
Renderings: Courtesy NBBJ
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Webscape meets architects’ rare
need for in-depth 3D computer modeling. Lawrence Rocha, Assoc.
AIA, vice president and director of information services at
Honolulu-based Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG), says
that for most architects the progression toward 3D modeling
“is not something to jump into with both feet.”
Rocha adds, “For this next generation of CAD, it’s
good to start with small projects and small teams and to get
support from software vendors.” Revit Technology, a Massachusetts-based
developer of parametric building technology (recently acquired
by Autodesk), set up a representative in WATG’s Newport
Beach, California, office while firm members were initiating
a project using the software provider’s 3D capabilities,
according to Rocha.
Seattle-based NBBJ is slowly introducing
the incorporation of 3D modeling into its design practice
on selected projects, including a steel spiral staircase in
a new corporate headquarters and Idaho Place, a University
of Idaho multiuse facility. They presented this project and
others at "Virtual Models/Actual Buildings," a regional
conference held in Seattle last fall by the AIA Seattle chapter,
with support from the AIA Trust and NBBJ, along with Autodesk,
Bentley, Graphisoft, DesignMaster, and CNA/Schinnerer.
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