AEC Magazine November / December 2022

IMAGE COURTESY OF TAL FRIEDMAN, FOLDSTRUCT

Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology for Architecture, Engineering and Construction

Will robotic fabrication change how we plan buildings?

Digital twins

Rhino goes mobile

New beginnings

Delivering benefits beyond construction

iRhino launches on the iPad

Exciting new tools for AEC workflows

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Industry news 4

Autodesk Tandem 30

Exyn and Trimble explore fully autonomous surveying; Bricsys makes flexible licensing promise; Allplan 2023 adds precast concrete, plus lots more

What’s new and upcoming with the cloud-based digital twin platform?

Rhino on the iPad 12

Roderick Bates of Enscape on how architects can help the Metaverse live up to its hype

With a thriving ecosystem on Windows, Mac and in the cloud, Rhino has now gone mobile with iRhino

The pillars of fabrication integrated modelling 14 Tal Friedman explores how a fabrication centric approach could help impart real change in the construction industry

Bentley Systems iTwin ‘phase two’ 18 The company continues its drive to lead the digital twin infrastructure market with the release of new iTwin products

Q&A: Keith Bentley, Bentley Systems 22 We talk iTwin technology and the ‘platformification’ of the design software world with the Bentley CTO

Monitoring asset health in real-time 26 From reality modelling and IoT, to AI and simulation, Bentley is drawing on a range technologies to monitor infrastructure

The Metaverse 34 Streaming digital twins into Unreal Engine 36 Bentley Systems has a new technology that streams models from its iTwin platform on demand, into the visually rich Unreal Engine environment

A new architecture for Architecture 38 With a major rearchitecting of Archicad underway, Martyn Day spoke with Graphisoft executives to find out more

Modumate: BIM powered

by Unreal Engine 42 A San Francisco-based start-up has built an architectural design system on top of Epic’s legendary game engine

SimpleBIM: taking back control with IFC 46 Founded in Finland in 2009, SimpleBIM has played a key role in the rise of IFC standards for data exchange

Digital twin tech 28

Swapp: the algorithmic assistant 48

A Trojan horse for systemic and cultural change in AEC?

This audacious AI tool automates detail design work and produces drawings November / December 2022

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News

Exyn and Trimble explore fully autonomous surveying with Boston Dynamics Spot robot

rimble and Exyn Technologies, a specialist in robotic autonomy for complex environments that can’t access GPS, are exploring the use of autonomous construction surveying technology.

The solution will integrate Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot, the ExynPak portable, real-time 3D mapping ‘SLAM’ solution powered by ExynAI, and the

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Trimble X7 laser scanner.

The aim is to enable fully autonomous missions inside complex and dynamic construction environments, resulting in ‘consistent and precise’ reality capture for production and quality control workflows.

Autonomous robots powered by ExynAI, are designed to sense and avoid obstacles, dynamically adapting to the

ever-changing complexity of construction environments.

The ExynPak mounts and integrates with a robot, supporting level 4 of autonomous exploration missions without requiring the robot to “learn” about its environment beforehand.

The surveyor simply defines a 3D volume for a mission and the integrated robotic solution then handles the complexities of self-navigation without needing a map, GPS or wireless infrastructure.

The Trimble X7 provides 3D laser scanning to capture the state of the environment. The captured data can be uploaded to the Trimble Connect collaboration platform and shared with project stakeholders for further analysis, including a comparison to BIM models and previous scans to monitor quality and progress.

“Industry has been waiting for reliable and robust autonomous technology to transform difficult and dangerous activities,” said Nader Elm, CEO of Exyn Technologies. “Exyn’s technology is helping to enable a new front in humanrobot collaboration. By working with preeminent leaders such as Trimble, we aim to create adaptable, state-of-the-art systems to tackle the complexities across construction and industrial environments.”

■ www.exyn.com ■ www.trimble.com

Bentley enhances Synchro construction management tool entley Systems has enhanced its construction management solution, adding new features to Synchro 4D and introducing new tools Synchro Cost and Synchro Perform.

Synchro 4D now offers 4D/5D model authoring with model-splitting tools to create constructible components, the ability to assign construction attributes to the model, mixed reality modelling, construction geometry placement, and web and mobile access to improve team collaboration, status updates, and progress reporting from the field.

Synchro Cost is designed to help project teams control budgets and track financial progress throughout the contract with

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support for multi-contract capture, payment application tracking, and change order management.

Synchro Perform supports construction performance management and includes the ability to capture daily progress quantities, diaries, unplanned events, timesheets, tickets, and estimated field costs with a view to providing the shortest cycle time for project feedback.

“Construction teams need to ensure that they are in control of both the schedule and costs of their projects,” said Rich Humphrey, vice president of construction at Bentley Systems.

“The addition of Synchro Cost and Synchro Perform extends Synchro’s

industry leading 4D scheduling and project management solutions to include more capabilities to help contractors manage their costs and effectively connect the planning and tracking of costs and schedule.”

■ www.bentley.com/software/synchro

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ROUND UP Streamlining Revit

BricsCAD v23 launches with flexible licensing promise

Microdesk has integrated its BIMrx product line into Symetri’s Naviate.

The expanded and rebranded suite of tools aims to improve workflows for AEC professionals by streamlining Revit project setup, model management, and documentation ■ www.microdesk.com

Scia Engineer 22 Version 22 of structural analysis software Scia Engineer has been designed to give users better insight into the economy of their designs. The extended AutoDesign report helps users save material by evaluating the weight of reinforcement per cubic metre of concrete ■ www.scia.net

Telecom digital twins Axians France has partnered with Pix4D to provide operators and telecom infrastructure managers with infrastructure digital twins.

Pix4D technology will be used to automatically identify telecom assets and their dimensions. BIM models will then be created for use in 5G antenna installation and maintenance ■ www.pix4d.com

CICES BIM paper A new white paper from the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (CICES) ‘Transforming the civil engineering surveyor’ aims to help improve understanding of BIM and how it relates to civil engineering during site operations ■ www.cices.org/publications/white-papers

13th Gen for BOXX BOXX Technologies’ APEXX S3 workstation now features 13th Gen Intel Core i7 and i9 processors. The new CPUs are said to offer exceptional performance for CAD, 3D design, motion media, and other professional software applications ■ www.boxx.com

NBS subscriptions NBS has launched a ‘cost-effective’ subscription option for its specification platform, NBS Chorus.

NBS Chorus Designer enables users to annotate design models in Revit, Vectorworks or Archicad directly from the specification, view guidance and add notes ■ www.thenbs.com

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t the Bricsys Digital Summit 2022 last month, Bricsys introduced BricsCAD v23, the latest release of its DWG-based family of CAD tools, which includes BricsCAD BIM, its ‘AI-powered’ BIM software.

Speaking at the event, Rahul Kejriwal, CEO, also addressed inflexible licensing models for CAD software, “Bricsys will never trap your data in walled gardens, and we will offer new and flexible business models to serve users who need the best, most accessible design, modelling and collaboration software,” he said.

New features for BricsCAD v23 include drawing health management tools and a ‘significant expansion’ of the drawing recovery tools. There have been updates to the Optimize 3D command for

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correcting errors in 3D models, and CopyGuided 2D, which offers a ‘smarter way’ to copy entities. For the civil sector, BricsCAD also includes civil and point cloud capabilities.

BricsCAD BIM v23, which now offers compatibility with IFC, RVT and RFA, includes an improved stair 2D representation and a new type plans feature, which allow elements of scan-toBIM modelling to be automated.

Bricsys 24/7, the company’s CDE for managing project data and exchanging multi-format documents, has also been enhanced. Demonstrations at the Summit included workflows for tender documents, building drafts, building models, site plans and bills of materials.

■ www.bricsys.com

Bentley launches Infrastructure Cloud entley Systems has launched the Bentley Infrastructure Cloud, a combination of enterprise systems powered by its iTwin Platform and infrastructure schemas, which ‘seamlessly integrate’ with Bentley’s engineering applications.

According to the company, Bentley Infrastructure Cloud will enable better creation, delivery, and ongoing operation of infrastructure, through complete and evergreen digital twins.

Bentley Infrastructure Cloud encompasses ProjectWise, for project delivery; Synchro, for construction; and AssetWise, for asset operations. Now

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powered by iTwin, Bentley explains that these enterprise systems are becoming fundamentally data-centric without disrupting file-based workflows.

As part of the platform, Bentley has introduced new AssetWise Asset Health Monitoring Solutions that use reality modelling and IoT to deliver real-time asset health monitoring (see page 26).

Bentley also expanded its iTwin platform with iTwin Experience, for visualising and navigating digital twins; iTwin Capture, for capturing, analysing, and sharing reality data; and iTwin IoT, for acquiring and analysing sensor data (see page 18).

■ www.bentley.com

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News

Allplan 2023 adds precast concrete to material range

Carbon assessment for digital twins entley Systems has linked Building Transparency’s Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) to its iTwin platform to streamline embodied carbon calculation in digital twins.

EC3 is a no-cost, open-access tool that allows benchmarking, assessment, and reductions in embodied carbon, focused on the upfront supply chain emissions of construction materials.

WSP is applying both the EC3 database and the Bentley iTwin platform on infrastructure projects. “Implementing this link will significantly reduce the time and cost of generating EC3-based detailed embodied carbon analysis and reports along the design and construction stages,” said Thomas Coleman, vice president of WSP USA.

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llplan has expanded the range of materials supported in its core BIM software with the 2023 version now including precast concrete as well as masonry, cast-inplace concrete, steel and timber.

According to the developers, the ability to coordinate different materials and construction methods in one common model enables architects to better consider the economical and sustainable use of building materials, earlier, and in accordance with environmental requirements. It also means engineers and construction companies can build directly on the architects’ design and use it as the basis for structural analysis and detailing, MEP engineering, prefabrication and construction.

Allplan 2023 has also been enhanced to better harness graphics card processing.

According to the developers, this helps process large volumes of data more

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reliably, in particular terrain surveys or point clouds with millions of points.

For structural design, enhancements include: new tools to make it easier to create and adjust openings in walls and slabs; automated reinforcement modelling with the ability to reinforce several identical walls and columns at the same time; a new precast design and detailing feature for creating complex precast components in one platform; and new tools for accurately modelling steel framework.

For construction planning there are new functions for bored pile, and soldier pile walls, as well as ground anchors, and the ability to ‘intelligently place’ cranes, containers, or fences, complete with collision detection and capacity checking.

For infrastructure design, there are new productivity tools for users working on terrain and road plans, while bridge design also get a boost.

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Avvir joins Hexagon

to be reconstructed into a mall complex as soon as the World Cup is over.

The HVAC design was carried out by GKA engineers on behalf of Salfo & Associates SA. According to 4M, FineHVAC was selected for three reasons: smart BIM modelling of the HVAC installations; automatic generation of the final drawings and calculation reports; and accuracy in calculations, complying with the latest international standards.

exagon has acquired construction reality capture and analysis specialist Avvir, and is integrating the company’s AI-powered technology stack into its portfolio of solutions, including BricsCAD and the hxGN Smart Build suite.

Avvir’s reality analysis platform compares BIM models to onsite reality capture data using AI algorithms that compare thousands of elements at a time to determine what is built and whether it is built in place. Construction firms can then use the results to keep schedules up-to-date, verify subcontractor payment applications, or update the BIM model to reflect as-built conditions.

■ www.4msa.com/brands/finehvac

■ www.avvir.io

■ www.allplan.com

FineHVAC helps cool World Cup venue ineHVAC software from 4M was used in the design the HVAC system for the Qatar Foundation Stadium, one of the host venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The piping and air-duct installations serve the free space under the stands of the “Diamond in the Desert” sports complex, comprising an air-conditioned area of 55,000m2 structured in four levels.

One of the considerations for the design was that many of the existing spaces are

■ www.buildingtransparency.org

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News

Trimble Construction Cloud powered by Azure launches

Trimble aids HP in robotic site layout rimble and HP are working together to integrate the Trimble Ri robotic total station with HP SitePrint, a robotic layout solution that prints 2D plans on construction site floors.

SitePrint can avoid obstacles and print lines and complex objects with ‘pinpoint accuracy and consistent repeatability’. In addition, text printing capabilities are designed to bring additional data from the digital model to the construction site to prevent errors.

Using optical technology, the precise positioning and navigation of the HP SitePrint robot is driven by the Trimble Ri total station. Equipped with automatic level detection, selfcalibration, and Trimble Vision technology for advanced tracking, the Trimble Ri helps the robot achieve autonomous, highaccuracy indoor layout work.

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rimble has launched Trimble Construction Cloud, a new platform powered by Microsoft Azure to link project teams, data, processes and multiple stakeholders – including general contractors, subcontractors, designers, engineers and owners – across all phases of construction projects.

Trimble Construction Cloud takes advantage of Microsoft Azure services including Logic Apps, Azure DevOps, and Azure Kubernetes Service.

A Common Data Environment (CDE) connects the office with site operations tools, enabling Trimble and non-Trimble solutions to ‘automatically integrate’ into one usable data set.

Configured and Custom Workflows

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help project teams automate different aspects of their business. There are three pre-configured workflows: a model-toprocurement built for Mechanical, Engineering and Plumbing (MEP); a model-to-fabrication for structures; and a civil bid-to-build for site management.

Meanwhile, Live Data/Model Sharing (pictured above) allows for ‘real-time’ model collaboration for both Trimble and nonTrimble solutions. Trimble explains that multiple users can be in several Trimble solutions—such as Quadri, Trimble Connect and Tekla—and view model changes as they happen. According to Trimble, those with non-Trimble solutions, such as Microsoft Teams can also collaborate in the same modelling process.

■ www.trimble.com

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DroneDeploy acquires structionSite

are now able to scan and optimise entire small buildings, roadways, landscapes, infrastructure, and other outdoor spaces all in one go, with virtually no limits to scan time or scale, outside of practical considerations.

This new core also includes a fully rebuilt optimisation engine, which performs full global loop closure, tight alignments, surface reconstruction, and reference constraint satisfaction, all on-device.

Dot3D 5.0 is available as a free 7-day trial and there is an indefinite free version for testing without export. Subscriptions start at $49/month or $299/year.

erial reality capture platform DroneDeploy has acquired ground reality capture specialist structionSite with a view to delivering a complete reality capture platform for construction. structionSite helps contractors capture photo documentation of their jobs in 360-degrees. Photos are automatically organised by date and floor plan location.

DroneDeploy offers autonomous drone flights and ground-based walkthroughs to help contractors virtually document construction projects. Captured data includes 360 tours and reality models.

■ www.dotproduct3d.com/ios

■ www.dronedeploy.com

DotProduct launches iOS scanning app otProduct, a provider of realtime, handheld 3D capture solutions, has released a professional scanning app for Apple iOS, which runs on all iPhones and iPads equipped with a built-in LiDAR scanner.

Dot3D 5.0 features what Dotproduct describes as ‘ultra-large scene capture’ thanks to the rebuilt core engine.

According to the company, with Dot3D’s new intelligent streaming technology, users

■ www.hp.com ■ www.trimble.com

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29/11/2022 13:37

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News

Solibri Inside to check BIM models as you design

Resolve breaks down model barriers in VR

olibri Inside is a new cloudbased service that allows users of Nemetschek authoring tools Graphisoft Archicad, Allplan, and Vectorworks to check BIM models as they design. The SaaS-based offering uses a plug-in to work as a native feature within the authoring tool. It means the designer no longer needs to export the model and open other software to perform basic model checking.

According to the developers, Solibri Inside ensures that every model can be checked upfront before submitting the model to the coordination workflow.

“Today, more models are created than ever, yet many lack the essentials of a good BIM: the information. This missing information makes Quality Assurance impossible to deliver,” said Ville

esolve, an XR-based collaborative design review tool for AEC, has introduced the ‘Wellington Engine’, a custom 3D engine designed to render BIM models with millions of polygons on standalone VR headsets.

Supported devices include the new Meta Quest Pro, which also enables Resolve to add AR capabilities to the software by taking advantage of the headset’s colour passthrough cameras.

According to the developers, the ‘Wellington Engine’ uses virtualised geometry, occlusion culling, and adaptive partitioning to enable the review of complex files without having to stream data from an external workstation/server or devoting hours to model clean up.

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Kyytsönen, Solibri CEO. “Solibri is improving the quality of models by bringing quality checking as part of the model authoring process. With Solibri Inside, we improve the process by enabling more QA early in the process before coordination takes place.”

The first release of Solibri Inside allows the checking of Door and Window clearances and the supporting Level of Information (LOI). The service is a standard free package within Graphisoft Archicad, Allplan and Vectorworks. By registering, more features are unlocked, and the Premium paid package allows the customisation of rule checks to suit a designer’s specific project need – to help ensure everyone in the team works with the same requirements.

■ www.solibri.com

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■ www.resolvebim.com

DDScad gets boost from Graphisoft

portfolio – providing owners and contractors with a complete lifecycle management solution and the field data they need to better control budget planning and ensure project quality,” said Dror Friedman, CEO of Datumate.

Datumate’s DatuBIM analytics platform is designed for large-scale civil and infrastructure projects. It helps teams access a single source of truth for design, plans, and as-built data, run advanced analytics, and overlay design plans to check for deviations and potential quality issues.

raphisoft Building Systems (formerly Data Design System) has released version 18 of the building services planning software DDScad.

The new release features a new user interface with re-designed buttons, function icons and input windows. Electrical installations can now be modelled faster and more precisely thanks to new routing, configuration and calculation options. In addition, electrical planning can be based on room information from an IFC reference model.

The software also has a connection to Graphisoft’s interactive app BIMx, allowing 3D models and project info to be viewed on a variety of mobile devices and operating systems.

■ www.datumate.com

■ www.dds-cad.net

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Datumate boosts analytics for Procore atumate, the developer of construction analytics platform DatuBIM, has partnered with Procore, the construction management software provider, to provide civil construction teams with enhanced infrastructure site analytics and progress monitoring.

The integrated solution is said to solve a key industry challenge by giving project stakeholders up-to-date data for better decision making, improved efficiency and accelerated project delivery.

“DatuBIM complements the Procore

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Software

Rhino on the iPad In AEC, McNeel Associates is a familiar and much-loved brand, along with its product Rhino. With a thriving ecosystem on Windows, Mac and in the cloud, Rhino has now gone mobile, as Martyn Day reports

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he Apple iPad has been on a ate to do anything on such a small screen. journey. It started life back in For now, the 12.9-inch iPad would be 2010 as a giant iPhone that ideal and there are rumours of an even didn’t make calls (unless they bigger device in the works, with the poswere via VoIP), but went on to finally sibility of a 16-inch model at some point cement a tablet market that had previous- in the future. ly failed to attract many customers.

Rhino has not been ‘ported’ from the Today, with desktop-class Apple sili- desktop. Instead, it was completely con, the iPad continues to provide porta- rewritten from the ground up and perbility, along with long battery life and forms exactly like other versions, but pretty decent pen input. with an interface that makes the most of a We have already seen some great AEC touch environment. application developments for the iPad, but historically, these have been mainly New horizons for the consumption of AEC data – via Before readers get too excited, it’s imporAutodesk BIM 360, Graphisoft BIMx and tant to stress that the initial version is so on — rather than the creation of intended for model viewing and mark-up designs. If you go back to around 2010, only. But we have been assured by you’ll find that iRhino 3D also started life McNeel executives that, under the hood, as a navigator/viewer. the entire functionality of desktop Rhino A lot has changed since is there already. Over time, then. Today’s reality is that functionality will be that the iPad is now powexposed as the company finds The question erful enough to run out how users want to use the is, will iRhino system and what new addidesign-based desktop applications. One only has tions make sense in product 3D remain a to look at Shapr3D (www. handy portable development terms. shapr3d.com), the excellent Apart from the power of viewing and Spaces by Cerulean Labs the processor, Apple has with mark-up tool, (www.spacesapp.io) and each generation of chip SketchUp for iPad (www. included more and more or play a tinyurl.com/sketchup-ipad) to direct memory cache and wider, more see how the iPad has expanded the addressable creative role in memory per application. This become a viable laptop conceptual replacement for creatives. allows bigger programmes to This fact has not escaped run, working with bigger design?

McNeel Associates CEO data sets. In other words, Bob McNeel or the compawith each generation, the ny’s lead on business development, Scott iPad is becoming increasingly usable for Davidson. In response, iRhino 3D has professional modelling use. been relaunched with the full Rhino tech One of the original ‘melon twisters’ of stack underneath and offering big possi- the original iPad was its complete lack of bilities. It requires the latest operating a file system, or rather, its lack of expossystem, iOS 16. And, as it runs on an ing a file system to the user. This has iPad, it obviously also runs on an iPhone, been addressed over time, but even for but you would have to be pretty desper- long-time users, finding where the device

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stores files can sometimes be an absolute mystery. The safest option is to link the iPad to a cloud storage service. iRhino 3D supports iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and other cloud storage providers.

There’s a built-in file browser, too.

When models are loaded, they can be displayed in shaded, wireframe, rendered, ghost and X-Ray display modes.

This is for all object types, breps, curves, meshes, point cloud, text and annotations. You can pan, zoom and orbit by dragging your fingers on the screen, providing instant and accurate control of the viewing position. The software supports any previously set up layouts (page views) and objects can be selected and queried for information.

There’s a built-in mark-up tool that works with the pen, which allows drawn highlights, text mark-ups, and some dimensioning. The software also supports an augmented reality (AR) mode.

Community feedback In common with most McNeel products, iRhino is a work in progress and with the active user community, the company really listens to feature requests on its forums (www.tinyurl.com/iRhino3D).

Moreover, developers actually reply back to posts.

While it may not initially seem that iRhino 3D has made dramatic steps forward, the company has had to go back to the drawing board in order to support Apple silicon and the new Metal graphics. While that work was being done, adding in the Rhino engine for later exposure and usage made sense.

Now, the question is, will iRhino 3D remain a handy portable viewing and mark-up tool, or play a wider, more creative role in conceptual design? That, of course, will be down to users. I wonder how far away we are from Grasshopper running on an iPad? www.AECmag.com

28/11/2022 17:15

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30/04/2019 11.43

Opinion

The pillars of Fabrication Integrated Modelling (FIM) Tal Friedman explores how a fabrication centric approach, one where the entire building process is considered holistically, could help impart real change in the construction industry

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t is a common notion in the AEC industry that building is a linear process. It begins with conceptual design, moves into compliance, then analysis, and finally, fabrication. That process can take months, and sometimes years, every single time.

But FIM (Fabrication Integrated Modelling) offers to reverse the equation, allowing us to get fabrication right from the start.

Looking at the construction software 14

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industry roadmap in past years, it is evident that the design/engineering process is perceived as a ‘solved’ issue by the mainstream CAD/BIM companies that dominate the market. In the eyes of executives at these companies, the next stop on the journey to conquering the entire construction value chain is project management and procurement.

But I would like to propose an alternative perspective. To my mind, procurement and project management are not a

‘continuation’ of the design process, but a derivative of it. Instead of running forward, perhaps we need to go back to basics, and think about the building process more holistically. In the age of FIM, the one who controls the initial design/ engineering process controls the rest of the value chain, too.

Though BIM’s original concept was to simplify the design process and cut resources, current methodologies demand special BIM managers and experts and www.AECmag.com

29/11/2022 14:10

more planning time and costs. It is no wonder, then, that only an estimated 20% of projects use even the basic capabilities of BIM. A much smaller fraction is actually implementing detailed, high-level modelling, as seen in BIM Level 3.

In today’s construction world, space layout planning is not enough. Design teams (architects, engineers, consultants) often reside in ‘masstopia’ or ‘renderland’, their thinking dominated by virtual environments and documents nested as far www.AECmag.com

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A midjourney, AI-inspired Fabrication first away from a real-life work vision of the future for site as possible. As a result of Getting started with ‘FIM Fabrication Integrated this fragmentation, the level thinking’ requires a mindModelling (FIM) of control that design teams shift at every stage of the proexert on the fabrication supply chain is cess. Below, I outline the current situation diminishing. and then the necessary shift to be made at In an age where the biggest challenge the each of those stages. construction industry faces is adopting advanced industrialised methods, smart Design phase materials and sustainable supply chains, Current situation: Architecture starts why do these considerations come last, with a sketch and moves towards when it’s already too late to make changes? detailed design, regulation and building

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Opinion

permits. Fabrication, sustainability and chains to help planners make the right another and share a unified supply chain. supply chain considerations come at a choices from the start.

Not only do they all have access to prolater stage. curement data, but they can also be optiCost analysis mised, to achieve economies of scale and FIM thinking: Building details and regu- Current situation: Costs are assessed as reduce costs. lation compliance are integrated as part of general numbers and after a design is finthe design process using AI. This ensures ished, it goes to tendering. This creates A digital revolution that everything we design is ready for many unknowns and a tendency to design Construction, the largest industry on the construction from the get-go. for the lowest common denominator in planet, is going through a digital revoluorder to reduce risk. tion. If we want to see more sustainable, Supply chain and procurement affordable and efficient cities, a radical Current situation: After planning is FIM thinking: Costs are embedded in the approach is needed to break the current approved and permits are given, the planning data and connected to a real- bottlenecks. design and plans are ‘frozen’ in place and world supply chain, turning your BIM FIM offers such an approach — but it the search for methods, procurement and model into a shopping cart. also demands that we push back the detailed fabrication drawings begins. This boundaries of our comfort zone in order makes it impossible to adjust to any meth- One offs vs. network effect to get there. This means letting go of old od or system that requires design optimi- Current situation: A building is hierarchies, business models and worksation, ruling out most industrialised designed once and lives in a vacuum. It is flows, leading the way to true human/ methods by definition. a one-off in every sense of the word and machine integration. lacks interaction with external supply In my work with Foldstruct, these prinFIM thinking: Supply chains and best- chains, knowledge bases or other projects ciples are being applied on a daily basis in practice methods are an integrated part in its surroundings. a constant battle to expand architectural of initial design and decision-making. horizons with artificial intelligence (AI).

FIM methodology creates best-fit results FIM thinking: Building plans live in a using big data gathered from supply smart network. They learn from one ■ www.foldstruct.com

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In the age of FIM, the one who controls the initial design/ engineering process controls the rest of the value chain, too

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Feature

Bentley Systems iTwin ‘phase two’

iTwin Experience for visualising and navigating digital twins

In mid-November, the first post-Covid, in-person gathering on all things Bentley Systems took place at YII in London, where the company continued its drive to lead the digital twin infrastructure market with the release of new iTwin products

I

t is almost four decades since Bentley Systems was founded — or 38 years, to be precise. It’s almost as long since the 1986 launch of MicroStation for DOS, and yet MicroStation continues to be the base platform for the infrastructure software company’s wide range of vertical products. These cover areas as diverse as plant, rail, roads, bridges, dams, telecom, electricity, and water systems.

Having achieved its long-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2020, the company recently passed $1 billion in annual revenue, and while its products remain emphatically desktop-based on Microsoft Windows, the Microsoft Azure cloud is now an option, too, when that 18

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option makes sense for customers.

Over the past five years, Bentley Systems has been on a mission to persuade infrastructure owners and operators to invest in digital twins of their assets using its iTwin technology, on the promise of better lifecycle management for those assets, as well as to extend their use of asset information, whether it is designed in CAD or modelled from the field using reality-capture technology.

That message seems to be getting across, especially with customers in Asia, with entrants for the company’s Year in Infrastructure (YII) 2022 awards using the iTwin technology significantly outnumbering those from other regions. As CEO Greg Bentley pointed out, 50% of

the world’s infrastructure projects are currently happening in Asia.

These Asian companies are using digital twins to address three critical areas, according to Greg Bentley. The first is ‘digital context’, the ability to use and deploy 3D and 4D technologies to capture the physical reality of an asset being twinned. The second is ‘digital chronology’, which focuses on maintaining a database or record throughout the lifecycle of an asset to create what Bentley refers to as an ‘evergreen’ digital twin. The third area is ‘engineering technology’, the ability to model and simulate a facility over the lifetime of a project in order to optimise its efficiency.

But this focus on digital twins is by no www.AECmag.com

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means confined to Asia. According to a survey of infrastructure CEOs conducted at the event by AEC Advisors, when asked about their main concerns over the next three years, it was clear that respondents are worrying less about 2D drawings and more about 3D models. Almost one in five said their companies were evaluating and deploying digital twins.

This interest comes at a time when many customers are having to do more with less, as chief operating officer Nicolas Cumins explained. Infrastructure investment is on the rise, to support economic recovery, ensure energy security and tackle climate change, he said. But such projects must play out against a backdrop of extreme labour and skills shortages, which are causing considerable work backdrops and, in some cases, forcing companies to turn down projects.

One way that Bentley can help, said Cumins, is to give firms the digital tools they need to mine data held in many different file formats and in hard-to-access data silos. Hidden away, that data goes stale and ‘dark’, he said.

CIOs estimate that around 70% of the data produced by their organisation is never used, and in the infrastructure sector, the picture may be even worse — as high as 95%, according to Bentley Systems. If only 5% of an infrastructure organisation’s data is being analysed to derive actionable insights from it, then decision-makers are likely making underinformed decisions on critical infrastructure on a regular basis.

Bentley’s goal, then, is to make this ‘dark data’ more accessible, more usable and available to more people.

Technology evolution From a Bentley perspective, the significant interest in digital twins demands a fundamental shift from files to databases and thus a fundamental change in software architecture and its ability to support very large digital twin models. Both Greg Bentley and his brother and chief technology officer Keith Bentley touched on this, while stressing that files continue to be useful, logical and here to stay.

At the same time, Keith Bentley explained to attendees how the company’s view of digital twins has changed and matured since the 2018 launch of iTwin.

Back then, he said, “I thought that the prospect of digital twins would add more value than all the progress that had been made since the beginning of Bentley Systems, back at the beginning of the PC. I thought that the opportunity around digital twins was a once-in-a-lifetime www.AECmag.com

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opportunity and I was extremely excited.” built on the open iModel database work He is still excited, he said. that Bentley had done in previous years, From the start, he added, openness was iTwin provided a host of services on which a key theme for the product, which is why to build digital twins. There was one main iTwin was made open source early on. In omission: applications to ease the creation that way, he said, customers “can use the and management of twins. Five years later iTwin platform without paying a licence at YII 2022, we saw the first three iTwin to Bentley Systems at all, downloading the applications launched: iTwin Experience, entire source code to the iTwin platform.” iTwin Capture and iTwin IoT, which are That’s still true today, he says, and now all available immediately. the company has plans to create a lot iTwin Experience is a new cloud prodmore open-source projects around iTwin. uct for owners and operators which gives In ‘Phase Two’ of the company’s iTwin them ‘a single pane of glass overlay’ to initiative, the company will work harder their engineering, operational and enterto help users understand how iTwin can prise data. It enables users to visualise, to assist them in their day-to-day work and query and to analyse critical infrastrucintegrate iTwin services into the desktop ture data at any level of granularity, at any products they use. That won’t mean scale, all geospatially referenced. It will replatforming, reimplementing or repro- also be used by engineering firms as a gramming of existing products, he platform to offer their own digital twin stressed: “They are what they are.” solutions to their owner/operator clients In other words, customers can move to by adding their proprietary algorithms. iTwin-enabled versions of the core prodiTwin Capture, which has evolved from ucts, without losing any of the capabilities ContextCapture, will be used to create 3D to which they are accustomed. But they will models of existing infrastructure assets improve in three key ways, he promised: derived from photograph or point clouds first, in the input to those products; second, with engineering level precision. These in their operation; and third, in their output. will be used in engineering workflows, Building on reference files, leveraging artificial intelligence and MicroStation will be able machine learning to autoto add a reference iTwin — matically identify, locate, not only files on a desktop and classify reality data.

Producing a or server, but also in the Adobe is already using cloud – and the iTwin itself iTwin Capture as part of its model to can connect to many other Substance 3D solutions, to generate dumb sources. Bentley Systems is help designers leverage drawings may also working on incorpotheir own pictures to create well be a means photorealistic 3D environrating interactive tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams to an end today, ments. When it comes to and Zoom with Infrastructure, the majority but Bentley MicroStation, for collaboof digital twins will be figures that rative design sessions. derived from capturing Finally, digital twins will there are many their existing infrastrucbe updated directly by ture assets by using a realimore benefits design applications, not ty model and not a BIM to be had in via some convoluted check model. This makes iTwin talking to and in/check out document Capture probably the most management system. important on-ramp to crerepurposing a “Phase Two is about ate infrastructure digital virtual model empowering our existing twins. user base to become digital iTwin IoT does what it twin natives,” said Bentley. says on the tin, enabling the In the long term, he promised, “nobody seamless incorporation of Internet of will be thinking about their role in the Things (IoT) data from sensors and moniproject. They will be thinking about how toring devices. IoT devices are being used they contribute to everything that every- increasingly in both construction and body else is doing at the same time.” operations for real time safety and condiThe next release of MicroStation, due in tion monitoring, to measure and visualise 2023, will be powered by many new any change in the environment of an infraiTwin features, he said. structure asset, to look for changes to the structural condition and to know when to New iTwin Products perform repairs.

As mentioned, the iTwin platform was Dustin Parkman, VP of Mobility, gave officially launched in 2018. While this an example here of a workflow that focus-

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Feature 1

1 iTwin IoT for acquiring and analysing sensor data 2 iTwin Capture, for capturing, analysing, and sharing reality data All images courtesy of Bentley Systems

es on an elevated road section. In a single environment, he brought in a GIS map, a modelled asset created via a reality capture of the actual structure. BIM information was then added to this, and GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) data overlaid to identify pitting and to assess hydroplaning risks on the bridge as captured. Subsurface data was also added and IoT sensor feeds were placed for realtime performance analysis. AI was then run over the photogrammetry of the section, to assess visible cracks, rust and critical deterioration to the structure.

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New tech, new insights Other executives speaking at the event also focused on the integration of different types of data to inform more insightled decision-making.

For example, according to Julien Moutte, vice president of technology, Bentley Systems is creating a sensor data service to manage connectivity to smart devices and analyse the data they collect, brought in from Azure IoT Hub or Amazon IoT Edge.

The company’s experience with integrating enterprise systems, such as enterprise resource planning or asset management systems, is enabling it to create an enterprise data federation service, to expose a simple yet secure API to connect customers’ enterprise data to their digital twins.

Bentley also has a new mesh export service, which will enable digital twins to appear in the Metaverse and in game engines. It will use the best format depending on output, whether that is USD for Nvidia Omniverse, DataSmith for Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, glTF for Unity, and many more.

The problem with digital twin data, Moutte pointed out, is that it is usually very large and any changes require a complete reload into these game engines.

The solution to this challenge comes in the format of 3DFT – 3D Fast Transmission. The technology uses 20

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streaming, meaning users no longer download entire models, but only that which is visible in the viewport. See page 36 for more on this.

That’s a wrap At Bentley Systems, digital twins are the new BIM. Now that’s a loaded sentence if ever there were one, so I will explain further. Producing a model to generate dumb drawings may well be a means to an end today, but Bentley figures that there are many more benefits to be had in talking to and repurposing a virtual model. More benefits, in fact, than today’s somewhat limited workflows support.

The vast majority of BIM models, after all, are created to produce drawing sets and then not reused. Bentley wants to drive that digital thread on throughout the lifecycle, and digital twins is the next destination after adopting a modelling-based view.

This is a technology approach where Bentley Systems enjoys an impressive industry head-start. Autodesk’s Tandem, for example, only came out last year with an embryonic feature set, limited to dealing with BIM twins from Revit.

With that in mind, the three iTwin

applications that have been released by Bentley look set to simplify and lower the barrier to entry for more resistant customers, enabling them to experiment with the iTwin platform.

Bentley’s vision makes a lot of sense of its 2015 acquisition of Acute3D, which led to the ContextCapture capabilities that allow customers to ‘grab’ data relating to existing real-world assets, ready for its inclusion in digital twins. After all, the vast majority of assets don’t currently have a corresponding BIM model at the ready to drive their digital twin, so most of them will still need to be captured by drones using photogrammetry and some laser scans.

But what about Bentley customers with no plans at all to get into ‘twinning’?

Here, there is good news, because the new iTwin features due to arrive in Bentley’s desktop software portfolio will still benefit existing workflows, extending their connectivity and collaboration capabilities. And, if such customers do feel the need to explore twinning further down the line, every application will be ‘twin ready’ in the coming years.

■ www.bentley.com

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Interview

Q&A: Keith Bentley,

Bentley Systems

At Bentley Systems’ recent ‘Year in Infrastructure’ event, we got the chance to catch up with CTO Keith Bentley and get his perspective not only on the company’s iTwin technology, but also the ‘platformification’ of the design software world

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study of Bentley Systems’ current marketing output could easily bamboozle the reader with its terminology and fool them into thinking that the company’s only focus is now digital twins. For anyone led down that path, it’s important to keep in mind that the company is still solidly built around a single platform (MicroStation), its core DGN format, and its broad array of design and project management tools.

At the same time, the digital twin messaging and focus on iTwin services are about more than just marketing. In fact, they signify an important technology progression, from file-based, project milestone workflows to live databases that can ultimately be integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) and Bentley iTwin services for infrastructure lifecycles.

The first stage of this transition came with the introduction of the iModel back in 2007. An iModel is Bentley’s information container for data exchange — a self22

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describing, geometrically precise, portable and secure entity, containing the history of file changes and encapsulating information regardless of its original source, be that a Bentley tool or software from another vendor. Then, in 2017, Bentley launched iModel.js, version 2.0 of its iModel technology, providing spatial and unit alignment between the contents of iModels. At the same time, iModelHub was also introduced, in order to handle change management, time stamping and allocating changes to team members to support managed digital workflows.

As iModel.JS developed, it became clear that it was going to contain and do a lot more than just manage iModels. Its new roles included connecting to IoT devices, connecting and streaming geometry to Unreal Engine, storing reality data, and so on. It was renamed iTwin.js to reflect this expanded vision — a move that has caused some understandable confusion.

From there, Bentley open-sourced iTwin.js on Github under an MIT licence.

The thinking here was that an open approach to users’ data is necessary because digital twin information will never come from a single source, requires a fusion of formats and has many layers.

With this methodology, it’s possible for anyone to leverage the open-source code to create, query, modify and display infrastructure digital twins.

At Bentley Systems’ ‘Year in Infrastructure’ (YII) event, held in London in November 2022, we sat down with the company’s CTO and co-founder Keith Bentley to get his views on how this significant technology progression is unfolding.

Martyn Day for AEC Magazine (MD): Keith, I’d like to start by asking whether you can define a Bentley data lake workflow without concentrating on iTwins?

Keith Bentley for Bentley Systems (KB): We purposely use the iTwin brand to describe what I call ‘Phase Two’. Here’s what’s going to happen: You are using www.AECmag.com

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Drawings are stupid and the goal of BIM is to automate drawing creation

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MicroStation, just plain old MicroStation.

It’s the lowest common denominator.

Everybody understands MicroStation — and here, I’m not saying you need a product like OpenRoads to get any value out of iTwins. What I am saying is you can be using products, and I expect many people will be using STAAD and other products that they have bought, where there is no such thing as a digital twin.

Over many years, you’ve built up a workflow that works. Of course, it involves DGN files for our products, mostly DGN. It might involve creating, exporting, importing SketchUp files etcetera. There’s a workflow that people use today to get their jobs done, and the output of their job is not a digital twin. In fact, it is largely drawings. So, what we’re going to do is deliver a version of MicroStation next year. It will have, within it, an engine, but it’s the iTwin platform embedded inside MicroStation.

So you’re using MicroStation, you’re opening up a DGN. These DGNs are being www.AECmag.com

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managed in ProjectWise, or you are using another file share service. The digital twin doesn’t change the way you start. You start with that DGN file and you’re going to end your session with that DGN file.

During your session, you modify a bunch of elements, you add a bunch of elements. The iTwin engine is running in the background and you either select to synchronise - or it can happen automatically, when you exit at the end of your session. Now, you’ve got an iModel. This is synchronised with all the changes that you’ve made and your DGN files are still your master file.

Now you have an iModel sitting on your desk, updated with the changes you just made to the DGN file. What good does that get you? For one thing, it gives you the ability to invite somebody else who has a web browser to look at the changes you just made. They are my changes, they haven’t been published by anybody other than me. I can now synchronise with the iTwin server.

Today, the way it works in the demos that we’ve been showing at YII, with our iTwin format, customers change the data on their desktop, they push that up to the cloud, where we run a copy of a programme that effectively mirrors MicroStation in the cloud and it updates the iModel in the cloud.

The phase lag can be minutes, hours, depending on many things — but usually, people don’t do it often. Instead, they only do this at project milestones, only when they then generate the PDFs for the milestone. The iModel is always out of sync, it’s not up to date, nobody has it on their desk. So nobody thinks of it when you’re using MicroStation as being relevant to the job.

But because you now have an iModel, you don’t have to do any extra work and use a different tool to create the iModel.

You didn’t end up with a different DGN file. It’s the very same DGN file. Now, when you’re at the point where you’re going to push your changes to November / December 2022

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Interview

ProjectWise, we push them into an iModel on your desktop. So now there’s an iModel that exists that includes all the users’ changes — but only the changes between milestones get recorded. They don’t include the changes in between milestones. But now the iModel has the ability to store the whole team’s collaboration history.

MD: Will this support real-time collaboration?

KB: In MicroStation or OpenRoads today, you have a DGN file, you have it locked, perhaps I have a copy of it. But I can’t make any changes. We can’t change the way that that works. Those locks are there so we don’t conflict. It doesn’t change that. This iModel is merely a journal of what happened. It doesn’t include new capabilities for you and to be on the same model at the same time. It’s a cache, but it’s more than a cache, as it’s been transformed and combined.

If we were working on a project together, people segregate their data into files, for locking purposes. We have to decide who takes what file and what part of the

can do. We can give you the tools that we’ve written to do carbon footprint analysis, clash detection, consistency checks, etcetera. We can run that against the iModel on your desktop. And it didn’t cost you anything, because you already paid for that computer. If you don’t use the cycles, they go to waste. If we run it in the cloud, somebody’s got to charge you and give you feedback. The iModel tells you when someone else just changed something that affected the thing you’re working on. So we can start improving the process of creating the data, even though the master copy is still a DGN file.

People will start to recognise that iModel isn’t ‘an output’, it’s just sort of ‘always there’. It’s a second copy of my data. So why do you need two copies of your data?

Well, because we can’t change the way that OpenRoads works with DGN data, as well as other data files and stuff.

MD: Will you start rewriting the apps to use iModel as the new format?

KB: If you have been using OpenRoads for a long time, you are now going to have some new features that are going to be in

KB: Covid didn’t really hurt us. When you think about adoption of new technologies, people were way more interested in doing things differently during Covid. They had to do things differently. If it hadn’t been for Covid, I don’t think we would have been able to convince people to start to have digital design review meetings.

Online meetings were necessary because they couldn’t physically be in the office.

They were presented with a fact: the old way couldn’t be the current way.

We need to go fast. But we should expect that only incremental change gets adopted. But what I hope is that, in the mental world view of the designer using MicroStation, they think their purpose in life is not to modify the DGN, but to modify the iModel. Even though to modify the model, they first modify the DGN file, DWG or RVT, even if they’re going to use a different tool. But when they’re done, they’re going to look at what’s in the iModel, what’s in the digital twin.

I know you think “There’s that term” — that term ‘digital twin’, which you say that not many people want to hear. But I don’t think they don’t want to create a digital twin. When they get paid for it,

‘‘

When people say files are bad, they mean that loose files, lots of files, are bad. One big file, like an iModel, is still a file and it’s a big file — like a gigabyte file — but they are in a database and that means they are as open as we can make them

’’

project will be done in that file. And another user is going to work on a different project — otherwise, you can’t write to them at the same time. In the iModel, they’re all combined. They’re geo-located, so that if you’re using five different tools inside the same iModel, I can do a query and find everything in this volume of space - and that’s really hard to do in a DGN. They’re also synchronised, right, so that you have this journal of change and you can push that to the cloud.

So, for now, the iModel someone else creates for me is on my desk. Now what?

Well, there are some really cool things we 24

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the iTwin model. Maybe it’s in a separate window, but wouldn’t it be really cool if we then start adding some new capabilities that are in the iModel part of it? Over time, the iModel part of it grows and the DGN part of it shrinks, and by the time we are done, you’ve gone through the transition and you are only working on iModels. It’s not going to happen all at once. It’s going to take years. It has taken us five years to get us to where we are now. Do you think that’s quick for the AEC industry? [laughs] MD: Was this because of Covid?

they will care about it. When we start giving them ways that they can be more productive, add more value, they’ll wish for a digital twin.

MD: But people naturally switch off when a message gets repetitive. It’s always about change. How about them getting value from the stuff that’s already been paid for and delivered?

KB: I do concede that. But I think a digital twin is a big thing. Drawings are stupid and the goal of BIM is to automate drawing creation. And here’s an easy www.AECmag.com

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step forward. I want the world view to be that, at the end of a design session or after a period of work, users think: “I’m going to commit my changes now and modify the digital twin.” And, in the case of our users, an iTwin.

DGN files are of course important. You can’t throw them away — but everyone who’s looking at my work and commenting on whether or not a change had some kind of positive or negative impact, they’re going to evaluate the iModel. We have to get people using smart tools to analyse the current state of projects and looking at past stages of other similar projects to get feedback. I don’t think that’s going to happen with a bunch of loose DGN and RVT files being the input for machine learning, especially not when they’re all in different coordinate systems.

MD: At our NXT BLD event, and in AEC Magazine, we’ve been covering industry initiatives to get data out of proprietary file formats and into data bridges that span the silos and deliver entity-level exchanges. What’s your view on that?

KB: Well, that’s another reason why I assert that automatic creation of iModels is better. With OpenRoads and DGN, it’s a great product — but while the product is called ‘Open’, the data is not. It’s open www.AECmag.com

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by interface but, in reality, there’s nothing we can do to make DGN files open, even if we wanted to. To publish the format of a DGN file, we would have to publish a bunch of code. It’s miserable, because even if we documented it all, it wouldn’t make sense, as it’s kind of defined internally to represent the data in memory that OpenRoads uses.

When people say files are bad, they mean that loose files, lots of files, are bad.

One big file, like an iModel, is still a file and it’s a big file — like a gigabyte file — but they are in a database and that means they are as open as we can make them.

So another large difference between iModels and let’s say Revit RVT files is that I don’t send you my iModel, I just send you my changes. And these transactional changes are small, even if the database is big. I don’t even know what kind of change it would be that would end up having touched every object making a modification to every object.

Looking ahead While our conversation mainly wandered around in the weeds of industry data structures, these are fundamental concepts when it comes to understanding how the AEC industry is likely to change over the next five to ten years.

Platforms being designed today cannot

deliver productivity enhancing capabilities if they are based on old data schemas.

As Keith Bentley pointed out, drawings are dumb.

For Bentley to help its customers transition to an iTwin outlook, iModels are fundamental to future direction, and it was fascinating to return to this topic.

Somehow, this point has got somewhat lost in the deluge of messaging around iTwin and the wider digital twin focus.

The move to build in automated/parallel iModel creation perhaps indicates that previous innovative work at Bentley has failed to gain traction, in an industry that can be notoriously slow to adopt new technology.

If the success of the iTwin technology relies on the uptake and proliferation of iModels, things need to change. Over the next few years, iModel looks set to quietly replace DGN-centric workflows at the core of MicroStation, bringing new capabilities and features. Even customers that are not explicitly planning to deliver digital twins will nevertheless be ‘digital twin ready’.

Bentley executives are keen to point out that files will never disappear from the process — and this is a company that I have only ever seen change its core file format once. So I trust Bentley to deliver this transition without disruption to customers.

■ www.bentley.com

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Technology

Monitoring asset health in real-time From reality modelling and IoT sensors, to AI and simulation, Bentley is drawing on a vast portfolio of technologies to monitor infrastructure assets, such as dams, over time, writes Greg Corke

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entley is starting to carve out real niches in the AECO sector applying its broad portfolio of technologies to solve specific problems.

In recent years, monitoring and inspection has become a big focus - assessing the health of a wide range of infrastructure assets from telecommunication towers and bridges to rail and dams.

Early solutions focused solely on photogrammetry, applying machine learning (ML) and object recognition to 3D reality meshes captured by drones. But through acquisition and investment, Bentley has been expanding the technologies that can contribute to the ‘digital twin’ from design to construction.

In 2021 Bentley acquired sensemetrics and Vista Data Vision, providers of software for Internet of Things (IoT) applications that allow digital twins to incorporate real-time sensor data. The tools support interfaces to hundreds of different sensors and related data types, including inclinometers, piezometers, strain gauges, crack meters, and many more.

These tools have now been integrated into Bentley’s iTwin platform in the form of a new product - iTwin IoT - that can be used to monitor, in real time, a range of environmental changes, such displacements, vibrations, deterioration, settlements and more; the idea being that any change on the condition of an asset can prompt interventions when necessary.

Bentley is now marrying iTwin IoT with iTwin Capture (a new product for capturing, analysing, and sharing reality data) to create two new solutions designed for real-time health monitoring - AssetWise Bridge Monitoring and AssetWise Dam Monitoring.

These solutions are not necessarily designed to eliminate in situ rope access inspections, but help consultants keep a 26

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close eye on the asset and develop a more informed inspection plan from the comfort of the office.

Monitoring dams AssetWise Dam Monitoring employs a particularly diverse range of technologies, starting with the obligatory reality model captured by all manner of drones to create the foundation for a digital twin.

Early iterations of the product were able to use sensors to provide specific feedback about the dam, such as how much settlement was happening in a certain place or how much flow was causing pitting on the concrete. But, according to Santanu Das, chief acceleration officer, Bentley Systems, it was missing one big element, “We couldn’t predict where these cracks were, how deep the cracks were and what kind of crack propagation would cause problems in the future - the insights.”

Bentley looked to Niricson, a Canadian startup that had developed an AI-based predictive analytics SaaS platform designed to verify the structural integrity of concrete structures. The company has several hydro dam owners and engineering consulting firms as clients.

Rather than pursuing an acquisition, Bentley made an investment in Niricson through Bentley iTwin Ventures, a $100m corporate venture capital fund specifically set up to invest into AEC startups.

Niricson’s technology uses acoustic sensors on drones to go deep behind the concrete where the rebar is, then applies AI and ML to the reality model to figure out exactly where the spalling is happening. This is in stark contrast to traditional on-site methods, which leave a lot to interpretation, as Das explains, “Today, inspectors use a hammer, they listen for that void to see exactly where a lot of this delamination or cracking is happening.”

Armed with this information, engineering consultants can then precisely locate IoT sensors to monitor the dam moving more effectively forward.

With the open nature of the iTwin platform, data from Niricson’s Autospex software can then be fed into Bentley’s AssetWise Dam Monitoring product, then married with the reality model and sensemetric IoT data to see cracking analysis superimposed with temperature, displacement, vibrations and other metrics.

“An operator of a dam now has the ability to get information from disparate different repositories and sources under a single pane to look at some insights exactly what’s happening to their asset,” says Das.

Closing the loop The story doesn’t end there. Bentley is also exploring how simulation can be used more effectively to study the future impact of cracks and other forms of degradation on dams and other concrete structures.

Bentley recently acquired Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software developer Adina, whose non-linear technology is well suited to analysing existing structures. “[Adina] shines when you have an asset, and this is how it really is - it’s degraded, it’s spalled, it’s cracked, it’s corroded. It can answer the question - what is the strength that remains?” said Raoul Karp, VP engineering simulation, Bentley Systems.

Results from simulations could be married up against data from sensors that have recorded the response of the structure over time. This allows the model to be calibrated more precisely so it can more accurately predict future events, and what needs to be done to minimise their impact, further closing the loop on the digital twin. www.AECmag.com

28/11/2022 17:22

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Digital twin technology: a Trojan horse for systemic and cultural change in AEC?

By Bola Abisogun OBE, digital director, BIM Academy

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hen it comes to diversity of thought, technology has created something of a level playing field. In construction, it’s getting tougher and tougher to achieve true competitive advantage, in both the design and construction phases and beyond.

The business case for digital twin technology is that intelligence collected, mined and shared in the twinning process translates to reduced risk and greater return on investment. These are clearly desirable outcomes — so why then has the adoption of this technology been so slow in construction, especially when compared to other industries?

The client-facing decision to construct an asset ‘with the end in mind’ is based on the idea that it is possible and advantageous to first design and build an asset virtually. But when faced with tight schedules and insufficient time to procure a design team, the level of detail achieved in the traditional design process often falls far short of the goal of ‘asbuilt’ information. In other words, we’re 28

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still not delivering detailed, asset-tagged, data-rich 5D models prior to construction. This objective has never been fully understood and embraced by the industry and remains vastly undervalued by commissioning clients. A full understanding and appreciation of the principles of end-to-end, whole-life cycle, design management must be prioritised by the client if we are ever to achieve a net zero future.

The critical component of a successful project is typically measured across three key pillars: cost, time and quality.

During the traditional construction delivery process, it is often difficult to ensure that the right design information is continuously provided across the entire value chain and acted upon accordingly.

It’s a shameless challenge to traditional ways of

working, this notion of a digitally enabled, data-driven solution, complete with visualisation, that captures granular detail in real time. The cultural behaviours of project participants typically result in one of two responses across the ecosystem of actors: fear or inspiration.

But here’s the thing: while digital twins have been used for years in other sectors — for example, in aviation and manufacturing— the global construction sector continues to push back when it comes to this innovation. The real value to project participants, funders and wider society is gravely misunderstood.

Fit for purpose A digital twin is a virtual representation of a system, asset or process. It can collect real-time information about the www.AECmag.com

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Opinion

asset via an architecture of sensors and dite project viability, as part of the wider In the UK, the post-pandemic business other interdependent technologies. Using risk-evaluation process. And here, the real case for digital twins (an argument fortiadvanced analytics, artificial intelligence challenge is the ability to collaborate close- fied by the tragic events at Grenfell (AI) and machine-learning (ML) algo- ly, openly and seamlessly.

Tower) has been further strengthened by rithms, it is possible to gain detailed To my mind, there is no better environ- the Building Safety Act 2022. We are now insights into the function of a building dur- ment than a virtual one in which to under- looking at the very real prospect of the ing design, construction and on through to take this informed and collaborative pro- ‘pre-construction’ digital twin becoming a occupation. (In the case of Grenfell Tower, cess. In effect, a digital twin represents the day-to-day reality in our industry. for example, this might be But real questions remain. the fitness for purpose of a In a post-Grenfell environproposed specification.) ment, where cost of capital Will digital twin technology become the only will be directly correlated In essence, the proposition here is that the value of feasible way to deliver projects that command with the net carbon intensity a physical asset becomes whole lifecycle metrics on actual performance of all project-level operagreater thanks to its connections, will digital twin techbeyond the construction phase? tion with a virtual twin. nology become the only feaWhile the global market sible way to deliver projects for digital twin technolothat command whole lifecygies is expected to grow by up to 40% possibility of a ‘try before you buy’ offer. cle metrics on actual performance beyond cumulatively year on year, achieving an In fact, I would go one step further. A the construction phase? estimated market value of between $16 digital twin workflow, robustly built on a And perhaps more importantly, will the billion and $20 billion by 2023, the real common data environment (or CDE), can sector be ready and adequately skilled to challenge remains a cultural one. be used to assemble a detailed history of deliver on this ambition, in a world where For many clients/stakeholders, be they the entire decision-making process, in a accountability for our actions as qualified development or investment companies, a way that provides complete confidence professionals may become a real indicator better understanding of project constraints for any third parties who seek to acquire of project viability? is needed in order to determine and expe- the asset in future.

■ www.bimacademy.global

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Software

Autodesk Tandem: digital twin update In 2021, Autodesk launched Tandem, its cloud-based digital twin platform. While very much a work in progress, the launch offered some insight into the direction the company is taking, as well as what might be achieved in future, using Forge components. Martyn Day reports on forthcoming capabilities

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journey of a thousand miles Tandem (www.tinyurl.com/tandem-aec) begins with a single step. In However, I should point out that accordkeeping with that maxim, the ing to Autodesk’s Safe Harbor statement, 2021 launch version of displayed immediately before the start of Autodesk’s cloud-based digital twin plat- the Tandem session on Zoom, features form Tandem showcased only a fraction demonstrated may or may not appear in of the capabilities that might eventually the shipped product. be expected on the company’s journey to Opening remarks flesh out the product.

Autodesk started where it needed to The session opened with an explanation start, working predominantly with Revit by Bob Bray, VP & general manager, data, to come up with a platform capable Autodesk Tandem, of the company’s of supporting the rapid display and filter- long-term aims for the product and the ing of Revit BIM data. role it sees digital twins playing in the To do this, the team AEC process. created a new parallel file “We really think about format, removing unnechow we help our AEC With Tandem essary and heavier elecustomers [of] today ments of Revit data not being a cloud-based become the digital twin required in downstream providers of tomorrow. application, web maintenance and faciliAnd that’s through this APIs will be ties management. This notion of digital handodecision immediately essential to connect ver,” he said. “How do we delivered a side benefit of harness the process that and extend making Tandem a great all use today in terms Autodesk’s digital we Revit model viewing tool. of delivering projects, to twin offering Since then, more has really create that digital been made clear. Ahead twin, with all of those of the 2022 Autodesk connections to operationUniversity event, the Tandem team held a al systems and data, intact at handover? public Zoom call for interested parties He continued: “We think about the iniwho wanted to see the capabilities it tial twin as being a descriptive twin. plans to deliver. While vanilla in func- What are the spaces? What are the equiptionality, the demonstration of this initial ment, the assets in that facility? How are offering made it clear that Autodesk is those things connected together into sysaiming to put a lot more ‘meat on the tems to create that replica of the buildbones’ in the year ahead. ing?”

In particular, Autodesk developer Kean Autodesk aims to show operational Walmsley’s Project Dasher work on sen- information in the context of that digital sor technology and 3D rendering tech- twin and start to draw some insights from niques ranks high on the list of potential connected assets, pieces and systems, as forthcoming features. (This is a develop- well as live operational data, said Bray. ment I pondered in an earlier article on “Then [we want to move] downstream

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into the ability to take that collected data and create predictive insights, like when might this component fail, based on past history of similar components in my portfolio of facilities, and then moving on to run simulation of a comprehensive twin and eventually the idea of a twin that can self-tune and self-heal the building.”

Building tools This being Autodesk, no product would be complete without some way to encourage third-party developers to build on top of the base solution — and that requires robust APIs (application programming interfaces) and SDKs (software development kits). With Tandem being a cloudbased application, web APIs will be essential to connect and extend Autodesk’s digital twin offering.

Bray outlined Autodesk’s API / SDK approach as follows: “The Tandem platform is built on Autodesk Forge. This starts with this idea of a low-level API that provides access to all the asset information, access to any of the event history and time-series data that’s being collected. Then a slightly higher-level SDK is built around the ability to create a custom digital twin that wraps around that, if that’s the desired effect.”

Bray went on to state that Autodesk envisages building a long-term marketplace of vertical integrations to various content management systems (CMSs), integrated database management systems (IDMSs) and other types of operational solutions, as well as custom data analytics. Ideally, these would be simple plugins that could be repurposed across multiple sites and multiple tools, without needing a lot of new coding and reducing the cost of development and operation. www.AECmag.com

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1 1 Colour-coding to show which elements still need classifying 2 3 3D coloured heat maps can be be used to show real time temperature, humidity, CO2 levels and more 4 Building workspace alerts

Internet of Things (IoT)

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New features in development were demonstrated using a digital twin of Autodesk’s downtown Toronto office, which is fitted with IoT sensors and a building management system (BMS), modelled in Revit, and then connected to a live Tandem representation.

The session showed how it is possible to interrogate the BMS and see flow rates, CO2 levels and humidity across 90 zones over multiple floors and various MEP systems. These connections can be achieved via individual or batch collection, or from IoT hub import from Microsoft Azure.

Using a template structure, the capture data can be easily defined, tagged, mapped and reformatted. This is essential, since IoT and BMS implementations differ widely in how they package up and format data and because consistency of data is paramount. While you can see snapshot data in the streams panel, it’s also possible to see charts for individual devices over time and drill down deeper into the underlying data.

Numbers and graphs are great for specifics, but a new feature in development supports 3D coloured heat maps across entire floors. This is achieved by allocating units and sensors to individual spaces and zones, enabling these heat maps to display temperature, humidity, CO2 levels and so on. This makes it easy for building managers to identify problem areas and drill down into the information to predict potential hardware failures. In the future, Autodesk sees this data forming the basis of an alert system.

Spaces and workspaces Tandem organises data into four categories: assets, spaces, systems and streams.

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Assets are individual items, such as a imported objects (assets, spaces, syschair. A system would be MEP, for exam- tems, streams), together with a colourple. Streams are inputs from a building’s coded progress system to indicate how sensors and management systems. much more work is needed to apply digBut when is a space a space? It’s impor- ital twin mapping to the imported geomtant to be able to slice and dice and navi- etry. There are an array of filters that gate areas of a building and collate equip- enable the user to quickly see what ment and sensors together. Here, Tandem remains to be defined / tagged. relies heavily on Revit’s concept of spaces Within the Operate category, we saw when importing the BIM model. But the facility monitoring workspace. This when defining a room, you will have shows the digital twin with all event data transitional MEP elements, façade ele- from IoT sensors and highlighting notifiments and other systems running cations, which automatically alert the through them. user when sensors report findings that Post import, it’s possible to define fall outside of predefined parameters. groups of assets, elements, Tandem can then show devices and transitional elethe sensors in the model ments as they belonging to a that are out of range, enaTandem is still specific space; these could bling operations teams to be floors or rooms, for examdrill down deeper into very Revitple. Once these are defined, focused, but to be problems. navigation throughout the Workspaces appears to fair, RVT is the be the way Autodesk is building can be fast.

Tandem also offers fast market-leading approaching the various floorplan generation showformat for BIM roles that fall within ing the space allocation.

Computer Aided Facility data in many Workspaces are a toggleaManagement (CAFM). regions ble prototype capability There are unique workthat offer unique configuraspaces for common job tions to address the individroles, for example, and ual needs of specific users with role / per- this approach ensures that data is manmission access controllable by a site aged by an admin, while users are proadmin. We were given two examples: a vided with just the functionality and digital twin handover (digital twin build- level of detail that is appropriate to their ers) and facility monitoring (systems and responsibilities. I am sure there will be sensor data monitoring). many additional Workspaces to come.

In the data validation workspace, the user is building the digital twin in Portfolio concepts Tandem. They can see all sources of data Autodesk is also looking at how Tandem being imported to the workspace, the handles multiple buildings, as well as version history and the time data was multiple campuses in different regions updated. Also, Workspaces show the and countries. To facilitate this, the team classifications that can be allocated to is developing new interfaces and naviga-

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tion front-ends for multi-building and international clients. Here, customers should ensure that they have good internal standards that govern how every building in a portfolio is managed, ensuring that the same quality metrics are applied and that data mapping is supported across multiple facilities. Autodesk is developing templates for this.

Conclusion The updates scheduled for Tandem represent a significant leap forward from what was available in the initial release of this product. Tandem is still very Revit-focused, but to be fair, RVT is the market-leading format for BIM data in many regions.

It’s also clear that Autodesk is working to make digital twins and dashboarding a lot less complex, through the delivery of a plug-and-play system of components, in an area where projects have previously relied heavily on a great deal of custom programming and bootstrapping. While implementations may still require some tailoring, a configurable system is still easier and cheaper to deploy than a custommade digital twin created from scratch.

The colour mapping feedback of buildings is simple but compelling, offering easy to interpret information, and alert/ notification capabilities from sensors and spaces will help back up alerts with extra detail.

One year on from launch, the team is now tackling a number of complex issues that take the Tandem platform way beyond its core definition. There is still a lot of work to be done, and many other data types to be considered — but what Tandem does today, it does well.

■ www.intandem.autodesk.com

www.AECmag.com

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Opinion

How architects can help the Metaverse live up to its hype

By Roderick Bates, head of integrated practice, Enscape | Part of Chaos

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he metaverse is set to go main- cess requires teams well-versed in design stream, with the potential to be technologies including BIM, 3D rendera $200 billion market by 2024, ing and virtual reality to create immeraccording to an estimate by ana- sive virtual spaces that showcase projects lysts at Bloomberg. before they are actually built.

Achieving this level of success will In addition to that creative process, require the metaverse to become a desti- there’s also a requirement for the design nation that people want and need to visit. and delivery of a building to be highly Architects, more than any other profes- collaborative, capable of engaging a wide sion, understand what is required to cre- range of stakeholders and consultants, ate compelling environments, placing the while also operating within strict conprofession in a unique position to take a straints when it comes to building codes, lead in bringing definition to the financial costs and physics. If one were to metaverse. look for a cohort prepped Currently, the ultimate and ready to take on the metaverse vision of a sinchallenge of designing the Firms can gle, universal and immermetaverse, they would be sive virtual world — facilihard pressed to find a betprepare to tated by the use of virtual ter group than architects. capture new and augmented reality As metaverse develop(VR/AR) headsets — exists opportunities by ment advances, architects ensuring that only as a hypothetical. have the opportunity to While some components they have a keen capitalise on their expertise and technologies are availain the delivery of understanding honed ble today, it certainly isn’t building in the physical of the metaverse world to lead the way in universal, existing on a limited number of disconnectculture and how designing and delivering ed platforms like Roblox, its space impacts metaverse architecture Decentraland, Fortnite and governed by a new, and in its users Mona. For the metaverse to some ways liberating, set of live up to the hype, it needs constraints. to become far more interFor example, instead of connected, enabling the type of collabora- considering circulation requirements tion and immersion previously only pos- and climatically driven water managesible in the built environment. ment strategies, architects can design spaces where occupants can teleport to, Architects could lead the way from and within a building. The pesky Long-time experts in creating the built rules of physics, including water penetraenvironment, architects and designers tion risk, no longer apply. are well ahead of the game and poised to Perhaps even more importantly, architake the lead in the metaverse’s creation. tects understand the ethical implications The modern architectural design pro- that come with designing environments

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for people. To quote from the American Institute of Architects, they have a longstanding professional obligation to “design for human dignity and the health, safety and welfare of the public.”

From architects’ experience using visual communication tools during the design process, and from studying the way buildings interact with their occupants, architects can bring to the metaverse a muchneeded ethical awareness of how it might affect users, for both good and bad. With their ethical standards, architects can be a key voice for ensuring the metaverse is a constructive environment, rather than a new medium for manipulation.

While the metaverse may be in its ascendency there is clearly room for architects to assert themselves and help the metaverse realise its potential and move from trend to established technology.

A metaverse architecture Despite skill alignment, it can be challenging for architects to identify the right metaverse entry points. Here are three tips on defining opportunities and taking the first steps toward metaverse development projects: Consider areas ripe for metaverse development There are several key sectors that are prime for early metaverse development.

These include commerce spaces that help companies showcase their products; media and entertainment spaces, including concert venues, fashion runways and galleries; and virtual offices for companies to develop and manage the critical collaboration spaces they need for contemporary hybrid work environments. www.AECmag.com

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1 Hasham’s Metaverse: Hisham Laila, Creative Manager www.linkedin.com/in/hishamlaila 2 VICEverse by BIG. Image courtesy of Vice Media www.vicemediagroup.com

For example, Danish architecture studio BIG recently worked with Vice Media Group, a digital media and broadcasting company, to design a virtual office for Vice employees. Dubbed Viceverse, the project has given the media firm an opportunity to inspire the metaverse community and at the same time redefine journalism.

“It’s not about just getting in there and planting a flag. We wanted to do it in style with aesthetics and ideas when creating, so we teamed up with BIG,” said Morten Grubak, global executive creative director of innovation, Vice Media Group.

Global architecture firm IAXR has also embarked on an exciting metaverse project, creating an office space that enables interior designers and project stakeholders to collaborate virtually. Their metaverse workspace is accessed via VR and acts much like an actual office space with custom workflows that mimic the way they are accustomed to working. such as Discord, to expand their reach and capabilities and explore potential clients.

Build a pipeline of opportunities Architects can begin to identify opportu- Conscientiously market and educate nities for offering metaverse development Selling a new service, including by targeting both existing and new cli- metaverse development, requires strategic ents. Firms that don’t yet have a portfolio marketing efforts. This includes marketof metaverse work to share can benefit ing the capability as an additional service from building their own presence in the option to existing clients, for instance metaverse and offering to develop pro offering to build a metaverse commerce bono metaverse spaces that showcase space for showcasing products, and their talents and capabilities. advertising to a broader universe of For a universe dependent on collabora- potential clients. tion, it makes perfect sense for firms to In helping to define the metaverse, partner with others to explore metaverse architects also have a responsibility to opportunities. They can identify firms or leverage their communication tactics to architects that they’d like to work with, educate metaverse users, including the ideally those with metaverse experience, general public, about how they can be and reach out using alternative platforms, conscious consumers. Creating a code of www.AECmag.com

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ethics for metaverse projects that can be shared with clients and future users of the metaverse environments can help architects convey this important message.

As the metaverse unfolds, organisations across industries will look to create a stake and turn to architects and designers for guidance and know-how. Firms can prepare to capture these new opportunities by ensuring that they have a keen understanding of the metaverse culture and how its space impacts its users. Their success also depends on having the people, workflows, tech stacks and partnerships to build and manage the spaces as they evolve, and to tackle issues as they emerge, including ensuring proper governance and safe, seamless data transfer between platforms.

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Technology

Streaming digital twins into Unreal Engine Bentley Systems has developed a new technology that streams models from its iTwin platform on demand, into the visually rich environment of Unreal Engine 5.0, writes Greg Corke

Greg Demchak of Bentley Systems demonstrating 3DFT at the Year in Infrastructure (YII) event in London Image courtesy of Bentley Systems

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hen it comes to real-time re-import the model. In a worst-case sce- Engine 5.0 and (in the future) Unity and visualisation, Bentley nario, you must re-build your entire viz Nvidia Omniverse.

Systems has followed a asset. The workflow is just too fragmented.

It’s important to note here that this familiar path. Much like On the desktop, applications includ- iTwin service isn’t just for users of Autodesk, it first addressed its needs ing Enscape, Lumion, Twinmotion and Bentley design and construction softthrough acquisition – buying e-on soft- LumenRT have benefitted from ‘live ware, such as Synchro 4D, MicroStation ware, the developer of LumenRT, in 2015. links’ to many of the major CAD / BIM and OpenRoads Designer. The iTwin However, in recent years, it has slowly authoring tools. Move a wall in Revit, platform can quickly bring in data from a turned to the major players - Epic Games Archicad, Rhino or SketchUp and, sec- whole host of third-party software (Unreal Engine), including Revit, Unity and Nvidia Rhino, SketchUp, (Omniverse). And Navisworks and 3DFT could be key for Bentley for extending the reach of that’s hardly surCivil 3D. prising. These 3D The ‘mesh digital twin data, instantly streaming it on demand to engines / visualiexport service’ is your visualisation platform of choice, all while sation platforms based around a maintaining a single source of truth in the iTwin platform new Bentley techhave massive development nology called 3D resources, can fast transmission handle colossal datasets, and offer out of onds later, see that change appear in the (3DFT). Rather than having to download the box support for multiple platforms visualisation tool - on the desktop and in a huge dataset in its entirety, it streams and devices – desktop, VR, AR and MR. VR. Most importantly, models are only what you need to see at any given always up to date. moment.

Beyond files Bentley is now looking to apply this Simply reference the iTwin model, and File-based workflows simply don’t cut it if optimised workflow to huge infrastruc- it creates a live link, dynamically streamyou want visualisation to become an inte- ture ‘digital twins’, with a new ‘mesh ing the mesh on demand at different levgral and truly influential part of the design export service’ that streams data from its els of detail (LoD). According to Greg process. When designs change, you have to iTwin platform on demand, into Unreal Demchak, senior director, Digital

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Innovation Lab, Bentley Systems, this dynamic streaming is Bentley’s unique IP. 3DFT also takes care of optimising the models automatically, as Julien Moutte, VP, Technology, Bentley Systems, explains, “You can bring very large and complex models to your users. And the performance is still very acceptable, even on mid-size hardware.”

Of course, Moutte’s definition of ‘midsize’ won’t apply in all cases. Unreal Engine 5.0 is very adept at handling large datasets, but some of the models Bentley customers deal with are colossal, terabytes in size. We can’t imagine many facilities or cities will not require GPUs that sit at the high-end, especially as render quality and resolution increases.

The graphics processing requires a local GPU. Mesh data is streamed to a local workstation, where it is temporarily cached and processed in Unreal Engine.

At the recent Bentley Year in Infrastructure (YII) event in London, Bentley demonstrated the technology with several datasets, including a water treatment plant from Jacobs, a bridge maintenance project, and a huge 500 milwww.AECmag.com

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lion polygon model of the ITER Experimental Fusion Reactor in France.

This fully interactive experience was derived from a snapshot of a Synchro model, showing a specific moment in the construction timeline with all the temporary scaffolding. It could be experienced in VR, using the fully immersive Meta Quest Pro, and on a powerwall, where users could teleport around the model using an Xbox controller.

The path to applications Unreal Engine is very different to push button real time viz tools like Enscape and Twinmotion. “It’s not just a rendering engine, it’s a complete dev environment,” explains Demchak. “It’s a C++ toolkit, the UI UX, you can wire up things however you like.”

In terms of development, Bentley has so far provided a means to get huge infrastructure models into Unreal Engine very quickly, and stream any changes in near real time. However, there are no ‘products’ per se. The company is looking for customer feedback before it decides if it will build products on top of Unreal Engine.

Of course, AEC firms could also take the lead, using Unreal Engine developers to create their own interactive custom apps for desktop, VR, and MR. There’s a tonne of directions this could go, from simple collaborative design / review using an iTwin service called issue resolution, to remote bridge inspections streaming in photogrammetry meshes from iTwin Capture. Demchak explains the potential for this to simulate the real world, “You could have avatars, many people walking through the bridge.

Instead of a [Microsoft] Teams meeting with 2D graphics of just a face, we can be walking together and identifying issues and talking about it.”

Bentley is also exploring ways to stream IoT data from digital twins into Unreal Engine, pulling data from physical sensors to provide a real time spatial context for the live information.

Indeed, 3DFT could be key for Bentley for extending the reach of digital twin data, instantly streaming it on demand to your visualisation platform of choice, all while maintaining a single source of truth in the iTwin platform.

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Interview

Graphisoft’s new architecture for Architecture It’s no secret that software evolves. Over the years, minor and major chunks are likely to get rewritten. With a major re-architecting programme underway at Graphisoft, Martyn Day speaks to Zsolt Kerecsen VP of Product Development, and Sylwester Pawluk, Director Product Management

K

eeping a successful product alive over decades is a big task.

Customers want new features, enhancements and improved performance — but they don’t want major user interface changes or the accidental bugs that sometimes creep in.

Doing anything new with a much-loved brand is risky. It’s like changing a tyre on a car moving at 90mph.

Graphisoft’s Archicad product is 40 years old, but has continued to develop over its four decades: from 16-bit to 32-bit to 64-bit, the addition of Windows, its support for multi-threading, and for artificial intelligence, Apple Metal and Silicon, other capabilities.

At Graphisoft’s recent 40th birthday party, VP of product development Zsolt Kerecsen gave attendees some insight into the major software architecture changes yet to come. Many are already underway, designed to radically expand the way that Archicad works with the cloud and with future data workflows. These workflows might involve links to disruptive technologies such as blockchain, machine learning, augmented reality, algorithmic design, generative design and robotic fabrication. In short, Archicad’s code is under continuous review.

One of the most interesting aspects of all this is how Graphisoft plans to use cloud computing, giving users the option to run cloud services locally, either on their desktop or on remote servers in what the com38

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pany terms the ‘Adaptive Hybrid Framework’. While Autodesk is increasingly cloud-centric, Graphisoft prefers not to force users to always be hooked up to the cloud and be able to perform processing locally on their own machines.

With this in mind, I recently spoke to Zsolt Kerecsen, along with his colleague Sylwester Pawluk, Director Product Management, about the changes coming down the line.

Martyn Day for AEC Magazine (MD): Looking back through history, how has Graphisoft looked after Archicad’s code?

Zsolt Kerecsen for Graphisoft (ZK): That’s a really good question. We have to take into consideration that the Archicad is 40 years old. At that time, the architecture, the thinking of how to build an application, was completely different to how it is today. You had to create layers: database layer, data layer, presentation layer etcetera. The hardware technology, the operating system technology were completely different. And the maturity of the programming languages was different. Forty years ago, there wasn’t real multi-threading, and if you chose to innovate your new technology, there was no JS. You had to write your own! To add a new technology would require you to take into consideration many, many things, before you introduced it. Even then, it was also quite dangerous,

because rewriting something is always a tricky thing. So we have had to be extremely conscientious. If we went through the process of introducing some new capability, where was the value?

One value, from a software engineering perspective, is that we like to create maintainable code, because someone else will have to continue the programming, or do the maintenance. It’s much easier, of course, from an engineering perspective to maintain code when you maintain good housekeeping, always tidying things up as you go along.

But what happened 20, 30 years ago?

All companies wanted to get to market as quickly as possible, and they didn’t really care about how ‘nice’ the code was.

Investors were interested in how quickly you could get the product on to the street and recoup the investment. This meant that many different software architectures were created and we had to maintain those.

At that time, the most important code was written as monolithic applications.

We had so many really big applications like SAP or Oracle, and software companies realised that this monolithic code, after 20 years of development, became huge mountains — not easy to manage, to modify, to find bugs, to re-architect or rewrite. It was a never-ending story.

About 20 years ago, the industry started breaking down applications into smaller, more manageable parts. www.AECmag.com

It’s a very similar journey to what Graphisoft did, creating monolithic code.

There was tons of engineering, architectural, structural, mechanical, plumbing knowledge inside. As software engineers, we had to sit down, think and calculate where the real value was. In some cases, we would identify a capability that was a small service and rewrite it. In other cases, we found that there were one million lines of code and we didn’t want to rewrite it again, because it took many years to create.

If we can define a functionality border, then we can make the code a service, by adding an interface. Then we can set the right API (Application Programming Interface) on how to connect to that. We have tons of APIs to let third-party developers create content on top of Archicad and we also use them internally.

With respect to your question, what have we done already is we started this separation. But in parallel to this work, we also reflowed and started to renew the APIs, not just in a programmatic way, but also in a philosophical way. We are going to create a robust layer for APIs, because of security, speed and to more easily support scripting languages or new languages, because the basis of Archicad is C++, which is a very robust, very fast and secure implementation. But now we can add additional languages like Python or other scripting languages, if needed.

It’s work that is all happening in parallel. We are also renewing the entire test www.AECmag.com

Graphisoft’s ‘Adaptive automation system, too. After ty. We have to ensure that for Hybrid Framework’ checking every test solution on customers who are using helps the company the market, we decided to bring new technology to Archicad, the data will be write our own, because none of 100%, 200% safe, whether it’s market faster them were good enough from a on the cloud or on the desktop. speed and functionality perspective to be We need to guarantee that there will be no able to check the desktop code with many data loss. Without that assurance, any other applications. With the new test kind of nice functionality you offer will not automation framework, and with well- be appreciated. Stability, too, is important. defined APIs, we have dramatically sped The software should run properly, and I’m up our testing time, whilst dramatically not just talking here about functionality, decreasing the number of test cases we but about ensuring that what the user sees, have to run again and again. they get. So together, this is quality.

Second is performance. Speed is super MD: And am I right in thinking it must important. BIM cannot be super slow, of be even more complex for Graphisoft to course, and younger users will not wait programme, test and maintain Archicad, long for a function to react. We have to because you support multiple operating consider the overall user experience of systems: Windows and MacOS? performance, from functionality to workflow, and how easily they can use the UI. ZK: Exactly. And it’s even worse than that, Finally, go-to-market speed is also in fact, because when we started, there super important. This concerns how was just Windows, and then Apple, but quickly we react to anything, how quickly now Apple has two different types: Intel we can deploy to a customer and how and Apple Silicon. And it was just recent- quickly we react to customer needs. This ly announced that Microsoft is coming out applies to fixing or adding something. On with an ARM version of Windows as well. the engineering side, with what we are So that’s actually four platforms that we building with this new architecture, the will have to support in our portfolio. It’s underlying philosophy inside of everyanother reason why we have to completely thing is the continuous integration and rethink how we are going to organise our continuous delivery [CI/CD] concept. development and deployment.

When code is a monolithic and full-deskStepping back a little bit, everything is top application, it’s hard to do that, as the about user experience. And user experi- customer has to reinstall the desktop ence has three main aspects. One is the application when new functionality security and stability — we call this quali- drops. That was another reason why we

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Interview

are creating a new framework. we already have three plug-ins complet- have a fear that if you store your data in When you install Archicad, you install ed; for example, an analytical model was the cloud, it’s a little bit harder to support the frame, where you login, access securi- carved out from the big code, somewhere offline work. We still have to support ty and so on. The content’s origin can be around 15 million lines of code. The next offline work, even if a user is offline for a hybrid. If you run a desktop application, version of Archicad will already contain couple of weeks or months. We have to you have the benefit of deeper access to some of this new technology. take into consideration that one of the the operating system and the hardware. key benefits of Archicad was that it can Browser-based solutions are limited. The Sylwester Pawluk for Graphisoft (SP): run offline mode for quite a long time. In content inside is what we call ‘hybrid’, If you think about Archicad in terms of many places, there is no internet or it’s because at that point, we are going to that human body analogy, then at the very hard to reliably connect to any kind combine the cloud and desktop parts. right time, it’s critical to be able to recre- of services.

You can download locally to utilise your ate certain parts, when it makes sense.

It’s worth mentioning that Graphisoft hardware, if that makes you feel better. But at the same time, going back to our is one of the few companies that supports Alternatively, you can make use of the roadmap and how we build that road- older, unsupported operating systems power of cloud computing, and store lots map, we also create new things. So we as well! We are still supporting Archicad of data in the cloud, enabling you to work have made a strategic decision to actually 17! [the current version is 26.] We try to from anywhere. It’s just another possibil- make sure that the new things that we be quite customer-centric and userity and totally down to the user. create are created in a way that allows focused, of course.

A big benefit of this separation will be that type of follow-on strategy, that plug-ins or services. Now it’s much easier allows you to plug it in. From the technol- SP: Let me give you an example of how to create and define the smaller plug-ins. ogy perspective, the code that we are we think about technology trends: a couWe deliberately call it a plug-in, because building is really modularised. So it’s ple of days ago, Microsoft quietly as a function, it’s a service that can run much easier to maintain, much easier to announced its Windows ARM developlocally or in the cloud. Plug-ins work like integrate with other parts of our systems. ment kit. From our perspective, we are Lego. You can plug in the elements you already looking at that, and we are need and define what you would like to MD: From talking with Autodesk, already thinking seriously about it. We do, wherever you want to do it.

Bentley and hearing the ideas that Greg have actually already purchased that I mentioned before how quickly we can Schlusener discussed at NXT BLD development kit, because we want to be develop. Decreasing among the first ones testing time decreasto support the new es development time platform.

If Speed is super important. BIM cannot be super slow, of Microsoft comes out and also makes code cleaner.

It also with an ARMcourse, and younger users will not wait long for a makes it much easicompatible operatfunction to react. We have to consider the overall user er to manage legacy ing system, manuexperience of performance, from functionality to code. Legacy code facturers will jump can absolutely still on it. workflow, and how easily they can use the UI be good, and if we can create a new MD: And what can border around that you tell me about legacy code and put it in a plug-in, we can (www.nxtbld.com/videos/greg-schleusner), how you plan to deploy artificial intellidecide to rewrite it later, when we have a it seems there is a lot of discussion gence in Archicad? brand-new technology or idea. around moving from files to data lakes Another very important aspect of this — a fundamental change in outlook. Is ZK: I’ve been working with AI for plug-in technology is the flexibility it this something that Graphisoft has a around a decade now. And what I have brings when it comes to using different plan for, a BIM cloud? seen is that many companies use an algoprogramming methodologies. As I said, rithm and claim it’s AI, when it isn’t. I the majority of our code is C++ for 3D ZK: User experience is our priority. If the think where to apply AI is a million dolmodelling, when we really rely on the user can update frictionlessly, they don’t lar question. Where is the right place in power of the operating system or the really care where the data is. If it’s in a file the business to be able to utilise AI from hardware. I still think it’s a good choice, format, or a data lake, or a database — a technology perspective? and we don’t want to introduce a new whatever. We just have to ensure that they I’m working together with my team technology for that. But for UI or mobile, can record the data at any time they want. with universities in Hungary that are we can bring in something new without We are absolutely thinking about researching AI. Big data is the mandatohaving to reskin the entire software. renewing this part. But here, we are not ry part, but how it’s applied, with probatalking about the focus being where we bility theory and so on, means it’s not just MD: In the human body, it takes a full 7 store the data. The most important part the data. I think with our new approach, years for every single cell to be replaced. for us is how smoothly we can provide an we will try to implement AI in the cloud How much of your code is being rewrit- update for our customers. So we call it a first, and then somehow move it to the ten in this current re-architecting? ‘frictionless update’. They just press a desktop path. But the first step is defibutton and a new version is there. nitely that big data component.

ZK: It’s not too big. The good news is that With the concept of the data lake, I ■ www.graphisoft.com

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Software

Modumate:

BIM powered by Unreal Engine AEC Magazine’s hunt for exciting newcomers to the BIM space continues with a conversation with Modumate, a San Franciscobased start-up that has built an architectural design system on top of Unreal Engine from Epic Games

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t was only a matter of time before a developer built a building information modelling tool on top of a game engine. As a platform, Epic’s Unreal Engine offers incredible functionality: the ability to work in a high-fidelity realtime environment; a suite of capabilities for importing 3D data; built-in team collaboration; and a constant, ongoing drive to improve frame rate and mesh quality.

While Modumate may be building on the shoulders of a giant, creating a BIM tool is still a hefty development task, particularly when you consider its need for structured data and accurate details. The net result of the company’s efforts is a modelling tool that offers a cross between SketchUp, Revit and 3ds Max, with the 42

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visual fidelity of working in a real-time rendered environment.

While modelling an initial design looks very similar to working in SketchUp, it’s a great deal more revolutionary, with a unique approach to building and refining increased levels of detail to ultimately produce a highly detailed building information model. This can be done either solo or through team collaboration, supporting up to 16 users simultaneously.

Take-offs from these sections form the basis of their drawing output.

As Richman Neumann, co-founder and CEO of Modumate, explains: “Modumate has the information density, the integrity, the professional data structure for an architecture team or a builder to repre-

sent a building with deep enough semantics that Modumate can automate the production of the three core document types — bill of materials (quantities), drawing set and 3D rendering — as well as the BIM model.”

For now, the team is focusing on the small building market, but with some planned investment, it will be possible to increase Modumate’s capabilities to address MEP and get the necessary performance to drive larger models, larger projects.

According to Neumann, $300 billion out of the trillions of dollars that get spent on construction every year in the US is spent on small buildings. “We found that there’s enough of an underserved market there, and it’s the market that is least served by Revit, and there is a lot of greenfield opportunity downstream in the long tail,” he says.

“We think of Modumate as a very complementary product to Revit, in that it unlocks parts of the market that [Revit] could never touch — the builder and owner who wants a more game-like experience, as well as a faster, more enjoyable workflow for small buildings than Revit offers.”

This approach is similar to the one taken by Higharc, which we covered in the September / October edition of AEC Magazine (www.tinyurl.com/higharc-AEC).

At Higharc, developers are working on a new BIM tool aimed at the small housebuilder in the US, having similarly identified that smaller buildings tend to be www.AECmag.com

29/11/2022 15:26

1 2 Modumate offers the visual fidelity of a real-time rendered environment

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3 Modumate model massing graph 4 Team collaboration is built in, supporting up to 16 users simultaneously

designed in AutoCAD, rather than Revit, and that an opportunity exists for an interactive, easy-to-use replacement for dumb 2D drawings.

Back at Modumate, Neumann offers more details on his product’s capabilities.

“We can do 200,000 square feet (20,000 square metres) warehouses and empty shell office buildings and so forth. It’s when the information density is similar to a hospital, for example, which would need to be furnished and laid out with so much information that that’s where things start to slow down.”

While you might be surprised that a BIM application would slow down on a game engine, it’s worth understanding the incredible depth of data that Modumate is capable of handling. Prior to starting development, a lot of time and effort was put into breaking down the modelling process and much thought was paid as to how the data should be structured to improve the granularity of BIM data. Neumann’s attention to granularity in his semantic approach is very much on a par with some of the work Greg Schleusner (director of design technology, HOK) was mulling over at AEC Magazine’s NXT BLD 2022 event (www.tinyurl.com/greg-schleusner).

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Modelling philosophy Modumate’s BIM creation offers four levels of detail hierarchy, taking the user from napkin to very specific detail. The initial phase is the creation of what it terms a ‘massing graph’; this acts as a map of all the connections in a building, www.AECmag.com

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Software

and all the assemblies that will be con- shaded model. In other words, you start fun GUI for laying out HTML and CSS nected. It’s the most SketchUp part of the off with a facet model in white and end relationships. There’s no such similar process, but it’s not just dumb facets. with what looks like a completed and tex- thing for the way that parts get arrayed in Using a family of planar modelling tools, tured building. It’s very compelling and space in construction. Trying to represent every plane, edge and vertex represents feels as though all ‘architectural’ tools the way that parts get arrayed in space either an assembly such as a wall and a could learn something from this. With the has either missed the mark, stopped too window, or a detail that connects them. level of detail factored in, it’s a by-product short, or ended up building option trees The start point can be an imported 2D to get an accurate bill of materials output that are almost unintelligible in the numdrawing, you can type in distances, snap in Excel as the model evolves. ber of pages of checkboxes,” he argues. or use the rounding function from a As this is Unreal Engine, the view and A conversation with Neumann feels a known point. model interaction are dynamic and can bit like a logic bomb going off. It’s clear The next phase is the modelling of sep- be easily controlled. there has been a truly epic level of analyarator assemblies. These are the physical Because the BIM environment is the sis of the industry and software at all levconstruction assemblies that separate same as the rendering environment, you els and at every stage of this project: busispaces like walls, floors, doors, roofs, get instant high-resolution renders, as ness opportunity, system design, hierarwindows, stairs and so on. This is the well as real-time shadows when you chy, process, data architecture, even part of the process that’s the most Revit- change the time of day. You then create industry trends and spends. It’s rare that like, but these are actual construction sections to generate DWGs, which can be you meet someone who has real clarity assemblies that are end-user defined and taken to AutoCAD for additional work. and has evaluated every problem from so are made up of parts. For example, doors There are plans to expand this drawing many angles. As a small developer, this is have a frame and four panels, and the output to be fully automated, and thus a great asset. Stepping into the BIM cage, active panels have a slab, as well as a han- needing no additional work, which home to an 800lb gorilla that is Revit, dle set. In addition, the handle set has a would be a feature highly prized by many even if elderly, is no experience for the front and back handle. of those complaining of lack of productiv- faint-hearted.

While standard wall assemblies are ity in today’s BIM tools.

Modumate is unusual in that it will included, it’s obviously possible to create Modumate is a desktop application, but appeal to users who find its modelling very detailed custom methodology quick, components. The sepaeasy and a joy to the rator BIM Manager for eyeballs — but even Modumate is unusual in that it will appeal to users editing these is excepthose who are seritionally visual, being ously into modelling who find its modelling methodology quick, easy node-based (think deep detail for accuand a joy to the eyeballs — but even those who are Grasshopper) and can rate take-offs will find seriously into modelling deep detail for accurate be surprisingly that the database has detailed, down to their been primed for their take-offs will find that the database has been constituent parts like needs when it comes primed for their needs when it comes to accuracy individual wall studs. to accuracy. Team All this level of detail play certainly looks increases the quality of interesting, although I quantities and BoMs you get out of the collaboration is possible over a network. wonder how many customers use it. It system at the end. To apply an assembly, The actual design files are stored on a looks very similar to Arkio, although click on a ‘host’ mass in the model and cloud server, and every ‘player’ ends up participants are modelling real BIM, not then adjust to how you want it to fit. running Modumate like a ‘Counter Strike’ conceptual blocks.

Surface graphs are primarily about player would run a locally installed verThe key limitations of Modumate for dividing up surfaces to allow for different sion of the game. When they edit using now appear to be its lack of curved geomsurface finishes. You simply draw regions their local copy of the model, that request etry and its focus on small buildings. where you want to subdivide or split. For is sent to a central server that handles the That said, there is a viable market in the example, this might involve adding sur- document, which then updates the model US, with some potential to support face finishes to cabinets in a kitchen. and sends the new document to all collab- young upstarts with big BIM ambitions.

The final stage is attachment of assem- orators. The cloud is a hot topic for next- It would take a number of large firms to blies — finishes, trim, cabinets, and fur- generation products, and the Modumate engage with the Modumate team and niture, fixtures, and equipment, all of team is currently evaluating pixel-stream- encourage expanded development to which can be customised. Again, you ing technology as another way of deliver- cater to more complex building styles simply pick the material and click on the ing its application. and content. However, that team is pretty massing geometry to which you want to savvy to focus on a market where there is apply it. With the potential to add lots of Not Figma for 3D not much overlap with Revit and to gendetail, models look as they will be built.

While other BIM startups - Snaptrude erate a little heat.

As you work through each phase, you (tinyurl.com/snaptrude) and Arcol Modumate is certainly at a stage woradd detail and refinement, fleshing out the (www.tinyurl.com/arcol-AEC) follow a simi- thy of evaluation. It’s free to view model depth. In the workspace, you can lar path to collaborative interface design Modumate models and an authoring seat also see this increasing model richness in tool Figma for 3D associations, Neumann costs $80 per user, per month. the textures and detail of the real-time is not a fan. “All [Figma] did was build a ■ www.modumate.com

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Software

SimpleBIM:

Taking back control with IFC The Nordic region was the first place where AEC firms jumped on board with BIM, back in the early 2000s.

It was also here that we started to see IFC standards for data exchange taken seriously. SimpleBIM, founded in Finland in 2009, has been a leading player in that movement by martyn day

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hen the design world was limited to 2D technology, data exchange was pretty simple. The de facto standard was DXF. Once Autodesk’s proprietary AutoCAD format DWG had been reverse engineered, most competitors supported that, too.

Then 3D BIM came along and mayhem ensued. The only neutral / agnostic exchange format was IFC (Industry Foundation Classes). It was embryonic and lacked the kind of data fidelity that the industry expected.

But in the Nordic region, IFC was embraced. It was used as the basis for national standards, long before broad BIM adoption was even on the horizon elsewhere. And one country in particular, Finland, gave us two of the leading IFCbased developers: Solibri, the modelchecking firm eventually acquired by Nemetschek; and Datacubist, the developer of the IFC management tool, SimpleBIM. Datacubist was founded in 2009 by CEO Jiri Hietanen and marketing manager Sakari Lehtinen. Both had previously worked on the IFC standard at BuildingSmart, the global organisation responsible for developing and maintaining the IFC schema. They also coauthored the Finnish national BIM standards for both buildings and bridges.

Having seen at first hand the mess that firms could get into with BIM data, the pair decided to develop an application 46

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called SimpleBIM that would consolidate BIM dataflows for different design disciplines, different software applications and from firms running different data standards.

While IFC is a documented standard, software vendors have different interpretations of that standard and integration can be tricky. On top of that, many users don’t really understand IFC. Many think pressing ‘IFC-out’ is sufficient, without considering what subset of data is actually relevant in the model that they are trying to share. This leads to inconsistent data exchange that can seriously hamper the work of AEC firms collaborating on projects.

SimpleBIM acts as a central conduit for collating BIM information and provides a suite of tools to repurpose, filter and organise project information by making data exchanges consistent and automated.

SimpleBIM features The first thing any SimpleBIM user needs to do is stop thinking in silos, about silos and where the limits of silos lie. While most industry data is held within proprietary files, the benefits of SimpleBIM come from thinking about IFC as a data bridge, rather than a somewhat troublesome point-to-point data

exchange format.

SimpleBIM does not damage or remove original data.

It just offers tools to centralise, speed up and automate IFC-based workflows.

The product lives up to its name. It has a very basic layout, with dynamic and interactive model viewing windows for displaying basic shaded models, an object data tree, a properties palette and a ribbon bar of in-context menus.

For filtering, trimming and cleaning up IFCs, simply import a model and choose one of two options. You can either drag and drop the objects you wish to keep into the export ‘bucket’ or window; or you can select from the property palette or by storey, in order to produce a filtered IFC exported file. www.AECmag.com

29/11/2022 14:22

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The next level of capability and automation is to apply templates to transform imported data. Templates are straightforward Excel files, so are easy to create or edit. SimpleBIM comes with a lot of templates, and you will find additional samples online. The software generates a report on errors that occurred during the template application.

Templates can do many things, such as filtering a model to include only objects relevant to a specific analysis, swapping property values, or enriching model data with new properties. It’s also possible to run multiple templates across merged models, all generated from different sources.

Through the ‘Location Prism’ feature, user-defined portions of models can be sliced and diced using clipping planes/ bounding boxes, so that data that was omitted from the model and perhaps needs to be added, such as concrete pours, spaces, apartments, storeys and other construction sections, can be included.

Another feature called BIMsheet extracts user-selected model data for Excel calculations or Power BI. This might include, for example, quantities and costings. These are saved with the SimpleBIM data, for reuse. This is a process that has typically been possible only when using the native BIM authoring tool.

It directly addresses the problem of ‘dark data’, hidden away in current BIM systems, since Simple BIM provides tools to extract and analyse data from models www.AECmag.com

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that have been merged, even when models have been created according to disparate standards and/or contain high levels of inconsistency.

The built-in BIMCollab BCF Manager for open workflows, meanwhile, enables report creation and distribution with all project participants, from boardroom to construction site. This centralised issue management system generates BCF files from SimpleBIM’s validation reports, highlighting issues in models that need addressing.

Customer uses

king and delivery stipulated in contracts can be the Revit model. This does differ from country to country, but is especially true in the United States. Either way, it inhibits adoption of open standards.

In countries that have mandated national BIM standards, such as most of Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa, IFC (along with derivatives such as BCF, COBie) is an essential part of the mix.

This also extends to countries adopting international standards like ISO 19650.

SimpleBIM offers a tool that moves the concept of open standards from ‘data exchange’ to being at the heart of project management by offering a suite of powerful mapping, filtering, data enriching and automation tools, to pull clarity out of industry data exchanges that can be pretty chaotic.

Looking forward a few years, platforms like Forma from Autodesk, with its unified databases and cloud-based applications with API access, could bring more interoperability. But today, SimpleBIM and its rule-based classification on filebased workflows is already taking the pain out of wrangling with project data.

SimpleBIM has found favour in construction firms such as SRV in Finland and Bylor, together with consulting firms such as HOK, AECOM, Sweco, Cowi and Ramboll. Benefits claimed for the application include: lightweight models for onsite work, accurate costing of materials and time, model-splitting, automatic classification, a single version of the truth and reduction in time while producing richer models.

Some firms such as Auckland Airport are also using the tool to stitch together a variety of models to be published for postCovid expansion. The model will aid decision-making in redevelopment and ongo- This is the first of a two-part article. In the ing maintenance. Here, SimpleBIM is January / February 2023 edition of AEC almost being used as a digital twin.

Magazine we will look at how SimpleBIM can be used as an aggregator for project workflows Conclusion and how it can assist in construction.

In BIM workflows heavily dominated by one vendor, mainly Revit, the RVT file is ■ www.simpleBIM.com November / December 2022

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Software

Swapp: the algorithmic assistant In September’s AI Special Edition we began our journey to better understand how artificial intelligence will impact design and construction.

In Swapp, Martyn Day finds a contender for the most audacious AI tool yet for automating detail design work and producing drawings

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aybe I’m getting old, but the future seems to be coming faster at me every day.

Swapp is a cloud-based application that can automatically generate an entire Revit model with all the necessary detail drawings, from a simple space layout and without any indication where doors or windows should be.

For a simple residential building, all this happens in the time it takes to get a coffee. For an office block, you might need to wait a little longer. After lunchtime, maybe.

Either way, this is going to be game-changing — and it’s only just started.

Throughout 2022, this magazine has focused on identifying start-ups that look set to move the industry forward and deliver new productivity benefits. One thing that I have observed is a general acknowledgement of a move towards the ‘templatification’ of certain building styles. And most agree that this will be achieved through the use of solvers, algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and as yet undefined genius.

Four-year-old, Israel-based Swapp is on a mission to automate the drudge work of repetitive design, modelling and documentation when it comes to predict48

November / December 2022

able building types.

We might talk emotionally about the design and construction of buildings as unique and discrete processes, but if you boil it down, these are mainly based on tried-and-tested recipes. In other words, they are driven by parameters and by common methodologies that operate within the constraints of building regulations.

Swapp breaks down this process and

learns by analysing previous Revit models. It then formulates ‘recipes’ it can apply to subsequent projects. Once the system is trained, it can automate designs that range from simple schematics through to full sets of construction documents. It achieves this using an AI planning and documentation rule system, hosted in the cloud.

This start-up’s ‘secret sauce’, mean-

while, is its Design Decision Language (or DDL), which encapsulates the core rules of architecture. This is linked to user-specific data and libraries which contain furniture, rooms, families, materials and building details.

Starting with a grid and a set of Revit spaces, the code identifies where spaces meet; what wall construction and finishes are typically used for each use case; typical door styles; and the furniture load for each room type. The final output is a full, code-compliant Revit model.

But Swapp doesn’t stop there. It also captures the print set styles that you prefer, in order to create a complete set of construction drawings that are automatically loaded into Procore. Now, this system may not fare well with a Foster + Partners airport design, but for buildings that are predictable and boxy, such as residential units, student accommodation and some office designs, Swapp can do in a day what might take you weeks or months to achieve.

Origins and aims Swapp co-founders CEO Eitan Tsarfati and chief science officer Adi Shavit are veterans of the AEC industry. Tsarfati started his career as an architect before moving into the technology business, he www.AECmag.com

explains. His first start-up was Homestyler, where Shavit was also a cofounder. This company was subsequently acquired by Autodesk, which Tsarfati and Shavit both joined as part of the deal.

“At Autodesk, we got more and more responsibilities, more products,” Tsarfati explains. “It became the home and building platform, which I headed up. Adi became the head of algorithm, as his specialisms are AI and computer vision.”

Having worked at Autodesk, the pair felt that the solutions that the company was providing to architects were insufficient, he says. “We understood that either we were going to re-do Revit, which is not something that a start-up should think about, or that we could try to practically solve the problem with what exists today, with what we can add to the equation.”

The architecture industry gets overlooked by many entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, he says, because they mistakenly believe that architects don’t have any money. As a result, 80% of today’s start-ups in AEC focus on job sites and try to solve construction issues.

“But that’s a mistake, in my opinion,” he says. As a former architect, he understands the upstream pressures on architects, the lack of time for drawings, the tedious aspects of the job.

“Architecture has many functions, from feasibility studies, test fits, schewww.AECmag.com

Swapp can generate matic design, VDC, DCA, you The process starts with a models and full name it. But construction docschematic design, one for each sets of construction uments are the most tedious project, he explains. For each documents work, and this is the part project, there are data libraries where architects spend most hours, from and design decision roles driven by the DD to CD stage,” he says.

Swapp’s design decision language.

“I think this is what makes us different “For example, in multifamily, you might from the rest of the start-up ecosystem, say that all the walls between the restroom because most of the ecosystem — and I’m and the living room will look like this and excluding Higharc here — are mainly will belong to a specific Revit family. On doing feasibility studies. We are not one side, wall finishes are ceramics, and going to do another parametric design on the other side, you’ll have gypsum, or system; we hate the terms ‘generative plaster, or whatever it is,” he says. design’ and ‘optioneering’. We’re a very The rules are specific to the way an solution-oriented platform for construc- architecture office works and to the type tion documents. This is what we do.” of project. A school design, for example, will work from different rules in the Off the grid design decision language. “How do we Working through an example, starting in know? We look at our client’s past models Revit, a typical Swapp building starts off and how they have done it before. with a grid layout. The architect then des- Swapp’s AI understands what kind of ignates areas for rooms, spaces, corri- doors you put in this type of mid-rise, dors, lifts and so on. These room-bound- multi-family block, in this current multiing components create an adjacency dia- family building. We also have a lot of best gram which indicate to the AI where practices already built in, should you not walls should go. have any past models,” says Tsarfati.

“There are some algorithms that can A key aspect of AI, and its ability to learn generate building plans like this, but I anything, is that you don’t feed it rubbish. don’t believe that this should be the As the saying goes, ‘Rubbish in, rubbish work of an algorithm. It’s actually the out.’ But Revit users vary wildly in their planning part. It’s where humans can capabilities and adherence to standards, so think and make important decisions,” he Swapp has developed a suite of tools to says. “I mean, it’s architects who talk to learn from even badly organised Revit the customers. The algorithm doesn’t!” models and understand what went wrong.

November / December 2022

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Software Once a schematic is loaded into again, we work with companies, we take Users also get to reuse the knowledge and Swapp’s cloud, where the company has their data and we add it to the system, so effort that has been put into the creation of its own BIM modeller, the AI planner the next time you use it, we have the families. And, since Swapp has multiple gets to work. Model and drawing gener- details ready to add.” clients, they also get to benefit from everyation is automatic. Decisions about To date, Swapp has focused Revit thing Swapp learns from the common where windows and balconies go, for workflows and seems to have clients ‘hive mind’ of the industry. example, are made. Everything is done mainly in the US. But the target BIM sysThis is a start-up that throws up all by the Swapp algorithm, based on the tem doesn’t have to be Revit, according to sorts of questions. It’s a bit of a curve ball. basic layout from the architect’s plans, Shavit. “None of our processing happens After all, the industry is somewhat plus past project data. (By the way, this in Revit. It happens in the Swapp projects hooked on selling billable hours and frees up your Revit licence to go and do cloud system. We only use Revit as the charging clients for changes. A piece of something else, such as create another input and output,” he says. software that can model and document in space layout for another job.) Typical “We already have automatic conver- 45 minutes, what would take an architecprocessing times are between 40 and 50 sions, import and export for IFC, and tural practice months to achieve, changes minutes. The results are then translated since our model is as detailed as a Revit the rules of engagement — but it’s open to back into RVT. model can be, it’s very, very rich. Not just everyone, including your competitors.

The resulting building may not win modelling, many systems actually use a And what happens when clients get any awards, but the model will be highly 3D model. They don’t need the sheets. So, wind of the fact that your practice uses detailed, each correAI to achieve new sponding space loadheights of productivied out with furniture ty? Will they expect The industry is somewhat hooked on selling billable content as defined in to see that reflected in hours and charging clients for changes. A piece of standard layouts. your fees? And finalWhile the model is ly, what about jobs? software that can model and document in 45 typically code comIn other words, many minutes, what would take an architectural practice pliant, Tsarfati firms globally have months to achieve, changes the rules of engagement explains that the too much work and architect should still too few staff, so an ‘be an architect’ and AI-driven boost in check the model for themselves. we could export to any compatible sys- productivity could be a massive benefit.

“We have the option to do all the energy tem, if the business makes sense.”

But at some point, firms need to consider loads and simulate that. We produce a what a technology like this means in very detailed model. We can do load calcu- A bold game terms of team size, if and when the world lations, we can do environmental analysis, It’s early days, but Swapp is attempting returns to some level of normality. we can run it through anything that we to do bold, game-changing things here.

It will be extremely interesting to see want, because we know everything about While the company’s leaders talk mainly where Swapp ends up and how much this building, even to the sub-layers of the about automating construction drawings, traction it gets along the way, and in paint on a wall,” says Shavit. A model that they almost bypass the fact that they, by which markets. Perhaps it will build its takes 45 minutes with Swapp, including the way, do a large chunk of the architec- own market as word spreads? Or maybe all the layout sheets, might take three tural detail design too. it will get snapped up by Autodesk to months in the real world, using human And while it might appear that the keep the Revit customer base happy? Adi effort, he adds. architect’s job is reduced to simply Shavit has an invite to come and speak at “If you think about details,” Tsarfati arranging some conceptual rectangles in AEC Magazine’s NXT BLD event in explains, “basically it’s the solutions for a 2D, the model they get back is still Revit, London on June 20. We’ll be looking fortypical intersection of two materials in and fully editable. ward to hearing more on the company’s the building. This is what it is, roof and It’s the drudge work that has been done. progress between now and then. wall, wall and floor, window and wall. So The model and design can still be finessed. ■ www.swapp.ai

‘‘

’’

AI plays Minecraft If Swapp hasn’t already given you enough food for thought, you might be interested to know that Daniel McKenzie, senior data scientist at Life Time, recently sent me an article from the MIT Technology Review. In it, we learn about how OpenAI has built an AI-based game playing bot, which watched 70,000 hours of people modelling in Minecraft. The technique

50

it uses is called Video Pre-Training.

This lets an AI neural network train itself just by watching humans, a step up from the trial-and-error reinforcement approach to learning.

Researchers at OpenAI hope to use this to teach bots to achieve in 3D space what GPT-3 has done to imitate human text.

■ www.tinyurl.com/Minecraft-AI

November / December 2022

www.AECmag.com

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Finish Floor 15.3m Finish Floor 11.7m

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