Ng Andrew - B7: AE510 Reflection

B7 - Final Blog - Reflection

Intelligent Buildings, AE 510, was a thought-provoking class in that it introduced me to what I thought to be “futuristic” concepts. At first when hearing Professor Mitchell speak about robotics and machinery I never heard about or seen in detail, I was skeptical. These machines, I thought, would only be possible in maybe another 50-100 years when technology has advanced to a state where it was possible. Perhaps, when we have flying cars and androids that can replicate human functions realistically is when I believe what I heard in the first couple of classes. I remember stating my disbelief and “doubt” in one of the first classes and having Mitchell sort of chuckle at my disbelief. I was somewhat ready to fight for my statements with supporting arguments, but in the back of my mind, something was telling me that I may be wrong. Thoughts of the future technologies resounded in my mind. Subconsciously, I really do hope these thoughts of the future would come into existence. As a kid, I truly wanted to see a futuristic world like in the sci-fi movies such as I, Robot in my lifetime. Through learning in AE 510 classes about what technologies exist and their implementation, I changed my mind and came to start believing in what I didn’t thought was possible. I felt like a kid again in a way wanting to believe in something that was wasn’t “real” since it wasn’t in front of me (like Santa Claus). I now realized through the classes that the future that I thought wouldn’t come into existence until later is coming sooner than I thought. In a way, “The Future Is Now,” and I became excited.

This course has an effect in my profession as the technologies that were discussed can be very beneficial to me and the industry I’m entering. By learning about BIM and robotic implementation in the construction field before they become popular, I feel that I can have the competitive advantage amongst other college graduates and younger professionals. There’s a chance that I may be able to see an opportunity to do some operation more efficiently because I have more familiarization with the “new ideas.” Additionally, as we discussed videos shown and were exposed to numerous speakers, I saw how the technology is currently being used. In the future with more advancements and research, I’m sure these technologies would have greater uses; they would do much more than they do now and provide more information that may be helpful. BIM would be relevant in my future as I’m sure I would be using Revit in the design of structural and MEP functions of a building. Revit being the convergence place for all parties involved in the construction place would be something I’ll be working on. While it would provide me with a model that I can show to my clients, I would have everything right in front of me from almost all if not all construction phases. With databases, I can organize my information and find architectural, structural, electrical, mechanical or any other components much faster by instantly searching them up. Of course, the components would have to be registered and recorded first into the database, but once it is, the benefits from having a database would be great. One more peculiar aspect of the class was learning about Revit families. I did not know the concept of families before this class. Setting parameters and families allow for much simplifier methods of making modifications of some object in a broader perspective instead of specific values.

Overall, this course has revealed a lot about the technologies that are used and will be implemented in more depth. It was very interesting and was enjoyable.

Comments:

Maissoun Ksara – The organization of the course and how you liked it was very nicely summarized. I liked how you also enjoyed the Revit project. I learned a lot about Revit as I did not even know about the concept of “families”. By working with the bookshelf and the simple house, I have become somewhat more adept in using the program.

Ronald Herazo – The MS Access project was fun. I never used the program before the class and figuring out how to input information, organize, and relate information was a great experience. I know that it would be helpful in numerous applications, but I’m not sure if it’s for me. I will probably touch MS Access once again in the future, and when I do, I will now be able to make a basic database. At least now I know the fundamentals and even its existence. I have grown up seeing MS Access installed on computers, but always neglected the program.

Taryn Francischetti – Having guest speakers was very beneficial. It added a sense of credibility to the topics discussed. By having real professionals who use BIM and robotics and other programs discuss what they do in their careers was very intriguing. 

Assignment B7 - Group B - Maria Raggousis

Reflection of the Course and its impact to my Profession and Future

This is an extremely loaded question but one that we are always asked to answer. 

This course was worthwhile to me because it opened my eyes to new things that I had never seen before. I understood the sensors and how we use them for temperature control and window blind rotations and I actually thought this class would be more about that aspect because my definition of intelligent buildings tends to fall under intelligent operation. 

The other reason it was worthwhile to me is because I was able to speak with more sophistication on topics that I otherwise would have stammered about and not known anything about. I applied to a scholarship and they asked us to write a technical paper on an innovation in construction and honestly I was so ready to answer that question because of all the things that we were exposed to in this class! I typically am skeptical of the future but after seeing proof that this stuff works and then researching it for the paper was the most valuable part. The research portion allowed me to set aside time for this class and digging in more about what I was mostly interested in. I am glad that I chose to do a research topic as opposed to a project because I was getting frustrated with the different programs we were using at the end of their respective assignments. The paper almost felt like a creative outlet that was somewhere between opinion and research - taking the facts and formulating thoughts relevant to them. As someone who is both creative and technical, it was a nice part of my daily routine that was not of the ordinary math problem or computer project type. 

The other aspect of this course was the hands-on projects with the database and the Revit model and while I really enjoyed working with both of those - it is hard to see those new tools particularly impact my career outlook. I understand the need for databases but it is not something that I believe will ever be asked of me and even if it were I would still choose Excel, even after this class introduction (although I am thankful for the introduction). 

What I liked about this class is now I have the ability to talk the language of Revit and communicate to someone else what I would need in Revit if at all - based on the families and the models and the schedules and the database component, I now know what it is capable of. Communication is key in this industry as a professional and I think that is the best take-away form this course. The guest speakers only added to this benefit because hearing from a professional that is immersed in this technology gives us the empowerment of oh I can do this, too! 

In general, I feel that although the details of this class will not help my future - the over arching themes and what we discussed will and has already helped my professional career and future. I see much research and development in the technologies discussed and I think I would be interested in becoming involved in that aspect! 


Responses to Other Students:
Nick Pawlikowski: I think what we got out of this course was different because of personal preference and past experiences. I had dabbled in MS Access before and the material that was brought to this class was not new based on what I already knew and it still didn't fulfill my needs as a database program. I think your last summation sentence is valid in that it depends what the students brought to the table as existing knowledge to make the difference of if the value of the course expanded on that or did not. 


Brandon Mengel: It is easy to see that most people's favorite part of the class was the personal project because afterall, we were the ones who set the scope and decided what would be in it based on our interests! I have to agree with you though, this class is such an overview that it is fulfilling to go deeper into one particular area. To me, BIM and 3D Printing stood out the most although we did discuss other technologies in this class. I think it had to do with the guest speakers and our ability to visualize how it actually works and makes a difference in the world. 


Peter Dannemann: I love the great comments you have about Professor Mitchell's drive. I completely agree - some professors do not use any original material or offer any discussion and the fact that this class was more seminar based and discussion based with real world examples and content from Professor Mitchell's actual interests made it that much more impactful. I didn't realize you were an environmental engineering major but I think that while your points are valid about not actually using the database and Revit families, I think you will be able to better talk to people who do use them in the data collection processes which are all around us. 

B7 - Abdullatif Alkandari

Course Reflection

When I first signed up for “Intelligent Building” I expected it to be a course that specifically deals with the smart methods construction and operation of buildings. However, the course proved to be much more diverse than that and turned out to touch on numerous aspects of technology that is implemented in the construction industry. And I truly enjoyed the opportunity that the course gave me to research different topics and share my findings with other classmates via the course blog as well as the chance to pick the topic for my term project; which makes the course experience feel more personal.

Affects on my Professional Career

Aside from the numerous applications of Artificial Intelligence that were covered in class, the assignments that we had working with Revit and MS Access have really opened my eyes to the future career possibilities. And by working with these software I now have a better idea of how they can make a construction manager’s job much easier because that is the aspect that I am interested in the most. The knowledge of databases and how much they facilitate data entry and retrieval is a skill that I expect to benefit from along the course of my career.

Conclusion

This course has made me even more eager about the future especially with the many intriguing guest speakers that shared their career stories with us and gave us an idea of how exciting life can be after graduation. I was personally really inspired by Kristen & Derek’s presentation about Whiting-Turner and that made me more serious about chasing a career in construction management. And I have recently decided to take care of the 3D modeling of my senior design group using Revit because I expect this software to be very important for my career and I am glad that this course mad me realize that as well as the potential of different software that can make my life much easier once I fully understand them.

B4 - Paulina Gawor - Project Description

Project Description

My term project will focus on how BIM and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can be used to develop more sustainable projects. Construction generates the largest amount of waste, and represents the heaviest use of resources and energy compared to other industries. Using BIM and LCA, the communication, scheduling, and budgeting practices of a project can be greatly improved. A soft value like environmental impact can be more easily represented numerically through LCA, and shown to project stakeholders. The lifetime impact of a project can be assessed, from construction and operations to retrofit and eventual demolition.

One of the topics I hope to investigate is the interoperability of how LCA programs are used, and if they are adequately supported by Revit. So far it seems there is a great deal of transferring information between platforms. One workflow showed a transfer from Revit to IFC to Excel to Ecotect. Autodesk’s Green Building studio has been using a data transfer protocol called gbXML.

I am excited to learn more about implementing the use of a new type of software and workflow process in an office setting, as well as the specifics of model sharing in Revit. I believe just as many architectural and engineering firms have been transitioning to BIM design in the last five years, there will be greater demand for information about the energy use and value of building projects. I have not had the chance to work with this apart from basic use of classroom E-Quest projects, so it will be interesting to see what software and solutions in this field are currently in use. Performing the Revit families exercise in AE 510 has also helped me familiarize myself with family types and properties that are a major part of performing a building’s LCA.

References

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705814018918

http://itc.scix.net/data/works/att/w78-2012-Paper-24.pdf

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:566319/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Comments

Abdullatif Alkandari

Abdullatif, I would be curious to find out more about how you find robotics integrated into building construction and even operations. I can imagine a great deal of uses in prefabrication of larger scale elements for construction. You mention that finding investors for this type of research will be challenging. In this very old profession, I think the greatest barrier to implementation will be the human element--the existing construction and machining workforce and their unions.

Hayley Selden

Hayley, I also find the greater integration of sensors into building systems to be very interesting. Some friends I know use Nest and Phillips remote bulbs to monitor and adjust their home energy use. The concept of regular measurement, and even gamification of energy savings has great potential for raising public awareness of their personal carbon footprints and energy use. This is a great project and will focus on the intersection of intelligent and green design.

Yipin Geng

Yipin, I am also interested to see what type of uses you will be able to develop with Revit Macros. In the past I have run some very simple LISP scripts in AutoCAD that would sum total line lengths for me. I would be interested in developing a macro for an automated sprinkler head design layout. If your programming skill is not so high, it might be worth looking into Dynamo to develop your programs.

B4 BIM Macros

Project Description

The topic of our project is BIM macros. I will work with Yipin Geng to explore Revit’s macro language. We will develop one or more useful macros to show the potential and advantages of this tool.

Why I Chose Revit Macros

Revit is the most frequently used BIM software. It helps the industry in every perspective. From architectural designing phase to structural and MEP engineering phase as well as from the simulation and analysis phase to scheduling and construction phase, Revit plays a huge role connecting everything and everyone in the industry together. It saves money and time while reducing errors and mistakes. Revit is so powerful that companies will change to use Revit gradually in the future.

As an Architectural Engineering student at Drexel, I learned Revit in several courses. However, I only learned simple concepts, tools and applications to finish my homework assignments. There are still a lot more Revit could do that I want to explore. That is the reason I chose Revit macros.

Relation to Intelligent Building

Working in Revit, sometimes there are boring or repetitive tasks. For example, renaming sheets, renumbering rooms, changing family names are all not exciting tasks that you have to do it more than once. However, Revit provides a tool called Macro to do the tedious job for us. A macro is a series of user-created commands and functions that are written using the Revit application programming interface (API) and created in SharpDevelop, an open-source integrated development environment (IDE) integrated into Revit. Macros are stored inside Revit project files and are run directly from Revit. [1] Using macros, Revit can automate these kind of repetitive tasks. You can save tons of time and money and work more accurately by writing macros. I consider Revit macros as one big component of intelligent building since it is intelligent and it can do human’s advanced job.

Challenges

The biggest challenge is programming skill. Although we can choose from four different languages to write our macros codes, we are required to learn at least one language to develop one fully functional macro. The other challenge is finding a repetitive task that applies our macro.

Reference

[1] https://www.augi.com/articles/detail/getting-started-with-revit-macros

[2] https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Revit-Customize/files/GUID-4DFDA8CD-B0FD-492E-8EDE-A28C29B1E316-htm.html

[3] https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Revit-Customize/files/GUID-D3A09447-BA7F-4045-88BF-EA8B37F0D46D-htm.html

Comments

Maissoun Ksara

I personally consider that intelligent building and green building will be the next generation of the architecture and construction industry. I’m excited to see your project that focuses on the relationship between these two subjects. Combining intelligent building and green building, the living environment would be perfect for us in the future.

Aziz Alsaleem

Artificial Intelligence is not far away from us. It is coming to us very soon. AI could be implemented in almost every industry. I’m excited to see your project on AI integration into the construction industry. It seems very challenging to me since the concept is still so new. For the topics we discussed in class, I think that AI is behind everything including intelligent building, robotics, and 3D printing.

Rachel Frank

The current applications of robotics in the construction industry are powerful and various. Robotics can tremendously increase the safety and efficiency of construction. I can’t wait to see your project. I’m wondering how much work robots can do now and in the future. Also, I would like to see the disadvantages of robots in the construction industry.