AEC Integration Laboratory allowing the College of Architecture to work with industry groups to explore For the whole history of architecture the many new issues involved in this and the construction industry, design paradigm shift. The Lab was initiated and production of a building has by Chuck Eastman, Director of the COA been based on drawings, whether PHD Program, and is being operated by PhD they were sketches, drafted working Research faculty member Ghang Lee drawings generated by hand or by and Eduardo Lyon, a graduate student. computer. Today, a new paradigm is The Lab is one of several facilities that Focus being explored and adopted, called will support a new MS Program in COA, Building Information Modeling (BIM). called Computation, Composition and BIM addresses the process and quality Construction (CC), to be offered next year. improvements allowed by moving to The MS. program was co-developed with Fall 2005 fully machine readable and consistent Prof. Thanos Economeau. This program Fall 2005 design information, for design, will provide education addressing the construction and building operations. application of this new technology to BIM places emphasis on new design support new types of design scenarios and AEC Integration Laboratory tools for generating intelligent 3D object for forms of teaming processes, and the P.1 information using such tools as Revit exploration of new fabrication methods in Building, Bentley Architecture, ArchiCad construction. The Lab also proposes to and Digital Project. Other systems are help firms in their review/adoption of BIM Measuring the effects of floor- being offered to contractors, such as software by: plate shapes on office layouts ArchiCad Constructor, Navisworks and 1. undertaking studies of different P.2 Tekla. All these new software systems BIM software regarding their functional are immature, and have significant capabilities and limitations, including Working with Steelcase to limitations. Another capability allowed drawing and report generation and relate office design to organi- by the new software are designs based generation of parametric assemblies zational dynamics P.2 on non-standard methods of fabrication, 2. assessing workflows between different opening up the world to new designs software packages and determining PhD Program hosts conference not possible (or practical) previously. how best to accomplish certain tasks, on Building Information Mod- The longer term benefits of BIM are that assessing what works and what does eling P.3 the information generated will be used not: interfaces with other applications in other concurrent and downstream include analysis packages (structural, Precast Concrete Software processes for analysis and construction thermal, sustainability, acoustics, lighting), Consortium Disbands P.3 and supported by other software. Some ERP and management packages and exchanges will be direct, but others will with production equipment such as CAM Ellen Do joins COA PhD rely on the IFC and other data exchange software Program P.4 models. In many cases, these exchanges 3. developing custom parametric objects have not been worked out so as to be for special building type uses. useful in a production manner. PhD News P.4 It is expected that the Lab will help A growing number of firms are involved catalyze both the school and the Alumni News P.6 in these issues. The AEC Integration Lab profession in their moves to a new way of was initiated through a seed grant designing and constructing architecture.

From design to fabrication to assembly - Work of Eduardo Lyon 1 Working with Steelcase to relate office design to organizational dynamics

Steelcase, one the market leaders in office furniture and systems world wide, is committed to the develop- ment of the knowledge base that informs office design so that it best serves the needs of client organiza- tions.

Steelcase’s Community Based Plan- ning represents a carefully thought out approach to office design which is aimed at: first, helping client or- ganizations recognize and describe their needs; second, help designers formulate an appropriate response and design solutions.

As part of Community Based Plan- ning Steelcase have been develop- ing innovative analyses of different kinds of interaction networks which characterize the day to day function Floorplates compared according to the measures of shape proposed by Shpuza, Peponis, and and human capital of an organiza- Bafna tion.

Measuring the effects of degree of connectivity, those with- The aim is to use network analysis floorplate shapes on office high connectivity in a grid-like pattern in order to understand the business layouts and those with high connectivity in a dynamics and performance of a fishbone-like pattern. Then they have client organization and the manner inserted different kinds of layouts in in which office furniture and interior The internal layout of office buildings a sample of office floorplates, using a design can help support or improve change over time so that we can clearly consistent set of generative rules. such dynamics. distinguish between building design and Based on this work they show that interior design. But how does build- two new measures of floorplate shape, A Georgia Tech team let by John ing design influence interior design? developed as part of this research, Peponis and including Dr Craig Ermal Shpuza, an Assistant Professor at predict the likely degree of integration Zimring, Dr. Sonit Bafna, Dr. Mahbub Southern Polytechnic State University of circulation. The first measure is a Rashid and Dr. Yan Zhang has been and a Ph.D. candidate at Georgia Tech measure of universal metric distance; working with Steelcase to help them has worked with Dr. John Peponis (prin- it indexes how compact a floorplate is. evaluate and further develop their cipal investigator) and Dr. Sonit Bafna, The second measure is a measure of analytical tools and procedures, as to study how the floorplate shape of convex fragmentation; it indexes how well as to assess the impact that office buildings affects office layouts. far a floorplate breaks down into dis- these tools have had on a sample tinct sub-areas. Figure 1 shows how a of client organizations and office The study, which has been funded by sample of 50 floorplates varies accord- settings. the General Services Administration, ing to these measures. focuses on the structure of internal The joint Steelcase and Georgia circulation, including not only shared The measures can be used for prelimi- Tech research team are looking into corridors but also circulation within nary evaluations of large office building the effects of workplace designs open plan areas. Layouts are measured portfolios according to their suitability on three areas of business perfor- according to the direction changes for different kinds of internal layouts. mance: the efficiency of the work involved in moving from any worksta- Different floorplate shapes are prefer- process and especially the effective- tion to any other. This resonates with able, depending on whether an office ness of organizational innovation previous research findings, at Georgia layout evolves towards one ideal type and learning; the creation of an Tech, The University of London and or another. However, the measurement environment that contributes to elsewhere, indicating that directional of the underlying constraints exercised employee satisfaction and motiva- distance affects patterns of movement, by floorplate shape upon internal layout tion; the projection of organizational communication and work in the office. does not imply determinism. Design- and cultural identity to support an Based on a study of a sample of 50 ers can always work to overcome or organizations recognition and stand- office interiors, Shpuza, Peponis, and accommodate constraints, depending ing in the communities involved with Bafna have identified three kinds of of- on the specific requirements of a given its business cycle. fice layouts, those with a relative low organization. 2

Ph.D. Program hosts confer- systems, and analysis tools, this soft- Structures, and IES Virtual ence on Building Information ware offers new opportunities for im- Environment. Supporting applications Modeling proving the quality of design, shortening for BIM modeling included Interspec, the building procurement life cycle, and Navisworks Jetstream, EPM EXPRESS reducing costs. A new generation of AEC software is Data Manager, Enterprixe Project one of several catalysts that that are ex- Workspace, Tectonic Network and An important confirmation of BIM is pected to lead to major changes in the Solibri Model Checker, plus others. that the General Services Administra- way that architects, engineers and con- Speakers included Chuck Eastman, tion (GSA) has committed to begin a tractors work and collaborate. Another Fried Augenbroe and Jeffrey Beard from set of demonstration projects using BIM catalyst is the search for new working the Ph.D. Program, Jerry Laiserin, Paul throughout the country starting in fis- processes, such as design/build and Teicholz from Stanford CIFE, Dennis cal year 2006. Their work was predi- negotiated contracting. A third catalyst Sheldon from Gehry Technologies, cated on a recent study by the National is the growing efficiencies of custom-off- Vladimir Bazjanac from Lawrence Institute of Standards and Technology site fabrication, based on manufacturing Berkeley Labs, Bob Lipman from NIST, (NIST) that the US construction industry automation. Together, these catalysts Joe Dietrich from the AISC, and David spent $15.8 billion dollars on inadequate are expected to radically change how Orndorff from the PCI. interoperability. architects, contractors, consulting The review presented at the conference engineers, subcontractors, practice and This conference was held April 19-20, showed that the technology is being collaborate. 2005, and addressed the opportuni- evaluated and adopted by all levels ties offered by the new technology, for of the AEC industry, but that there The new design software that gener- building owners, for architects and de- are still many detail problems to ates the information to make the new signers, and for contractors and devel- resolve before it becomes the universal possibilities is based on 3D parametric opers. Georgia Tech has been a leader way of building. Some of the issues modeling. These new tools are not in the development and testing of BIM raised were: lack of staff that were schematic design level rendering tools, modeling applications, and the integra- knowledgeable and trained on the but rather software allowing 3D detail- tion software needed to allow applica- new software, current limitations of ing down to the construction level. tions to work together. what the software could do, resolving Together with analysis, costing, simula- intellectual property problems when all tion and other engineering and business The LaiserinLetter™ and its Editor, data about a project is stored together, applications, this new software allows Jerry Laiserin, has been tracking this and how to manage the data. the development of what is being called new technology and advising clients Building Information Modeling (BIM). on its capabilities. Chuck Eastman of At the same time, a number of case The parametric modeling applications the Ph.D. Program and Laiserin were studies were presented showing what allow 3D definition of all the parts, co-organizers of the conference. The is currently being accomplished. These connections, specifications, functions conference included major presentations included projects in structural steel, and other product information about by developers of Revit, Architectural precast concrete, and projects by the the building. Combined with integrated Desktop, Bentley Systems, Gehry GSA. Another conference is being scheduling systems, cost estimating Technologies’ Digital Project, Tekla planned for next year.

Precast Concrete Software Consortium Disbands

Over the past four years, the Precast Concrete Software Consortium has brought together over 40 experts in precast concrete design and produc- tion to develop a new generation of smart parametric modeling system for the detailed design and production of precast concrete buildings and systems. The consortium relied on Georgia Tech’s Architecture Ph.D. Program to coordi- nate and distill requirements, and to translate them into implementable soft- ware requirements. Chuck Eastman led Georgia Tech’s group and was aided by Rafael Sacks of the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, and Ghang Lee, then a PhD student. In 2003, after a very competitive review and evaluation, the work of the consortium led to the selection of Tekla Inc. as the developer of the needed software. Facade Assemblies, Control Joint Lines reveal and change in depth with control lines 3 Ellen Do joins COA Ph.D. Kung University in Taiwan. She came Program to the United States for her Master degree at Harvard University, under In the 2004-2005 Academic year, the the advisement of Bill Mitchell at Ph.D. Program carried out a search for the Graduate School of Design. She a new faculty member to support its went on to get a PhD at Georgia growing PhD Program. The search was Tech in 1998, during which she did broad. The program was searching most of her research with Mark for someone with exceptional research Gross at the University of Colorado. talent, a strong academic record, was Ellen’s thesis titled “The Right Tool viewed as a future star, would attract at the Right Time – Investigation of students, and that would integrate Freehand Drawing as an Interface well into our current areas of study. to Knowledge Based Design Tool” involved interactive sketching and During the Fall and early Spring sketch recognition, linked to a design of 2005, 48 complete applications knowledge-base. Her Georgia Tech were received in a wide variety of advisor was Craig Zimring. areas, many from overseas. Several applicants were recent Georgia Tech She became a post doctoral fellow Ellen Do, PhD Program new faculty member graduates. Telephone conferences there, then accepted a position at the were held with both references University of Washington where she and many of the candidates, in was initially an Assistant Professor, order to develop a short list. In then gained Associate Professor PhD News the early Spring, the candidate and tenure. In 2004, she and Mark Gross both moved to Carnegie-Mellon Publications list was prioritized and led to five University. Since her graduation, she exceptionally strong candidates. All Book chapter of the five visited Georgia Tech and has presented and published over 70 were interviewed. In late Spring, papers in international journals and Zimring C and Dogan F, (2005). Facility Ellen Yi-Luen Do was selected and conferences. Performance Evaluation in the Public and eventually recruited. She will begin Private Sectors. In W. F. E. Preiser and her appointment at Georgia Tech in She has done extensive work in user J. C. Vischer (Eds.), Assessing Building January 2006, as Associate Professor, interfaces for design and creativity, Performance. Oxford, UK: Elsevier. pp. 180- with a joint appointment in College design cognition, smart construction 187. of Architecture’s Ph.D. Program and objects, objects with feedback, Journal articles the College of Computing, Human and many lightweight design aids, among other areas. She has a strong Centered Computing Program. Bafna S, (2005). “Symbolic Content in the following of enthused students. The Emergence of the Miesian Free Plan.” The Ellen received her Bachelor degree of PhD faculty and students look forward RIBA Journal of Architecture 10 (2): 181- architecture from National Cheng to Ellen joining us soon. 200.

Dogan F and Nersessian N, (2005). “How DOORKNOB Gets Its Meaning,” Journal of Learning Sciences, 14(1): 127–137. From the middle of 2003 until Sep- and conference papers. The work of tember, 2005, the Consortium and the consortium required identifica- Gharipour M, (2005). “Book Review: Tekla worked together to develop tion and translation of the essential History of Persian Gardens,” to be detailed specifications, tests, and procedures involved in precast con- published in Garden History Journal, 32 further develop the desired software, crete design and production, ranging (2). undertaking extensive production from parking structures to architectural Gharipour M, (2005). “Healing Gardens: An testing. In late August of this year, facades. Examination of the Relationship between the Technical Committee of the con- Healing and Natural Environment,” Journal sortium approved a release candidate The system had to be highly customiz- of Environmental Studies, 1(4): 35-49. of Version 11.1 as substantially meet- able to respond to the different special- ing the consortium’s criteria. This ties of the different precast compa- Harris-Kojetin L, Kiefer K, Joseph A, & was after over six months of testing nies involved. It includes integrated Zimring C, (2005). Encouraging Physical and enhancement. As a result of structural analysis, semi-automatic Activity Among Retirement Community accepting the software’s functionality, drawing and report generation, and Residents - The Role of Campus Commitment, Programming, Staffing, the purpose of the Consortium was open interfaces allowing development Promotion, Financing and Accreditation. completed and it disbanded. While of further applications. This effort Seniors Housing & Care Journal 13 (1): the consortium members will receive has been unique in the construction 3-20. special pricing for their help in devel- industry, where such collaboration to oping the software, it is being widely develop new software has been rare, Sacks R, Eastman CM, Lee G, and Orndorff D, (2005). “A Target Benchmark of the marketed to all precast concrete and where research and development Impact of Three-Dimensional Parametric designers and producers. On the efforts have been rare. It provides and Modeling in Precast Construction.” Journal academic side, this effort was the ba- example of what can be realized when of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Insti- sis for Ghang Lee’s Ph.D. thesis and a group can focus on specific desired tute, 50(4): 126-139. has resulted thus far on 15 journal outcomes. 4

Conference proceedings Peponis J and Bellal T, “In Fallingwater: Economou A, “Immersion, Agency, Spatial Structure at the Scale of Quasi-Syn- Transformation: Seminar on Game En- Ashuri B, Rouse WB, and Augenbroe G, chronic Perception”, The Proceedings of gines and Virtual Spaces,” University of “Data Collection Framework for Strate- the 5th Symposium in Space Syntax, Delft, the Aegean, June 2005. gic Workspace Allocation in Knowledge- Netherlands, June 2005. Based Enterprises,” The Proceedings of Economou A, “Formal Structures in the 26th American Society for Engineer- Sacks R, Wessman R, Eastman C, Lee G, Architecture and Music,” University of ing Management National Conference, and Orndorff D, “3D Parametric Modelling of Volos, School of Architecture, Volos, Virginia, October 2005. Precast Structures - a Revolutionary Change.” Greece, October 2005. The Proceedings of the 18th BIBM Interna- Bafna S, “Symbolic Construction in tional Congress and Exhibition, Amsterdam, Economou A and Knight T, “Creativity- Non-Discursive Media. The Design Evo- Netherlands, 2005. Rules. SMArchS Colloquium,” MIT School lution of Louis Kahn’s Unitarian Church of Architecture, Cambridge, October 2005. at Rochester.” The Proceedings of the Stavroulaki G and Peponis J, “Seen in a Dif- 5th International Symposium on Space ferent Light: Icons in Byzantine Museums Elliott ML, Sundquist ES, “Elites and Syntax, Delft, June 2005. and Churches”, The Proceedings of the 5th Symposium in Space Syntax, Delft, Nether- the Grassroots: The Politics of Growth Machine and Sustainable Community De- Dogan F and Nersessian N, “Design lands, June 2005. velopment in Chattanooga and Seattle,” Problem Solving with Conceptual Dia- Association of Collegiate Schools of Plan- grams,” 2005 Cognitive Science Society Shpuza E and Peponis J, “Floorplate Shapes ning (ACSP), Kansas City, October 2005. Ellen Do, PhD Program new faculty member Conference, Stresa, Italy, July 2005. and Office Layouts: a Model of the Relation- ship between Floorplate Shape and Circula- Gharipour M, “A Study of the Syntac- tion Integration,” The Proceedings of the 5th Economou A, “Tracing axes of growth: tic Structure of Bazaar in Iran,” Middle Symposium in Space Syntax, Delft, Nether- The 7 Space Symmorphic Groups and Eastern Studies Annual Conference, lands, June 2005. Their Extensions,” The Proceedings of Washington DC, November 2005. the 5th Symposium in Space Syntax, Delft, Netherlands, June 2005. Swarts M, Monaghan M, and Economou A, Gharipour M, “Segmentation of Spaces “Performing Palladio,” Proceedings of the in Iranian and Japanese Houses,” The Economou A and Herndon M, “Line- 9th Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphic 2005 Annual Conference of Asian Stud- space: An Automated Generation of Conference, Lima, Peru, October 2005. ies on the Pacific Coast (ASPC), Ontario, the 19 Spaces with 1 Axis of Growth” June 2005. Proceedings of the 9th Conference Zamani P, “Unfolding Memory: Layering as of Iberoamerican Society of Digital a Principle of Arrangement and as a Spatial Hobson D, ”1623-1706 Patterns in the Graphic, Lima, Peru, October 2005. Concept for Memory,” The Proceedings of Domestic Architecture of the English the 5th Symposium in Space Syntax, Delft, settlers in the Leeward Islands, West Gharipour M and Zimring C, “Design of Netherlands, June 2005. Indies,” Society for Post-Medieval Gardens in Healthcare Facilities,” The Archaeology Conference: The Colonial Proceedings of the First Conference on Presentations Landscape of the Caribbean, June 2005. Environmental Health and Exposure, Atlanta, October 2005. Eastman C, Industry Presentations at Archi- Joseph A and Zimring C, “Activity-Friend- tectural and Contractor Offices on Building ly Environments for Older Adults: Results Gharipour M, “A Historic Study on the Information Modeling: at SOM, New York, Fall from a Survey of 800 Continuing-Care Structure of the Bazaar of Isfahan in 2005. (two), Perkins and Will, Cooper Carry, Retirement Communities,” Symposium Iran,” The Proceedings of the UIA 2005 and Gilpane, Webcor and SA Mortenson. presentation at Environmental Design Istanbul Conference, Istanbul, July Research Association (EDRA) 36th Con- 2005. Eastman C, (2005) Presentation at the Fed- ference, Vancouver, April 2005. eral Information Council, at AIA headquar- Kim J and Roper K, “Economic Evalua- ters, August 2005. Juneja P and Augenbroe G, “A Compre- tion of Outsource Providers, “ The Pro- hensive View of the Cost of Built Space ceedings of IFMA WWP 2005, Houston, Eastman C, panelist, GSA Awards Panel for as Enterprise Production Factor,” The October 2005. Building Information Modeling, at the AIA 26th American Society for Engineer- Convention in Las Vegas, May 2005. ing Management National Conference, Jiang P and Peponis J, “Historic Virginia, October 2005. and Emergent Urban Centers in the Eastman C, panelist, Status Report on In- Metropolitan Atlanta Region: Spatial teroperability, at the AIA Convention in Las Kim J and Roper K, “Economic Evalu- Dynamics and Morphogenesis,” The Vegas, May 2005. ation of Outsource Providers, “ IFMA Proceedings of the 5th Symposium in Workplace Conference, Houston, Octo- Space Syntax, Delft, Netherlands, June Eastman C, “Redesigning Architecture: the ber 2005. 2005. Impact of Building Information Modeling, Lyon E, “Design for Manufacturing in Ar- College of Architecture, Design, and Plan- Lee G, “Challenges and Opportunities in chitecture Mapping in Between Curved ning, New Jersey Institute of Technology, BIM Interoperability,” ACADIA, Savan- Surfaces Design and Fabrication “ The September 2005. nah, October 2005. Proceedings of eCAADe 2005 Confer- ence, Lisbon, Portugal, September Eastman C, “Challenges to Architecture from Monaghan M and Swarts M, “The Villa 2005. Building Information Modeling”, presentation Capra is a Musical Box,” Southeastern to the New York AIA Technology Group, July Society of Architectural Historians, Park H, Economou A, and Papalambros 2005. (SESAH), Fort Worth, October 2005. P, “Hermes: A Computational Tool for Proportional Studies in Design”, The Economou A and Gamble M, Sorts F(x): An Peponis J, “Structure and Description in Proceedings of CAAD Futures 2005 Assessment of CourtsWeb 4.0 in a Studio Design Formulation,” 23 eCAADe Confer- - Learning From The Past: A Foundation Setting. PBS-GSA Capital Construction Con- ence, Technical University of Lisbon, For The Future. Vienna, Austria, June ference, Miami, April 2005. September 2005. 2005. 5 Sundquist ES, “You Get What You Zimring C, Featured “Hot Topic” Session Alumni news: Measure: From Mobility- to Accessibil- speaker, American College of Healthcare ity-Based Transportation Performance Executives Congress on Healthcare Man- Fehmi Dogan is currently working at the Standards,” Association of Collegiate agement, Chicago, March 2004. Schools of Planning (ACSP), Kansas City, Department of Architecture at Izmir Insti- October 2005. Zimring C, Glasscock Memorial Lecturer, tute of Technology, Turkey as an assistant Texas A&M University, April 2005. professor and holds the assistant director Zhang Y and Augenbroe G, “The Influ- position at the same department. He ence of Surface Diffusivity on Reverbera- Zimring C, Featured speaker, American has been involved in curriculum develop- tion Time Prediction”, 149th Meeting of Society of Health-System Pharmacists ment of the undergraduate and graduate Acoustical Society of America, Vancouver, Midyear Clinical Meeting, Orlando, De- program of the Department, has been April 2005. cember 2004. advising graduate students, and has been teaching both graduate and undergradu- Zhang Y, Augenbroe G, and Vidakovic B, Awards “A Simplified Method to Estimate the Free ate courses. Dogan is also serving on the Path Length Variance”, 149th Meeting of Gharipour M, Houtan Award on Persian Jury of a national competition for Manisa Acoustical Society of America, Vancouver, Studies, November 2005. Town Hall in Turkey. Dogan has published April 2005. and presented papers during 2005 in Kim J, 2005 International Facility Man- close collaboration with the faculty at Zimring C, Briefing to the Board of agement Association (IFMA) Foundation Georgia Tech. Trustees, President and Senior Staff of Scholarship, October 2005. the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the Hospital of the 21st Century, Atlanta, Waddick C, First recipient of the David October 2005. Kibbey Memorial Scholarship, 2005. Contact Information

Zimring C, Featured speaker, The Role of Mercedes Saghini, the Physical Environment in the Hos- Other news Ph.D. Academic Assistant, pital of the 21st Century: Building for [email protected] Improved Patient Outcomes and Staff Anjeli Joseph started a job as the Direc- Satisfaction. Institute of for Healthcare Paula Peche, tor of Research at The Center for Health Improvement 1st Annual International Ph.D. Research Coordinator, Design in Californoia. Summit on Redesigning Hospital Care, [email protected] San Diego, May 2005. Gayle Nicoll was invited to the Ontario Chuck Eastman, Building Code Building Designation Sys- Zimring C, Keynote speaker, National Director, COA Ph.D. Program, tem committee to create the examina- Council of Architectural Registration [email protected] tions for the Building Code portion of Boards Annual Meeting, Miami, May examinations for architects who are go- 2005. Mohammad Gharipour, ing to become certified and registered. Ph.D. Focus Student Coordinator, Zimring C, Featured speaker, Keeping [email protected]

Hospital Construction Projects Healthy, Correction Reducing Financial Risk in Healthcare Email correspondence should be Capital Programs, Atlanta, January 2005. addressed to: “[email protected]. Ermal Schpuza started a job as Assistant edu” and paper mail correspondence Professor at the College of Architecture Zimring C, Featured speaker, SSM Health- should be addressed to: Ph.D. Office: in Southern Polytechnic State University care 2005 Planning Innsbrook, St Louis, Room 219, College of Architecture, not Texas A&M University. Mo, February 2005. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0155, USA.

Ph.D. Office: Room 219 College of Architecture Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0155

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