BIM Summit Qatar - Day Two

Day travelling out of the way. Today was a pretty relaxed day getting used to things.

Too hot during the day - view from hotel - wouldn't like to be one of the guys on site

My time is better spent in an air conditioned hotel playing around with COBie data

Night time and a walk along the sea front - starting by going past the Museum of Islamic Art

Beautiful by the sea front - love the way this temple was lit up with palm trees in front

All along the Corniche bay were brightly lit up dhows - ready to haggle a price across the bay

Not sure whether this was artwork or a road safety campaign message to the drivers on the roads?

I think the giant rabbit is what FIFA said was the reason that Qatar got the footy ahead of England

The Qatar National Bank Tower under construction - it will be the tallest in Doha at 525m

The current star-of-the-skyline is the Doha High Rise Office Tower by Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Constantly changing colour from white to yellow to orange to red and then to black

Guide to Public Speaking

Fun post for a Sunday morning. The Thick of It's Malcolm Tucker's two minute guide to public speaking.

Pretty much safe for work - and very, very funny...

1. Don't fall over
2. No swearing
3. Don't point
4. Don't sweat, ever.
5. Maitain sustained eye contact - but don't go creepy with it...

BIM Summit Qatar - Day One

I am travelling out to the Middle East today as a speaker at the BIM Summit Qatar. This event is organised in association with buildingSMART Middle East, BIM Journal and IQPC.

Looking at the list of speakers it is fantastic to see a good representation from the UK. I think this goes to show that internationally now the UK is being looked at as one of the leaders in BIM adoption and digital construction.

Speakers from the UK include Lee Zebedee (@leezebedee) from Ramboll and also Nigel Clark from Hilson Moran.

Lee Zebedee - Ramboll

Nigel Clark - Hilson Moran

Of the international speakers it is difficult to pick just one or two to highlight. But if pushed, I must say I am looking forward to the presentations from the following:

Tahir Sharif - President of buildingSMART Middle East

Heikki Kulusjarvi - Chief Exec of Solibri

Phil Bernstein - Vice President Autodesk

Tom Dengenis - Chief Exec Synchro

 I'll update this blog each day with a little post of my thoughts and also some pictures.

Update: A couple of pics from Dubai Airport...

Nice big garden - full size trees and pond... but inside

Love this tennis picture of Federer and Agassi on the helipad 205 metres up

Rome

Some holiday pictures from Rome below. Click on an image to go see 'em larger...

The Pantheon - Not only did Emperor Hadrian build a wall that ended in my home town of Wallsend,
he also built this temple. Absolutely stunning.

The circular window at the top of the Pantheon's dome allows sunlight to shine in.
Quite stunning how it lit a doorway high up on one wall.

Most of the temples are no more. Some of the columns just stand there in little
openings that appear in the narrow streets

Fountain of the Four Rivers in the centre of the Piazza Navona,
the Piazza has the shape of the Stadium of Domitian where chariot races took place

This was the Temple of Hadrian, converted into a palace for a pope, then
more recently converted into a bank

One of the stunning rooms in the Vatican museum

They don't make ceilings like this any more - every twist and turn in the Vatican museum
was amazing

Thirsty work walking around Rome - glass of Pinot Grigio at a cheeky little
wine bar at the top of the Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain - throw that coin over your shoulder!

Circo Massimo - what was Ancient Rome's largest ever chariot racing stadium,
150,000 spectators could watch. Ben Hur

The Colosseum - it is reported that to celebrate a great victory in 107AD they had 123
consecutive days of entertainment. 11,000 wild animals and 10,000 gladiators died. 

1,700 year old bronze door to the Temple of Romulus it still opens on the original hinges.
The purple columns are crafted from the stone Porphyry. This stone is so rare it is only found in
one quarry 1,600m up a remote mountain in Egypt. Only the Romans had the resources (large numbers of slaves)
to mine it.

Colosseum pictured from the Palatino hill

Visualise the new CPI Uniclass 2 proposals

Stuart Chalmers

Stuart Chalmers at the RIBA is doing some pretty clever things with the new CPI Uniclass 2 proposals. To take the introduction from the development page:

These visualisations of the proposed Uniclass 2 tables are developments from the BIM Gateway, a collaborative project between the RIBA Technical Research Department and the University of the Arts London.The project is co-funded by the government-backed Technology Strategy Board “Metadata Production Tools (Fast Track)” funding stream.

Have a play at:
- http://dev-riba01.seoss.co.uk/uniclass2/

Discuss this at:
- LinkedIn CPI/Uniclass

Some teaser screenshots below...

Fig 1 - A big table you can filter by code, parent, description or table

Fig 2 - Play around with the visualisation tree view to browse the info

Great stuff for data geeks (like me) :)

Find out more about NBS and coordinated project documentation

For the second year running at NBS we are delighted to have been asked to present at the MicroCAD BIM Seminars. MicroCAD are specialist CAD and IT suppliers to the construction industry.

I will be at the Tuesday 16 October 2012 event at the Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Ian Chapman

The following day, Wednesday 17 October 2012 at Thorpe Park Hotel, Leeds, Ian Chapman, NBS Head of Specification Content will present.

Drew Wiggett

Finally, Drew Wiggett, NBS Product Information Manager will present on Thursday 18 October 2012 - Hilton East Midlands Airport.

The presentations will show how NBS Create and the National BIM Library work together to generate more robust and accurate project documentation. There will be time for questions after each presentation and also a chance to catch up over a coffee and biscuits at the break.

Places are free but limited - for further details please see:
http://www.microcad.co.uk/events/332-the-road-to-bim

Model with linked objects to NBS Create specification

Specification in the Olden Days

Yesterday I was emailed a specification from "the olden days". Interesting to see what changes and what stays the same over the years. This specification is believed to be from the 1880s.

Some screenshots below...

01 - If the contractor damages the item after delivery - they pay for the replacement

02 - I've searched and searched, and we don't still have a cow dung mortar clause in NBS

03 - Nice to see the services being specified in the same format document as the architecture

04 - All good lighting performance specification should be measured in "candle power"

05 - Specification by brand is fine - Hartley's Glazing

NBS Head of  Content Development John Gelder has written an depth article on specification practice from 1840s onwards for those interested in a serious look at this:
- http://www.thenbs.com/topics/DesignSpecification/articles/centuryBuildingSpecificationPractice.asp

Thanks to ex-NBS Advisory Panel member John from Yianguo Architects who sent this through. If you have five minutes spare it is worth browsing their portfolio of high spec projects - some beautiful buildings...
http://www.yiangou.com/projects

06 - Not the olden days

Other posts that may be of interest:

• NBS in 1973 -  http://constructioncode.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/1973.html
• BIM in the olden days -  http://constructioncode.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/bim-in-old-days.html

BIM in the Press

Nice to see a comment pieces and article made it into the press this month.
(Click images below for larger view that can be read)

Future Constructor and Architect magazine had a two page spread asking "Who should take the lead?" with Building Information Modelling.

Future Constructor and Architect  - Who should take the lead?

The Public Sector Build Journal also ran a feature on "Digital construction - a collaborative approach to BIM".