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L.N. Revathy

If you want to change the plan of your building, it doesn't have to be catastrophic. Now software can help you incorporate changes at every stage of design without a fuss.

CHANGES 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 its 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.

Revit is, therefore, considered an integrated building industry solution model, they say.

However, this change engine modeller is found to be more economical for large projects since such projects require careful organisation and management.

What about the others? This is left to be seen, considering the number of project developers who operate on a very small scale in India.

With the evolution of this design technology, all buildings could, in course of time, be represented as databases, not drawings! Just wait and see although it can take a long time coming... .

lnr@thehindu.co.in

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