I’m a little behind schedule updating the blog. Fortunately, during the day I’ve been busy preparing proposal submissions and presentations for project interviews. The evenings have been filled with painting the office expansion, and most recently beginning our AutoCAD/Revit installation upgrade.
Stay tuned. I’ll get back on track soon.
Buildings have been constructed from drawings for thousands of years. The first plans were probably sketched in the dirt, followed shortly by etchings on stone tablets. Ancient Greeks used geometry and required advanced tools such as compasses and triangles to complete their plans. The Renaissance brought further advancement through the use of advanced geometry and perspective. In the 18th Century, architects used conventions of plan, elevation and section in design and production control. Computerized drafting was the next major advancement, most recently developing into BIM (Building Information Modeling). References from Wikipedia.
Deciding to make the move to BIM software, and choosing the best software, is a huge undertaking. There are multiple products available, though two that lead the pack – Autodesk Revit and Bentley Microstation. Revit has the mainstream hold, while Microstation seems to be the preferred platform of government and military entities.
Here at Tec has been using Microstation for a few military projects, and it is not the most user friendly package. It also doesn’t appear to be as complete or polished as Revit. When required, we’ll complete projects in Microstation, but we have decided to standardize on the Autodesk Revit MEP Suite.
This was a big step forward for us, not to mention a big chunk of change $$. There is likely to be a substantial learning curve, particularly among those less versed in CAD. There is also, likely to be a learning curve with our clients who are using Revit. Although great in concept, it is probably not as simple as “one-click” coordination.
We are excited to move into the Revit world. We pride ourselves on being innovative, and although we are not the first, we feel being early adopters will benefit us and our client in the years to come.
Check out the new improved Red Wall.
Five years ago, I don’t think anyone would have imagined we would be negotiating for software the way we negotiate for a new car. Did you ever think we would negotiate for software at all? At least not in the A/E/C industry. We just completed negotiations and FINANCING for Revit software. The combination of the industry beginning to move to Building Information Modeling (BIM) and our software beginning to show its age, it was time to make a move, time to negotiate, time to finance.