News

Integrated Practice
TAP’s focus over the past several years on building information models, collaboration, and interoperability has contributed to a sea change in the AIA’s thinking about the future of architectural practice. The Institute has recognized the importance of the scope and magnitude of this change through its creation of a new focus area, Integrated Practice.

TAP and IP Preconvention 2006 Workshops
TAP and Integrated Practice will host consecutive preconvention events at the 2006 AIA National Convention and Expo in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, June 6, TAP will host an all-day event, Models for the Future of the Architecture Profession: The Risks, Rewards, and Opportunities of Technology.

Integrated Practice will host its all-day event, Architecture on the Edge: Integrated Practice Preconvention Working Sessions, on Wednesday, June 7.

2006 BIM Awards
The call for entries for the 2006 BIM Awards will be issued in fall 2005. The TAP Advisory Group wants to avoid any confusion about what a BIM is. Jim Bedrick, AIA, has proposed a definition also suggests a progression of technology adoption.

Building Connections: The 2nd Congress on Digital Collaboration in the Building Industry
On November 10, TAP will convene “Building Connections: The 2nd Congress on Digital Collaboration in the Building Industry,” a coordination summit among practitioners, industry associations, government agencies, software companies, and academic institutions. Its goal is to create a feedback loop within the building industry to advance the development and adoption of data exchange standards.

Feature Article

Capital Facilities Information Handover Guide
The soon-to-be-published Capital Facilities Information Handover Guide, Part 1, provides guidelines for establishing the requirements and mechanisms for the exchange of facilities information among owners, designers, and builders, from project inception through operations and maintenance to facility disposal. It spells out a methodology for defining information requirements and sources for the full life-cycle of a building; it also addresses the topic of appropriate data formats for long-term archiving and reuse. In 2006, NIST will facilitate the development of a series of Parts 2, including one for commercial and institutional facilities. Development methodology includes both an industry workshop and an industry review of the draft publication.

Best Practice

Using Interoperable BIM in Schematic Design: Building Information Model for the e-Lab at LBNL
The Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) of Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) developed a schematic design-level proposal for a new laboratory building to consolidate labs scattered across the LBNL campus. The building itself was designed to be a living laboratory for the study and measurement of energy efficiency and sustainability. This high-tech green building was designed, quantified, and analyzed during schematic design, using nine different software tools without redrawing or reentering data. The project won honorable mention in TAP’s 2005 BIM Awards.

Technology Focus

International Alliance for Interoperability Industry Foundation Classes
In Best Practices, we mentioned the use of an industry foundation class (IFC)-compliant BIM and multiple IFC-compliant software applications to permit the same building model to be used by multiple analysis, cost-estimating, and simulation programs. Who is the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) and what are the IFCs?

Acknowledgement

This issue was compiled and edited by Kristine K. Fallon, FAIA, president of Kristine Fallon Associates Inc. If you have any questions or comments about the content of this issue or would like to submit an article for Edges, contact tap@aia.org.