AIA, CSI, and NIBS publish updated national CAD standard, includes new BIM module

The nation’s leading computer-aided design (CAD) standard has been updated. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) released the newest edition of the United States National CAD Standard (NCS). Version 6 (V6) is available online at the NCSwebsite.

The NCS helps architects, constructors and operators coordinate efforts by classifying electronic design data consistently and making information retrieval easier, the industry groups say. It improves communication among owners and project teams; cuts or eliminates costs of developing and maintaining company-specific standards; and reduces the expense of transferring building data from design applications to facility management applications.

More than 6,000 architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) firms have voluntarily adopted the NCS in their workplaces. For this edition, NCS owners submitted an unprecedented 379 ballot items.

The new edition includes:

• New implementation guidelines on how to successfully implement the NCS for building information modeling (BIM) use.

• An improved style format.

• An enhanced and improved Symbols Library. New “Survey/Mapping” Discipline Designators.

• New Major and Minor Groups definitions added for “Airports and Plumbing.”

• A revised “Module 1 – File Naming” section to better address Model Files and Sheet Files.

• A Revised “Module 4 – Drafting Conventions, 4.2 Drawing Standards” list of common scales to add “Site/Civil” scale descriptions.

• A Revised “Module 4 – Drafting Conventions, 4.3 Sheet Types” section, which includes a new “Floor Numbering” format.

• New and revised “Communications” terms and abbreviations.

• A Revised “Module 7 – Notations, 7.4 User’s Guide” text format for notes.

• A Revised “Plotting Guidelines” introduction.

(http://enews.nibs.org/t/ViewEmail/r/9C609075205ED2982540EF23F30FEDED/228CE72962868167E89F0E32AAFB68BF)

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.