Page 95 - DCAP404 _Object Oriented Programming

Object-oriented Programming

Notes
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Caselet Change your Design, Midway

hanges happen all the time in a building project - the client asks for changes, the
consultant asks for changes, you consider changes as you move the project through
Cits later stages... there is no end to it. This could have been a mind-boggling issue
some years ago, but may not be any more.
In the early 80s, when architects started using Computer-Assisted Drawing (CAD), the
traditional layer-drafting technique was easily adapted to the layer-based CAD systems
of the day. Within a few years, most construction documents and shop drawings were
plotted from computers.

The use of CAD files was evolving towards communicating information about a building
in ways that a plotted drawing could not. Forward thinking design firms adopted these
tools, realising that the data in the object-oriented CAD files, if carefully structured and
managed, could be used to automate certain documentation tasks.
But, object-oriented CAD systems remained rooted to building graphics, which were built
on graphics-based CAD foundations. This resulted in the system not being optimised for
creating and managing information about a building.

Another generation of purpose-built software solutions was required - a software that
was both information-centric and provided building information modelling in place of
building graphic modelling.
Architects, for instance, work on the information using the conventional graphic language
of building design (such as plan, section and elevation), entering and reviewing information
in a format that looks just like the architectural drawings they have worked with, for
years. The fact remains that these people work on the building information through
drawing rather than working directly on a drawing in the computer.
There was a need for a powerful building design and documentation systems for architects,
interior designers, design-build teams and other building industry professionals.
Autodesk Inc, in the building design space, has introduced what it calls revolutionary
software - Autodesk Revit - the parametric building modeller that is expected to capture
all information about the design, even while the work is on.
How is Revit different from the AutoCAD software?
Imagine you are halfway through construction documents. You see a change that would
make the project look even better. The Autodesk Revit parametric change engine, Autodesk
sources say, will automatically coordinate the changes made anywhere - in model views
or drawing sheets, schedules, sections, plans... . You name it. ‘This engine supports all
phases of the building process, preserving all information from beginning to end’, say the
sources.
This change management is said to be one of the fundamental characteristics of a building
information modelling solution.
Because the coordination is assured by the system, embarrassing errors are minimised,
and there’s savings in time and needless costs in trying to hunt down the source and fix the
problem.
Contd...

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