CC Jul-Aug 2021

CASEstudy
work in each distinct building file.
Furthermore, site-wide assets such as
wall styles and window types are
contained in separate "asset library files."
"For coordinating changes, you have to
manage them from each building file or
library file, then update the link in the
master file," Lawrence said. "It means that
when one person makes a change, it's
then changed across the entire suite of
drawings. Besides saving time, it controls
and limits people from making changes
on a whim."
He adds that this method frontloads
coordination so that when inevitable
changes occur later in the design
process, they're done smoothly and
without significant effort.
"Broadly speaking, we have a separate
Vectorworks file for each building and a
separate Vectorworks file for the twostory
podiums in between them. Each of
those files has within them 'plot' files,
from which we generate sections and
elevations for that building. We then have
a separate mega-Vectorworks file to
reference all of those in for our site plan."
He noted that doing this allows them to
limit the information they add into the
master file, which merely contains the
information needed to produce
coordination deliverables.
Lawrence considers this a crucial
aspect of overall BIM strategy - relegating
heavily detailed work to the in-progress
design files, and only including
necessary data in the master file. "People
get too caught up with modeling," he
said. "It's about understanding what
needs to be modeled, what needs to be
run through a clash detection process
and what is actually useful to people."
By maintaining Asset Library Files
containing such things as façade panels,
wall styles, door styles, and other details,
resources could be referenced with each
individual building file, keeping detailing
and architectural expression consistent
with each building, a necessity for a
scheme in which the buildings are
intended to share an architectural
language.
SUCCESSFUL OPEN BIM CARRIED
BY RIGOROUS DATA CONTROL
According to Lawrence, A&Q
Partnership's BIM data management
strategy centres on one word - rigour.
"Particularly for a job this size, it was
important to have a way to control data
across all of the six buildings. They're all
different buildings, but there are certain
details we want to be the same across all
of them," he said.
He explains that they set up class
structures and naming conventions in
Uniclass 2015, the unified classification
system by NBS. Their work management
starts with the in-progress file, which
branches off into a library folder
containing standard resources and
details, then individual project folders
below the library folders. The resources in
the library folders can be referenced into
the project folders, giving the project a
strict sense of uniformity.
An added challenge on big projects is
that the project could span multiple
years, and for A&Q it's common for a
project to be in development over several
versions of Vectorworks. Strict control is
vitally important in this case.
"What inevitably happens as a job
moves on is you get different people
coming onto the project with different
abilities, different experience levels, a
different knowledge of Vectorworks, and
a different knowledge of architecture," he
said. "You get input into a file that can be
quite a corrupting influence on the way it
was originally set up. It becomes critical
in BIM not to let that happen, especially if
those files are going to be used for
contracts and exchanged with
consultants. You need to be quite strict
on it."
A FAMILIAR SHIFT - FROM HAND
DRAWING TO CAD, THEN FROM
CAD TO BIM
The larger industry adoption of these BIM
methods isn't dissimilar to the shift from
hand drawings to CAD about two
decades ago, Lawrence said. "I think I've
been in the industry long enough now to
see patterns repeat. About 15 to 20 years
ago, the industry was moving to CAD, so
we ditched the drawing boards. Back
then, a lot of our consultants were using
AutoCAD, and there was this sort of
perception that AutoCAD was CAD. It
made exchanging information with
consultants challenging," he said.
Over time, that perception faded and
with a broader acceptance of .dwg files,
exchanging information through various
CAD programs wasn't so difficult
anymore. Lawrence believes something
similar is happening again, that history is
repeating itself. "I suspect a similar
outcome will happen with the adoption of
IFC," he said. "Once everyone gets used
to it and gets comfortable again, we'll be
back to working normally."
Until then, Lawrence will have to rest
easy knowing he's responsible for one of
the most successful BIM applications in
large architecture projects, an example
for the evolution of the architecture
industry at large.
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