Archive for the ‘In the Press’ Category
Cars are Good, Buildings are Bad — We Need Another National Lab
March 3rd, 2010 | Author: Travis Reinke
The title is not completely correct, cars are not really good, but they are less bad than buildings.
We hear constantly:
- “Cars cause Global Warming” (more accurately contribute to Climate Change).
- People are purchasing hybrids to do their part to help save the earth and lower our need for fuel.
We rarely hear:
- Buildings are the main problem. (They are)
BIM, specifically the data component, holds great promise to dramatically improve the performance and operation of buildings, as well as insuring that ecologically superior building products are specified. BIM is dependent upon accurate and available data.
GSA Awards Ten Nationwide BIM Services IDIQ Contracts
October 7th, 2009 | Author: Travis Reinke
The General Services Administration (GSA), Public Buildings Services (PBS), has officially awarded ten Nationwide Building Information Modeling (BIM) Services IDIQ Contracts to the following firms:
- Beck Technology
- Applied Software Technology
- DPR Construction, Inc.
- Ghafari Associates, LLC
- Hallam Associates, Inc.
- KlingStubbins, Inc.
- HNTB Corporation
- ONUMA, Inc.
- View by View, Inc.
- Kristine Fallon Associates, Inc.
Congratulations to all of these firms! It will be interesting to see how much work actually comes out of this contract and how it will impact the architectural industry. Be sure to follow us on Twitter to get the latest updates on this monumental contract award.
UPDATE: GSA Nationwide BIM/Laser Scanning Services Contract Awards
August 24th, 2009 | Author: Travis Reinke
The word on the street is that the General Services Administration (GSA)has notified firms selected for Nationwide BIM and Laser Scanning Services contracts this morning. The selected firms will begin contract negotiations this week. No details have been given as to which firms were selected just yet, but follow us on Twitter or check back here for updates as we get more information.
UPDATE: August 25, 2009 – Contracts were awarded on both a regional and national basis. More to come…
Texas A&M Receives Grant to Improve Data Exchange and Standards
August 16th, 2009 | Author: Travis Reinke
(Media-Newswire.com) – A team of architecture professors at Texas A&M are aiming to improve buildings’ design and energy efficiency by providing standards for data exchange among disparate building design software systems through research from a national engineering society’s 15-month, $175,000 grant.
Studies have shown that problems related to exchanging information among building information modeling software used by architects and energy analysis and simulation software used by engineers causes more than $16 billion per year of unnecessary expenses.
Since new technologies for representing buildings are expected to transform processes for architectural engineering design services, it is imperative that standards for data exchange among software systems be established, said Mark Clayton, professor of architecture and the project’s principal investigator.
“This research will promote the inclusion of energy efficiency measures in the early design of building model development,” said Clayton. “It is expected to greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of energy analysis and allow building designs to achieve higher levels of energy efficiency.”
Texas Adopts Building Information Modeling (BIM) capability for State Design and Construction Projects
August 11th, 2009 | Author: Travis Reinke
Austin – The Texas Facilities Commission (TFC), the agency within the State of Texas that oversees the state’s real estate development as owners and operators of state facilities, today announces its adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for state design and construction projects. For over a year, the Facilities Design and Construction (FDC) division within TFC has diligently worked to standardize the use of BIM for its future projects. FDC is responsible for overseeing the design and construction of state facilities throughout Texas. Currently, FDC manages 125 projects valued over $500 million, in addition to maintaining the Facilities Master Plan. In an effort to promote workflow efficiency, streamline productivity and increase the return on investment for the State of Texas, FDC has adopted and encourages the use of BIM’s digital design technology.
Autodesk and Vela Systems Collaborate to Provide Building Information Modeling (BIM) for the Field
August 5th, 2009 | Author: Travis Reinke
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Autodesk,Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) , a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, has announced that it has collaborated with Vela Systems, Inc., a provider of mobile field automation software for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries, to integrate Vela Systems Field BIM Software Suite with Autodesk Navisworks. Navisworks is a software tool for combining project contributions into a single, coordinated 3D building information model. This technology integration extends the building information modeling (BIM) process to the field by making it possible for Autodesk Navisworks 3D project models to reflect the state of objects within the design based on field-gathered data.
GSA Nationwide BIM Services – Phase II Interviews Week of July 27, 2009
July 20th, 2009 | Author: Travis Reinke
Today an email went out from Paris Marshall’s office stating the following:
“To ALL Offerors,
We are currently in the process of completing our evaluation of Phase I for the above referenced project. Upon completion, firms will be notified, in writing, if they are selected/invited to Phase II, Interviews. If selected, please be advised that GSA has an aggressive schedule. We intend to begin interviews during the week of July 27th; therefore, selected firms invited to Phase II must be prepared to attend in person during this week (unless stated otherwise) in Washington, DC. As stated, formal notification will be sent to the firms. Firms selected for an interview will be notified of the location, date and time of the interview in the notification letter.
If you have any questions, please contact me by email. Thank you and Have a Great Day.”
