BLAUGI Blog of AUGI

Part Three: BiLT Europe 2018 Final Thoughts

It's really not easy summing up a conference for those who haven't attended. So, save me a bit of trouble next time and go <wink>. You will thank me later. It's one of the most rewarding experiences a professional in the building industry can have outside the office.

 

On the second morning main stage plenary session, Sasha Crotty of Autodesk described how play can make us better at our jobs by doing something innovative. A good case for innovation, she describes, occurs when play is incorporated within the workplace. Play can come in many forms. Setting aside formal time to test out new hardware and software, finding unstructured time to experiment and also demonstrated how using video gaming strategy helped an American Football player score a touchdown in an unexpected way by practicing virtual scenarios in Madden NFL. Also borrowing an example from the sports industry, Sasha shared an interesting case study highlighting how UnderArmour developed a 3D printed shoe that supports both weight lifting and cross training, by combining simulation and data analysis of actual use. 

  

Dieter Vermeulen of Autodesk followed up, showing where we are today, versus the past. Connection was termed the next logical step from earlier work paradigms focussed on documentation where we have drawings, and models as a direct expression of design ideas. He posits that "optimisation of designs and connection of teams must happen for us to be effective", and I agree with that statement wholly. One possible approach, as Dieter describes, is with Connected BIM, the shorthand describing the BIM 360 platform and associated tools as marking the next era in our industry. One case study presented was Gatwick Airport going fully BIM for deliverables, and using the cloud solution from Autodesk with an estimated savings of 20,000 hours of labour.

Data driven BIM and how Insights are helping save lives. Using Dynamo to parse point clouds to create an existing conditions model, and suggest ways to make the buildings more disaster resistant in only three hours verses two weeks. Also shown was the much talked about Project Refinery, now in Alpha, a further development of using generative design and a genetic algorithm approach to achieving design optimisation in the cloud. 

During the question and answer segment, someone asked about what happened to Project Quantum. Vermeulen's answer was that the "underlying technology may be present in something soon", followed by the usual safe harbour statement. 

The Weight of Data

No digital construction conference would be complete without a discussion the topic of blockchain and other future technology enablers. London based Mat Colmer did just that as the day two keynote speaker. Colmer, Specialist in Digital Transformation in the Built Environment for Digital Catapult, focussed on the problems in the industry, and dispelled some blockchain myths. Data has to live somewhere and downloading it from a single centralised source versus a distributed network is the basic premise for why it may be important to you and your company. 

Distributed ledger technology, the way crypto currency works and fundamental to what blockcahain is, are purportedly secure, immutable and transparent. Mat tells us “the first two, are not necessarily true”. Human determination, also known as curious teenage hackers, could potentially disrupt things given enough time and energy drinks. What helps make the system stronger than the sum of its parts, is: consensus. Consensus is key. Trust is not necessary with all parties in the blockchain. 

There was visible discomfort around the room when Mat described how privacy is a thing of the past in the public realm. His example of how Heathrow tracks you and your luggage based on computer vision has been welcomed with open arms simply because we all want to move through to our destination with low friction. We have a history of trusting the unknown. Yet somehow, crypto-currency and the platform it's built upon has not gained wide adoption in our industry.

The Devil is in the Detail

Marzia Bolpagni a BIM Advisor at Mace gave an insightful presentation showcasing the Politecnico di Milano PhD candidate's thesis on ways of managing and controlling public works through innovative digital approaches. Bolpagni spoke about the practicalities of using a progressive approach to Level of Development (LOD). She is part of an open-source project creating an international BIM Dictionary, whose aim is to make clear the various BIM terms and how they are communicated across over more than seventeen languages. Planning and verifying LOD today is tedious work, and the software vendors could do more to support this common workflow so critical to successfully implementing a BIM Execution Plan. How can elements be checked against a spreadsheet? How do you know what you’re getting? 



Marzia described a different approach that aligns with something I've been thinking about for the better part of the 20 months I've been working in the UK. We need a way to tie scope of work documents like Design Responsibility Matrix (DRM) to the MPDT (Master production Delivery Table) or as called in the USA, the Model Progression Specification (MPS). The whole point is to bridge the gap between design and production. It's critical to ensure modelled elements are fit for purpose. Knowing the downstream Use Cases will help to be more specific in identifying what is needed at design stages for handoff to another party or process. The history of LOD and influences around the globe was quite a mind bending exercise.

I can't describe all the classes attended, and wish I'd had the ability to sometimes be in two or more sessions at once. I must say as it happens, some were more compelling than others. On a conceptual level the sessions on Machine Learning, and preparing models for Facility Management were fine. I just didn't come away with actionable data. Perhaps because these areas are relatively early days for AECO firms, we'll see more develop in this space over time. Generative design was a big winner at the event, with some compelling imagery and video showing it in action.

Making the Dynamo API Exciting

Mark Thorley, of DesignTech.io, formerly of Grimshaw taught a great class about the API, and for those still unsure of coding, explained the concept of what an API is in the simplest terms I've seen. Think about how you interact with information, in the terms most everyone in attendance would get. An API is the difference between booking a flight from an airline’s website directly, versus using SkyScanner or Expedia which takes your information and interacts directly with several airlines by using their open-APIs to help you find the best options for your trip.

Mark blew my mind by importing the DynamoNode.dll into VisualStudio, where quite a number of possibilities open up. Mark showed the attendees how reading through a library of Dynamo scripts across a network drive could be searched, and a number of properties can be extracted. A good use case is to do some library management, view which graphs have errors in them when used, which nodes are used, and whether the graphs are meeting company standards - such as adding notes and descriptions to groups of nodes within the graphs. Collecting and adding meta-data allows for more intelligent searching, and usage tracking. Dynamo now has Extensions, with some sample documentation that provides some new functionality related to collecting data and creating some UI hacks.

What about Buildings?

Architecture sessions were less prevalent, but I caught a great one. Some built works case studies were shown in the session by Jack Stewart, an architect who leads the Digital Studio at Hawkins\Brown. The HereEast complex, a repurposing of the media buildings created for the London Olympics into maker spaces and places for creative professionals to showcase their studio work, was the firm's first foray into computational design tools. There, they created a frit pattern on the facade which required iteratively arranging 8 million dots, quickly deciding the computer was better to accomplish the tedious work rather than have a "Part 1 graduate model it manually while simultaneously trying to keep up with the lead designer changing their mind".

As the project evolved into a design to fabrication exercise, the presenters describe their approach to construction as a technique of assembling a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. CNC fabricated parts helped build the first pod. They then asked themselves, "How do you get variety from a modular system". After some further explorations, they found using the WikiHouse system, adapted to run in Rhino / Grasshopper to help achieve their concept of evoking a kind of large-scale cabinet of curiosities. They approached the digital problem with the most simple of BIM tools, Excel. Two models with one brain, where a spreadsheet sits in the middle with the data, read by Grasshopper into Rhino for cutting, and Dynamo into Revit for documentation.

The fun doesn't stop here

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The evening social events were fantastic, with a carnival one night and a gala dinner to finish off the event. At the carnival, there were fire juggling mimes, midway fair-style food, and live music in the large hall of the convention centre. The gala, as is often the case for BiLT and RTC previously, is held in a fancier venue. We all went back to our hotels to change, and a number of people came out in fancy dress to the ballroom of the Union hotel downtown for food, opera singers serenading us, and later more live rock and pop music and dancing.

Wesley Benn, founder of it all, starting with a user group pin Australia with eventually became known as RTC, the grandmaster of ceremonies, was mighty sharp in a white tuxedo. All in all, there were some fantastic conversations and great people. The conclusion of the gala, it was noted by Sylvia Taurer, one of the organising committee members, that this year over 17 percent of the attendees were women and they had the highest number of women speakers of any past events. The industry is getting more diverse, if a bit slowly.

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Of course, I took a bit more time to explore the city after the event and found some fantastic architecture, food and just chilled out for a while. I can't wait to visit again. Final tally of beverages, according to organisers: Over 1200 espressos, litres and litres of coffee and tea were served. As for water and beverages in the 'other' category, we'll just say what happens in Ljubljana, stays in Ljubljana. Looking forward to the next BiLT Europe event in 2019, as we head North beyond the wall, to the beautiful Edinburgh, Scotland! Until then, Lang may yer lum reek!

This is the final article in my series on the BiLT Europe 2018 event. You can read more at: Part One: About BiLT Europe 2018 and Part Two: BiLT Europe 2018 First Look.

For more information about this conference and others by the RTC Events organisation around the world, visit: rtcevents.com.  If you are on social media, look for the hashtag #BILTeur or follow @BiLTEvent on Twitter.

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About Sean David Burke

A member of AUGI since 1997, Sean has been at the forefront of BIM for most of his career. His focus on advancing the adoption of digital tools as a Senior Associate at NBBJ and previously with Autodesk has always been to inspire and instruct others around the world in order to make building better.

BILT EUR 2018, First Look

A BiLT event is very human-centric. As mentioned in Part One of this blog series, the number of attendees is limited to maintain an intimate community vibe. Official count from the organisers of BiLT Eur 2018 for the number of delegates, speakers and vendors is over 300 total, representing 32 countries from around the globe. The highest number of attendees from any one country were travelling from the UK, followed by the USA and Denmark. 

The GR Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre is just under 1 kilometre from the various hotels available for attendees, which I arrived at with several others under our own power, and buses are also provided. Coffee and tea breaks between sessions and a not too early start of 9 AM makes for a great environment for learning new ways to use design technologies. Kicking off the opening plenary session, Marcus Fich, BILT Europe Chairman described our purpose for coming together with the provocative, “We are here to break down the silos of our industry” to more collaboratively work together; a concept I wholeheartedly endorse. 

On the walk over to the event, I noticed a curious collection of stone pillars in a park and discovered they are part of a project called Hologram of Europe. The concept, while a bit mystical in nature, has a great mission: to uniquely celebrate member states of the EU, and those in the region. From the website (requires Adobe Flash) “The Hologram of Europe is composed of 27 stone pillars for the 27 member states of European Union, 6 additional pillars for those countries or regions that function outside the Union yet belong to Europe and one lithopuncture stone for Ljubljana, the host of the project”. Essentially, as Marcus was inferring, we are a part of a larger community. Keeping that in mind, below are some observations.

We heard in the opening plenary that the day before to the event the first BILT Academy Summit was held in the city here at a local university building. The summit consisted of 80 people, providing students from around Europe and professionals who spend time in the lab to have some hands-on practical uses for the common enabling technologies of BIM, Computational Design, and reality capture to encourage expert-level thinking to ready the students to enter their respected professions in the AEC industry. 

“BIM is not Fake News” was the on point slogan for event promotional materials.

Taking the stage next Zach Kron, leading the Generative Design Group at Autodesk, provided some prompts for conversation, suggesting why we might need to have more focus on collaboration. “More is inevitable”, he said. More work, opportunity, constraints and more people, and with the majority of those people having the expectation of being in the middle class. We may have a reality alignment problem, however there is a belief that more complex, mega building projects as a trend is here to stay. As these people concentrate into our cities, this leads to more congestion.

 

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Zach then continued saying, “Less is a reality”, he continued explaining that we have less natural resources, less time. With an over one trillion dollar infrastructure gap in the US, opportunities abound to do more with less. He suggested Generative Design can help balance the constraints and opportunities to work within this fast paces world, leading to more prefabrication, systems thinking and high-performance buildings.

 

 

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Graphisoft presented three possible solutions to interoperability:

• Compel every tool to speak each other’s language
• Promote a single existing proprietary format (the PDF of BIM) - like Revit
• Embracing an open platform neutral format - IFC

What if Revit became the way forward, like the English language becoming the defacto language of business. He suggested we could create a new language, and used Esperanto as one example, or we could have a better way to translate between languages, although as anyone who uses online translation tools, lots of errors are introduced and meaning can become lost. However he proposed that mathematics is the one universal language that we can all understand. It doesn’t do everything, however it does a lot well and reliably. Compatibility is not equal to Interoperability. Thinking in workflows is how we will realise the efficiencies BIM promises. Graphisoft is a promoter of using their investments in the OpenBIM approach.

The Main Keynote

Keynote speaker Dr. Beau Lotto, founder and CEO of Lab of Misfits, describes his consultancy as “the world’s first neuro-design studio”. In his talk entitled, “Seeing Differently: The best design begins with not knowing”, Dr. Lotto posits that innovation is outpacing vocational education with his observation, “the top ten jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004”. If we focus only on efficiency in a changing world, we will become stagnant and lose. Dr. Lotto’s proposed solution is to balance creativity with efficiency. Understanding perception is to understand what it is to be human, he made a promise saying, “You will know less at the end … upon leaving”. A true scientist. I was hoping he only meant his keynote.

Information by itself is meaningless. He went on to describe how we can never see the world as it really is, because we are separate from it. We only interpret the information that comes in through our senses as we’re locked inside our own bodies. The hate, pain and love we feel are simply how we are programmed to respond to the world based on our own inherent biases and assumptions. Emotions don’t exist outside ourselves, yet design tries to always create an emotional connection with people. After showing us a series of hilarious lol cats and videos challenging our perceptions, he convinced many of us that creativity isn’t really a giant leap. Creativity, and therefore innovation, is simply when someone makes a small step to the next possibility and manages to change their biases and assumptions. From the outside, it appears someone is making a big leap, however they just have a different perception of possibilities than you.

Possibility of better solutions is to create an environment of diversity and stimulus, without overdoing stimulus. Here is where he describes how his design studio suggests to clients the pairing of efficient experts and creative novices working together. Dr. Lotto left us with the thought saying, “Experts don’t ask the right questions, but recognise when a good question is asked”.

My Class Highlights

There were so many classes to choose from. When I first signed up, admittedly I chose my sessions somewhat quick. Knowing that, I looked over the classes on display in the big board, as the app on my phone provided by the organisers in the Apple IOS App Store and Google Play. Then I broke the rules a bit. My first class was an advanced programming class for ArchiCAD, a tool I know nothing about, so I quietly made my escape and sat in the back of a Dynamo class led by Radu Gidei of Grimshaw that showed some really fantastic concepts about programming that enables cross-platform development for various tools. It opened up a great deal of possibilities for custom development. 

Computational Wizardry

A session discussing possibility in: “From NURBS to Meshes – Parametric design & BIM”, Ákos Karóczkai, of Graphisoft described how tools that previously were separate can become more integrated. The company worked closely in partnership with McNeel to embed a grasshopper workflow into ArchiCAD. Some very compelling imagery and videos were shown in a design platform one would not normally expect to see parametric design explorations. It does make one stop to think that, even an old BIM tool (ArchiCAD is a nearly 35 year old architectural modelling platform) can be taught new tricks. Initially, this seems like a good approach, however the function of moving data is handled by an API, rather than using existing open source tools. I came away with the feeling this workflow may have been more interesting to explore the possibilities of Grasshopper reading/writing IFC directly and having that translation sit in the middle. It might be that I’m a bit naive or that I see many people approaching the same problems over and over rather than making the leap to solve new bigger ones. To read up more on these tools and how they are integrated, visit this ArchiCad page.

Making the Invisible, Visible

The history of data on an object is not immediately available to us in the physical world. This may be why the idea of COBie spreadsheets has become so common. The spreadsheet is an initial attempt at passing some asset data to facilities managers to augment the pieces and parts of a building. Cesar Escalante and Alberto Tono of HOK showed in “Augmented Reality and Deep Learning in the Design Process” some ways we could bridge that gap between the digital and physical world. Head-mounted display (HMD) trends as predicted in a Credence Research report predict a doubling of the combined Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) headset market to 70 million units by the year 2022. That number could climb rapidly if the rumours of highly secretive companies, Apple and Amazon both separately working on their own devices to compete with the already large number of options out there, are true. Preparing models for AR/VR takes a lot of computational horsepower and many platforms. The group at HOK propose that Speckle, a web service beginning to fill the void left by the now shut Flux.io, may have some answers. 

Computer programming for designers doesn’t have to be complex or a barrier to experimentation. The presenters illustrated how facial recognition is accomplished with just three lines of code and  the $250 Amazon AWS DeepLens. Gasps of delight were heard throughout the room when they showed how a Microsoft lab in San Francisco was used to capture real time video from multiple angles that could potentially one day allow us to put real people as actors in our architectural visualisations.

With AR enabled mobile devices assisting in the activities of collaboration and model review, HOK developed bespoke tools to capture gazing time on various parts of the virtual model from different devices and display that data as a heat map. This type of information could be used as a way to inform better projects, based on what areas the participants focused.

That was just day one… whew! Signing off for now, I’ve got more to share in my third and final segment, coming soon. Until then, keep thinking about the questions you ask of your work, and how our tools can help answer those questions.

This is the second of three articles in my series on the BiLT Europe 2018 event. You can read more at: Part One: About BiLT Europe 2018 and Part Three: BiLT Europe 2018 Final Thoughts.

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About Sean David Burke

A member of AUGI since 1997, Sean has been at the forefront of BIM for most of his career. His focus on advancing the adoption of digital tools as a Senior Associate at NBBJ and previously with Autodesk has always been to inspire and instruct others around the world in order to make building better.

BiLT EUR 2018, Part One of Three

The BiLT EUR by RTC event, is taking place from 11-13 October (starting tomorrow) in the Slovenia capital city of Ljubljana, at the GR - Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre. I am fortunate to be a delegate this year, amongst the few hundred attendees. Many thanks to AUGI and the organisers for sponsoring me to attend and I am pleased to be your guide over these next few days.

The weather greeting those travelling via air today was a comfortable 21C.

I’ve previously attended the North American version of this conference in years’ past and it’s one of my favourite events of its kind - truly, I'm saying that without prompt. Attribute that experience to the unique people, all experts in their field and any one of the delegates could easily be a speaker, there’s the “by users, for users” approach to learning, and the intimate nature of a purely building industry focus limited to a maximum capacity of around 500. Since a large number of people who attend these know each other there are a few traditions involving presenter outtakes, top ten lists, the swimming pool and funny coloured socks. But, enough of that. So, what’s in store?

In its eighth year, the European version of BiLT - formerly known as the Revit Technology Conference (RTC) - dates back to the early days of Revit, now the dominant building information modelling (BIM) tool in many parts of the world. The annual meeting of the minds was originally initiated by a few scrappy architects in Australia who wanted to share the unvarnished truth about how to work effectively in BIM. Today the annual event has taken a larger stage with a core cast of characters and many regional experts all coming together throughout the year on a travelling stage across four continents: Asia, North America, Europe, Australia and sometimes New Zealand.

Why the change in name for the event?

The American born idea of Revit is now of drinking age, having been idealised by its founders to transform the industry twenty one years ago this month as Charles River Software within the Route 128 technology belt around Boston. First shipping in the year 2000, the 18th birthday of the product was earlier this year. Now solidly part of the Autodesk portfolio, it’s clear the tools have reached a maturity and provide a solid platform for designing buildings around the world.

Since that is the case, the organisers acknowledged the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) disciplines of the built environment use more than just the one tool. And our digital tools are merely that, enablers to produce better outcomes by using more effective processes. Many of the conversations extend around the concepts of BIM-like or BIM-ish technologies like: Computational Design, Big Data, Simulation, and Mixed Reality (Augemented/Virtual Reality, and Reality Capture). 

What to Expect?

Cities where BiLT EUR has taken place include Dublin, Delft, Aarus and others. Some interesting venues are chosen by the committee to enhance the learning experience; one year had delegates filing into “The Church of BIM” as the decommissioned church booked for that week was affectionately nicknamed. There was even a pulpit for the speakers. Much of the content of the classes I’ve chosen this year are focussed around workflows and computational thinking.

 

View from Prešeren Square of Ljubljanski grad, one of many castles surrounding this historic city.

It will be interesting to see those other than Autodesk platforms discussed in the context of the bigger picture of interoperability, such as the popular McNeel Rhino/Grasshopper combination, and also Graphisoft ArchiCAD, which maintains a strong footing in Europe, and of course the lowest common denominator BIM and Computation tool: Microsoft Excel. After all, it’s all about being data-minded in how we exchange information about our projects. After I settle in, I’ll do some exploring around the city, eagerly awaiting the kickoff sessions and keynote speeches to set the theme for this year’s peek into the future of our digital industry. I’m most looking forward to the below sessions, and have signed up for a full three-day schedule:

• Tapping the Source: Establishing Responses to External Data 
• Augmented Reality and Deep Learning in the Design Process
• Effective ‘LOD’ Implementation in Projects
• Datadriven Facility Management - Value-based ICT and BIM for Clients and Building Owners 
• Connecting parametric design and BIM through Grasshopper, Excel and Dynamo 

All in, there is a good deal of optimism in the building industry for a shift in what is next in a post-BIM world. I’ll be sharing a bit more as the event unfolds over the coming days here and on my Twitter account: @seandburke. Thanks for joining me on this ride. Let’s see together where it goes.

The canals and rivers running through the city are a must see, especially with all this wonderful architecture and foliage lining the banks.

For more information about this conference and others by the RTC Events organisation around the world, visit: rtcevents.com.  If you are on social media, look for the hashtag #BILTeur or follow @BiLTEvent on Twitter.

This is the first of three articles in my series on the BiLT Europe 2018 event. You can read more at: Part Two: BiLT Europe 2018 First Look and Part Three: BiLT Europe 2018 Final Thoughts.

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About Sean David Burke

A member of AUGI since 1997, Sean has been at the forefront of BIM for most of his career. His focus on advancing the adoption of digital tools as a Senior Associate at NBBJ and previously with Autodesk has always been to inspire and instruct others around the world in order to make building better.

 

BiLT ANZ 2018 Finale

There is more to BIM than technology and BiLT ANZ 2018 reflected an increasing focus on the human side of BIM and related AEC professions.

One prominent sign of this was a panel discussion, “Gender diversity in AEC: Challenging our industry sponsored by Central Innovation”, which featured on the Friday plenary mainstage. Moderated (with contributions) by Justine Clark (Parlour); Elizabeth Harper (GHD), Glenda Caldwell (QUT) & Todd Bartley (AECOM) challenged the majority male (~85%) attendees to address diversity in their own environment. Aspects discussed included the benefits of diversity, considering messaging in advertising, approaches to diversity in the recruitment process, training to address conscious/unconscious bias, and flexible working arrangements.

A great resource (for local attendees) is “Marion’s List”: a public register of women in Australian architecture and the built environment disciplines to approach for input, mentoring and speaking. It’s a proactive response to help address gender bias in industry forums/events and a fine example to consider matching (if not already established) in your region.

Saturday, the final day of BiLT ANZ 2018, skipped the previous days morning plenary and launched straight into the 75-minute streamed sessions. For me it started with Phil Lazarus’ session “Advance your digital agenda” which was also all about people. @bimtroublemaker was in great form sharing how to talk BIM with your management. It was an introduction to the psychology of management and how to frame your BIM strategy in a way they will embrace. A compilation of inspired career advice rounded out a great session which finished with the line: “Never curse that "They don't understand BIM", that keeps us employed”.

“A Guided Tour of Cutting Edge Creek with Some BIM Geeks” was a fast-paced multi-presenter tour of both technology and techniques led by Luke Johnson with Joe Banks, Dominic Martens, Adam Sheather & (via video conference from the US) Aaron Maller contributing. It ranged from choosing and implementing hardware (personal and network), approaches to evaluating/auditing models, tips for data wrangling (including a mention of Safe’s FME and the line “a Revit model is not a database”) and collaboration platforms. It ended with an overview of the diverse range of hardware they use every day. Aaron’s is missing from the photo below as needed an entire second slide…

Luke Johnson’s “The Worst BIM Projects - A Case Study of How BIM Can Go Wrong, and How to Avoid the Pain” was a frank, courageous, look at a project where BIM didn’t work. It was revealing that the failure was more the human, contractual and process aspects than a tale of technology not working. Luke addressed what happened, how to avoid or detect similar signs of looming problems in your own projects, and how to handle them if they happen. While it is great to hear of success stories it is also valuable to learn from other’s lessons, pain, hard as that can be to share.

My final session of the day was “Connect the docs: BIM 360”: Carl Storms’ impressive explanation of the mix of applications and services which make up Autodesk BIM 360. To compress the complex and twisted history of Autodesk’s cloud offer, the capabilities, duplications and limitations of the ‘Classic” and newly released “Next Generation” BIM 360 into 75 minutes is quite a feat. Carl did this admirably in a slick presentation which covered all aspects.

The Closing Keynote and Wrap Up was sponsored by ClearEdge and Kelly Cone hosted the Vision 20/20 Competition. It was a fast paced (20 slides, of max 20 seconds each) and fun look into the future of AEC/BIM based on the topic: “The Dangers of Technology”. Performed live and judged by the audience (voting with the BiLT app) in real time. Finalists Carl Storms and Nathan Love did a brilliant job netting prizes including a ticket to any BiLT 2019 event (Nathan) and gigantic Millennium Falcon Lego set (Carl).

After thanking all the attendees for coming, the Organisers, Sponsors, Speakers, Technicians, and QUT Volunteer Students who helped deliver it BiLT ANZ Chairman Chris Needham summarised the biggest BiLT event to date:

This quote, from Ashraf’s opening keynote, Chris highlighted in his wrap up resonated. BiLT is about people, connecting, learning, sharing and BiLT ANZ 2018 delivered.

With the conference formally wrapped up the BiLT finale was the “Special Event brought to you by CSI & BILT ANZ — an elegant evening with lots of food, cocktails, music, dancing and entertainment”. The venue was spectacular, Brisbane City Hall, and host Ashraf Habibullah certainly delivered! The entertainment was his band, from the US, and with food & drink galore it was a spectacular ending to the conference.

BiLT ANZ 2018 delivered an impressive variety of technology, techniques and tuition but most importantly a brilliant venue for networking and learning. There are regional BiLT events around the world, next up is BiLT North America in St Louis, and you won’t regret attending if you get the opportunity.

You can follow BiLT activity on Twitter @BiLTevent

• BiLT ANZ 2018 Event Website: www.rtcevents.com/bilt/anz18/
• RTC Event Website: www.rtcevents.com

 

BiLT ANZ 2018 tees off!

The BiLT ANZ 2018 opening plenary began with sponsor sessions - from Autodesk & Newforma - then Omar Awny introduced the remarkable Ashraf Habibullah whose keynote lit up the room with his personality, presentation and (literally) with his illuminated foil jacket.

He's a Structural Engineer, President and CEO of Computers and Structures, Inc (products including ETABS) but didn't talk about that other than to illustrate his point. The theme was how to make a difference as a person and a professional by bringing delight to your life, those around you, and your work. In addition to charming the audience, aided by gifting several iPads, Ashraf will be hosting (even bringing his band from the US) what is promised to be a spectacular closing evening event on Saturday.

With the plenary over the sessions which form the bulk of the event kicked off. There are multiple 75-minute streamed sessions ranging from presentations, panels, forums and hands on labs. I can only give an impression of this as there is simply no way for one person to see them all!

The range of content on offer represents the incredible growth of the RTC Events portfolio. What started fourteen years ago as a series of Revit Technology Roadshows, one of which initiated the Auckland Revit User Group I'm involved with, has become a distributed virtually connected international workforce staging nine events per annum around the world.

My day one sessions included Paul Wintour looking at the world of computational design and the various approaches to modelling geometry and analysing objects/spatial relationships. It was high level but offered a good conceptual guide to the benefits and limitations of different approaches and algorithms.

From the world of computational theory, it was into the very real world of interiors. I was attracted to Ceilidh Higgins session on interior design for Revit as it relates to the workflows we face in my day job, retail design. I picked up some useful tips and approaches to 'adapting' Revit to do a job it isn't really optimised for and techniques for interior projects where you may not get a building model. As retail tenant you often just get what you’re given with little control on the model deliverable. Tips include only modelling what you need, using CAD links for detail where the model isn't available, and simple families in groups as an alternative to complex 'try to do it all super families'.

This, as with all sessions, offers a point of view and stimulates some interesting conversation in the room about alternative approaches. It's the incidental conversations, random meetings and follow-up discussions (which overflow into the hallways and exhibit space) which are the difference between attending an event and seeing the same presentation online.

Industry standards are the subject of much debate and I attended a session by the Australasian BIM Advisory Board on their work to create industry wide standards. The concern I have is the world seems to have a lot of organisations setting standards, but the software has crude tools for managing data where client requirements and standards can vary.

The evening welcome event was held in the exhibit hall giving a chance to meet sponsors, exhibitors and fellow attendees. For those who desired this carried on at the nearby Baedeker Bar after-party. It is in an old brick mill building with a neat speakeasy atmosphere, cobbled floor and secret spinning bookcase door!

The Friday morning Plenary recognised the support of HP/Nvidia hardware, Central Innovation (whose offer includes hardware, ArchiCAD and Solibri platforms) and Autodesk. Ian Molloy, of Autodesk, also talked about connected BIM and the ESRI/Autodesk partnership announced at Autodesk University 2017. I was surprised HP/Nvidia didn't have more of a presence in the exhibit hall given the brilliant range of AR/VR hardware they offer but it was covered by reseller partners.

My first session of the day looked at the reality of BIM from the Quantity Surveyors point of view. Keeley Pomeroy had a practical overview of the benefits, pitfalls and costs of BIM at different deliverable stages and some achievable approaches to maximise the benefits, minimise the pain.

The next session was lifecycle data management from the owner’s point of view. Looking after an iconic UN World Heritage Site with a 250-300+ year potential lifespan is as lifecycle as it gets, and the Sydney Opera House was designed long before BIM. Chris Linning & Steve Lianos session covered the journey migrating decades of legacy into a digital model-based facilities management solution. It was a revealing look at the complexity of managing a unique public building from both an operational and refurbishment viewpoint.

Next it was Kevin Thickett’s very realistic view of the maze of potential for misunderstanding that Level of Development, Detail, Completion, Complexity has become. He offered a view that cut through the complexity with "Kev's Gospel of the Good LOD". By the way, the D represents development and forget about the rest.

David Spehar and Robert Manna had a session on using data to fix what BIM broke. They began with a short (one slide) history of BIM and posed the question;
“Are we at the point in the BIM party where everyone is suffering from a hangover? "
They offered a solution which took a proactive approach to analysing and reporting BIM progress, and potential problem tracking, to avoid the catastrophic broken BIM which can result from ignoring issues.

I later saw another session which took the opposite approach, ignoring issues which don't impact the outcome, but that is the benefit of seeing different views in the community. Nobody has all the answers; other’s solutions may not fit your needs but can spark the idea or process which does.

The day finished with an evening function at a nearby golf course. We had the run of the event space, terrace bar, awesome BBQ dinner, a driving range and mini-putt course for the BIM geeks to display their golf skills. It was a nice end to the second day. Tomorrow, is a full schedule of sessions and the much-anticipated evening extravaganza in conclusion.

I’ll be following up with a summary post, but you can also follow BiLT ANZ activity on social media; look for the #BILTANZ tag and follow @BiLTevent on Twitter.

BiLT ANZ 2018 Event Website: www.rtcevents.com/bilt/anz18/