Autodesk University 2017 at The Venetian in Las Vegas is currently in full swing. Dubbed by Autodesk as “The conference for those who design and make the world around us” is being attended by over 10,000 professionals from the architecture, design, manufacturing and media industries for three days of learning, inspiration and in-depth skills development. It’s an exciting event to not only learn through classes, workshops, presentations and interactive galleries, but it’s also a chance to rub elbows with industry experts and connect with other like minded individuals in your professional community. It’s also the perfect venue to announce and honor the winners of Autodesk’s 2017 AEC Excellence Awards in Infrastructure, Building, Construction and Sustainability.
The 2017 AEC Excellence Awards competition, co-sponsored by Autodesk, HP, Construction Dive and Smart Cities Dive, recognizes global projects that embrace connected building information modeling (BIM) technologies and sustainable design in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. This year’s competition received 145 submissions representing more than 30 countries, which is definitely a testament to the fact that innovation in building design and construction is thriving around the globe. An independent panel of judges selected the winning projects in the categories of sustainability, infrastructure, building and construction.
“With their bold imaginations and the right tools in hand, the winners of this competition are creating lasting monuments to the ingenuity of humankind,” said Nicolas Mangon, vice president of AEC, business strategy and marketing at Autodesk. “I applaud each of the winners and finalists for sharing their vision and demonstrating the future of making things in the built world around us.”
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s winners:
Sustainability Category
Historically, the AEC industry has been a huge consumer of natural resources and energy as well as a large producer of waste that inherently results from AEC projects. Projects that have included sustainability in their designs tend to have reductions in resource wastes and increased processes efficiencies that result in a decreased impact on the environment in both the short and long term.
The first place award goes to Geotectura, Axelrod-Grobman Architects, NCA and Assa Aharoni Consulting Engineers for The Porter School of Environmental Studies.
This 4,000-square-meter building is the first of its kind in Israel, achieving both LEED Platinum certification and five stars in the Israeli Green Code 5281. With building features that utilize the natural environment, such as a north wall that brings in natural light, a west wall that’s shaped like a funnel to increase air flow to the main atrium and an east wall that blocks heat during the winter as well as minimizes noise from the highway, it’s easy to see why this project was selected for first place. In addition, there is a 60 percent energy savings as well as reduced carbon emissions due to the southern “Eco-Wall” that absorbs the hot southern sun with thermo solar fields heated by glass-evacuated tubes, producing the energy source for the mechanical ventilation and air conditioning of the building. Learn more about this project here.
Second place was awarded to the Tianjin Architecture Design Institute for the Jie Fang Nan Lu Community Culture and Sport Center.
The project team utilized BIM to help design a building that would be perfect for the area’s climate and location, as well as utilizing an MEP system that reduces energy consumption. The final design was chosen after carefully evaluating lighting, wind, heat and topography in a way that they were able to use renewable energy sources such as solar and geothermal energy to achieve their goals. To learn more about this project, click here.
Third place went to the Magnolia Quality Development Corporation (MQDC) Limited for WHIZDOM 101 Bangkok.
To learn how MQDC used “sustainovation” to create its own standards from design in order to construction to meet the requirements for certification by LEED GOLD and TREES Gold and Platinum, click here.
Infrastructure Category
Utilizing BIM effectively can help to make infrastructure projects more resilient, productive and profitable. Companies that are taking advantage of what BIM has to offer are experiencing benefits like greater project efficiencies, the ability to identify potential issues in the design phase, time-savings in capturing and utilizing survey data as well as improved construction coordination and communication with all project stakeholders.
First place in this category went to Foster + Partners and FR-EE for Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico (NAICM).
The 470,000-square-meter facility will be one of the world’s largest airports. While the inspiration for the building finds its roots in flight, the company says that its primary design focus is the passenger experience.
“We believe that regardless of the size of the airport, people should always come first,” explained Martha Tsigkari, partner, applied research and development team, Foster + Partners. “Therefore, the primacy of passenger experience is a consistent theme throughout all our work. A complex building such as the passenger terminal building, involving collaboration with multiple disciplines, would not have been possible without the appropriate coordination workflows, procedures, tools and technology.” Learn more about this project here.
Second place was awarded to LiRo Group for East Side Access.
One of the largest infrastructure projects in the United States, it will connect trains from Long Island and Queens to the east side of Manhattan. This project, which is slated to be complete in 2022, was started in the late 1990s when BIM wasn’t even a buzzword yet. To find out how LiRo Group’s Virtual Design and Construction team came onboard to successfully implement BIM in the middle of the project in 2011, click here.
Third place in this category goes to the firm Norconsult AS for the Arna-Bergen, Ulriken Tunnel.
To learn more about how Norconsult used BIM to “disrupt the status quo” in order to create a purpose-built environment that served as a platform for real-time, immersive design evaluation and communication, click here.
Building Category
One of the earliest BIM definitions a ran across was – A process to create, manage and share information on a project not only during the design phase, but also through construction of the project and throughout the entire lifecycle of the building itself.
First place in the building category goes to the Dubai Future Foundation, Killa Design, BuroHappold Engineering, BAM Higgs & Hill and Transgulf for the Museum of the Future.
BIM and a fully developed digital workflow across the project lifecycle were requirements laid down by the Dubai Future Foundation from the start of the project. This mandate allowed for the project to move forward continuously based upon the most up-to-date information. Regular meetings with the design and client teams allowed for updates to be done by any of the project members at any time as opposed to the updates being driven by milestone meetings. To learn more about the Museum of the Future, click here.
The second place award was given to the Tianjin Architecture Design Institute for the Hohhot City Saihan District National Fitness Center Project.
This Fitness Center Project in Inner Mongolia is being designed and constructed to encourage participation in China’s 2016-2020 National Fitness Plan and embraces BIM throughout the entire project.
“BIM is being applied in our whole design process, and we are achieving our 3D design goals for a very complex building,” stated Lu Wanmei, BIM Design Center vice director, Tianjin Architecture Design Institute. “Drawings from the BIM model fully express the entire project to avoid misunderstanding, and the extracted parametric model information instructs the construction with precast fabrication and onsite assembly efficiently and economically.” To find out more about this BIM building project, click here.
Third place in the building category went to the Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau for Expo 2020 Dubai.
To learn more about how this project is utilizing a BIM strategy that is focusing on the delivery of intelligent 3D models and Industry Foundation Classes data to be used throughout the project lifecycle, from conceptual design through operation and legacy, click here.
Construction Category
During the construction phase of a project, BIM can be used to help minimize the utilization of resources, materials and labor by ensuring the best planning and management practices to ensure the highest level of accuracy, efficiency and value.
First place in the construction category goes to the China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp. Ltd. for the Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Financial Center Project.
BIM and the ability to capture and share data is at the core for the project management of this tower. Prior to construction, there were 932 separate models that were stored on a private server for use by the project team. The project is expected to be complete in 2019, and at this point, there are 184,504 models with 763,552 logistics updates. All project information from ordering and transportation to entry, installation and acceptance is being updated via mobile phones or iPads and stored on the BIM platform so it’s easily accessible for everyone at any time.
“Only by using BIM and the latest technologies throughout the entire construction process, we can finish a building 530 meters in height in 5 years,” explained Yawu Su, project manager, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp., Ltd. “BIM has not only changed the way we work, but also clarifies how we think about and meet new challenges.” To learn more about this 103-story tower that will stand at 530 meters tall, click here.
Second place went to the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. for the China Zun Tower.
BIM has benefited this project with the inherent accuracy of the models and design drawings, which has made it much easier for the construction team to understand and create a strong foundation for coordination and collision checks. Eight hundred and six rounds of construction drawing reviews have also been updated and shared in this collaborative environment. Six hundred fifty-two BIM models and more than 800 components families were created and updated with 20 subcontractors. To learn more on what is set to become the tallest structure in the city of Beijing, click here.
Third place was awarded to the Obayashi Corporation and ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation for the Mikusa Tunnel on the Kinki High-way Kise Line.
This project was recently completed, and both the road and the tunnel are being used. Likewise, the BIM models created during the construction were being used afterward, reducing the inspection work by 50 percent compared to inspection and confirmation if the conventional method of using paper drawings was used. To learn more about the Mikusa Tunnel and its utilization of BIM, click here.
To learn more about the winners of the 2017 AEC Excellence Awards as well as view the 2017 AEC Excellence Awards show reel, visit the Autodesk website.