CC Jul-Aug 2020

INDUSTRYfocus
Building Together
Graphisoft's online user conference, Building Together, delivered a powerful package of software
upgrades and then trumped them all with a new paradigm for Integrated Design
Graphisoft's Building Together
digital event certainly had the
shock of the new. Two days of
online video streaming - the only viable
way to host global user conferences whilst
countries are shut down and airlines
grounded due to Covid-19 - building up to
the release of Archicad 24, followed by
learning sharing tools for the Archicad
user community, and all rounded off by
rationalising the way architects and
engineers can work together
simultaneously on the same model.
That last announcement represented
a new paradigm for the industry, which
until now was quite happy to work on
separate but federated models in each
discipline and wait until the system
gets round to updating, sharing and
incorporating the design changes. And,
of course, there is Archicad's new
corporate identity - not just getting rid
of the capitalisation of Archicad, but
introducing a new set of logos for each
of its modules - Archicad, BIMcloud,
BIMx, Learn and Community.
Emphasising the role that Graphisoft's
Archicad plays in the industry was a
brief study of one of its most interesting
recent projects, the Merdeka 118 tower
in Kuala Lumpur, which will be the
second highest building in the world
following its completion in 2024 (you
will find a case study of the Merdeka
118 development elsewhere in this
issue of the magazine).
BIMCLOUD AND BIMX
As creative as architects like to think
they are, the most successful projects
are based around teamwork and the
ability to share designs and ideas with
other disciplines and technologies. The
driving force behind effective
collaboration is, of course, BIM - a
workflow that Graphisoft has been
associated with from the very
beginning. Enhancing its data sharing
capabilities further, Graphisoft has
developed an advanced cloud-based
team collaboration solution in
BIMcloud, one of its industry leading
applications that has benefitted from
the software enhancements released
alongside Archicad 24.
In a major upgrade, BIMcloud, together
with the new Integrated Design
capabilities outlined below, enables
architects and engineers to work
together to co-design, for instance, the
loadbearing structure of a building,
using a powerful 'BIM Track Changes'
workflow. Smart Model Compare,
another new feature, allows two different
versions of any two BIM models to be
compared in order to view various
design options and compare content
from consultants.
Extending this further, users can utilise
the updated Issue Management function
in Archicad 24. This allows users to
share models and suggest design
variations and organise the results into
smart issue lists, assigning names and
priorities in an issue log managed in
BIMcloud. A couple of other
enhancements allow OPEN BIM
workflows with BCF 2.1 support and PDF
markups, and the ability to import and
export .RVT and .RFA files out of the box.
It shares the limelight with BIMx, a
web-based presentation and
coordination app available to all project
stakeholders: architects, engineers, the
public and the clients. One of its best
features is the BIM Hyper-model, which
provides a 'game-like' navigation
experience that helps users explore a
building model and interact with it
using model cut-throughs, in-context
measuring and project mark-ups.
Additional APIs allow BIMx to connect
to 3rd party ecosystems and to control
external datasets that will affect the
building model.
AUTOMATING DOCUMENTATION
Automating the publishing of
documents lets architects get on with
what they do best, namely creating
great buildings. Archicad has long been
10
July/August 2020