Today, I am at the Autodesk AEC Media Day in Waltham, Mass. for a focus on the 2012 product suite. The AEC headquarters in Waltham is where Revit is created, and it’s just 45 minutes from Manchester, NH where the Civil3D team is located, so it provides the ideal location for a focus on both design and infrastructure trends and advances in Autodesk’s technology.
Leading off the day on the topic of Expanding BIM was Jay Bhatt, Senior Vice President, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Solutions, with a focus on the productivity, accuracy and efficiency gains in Autodesk’s 2012 product line. Bhatt asserted that the economy is bouncing back, but with architects and engineers probably hardest hit by the recession, industry professionals are looking more aggressively at improved workflows to do more with less. Through the downturn, Autodesk has invested heavily in product innovation, and Bhatt stated that they now have the richest set of products to address efficiency in the full building lifecycle.
BIM is resonating as a big idea for change (technology, workflows, supply chain). The idea of BIM has expanded across workflows, reducing waste of materials and time inefficiency. The energy renovation and retrofit is seen as a leading driver for the AEC industry, with 3D scanning as an important input for the creation of models. Concept designs now can include such things as energy analysis to understand how impacts can drive design.
The concept of BIM is also resonating with infrastructure professionals, with civil engineers rallying around the idea of model-based design who want to expand the use of the technology in plan, design, construction and management. Civil 3D has simulation and analysis capabilities, moving it into BIM workflows. New water and wastewater simulation and analysis in Civil3D add storm and sanitary analysis, a critical component for civil engineers. Project Galileo is the new product element that brings functionality for conceptual 3D mapping and planning for infrastructure. Together, these products allow engineers to experience the final outcome of the design, before going into construction.
Some of the projects highlighted in this opening that take full advantage of BIM are:
- Shanghai Tower is a new green tower in Shanghai that is centered around BIM. The full extension of BIM in this project includes the use of the model through the full design, construction and management of this green building that aims for LEED Gold standard.
- Washington Dept. of Transportation is working on a complex highway project in Seattle, with a 55-foot bored sub-surface tunnel. The project uses BIM for simulation and analysis to deal with the many complexities of this waterfront project.
- The U.S. Air Force has just committed to use Autodesk’s entire BIM portfolio to drive all future construction, development and maintenance of all their bases (166 bases, 60,000 civil engineers, $12B of work every year). The contract is worth $26M over 5 years.
I’ll report more on individual product advancements and Autodesk’s vision throughout today and tomorrow.
