B5-Uses of databases in construction firms

       Construction firms need to integrate a large number of complex sets of information for a construction project, and for most situations, construction firm have to follow up several construction projects at same time. It is very important for them to effectively manage this information to insure its availability and accuracy. “Poor or missing information can readily lead to project delays, uneconomical decisions, or even the complete failure of the desired facility”. [1] It is essential for construction firms to formal organize the bulk of information associated to construction projects to avoid chaos.

       With the advent of micro-computer database managers, the formal, computerized databases for cost account and other data is possible to be used in regardless of large or small firms and projects. The significant advantages for database include rapid retrieval therefor the information can be used immediately, and lower overall costs. For instance, the computerized specifications writing systems have record common specification phrases for specific project applications to speed up the writing process.

       “Formally, a database is a collection of stored operational information used by the management and application systems of some particular enterprise”. This information has specific associations, and these relationships themselves are considered as a part of the database. Figure 1 includes some typical elements in a database. Internal model is used for story data. It consists the strings of “bits” and be storied in computer’s memory. “The DBM (Database Manager Program) is the software program that directs the storage, maintenance, manipulation and retrieval of data”. With DBM, manager don’t have to concern about details, because DBM can story data according to user’s request. Different users can ask for different request to DBM from the same database. DBM has the ability to story data and insure the integrity and security of data. With these capabilities, DBM can be easily used in project management applications.

Figure 1 Illustration of a Database Management System Architecture

       Centralized database management system has certain advantages relative to commonly employed special purpose datafiles. Relational information between items and between records can not be accessed by other application systems. For instance, the accounting system or corporate planners are not able to check the time scheduled that is manipulated by project scheduling system.

[1] Hendrickson, C. (2008). Project management for construction: Fundamental concepts for owners, engineers, architects, and builders.

Eken, Gorkem. “A Lessons Learned Database Structure for Construction Companies.” NeuroImage, Academic Press, 27 Oct. 2015,www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877

705815031719.

Comments:

Christian, it’s great to get an overall understanding about SQL. The ease of learning could be the most powerful strength to become the standard programing language, as long as its defects are getting revised in the progress.

Jenny, you clearly defined object-oriented database and let me know the most powerful advantage of object oriented database is saving time and space during processing to reduce the risk of information delay.

Alec, I agree with you that databases become more popular nowadays, they appear in everywhere around us. Databases have advantages on story data and share information which are good to use in project management.

B4-Project Outline

Topic: Development of BIM and Impact on Residences

Type of project: Paper

Outline

1. Introduction
1. What is BIM
2. How does BIM work
2. History of BIM
1. The Beginning
2. Development
3. Why is it important
1. Advantages, Benefits in Construction and Design
2. Disadvantages
4. Why is it important to Residences
1. Current application of BIM in Residential design & construction
5. Impact of BIM to Residences
1. On Design Style
2. On Sustainability (Adaptable housing)
3. On Construction
4. On Real Estate Industry
6. Future of BIM
1. Brief description of future of BIM
2. Implementation of BIM
3. Challenges BIM might encounter
7. Conclusion

Our paper will focus on the development of BIM from its history and developing process, and the importance of applying BIM into construction design while addressing the advantages and disadvantages of BIM and analyzing the current stage of BIM in residential design. We will also talk about how BIM impacts the design and construction of residential building based on the design style, sustainability, construction and real estate industry. With the development of society, different preferences are in demand for residential building design due to the urbanization. It is necessary to consider the adaptivity along the residential building design process. “The creation of a more sustainable environment can be augmented by adaptable design strategies that produce a level of building flexibility, and which allow for a variety of changes to be accommodated (Raji and Gomez, 2012).” In the end, we will discuss the potential future and challenges of BIM for residence, as well as the possible implementation of BIM in construction.

Alec Silverstone：

I'm not very familiar with robotics and how what their effect are on the construction industry, but your topic really attracts me into this field. I think it’s reasonable to talk about the current trends, future, advantages and disadvantages of robotics to give your readers a overlook on robotics, like what you layout in your P2. The only confusion for me is that in your P3, do you want to talk about only the Intelligent Building Design by themselves or the relevance between intelligent building and robotics? If you wish to address your paper on robotics’ effect on the construction industry, it may be good to talk about their relationship in this part.

Christian Tait:

Your topic is very interesting to me. I think the most common application for AR is in gaming for now, I don’t see it very popular in other field maybe due to the price of the technology. It will be great if engineers could apply AR in BIM, which could largely beneficial on the actual detail look of the building before it to be built, and the cooperation between designer, engineer, and the owner.

Ren:

My topic is similar as yours, we are all going to discuss on the application of BIM to a specific building type. I think it’s necessary to talk about the effect of applying BIM in healthcare building since I read your introduction. I really like your layout in you P3, which detailly analyzes the current applications in specific aspects. 

B3-BIM implementation in the future

From last week’s lecture, we watched the speech “The Future of BIM Will Not be BIM” from Autodesk University. Bill Allen talks about the future of BIM within the following 10 years, which will be a huge innovation in the AEC industry, and the iterative design will rapidly get into the way of automation.

The future of AI development could easily speed up the drawing phases and accelerate repetitive processes, which doing well on saving time and money for stakeholders. Programs like BIM could even be used to make decisions on choosing materials and narrow down the design choices since it integrates the design intent, engineering principle, and the site information. It will be utilized for bigger and complex projects and helps to check the design conflicts. From the BIM Handbook I read last week, it presents that BIM increasing the collaboration between architects and contractors. In design-build, BIM allows contractors to be involved into the progress since design stage to provide suggestions and cooperate on the design, which increase the productivity and efficiency of the entire team.

Automation will be developed rapidly in 10 years, and the popularity of AI programs will highly increase. I do think that the prospect of programs Bill Allen mentioned in the video will happen in the future; however, it may not be that fascinating for all workforce in AEC industry as a mainstream in only a decade. As a civil engineering student, I have heard about Revit, but I never got to use it before. Same for the students in mechanical engineering in our group. Civil engineers still use CAD as their primary implement from my co-op experience. Considering the popularization process of AutoCAD, which it was published in 1982 and used about 20 years to become the mainstream of design tool. Relative to AutoCAD, BIM is more technical, it will take more time to be developed among engineers in all the fields. During the discussion in our group, we thought there will also be a steep learning curve in the skills and knowledge of professionals with the technology for engineers. I do believe that the technologies explained by Bill Allen will be the future of AEC industry, but it needs more than 10 years for engineers in each field to cover up the gap, and to make the interoperability become practical between software.

Allen, Bill. “The Future of BIM Will Not Be BIM—and It's Coming Faster than You Think.” YouTube, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq6yKyauu-o.

Comments:

Albert Hanan:

I cannot agree more that the steep learning curve for users would block the progress of the transition. It needs time for engineers like civil engineer and mechanical engineer to get into the BIM program, and to introduce BIM to all the engineers in high level education. However, I don’t see there are enough impetus for engineers and firms to make this transition in 10 years.

Nick Maloney:

I agree with you that the program Bill Allen mentioned in the video was very attractive, but there are many limitations can be thought of. The cost of BIM software you bring up in your post is very practical. I left this part over, but I agree it has significant impact on the propagation of BIM. As a civil engineering student, Autocad is enough for me to accomplish my work during co-op, and same for my colleagues. Then why should firms spend that unexpected money for that work they can handle?

Hailey Ihlow:

It is interesting to hear that engineers in all different age groups know some level of Revit in your office, which is totally opposite comparing to my co-op office. I guess the major difference is the job specification of the office. Architectural engineers do their work relay on Revit, but a large amount of civil engineers works with Autocad. It will be great to see that architectural engineers could lead this transition in AEC industry.

B2- Benefits for Contractors using BIM

Chapter 6 of the BIM Handbook was focused on the influence of BIM for contractors. Eastman first pointed out that the major advantages of using BIM technology in construction are saving time and money. These can be realized through the application of accurate building model and close contractor coordination by using BIM.

       From the chart “Construction Firms by Type Number and Percentage”. Eastman analyzed that a large number of contractors hire subcontractors for specialty services such as mechanical. electrical, and plumbing. The BIM can largely benefit on avoiding design errors and construction problems by the early integration of contractor and all subcontractors, especially in design-build firm when it responsible for both design and construction. Based on the close contractor coordination, subcontractors could integrate their own portions of work into one building model which provides a more direct way for clash detection. Instead of visually overlay 2D CAD layers to identify the potential conflicts in the construction, BIM-based clash detection could automatically check the conflicts based on the building model. It also “combined with semantic and rule-based clash analysis for identifying qualified and structured clashes” from Eastman’s expound. Home builders also take advantages from using BIM in design-build. If buyer change order, BIM can have a rapidly replay on quantity and cost change.

       In 2D or 3D CAD systems, contractors need to manually perform quantity takeoffs to provide the estimate cost and schedule, which waste a long period of time and could easily cost error. By using BIM, architects could provide design model in earlier stage, which contractors can use for estimating, construction planning, and so forth based on the detailed building information provided by architects. Contractors are also able to offer suggestions to contribute on the design when they could get involved in the design process. BIM software can easily use these information to track variance between budget and actual cost, and the project status.

       Eastman explained that “it is becoming more common for constrictors to fabricate components offsite to reduce labor costs and risks associated with onsite installation”. BIM can provide detailed component directly to fabricators, in contrast, it cost much longer time for contractor and fabricator to exchange information with 2D design, and the non-accurate information could highly rise the possibility of design error.

Reference:

Eastman, Charles M. BIM Handbook : A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors. 2011. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzM2NDIzOV9fQU41?sid=2e33ff9c-0e60-47bb-98e7-5d58d37dc7a6@pdc-v-sessmgr02&vid=0&format=EB&lpid=lp_263&rid=0

Comments:

Nick Maloney:

It is great to see that REVIT can provide standard members and customized models to improve the design efficiency. However, we can not deny that it is still restrictions when transforming models and drawings between platforms. Standardization is a necessary step to go through this process, and it will help to simplify the automates exchanges, and increase the exchange speed.

Weiyi Tang:

I totally agree with you that BIM technology can be used to reduce the information gaps and communication conflicts between architecture and contractor. Furthermore, it well-cooperate with design-build, and allows contractor to get involved in the design stage and make suggestions, which highly increases the work efficiency and reduces design errors.

Richard Kimball:

Your post about competitions between platforms is very interesting to me. It is great to know some historical stories about how technology get improved through competition and integration. This is just like the products on shelf, if you want a better sales volume, your product needs to be evolved with the advantages of others. People say that “Children choose from two, but adult get both”.

Blog 1-Future Database, Network and Sociology

     As we can see from our lifelog, cloud-based containers and serverless computing model are very popular today. Containers allow people host applications inside portable, isolated environments. Serverless functions can execute code on-demand. People only need to pay for the time the code actually runs, which allows organizations to stop the server running constantly when the applications only serve part time. Containers and serverless are not perfect for all situations, but they can fit in most of the workloads. They can help to quickly deploy applications and scale services, also they help on saving money. The containers and the serverless do not have to work with each other hand-in-hand, they can be used without another, but both of them are scalable and cost-efficient computing. [1]

     The network and database are used commonly in the society today. Some University provided Echo Dots to students last year, which is a voice-activated devices program. It can be used to answer same specific question about the campus, for instance the meal plans and the office hours of for building. Students first learned to bring the device into their life to ask about the weather or play music. Then students wanted to ask more-personalized answers like: What my last test score? The network then should be more complicated because it needs to contain more private information, and the system would grow up soon. [2]

     The database can also used to shape our future cities. The information gathers from smartphone GPS chips, transport cards and street sensors could be used to ease congestion or manage waste, but it can also create a "pernicious feedback loop". These predictive policing data could impact city planning and resource allocation, since people and company would not like to move to areas in high crime rate. On the other hand, the big data is not always right. Some people use apps like Google map to mediate their trip with transport instructions, however, they can be optimized by speed or distance, but not scenic route or environment. [3]

1.      Tozzi, Christopher. “Containers and the Serverless Computing Model: What AWS, Azure and Google Offer.” Nov 29, 2018. https://www.itprotoday.com/programming-languages/containers-and-serverless-computing-model-what-aws-azure-and-google-offer

2.      Ellis, Lindsay. “Hey, Alexa, Should We Bring Virtual Assistants to Campus? These Colleges Gave Them a Shot.” AUGUST 02, 2018. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Hey-Alexa-Should-We-Bring/244129?cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=fca8c6a17b7943d696dd417c6c7d660f&elq=02622bf46f104a1d98af1a2355bb2f4b&elqaid=19988&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9293

3.      Bogle, Ariel. “Big data is going to shape our future cities. Will it treat us all equally?” 14 Mar 2018. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-15/big-data-algorithms-equality-future-cities/9544138

Comments

Alkiviadis Tsitsios:

Like what you mentioned in the network part, the containers become more and more popular today. Deploying applications become easier with containers, and it works well with serverless computing model as well. When the technology grows up rapidly, there are positive and negative effects, and sometimes the fake data appears.

Samantha Huttick

I agree with the design purpose you said about robots. They are usually designed for the tasks that people can not work on, like working in dangerous situations and doing very accurate works. Robots can also help as a delivery person or performer for disables, and even able to be used in very accurate medical operations.

Jenny Fretta

I agree with how you describe the 3D printing and how we delivering from 2D printing (CAD) to 3D printing (CAD). As an engineer who also study in interior and architecture design area, I can obviously see the superiority of 3D printing, which cost less; reduce the time to make a models; increase the accuracy of the models. More materials can be used in 3D printing models today, it even broadens the use of 3D printing. All of these provide a better visual experience for clients

Introduction/ Intelligent Buildings-Yidi Li

Hello everyone, my name is Yidi Li, I am a senior undergraduate student major in civil engineering. I’m an international student from Beijing, China, which is a modern and well-developed city that provides lot inspirations for me in building and design.

Intelligent building could have many meanings and include many parts, like designs and systems etc. I think an “intelligent building” uses automated processes which is “smart” to control the environment in the building to ensure a comfort zone for human living. For examples, the lights can automatically turn on/off when people get in/out of a room; the HVAC system controls the air quality which the funs would provide fresh air when CO2 exceed the standard.