Closing The Gap - Information Models In Contemporary Practice - Architectural Design

By closing the gap between conceptual design and the documentation required for construction, building information modelling (BIM) promises to revolutionise contemporary design practice. This issue of AD brings together a group of pioneering academics, architects, engineers and construction managers all of whom are engaged in the use of building information models in the actualisation of complex building projects, from design stage to construction. Key texts trace the development of building information modelling technologies and address issues of collaboration, design and management, while featured projects systematise the use of BIM in contemporary design practice for students and professionals alike faced with considering these tools within the changing marketplace.
•Covers a core area of technological development: BIM systems that span the gap between the design, manufacturing and construction processes.
•Key contributions from: Chuck Eastman, Cynthia Ottchen and Dennis Shelden of Gehry Technologies.
•Features work by: Asymptote, Greg Lynn FORM, KieranTimberlake, Morphosis and SHoP Architects.

Richard Garber is an assistant professor at the New Jersey School of Architecture (NJSOA), where he teaches design studios and directs the school’s FABLAB. His work involves the use of computer simulation and computer numerically controlled (CNC) hardware in the generation of innovative design, construction and assembly solutions. In 2007 his practice, GRO Architects, won the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s re:Construction Competition. The resulting work, Best Pedestrian Route, was fabricated at NJSOA’s FABLAB and was installed at the corner of Broadway and John Street in Lower Manhattan. In 2008 GRO won an AIA Merit Award and a NY Designs Award from the Architectural League of New York for these efforts. He was also the ‘Emerging Architect’ Visiting Assistant Professor at Barnard College in 2007, with Nicole Robertson. He was previously a project manager at SHoP Architects, where he worked on the firm’s 2000 winning PS_1 entry, Dunescape, and at Greg Lynn FORM where he worked on the Presbyterian Church of New York. His writing and design work has been published in the New York Times, the Star Ledger, The Architect’s Newspaper, Azure, Art News, Metropolis and Architectural Record. He holds architecture degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University. www.groarc.com

Introduction
Optimisation Stories: The Impact of Building Information Modelling on Contemporary Design Practice
Richard Garber
Best Pedestrian Route – GRO Architects
Richard Garber and Nicole Robertson
BURST*008, Museum of Modern Art – Douglas Gauthier and Jeremy Edmiston
Douglas Gauthier
The Future of Information Modelling and the End of Theory: Less is Limited, More is Different
Cynthia Ottchen
New Academic Building for the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art – Morphosis
Martin Doscher
The $300,000/Year Architect
Urs Gauchat
Al Hamra Firdous Tower – Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Gary Haney
Unified Frontiers: Reaching Out with BIM
Coren Sharples
C2 Building, Fashion Institute of Technology – SHoP Architects
SHoP Architects
Automated Assessment of Early Concept Designs
Chuck Eastman
Cellophane House – KieranTimberlake
Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake
Yale Sculpture Building and Gallery – KieranTimberlake
Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake
Building for the Third Century (B3C), Massachusetts General Hospital – NBBJ
Craig Brimley and Jorge Gomez
Collaborative Intelligence = Respect
Keith Kaseman
Her secret is patience and She Changes – Janet Echelman
Janet Echelman
Information Modelling as a Paradigm Shift
Dennis Shelden
Strata Tower – Asymptote
Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture
Alberti’s Paradigm
Richard Garber
Recycled Toy Furniture – Greg Lynn FORM
Greg Lynn
Blobwall – Greg Lynn FORM
Greg Lynn
An Enthusiastic Sceptic
Nat Oppenheimer
Toni Stabile Student Center, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism – Marble Fairbanks
Scott Marble and Karen Fairbanks
Interior Eye
Carlos Zapata and Antonio Citterio's Cooper Square Hotel, New York
Jayne Merkel
Practice Profile
Pierre Thibault
Brian Carter
Building Profile
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry
David Littlefield
Unit Factor
Computational Spring Systems: Open Design Processes for Complex Structural Systems
Sean Ahlquist and Moritz Fleischmann
Spiller’s Bits
Complex Systems Architecture
Neil Spiller
McLean’s Nuggets
Will McLean
Userscape
The Sustainable Disco
Valentina Croci
Site Lines
Replacing a Beloved Building with a Hybrid: Paresky Student Center, Williams College
Jamie Horwitz