Some of the challenges such large design teams face, particularly with
widespread use of 2D drawings among sub-team members, are producing client
visualizations from drawings on a timely basis, helping clients understand
the relationship between 2D drawings and building-model renderings,
ensuring that changes made in the field are coordinated to all project
drawing sets, and making sure an entire project team is aware of where the
design progress is at any given time.
To address these many challenges, the DMJM Design DC office decided to
implement Autodesk Revit on a series of projects. One such implementation
project was an 84,000-square-foot military facility at McGuire Air Force
Base in New Jersey.
According to project design manager Rob Smedley, AIA, more and more
clients are coming to the firm expecting state-of-the-art technology.
They've been impressed with Autodesk Revit, he says. As an example, one
client review for the McGuire project was attended by a client who was
himself an architect. He had substantial changes to suggest. Taking the
old 2D approach would have been time consuming and complex, notes Smedley,
and certainly wouldn't have resolved the problem during a single review.
"But we were able to make those changes on-the-fly with the client's
guidance, model it, and present it within minutes," he says.