BIM and Information Technology

BIM Giants: Firms enhance BIM/VDC with advanced collaboration tools [2014 Giants 300 Report]

Aug. 4, 2014
14 min read

This past April, more than 500 AEC professionals—many from Giants 300 firms—gathered in Boston for BIMForum. Now in its ninth year, the group, which is co-sponsored by AGC and AIA, brings together tech-minded professionals twice yearly to discuss how BIM/VDC tools and advanced workflows are being used to enhance collaboration of the Building Team. 

Of the 20-plus presentations at the Boston event, one stood out as being particularly indicative of emerging trends in the BIM/VDC field—namely cloud-based data sharing, rapid iterative design and analysis, and cross-discipline, cross-company collaboration.

In their presentation (http://tinyurl.com/BIMForumTT), Thornton Tomasetti’s Ben Howes and Matthew Naugle demonstrated how their firm is building specialized, cloud-hosted BIM models on select projects that enable rapid structural analysis and feedback for the architectural teams. 

As Howes and Naugle describe it, the model has the ability to share certain high-level inputs and outputs—including geometry rationalization, cost, and environmental and operational performance—with the design team. As designers make changes, the model reads the updated BIM data, runs the desired analysis, and then returns analysis feedback automatically—all without the need for exchanging full 3D models. The result is a near-real-time, iterative design process that greatly improves the conceptual and schematic design phases.

Giants 300 coverage of BIM brought to you by AGC of America www.agc.org.

“Iteration is great, but it can take too long,” said Naugle. “Using the cloud to connect the architectural and engineering teams, we’re able to extract information out of the model that’s relevant to each other and share it in real time.”

 

CUSTOM API DEVELOPMENT

Also at BIMForum, Stantec’s BIM R&D Leader Robert Manna demonstrated how the firm is enhancing its BIM solutions through the development of custom API-based applications. Its latest creation, PathFinder, automates the computation of walking distances and straight-­line distances between rooms in a BIM model. Developed in partnership with BIM consultant Boost Your BIM, the program enables Stantec’s design teams to analyze a proposed design within a few hours, versus days, said Manna. 

“Manually identifying these paths and measuring walking distances between hundreds of rooms would be a tedious, time­-consuming, and error-­prone task,” said Manna. The program is especially helpful on hospital projects, but could be used for designing airport terminals, classroom buildings, and labs, as well as for campus planning and life-safety applications, he said.

SOM’s Jason Chen, Senior Digital Design Specialist, and Sebastian Claussnitzer, Architectural Designer, previewed the firm’s integrated data model approach for early-phase collaboration between architectural, structural engineering, and sustainable engineering teams. Using custom scripting, the firm can link and share numerous project data sources—from spreadsheets and early project models to spec sheets, drawings, and performance analysis—between multiple team members. 

“There’s data everywhere, but it doesn’t work well with everything,” said Chen. The key is to have the most up-to-date data on every facet of the project to feed an iterative design process. For example, SOM’s enclosure and core design teams can each work in their tool of choice and cooperatively develop a single information model for a project. By accessing the same model, the different disciplines can impart their knowledge to the model, simultaneously informing and enriching the design, according to Chen and Claussnitzer.

For more on the BIMForum Boston event, including videos and abstracts of the presentations, visit: http://bimforum.org/2014/04/28/boston-bimforum-presentations-2.

Top BIM Architecture Firms 

Rank Company 2013 BIM Revenue 1 Gensler $733,073,587 2 HOK 388,550,000 3 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 317,799,079 4 HDR 287,850,000 5 Perkins+will 267,270,000 6 Stantec 211,893,190 7 CannonDesign 167,000,000 8 SmithGroupJJR 120,100,000 9 ZGF Architects 102,457,917 10 Corgan 85,587,635 11 Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 83,905,764 12 Hammel, Green and Abrahamson 78,606,000 13 Flad Architects 77,200,000 14 EYP Architecture & Engineering 75,000,000 15 Page 65,000,000 16 Perkins Eastman 62,000,000 17 DLR Group 60,528,000 18 Clark Nexsen 59,816,750 19 SHW Group 56,587,000 20 Gresham, Smith and Partners 54,100,000 21 Fentress Architects 46,671,008 22 Ennead Architects 44,949,000 23 WHR Architects 41,166,427 24 Harley Ellis Devereaux 39,700,000 25 Shepley Bulfinch 38,936,700 26 Ballinger 38,780,911 27 BSA LifeStructures 36,345,640 28 Kirksey 33,697,650 29 Moseley Architects 32,000,000 30 EwingCole 31,300,000 31 MulvannyG2 Architecture 31,135,000 32 Moody Nolan 30,240,000 33 Ziegler Cooper 29,310,545 34 LS3P 28,010,579 35 CO Architects 27,700,000 36 Payette 27,516,095 37 Cuningham Group Architecture 27,399,469 38 Morris Architects 26,188,000 39 CTA Architects Engineers 25,202,418 40 Array Architects 24,500,000 41 WDG Architecture 24,409,600 42 Cooper Carry 24,224,325 43 Eppstein Uhen Architects 24,028,348 44 Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture 23,902,688 45 OZ Architecture 23,400,000 46 LPA 22,036,937 47 Hord Coplan Macht 21,614,769 48 FKP Architects 21,300,000 49 Francis Cauffman 21,036,087 50 FreemanWhite 20,967,716 51 FGM Architects 20,651,412 52 Heery International 20,553,000 53 Cambridge Seven Associates 20,118,000 54 Wilson Architects 20,000,000 55 Westlake Reed Leskosky 18,975,000 56 Integrus Architecture 18,156,275 57 Albert Kahn Associates 18,000,000 58 FXFOWLE Architects 17,904,148 59 Parkhill, Smith & Cooper 17,881,350 60 Hoefer Wysocki Architecture 17,200,000 61 NTD Architecture 17,004,000 62 Fanning/Howey Associates 16,700,000 63 Hnedak Bobo Group 16,540,000 64 LMN Architects 16,248,300 65 NORR 15,427,588 66 Lord Aeck Sargent 15,153,439 67 HNTB Corp. 14,745,958 68 Symmes Maini & McKee Associates 14,020,000 69 NAC|Architecture 13,691,745 70 Legat Architects 13,570,000 71 Quattrocchi Kwok Architects 13,500,000 72 Harvard Jolly Architecture 13,280,400 73 Ratio Architects 13,000,000 74 Wight & Company 12,955,000 75 Ware Malcomb 12,000,000 76 BLDD Architects 11,800,000 77 Beyer Blinder Belle 11,791,980 78 BRPH 11,500,201 79 GBBN Architects 11,321,400 80 Slaterpaull Architects 11,055,479 81 BLTa 10,200,000 82 RBB Architects 9,945,200 83 RS&H 9,800,000 84 H+L Architecture 9,700,000 85 Davis Brody Bond 9,367,914 86 Vocon 9,203,152 87 VOA Associates 9,072,145 88 Hastings+Chivetta Architects 9,046,573 89 DesignGroup 8,798,070 90 MBH Architects 8,500,000 91 Taylor Design 8,330,000 92 LaBella Associates 8,303,381 93 LBL Architects 8,000,000 94 SchenkelShultz Architecture 7,959,562 95 Becker Morgan Group 7,872,309 96 Anderson Mikos Architects 7,750,000 97 Margulies Perruzzi Architects 7,664,876 98 Ashley McGraw Architects 7,512,996 99 FitzGerald Associates Architects 6,022,176 100 Urban Design Group 5,750,000 101 Baskervill 5,699,634 102 Bergmann Associates 5,610,000 103 SEI Design Group 5,461,000 104 FRCH Design Worldwide 5,216,000 105 Goettsch Partners 5,030,000 106 PBK 4,760,000 107 WD Partners 4,671,000 108 BBS Architects 4,480,778 109 Good Fulton & Farrell 4,192,972 110 TK Architects 4,192,048 111 KZF Design 3,510,582 112 Schrader Group Architecture 3,385,464 113 Carrier Johnson + Culture 3,204,174 114 Rosser International 3,068,066 115 DLA Architects 2,824,930

 

 

Top BIM Engineering Firms 

Rank Company 2013 BIM Revenue 1 Jacobs $3,500,056,500 2 URS Corp. 260,646,956 3 Arup 200,593,789 4 Thornton Tomasetti 110,229,051 5 SSOE Group 108,776,674 6 Leidos 68,080,000 7 Vanderweil Engineers 64,267,000 8 KPFF Consulting Engineers 60,000,000 9 Burns & McDonnell 60,000,000 10 KJWW Engineering Consultants 53,874,750 11 CRB  50,000,000 12 BR+A Consulting Engineers 46,000,000 13 Henderson Engineers 40,445,464 14 Affiliated Engineers 39,413,000 15 Walter P Moore and Associates 38,940,592 16 Magnusson Klemencic Associates 38,546,234 17 TTG 37,516,550 18 TLC Engineering for Architecture 34,807,545 19 M-E Engineers 33,802,000 20 Dewberry 31,610,437 21 CCRD Partners 24,000,000 22 Heapy Engineering 22,827,630 23 H&A Architects & Engineers 22,500,000 24 Hixson Architecture, Engineering, Interiors 18,000,000 25 Smith Seckman Reid 18,000,000 26 Syska Hennessy Group 17,282,931 27 STV 15,635,000 28 Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor 14,500,000 29 DeSimone Consulting Engineers 13,828,500 30 Integrated Design Group 13,033,800 31 I. C. Thomasson Associates 12,500,000 32 Interface Engineering 12,087,161 33 Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon 11,000,000 34 RDK Engineers 10,600,000 35 Graef 10,000,000 36 Zak Companies 9,776,949 37 Environmental Systems Design 9,489,362 38 Glumac 9,247,037 39 Dunham Associates 8,000,000 40 Ross & Baruzzini 8,000,000 41 M/E Engineering 6,825,000 42 Newcomb & Boyd 6,750,070 43 Simpson Gumpertz & Heger 6,000,000 44 Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering 5,000,000 45 Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers 4,178,299 46 KLH Engineers 4,007,920 47 Walker Parking Consultants 4,000,000 48 Sparling 3,755,276 49 Highland Associates 3,500,000 50 Joseph R. Loring & Associates 3,500,000 51 H.F. Lenz 3,375,000 52 CJL Engineering 3,250,000 53 Apogee Consulting Group 2,848,268 54 Primera Engineers 2,300,000 55 KCI Technologies 1,795,000 56 RMF Engineering 1,750,000 57 Wick Fisher White 1,123,000 58 Wallace Engineering 1,100,000 59 GHT Limited 1,100,000 60 Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp. 1,000,000 61 ThermalTech Engineering 1,000,000

 

 

Top BIM Construction Firms 

Rank Company 2013 BIM Revenue 1 Turner Construction $6,054,743,555 2 Skanska USA 3,273,528,571 3 Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The 3,247,155,346 4 Gilbane 2,963,000,000 5 McCarthy Holdings 2,492,000,000 6 PCL Construction 2,491,483,943 7 Hensel Phelps 2,204,800,000 8 Clark Group 1,829,229,513 9 Lend Lease 1,753,678,000 10 Hoffman Construction 1,715,000,000 11 JE Dunn Construction 1,646,271,199 12 Holder Construction 1,545,000,000 13 DPR Construction 1,524,119,623 14 Mortenson Construction 1,475,739,000 15 Walsh Group, The 1,426,945,665 16 Balfour Beatty US 1,229,173,292 17 Brasfield & Gorrie 1,212,166,066 18 Walbridge 1,006,640,000 19 Structure Tone 945,622,800 20 Clayco 912,000,000 21 Hunt Construction Group 800,000,000 22 Austin Commercial 717,638,446 23 Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction 670,000,000 24 James G. Davis Construction 637,988,856 25 Suffolk Construction 608,076,165 26 Power Construction 600,000,000 27 C.W. Driver 553,391,000 28 Messer Construction 546,119,899 29 Beck Group, The 507,356,062 30 Yates Companies, The 501,700,000 31 HITT Contracting 495,000,000 32 Sundt Construction 466,859,585 33 Gray Construction 463,300,000 34 LPCiminelli 376,556,669 35 Pepper Construction 355,981,000 36 Hoar Construction 346,337,000 37 Linbeck Group 340,500,000 38 Weitz Company, The 318,980,698 39 Consigli Construction 312,401,459 40 Manhattan Construction 301,916,000 41 Flintco 300,200,000 42 Adolfson & Peterson Construction 297,116,533 43 Rodgers Builders 270,274,731 44 Shawmut Design and Construction 225,000,000 45 Hill & Wilkinson 202,421,000 46 O'Neil Industries/W.E. O'Neil 201,011,969 47 W. M. Jordan Company 200,777,657 48 Clune Construction 197,547,422 49 Haselden Construction 190,679,924 50 James McHugh Construction 178,861,429 51 Kraus-Anderson Construction 178,000,000 52 Robins & Morton 170,486,931 53 Absher Construction 154,118,699 54 Alberici Constructors 152,455,102 55 Fortis Construction 145,000,000 56 LeChase Construction Services 138,000,000 57 STV 135,207,000 58 Choate Construction 116,059,660 59 Paric Corp. 85,000,000 60 Wight & Company 82,964,000 61 Coakley & Williams Construction 73,478,546 62 Carlson Design Construct 71,400,000 63 Hill International 65,000,000 64 KBE Building Corp. 57,842,462 65 Leopardo Companies 49,138,262 66 New South Construction 46,333,000 67 Heery International 36,298,930 68 S. M. Wilson & Co. 35,138,418 69 Astorino 33,349,068 70 Harkins Builders 22,200,000 71 BlueScope Construction 17,849,218 72 Bomel Construction 14,418,772 73 Stalco Construction 5,600,000 74 Batson-Cook 4,587,582

 

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