AE 510 Course Review

AE 510 Course Review - Matthew Morimoto

When I first stepped into AE 510, I was expecting a course that was much different from the one that I have spent the last ten weeks being a part of.  I was expecting a variation of AE 391 in which we would be discussing buildings that currently exist throughout the world and how we should design similar structure.  Using projects to supplement our understanding of the material we would then use BIM and design as a class.  What we have done over the last several weeks is much different but just as beneficial to my education.  The ability to look at a multiple different aspects in the future of intelligent buildings has been something that I have never made myself available to.  I am usually the type of person that explores the different fields that I will be pursuing but there were some great topics that we went into during class that really peaked my interested.  The first being robotics in the field of engineering and how they can be used in the construction aspect of buildings.  While this technology is still a long way off it was interesting to see how robotics are currently used and where the advancements will put us in the next decade.  Furthermore I was never aware of the use of various software packages and their use in the real world.  I have been lucky to use Autodesk primarily at my coops but there are a dozen other programs that run just as well with their own unique benefits.  Presenters made this information more available to me and brought to my attention how much I have yet to learn when it comes to the field.

Overall there were some great aspects to the course however I do have some suggestions on how the class can be improved.  I think that guest speakers were good in networking and seeing what else was available in the field but I think that the scope of what their content was on was not consistent with the class at certain times.  It would have been awesome to be able to participate in the BIM discussion when ArchiCAD & Microstation I think that using those programs for design projects before that class would have been very enriching and beneficial for people looking to get experience in something they were not familiar with.  Another point that I thought would have been nice was to see the current application to a lot of these things we studied in class.  A lot of the time I felt that some of the concepts (robobtics) we were studying didn't apply to intelligent buildings but with a little re-centering on the main idea would be a great use to understanding their future uses.

To bring this post to a close, I thought that the course overall was good.  I think that I learned a lot, not exactly what I was expecting, but I learned about topics that I would have never thought of otherwise. The class gave me the ability to communicate some complex ideas with leaders in their respective field and overall it has been beneficial to my education.

Comments

Jeremy - I had the same notions coming into class.  I think that you and I were pretty much on the same page when it came to what we learned and what we thought were going to come out of the class.

Ryan - Ryan I really liked your post and what you discussed.  I wish that we had discussed softplan at some point during the class.  Im sure your insight would have been very beneficial to discussion. In the future I will make to come to you if I ever have questions in the subject.

Week 5 - Project Outline - Barbalace

D. Barbalace

Project Description - A look into the future of 3-D Printed Buildings, particularly the printing of homes.  I'll first familiarize the reader with 3-D printing and how people are currently trying to utilize printers on a larger scale.  Then I will rationalize the idea of using 3-D printing to build a home and establish criteria for the materials and printing systems that would be necessary to accommodate such a large printing job.  Using the criteria, I'll choose several key materials and one or two outstanding methods of printing and design 1-3 homes in Revit or SketchUp that could be constructed using house-sized 3-D printing.

Why Was This Topic Chosen? - I love designing houses because its fun to imagine living in them.  3-D printing seems like a really promising technology that could benefit many aspects of our lives, and the architectural and construction engineering industries have already begun thinking about how it could affect them. I've drawn a parallel between two interests of mine and established a relevant topic that I think is worth researching.

Relation to Intelligent Buildings - What's more intelligent than a building that builds itself?  If an enormous 3-D printer or similar system can construct a home based on code and mechanical parts, construction costs would likely decrease significantly (especially if the system is used repeatedly).  While workers will still have a part in the construction of 3-D printed houses, mechanizing dangerous jobs and limiting workers' time spent in high places is beneficial to overall construction safety.  Printing systems that can be built in wealthier countries can be sent to poorer countries to help construct many cheap and safe homes for large populations.

My Outline:

The 3-D Printed Building

Ø  What is 3-D Printing?

o   Brief history

o   Currently utilized materials

o   Predicted future applications

Ø  Utilizing 3-D Printing on a Larger Scale

o   Existing Methods

o   Current Limits

o   Existing Construction Concepts

Ø  3-D Printing a House

o   Why would you want to?

o   Where would you want them?

o   Who would want to?

Ø  Materials

o   Criteria

§  Printability

§  Availability

§  Strength

§  Climate

o   Current materials used in home construction

o   Most promising candidates for 3-D printed homes

Ø  Methods

o   Criteria

o   Recap existing large scale printing methods

o   Most promising candidates for 3-D printed homes

Ø  Design

o   Description of my design(s)

o   Materials & methods used

o   Reasoning

Ø  Conclusions

o   What I took away from the project

o   Look into future

Week 5 - Project Description

Project Description: I choose to create a residential house on an existing site and incorporate some of the necessary systems into the home.

o   Existing Conditions

§  Model the existing conditions of the site to show the changes that were made throughout the project.

o   Architectural System

§  Model all of the things that would make this house look like a home. (Appliances, Furniture, Automobiles, etc.)

§  Create realistic renderings of the space to give clients a visual understanding of what the spaces will look like.

o   Mechanical System

§  Model a simple HVAC system for the home and show the connection of the components throughout the home.

o   Structural System

§  Model a simple structural system to a residential home and show the framing system separate from the architectural and mechanical system.

o   Site

§  As well as incorporating the existing conditions, model the post construction site conditions to show the progress and result of the project with respect to the site.

Why Chosen:

After hearing Eric Kuszewski talk about the future of BIM last week, it confirmed my belief that BIM will be the future of the engineering and construction industry. With that in mind, I wanted to learn more about BIM (in particular Revit) and become familiar with the tools that will be utilized to design buildings. By adding the existing conditions and further exploring the different systems, I hope to gain more knowledge and be better prepare myself for the uses of these technologies in the real world.

Relation to Intelligent Buildings:

The use of BIM to output energy usage is a key feature that often gets overlooked but is vital in the building running efficiently well after completion. After effectively setting up an architectural, mechanical and structural system, I hope to show that this design software has the capability of outputting such parameters that will help in the daily maintenance and operation of this building.

Challenges:

The challenges for this project will be to model the site conditions as they exist and will exist before and after construction. This may not end up being a very big challenge but I have little experience in creating a topographical map of the site and showing the changes throughout construction so I am hesitant to say it will be easy. The other challenge will be to model the mechanical and structural system in a residential house. I have no experience in modeling mechanical and structural systems in a residential house and am not sure if room needs to be left for mechanical chases or if it can be ran through the walls.

Post Awareness:

Although there are a fair amount of students that are focusing on BIM for their projects, I feel the exploration of Revit and it capabilities with different building systems will benefit all students as we move on into our careers.

References

Eastman, Chuck, et al. BIM handbook: A guide to building information modeling for owners, managers, designers, engineers and contractors. Wiley. com, 2011.