Following the workshop given at Salsbury University, I attended this symposium which featured many prominent speakers. A strong focus owas given to the relation between parametric applications and BIM, reflected in discussions on practice, research and education.
Neil katz from SOM Chicago presented his work based on autolisp, scripting in AutoCad, by which he has developed parametric applications the office. Lars Hesselgren from KPF talked about strategies, tactics and logistics of parametric design within corporate practice. Peter Brandon from Salford University discussed knowledge atrophy, and the transfer of knowledge, in relation to databases and BIM. Eduardo Lyon from Universitad Catolica Chile showed very interesting work in regards to knowledge management and process modelling, which I will follow up. Oliver Tessman from Bollinger + Grohmann presented the engineering work with projects such as BMW Welt (Wolf Prix), Rolex Learning Center (Sanaa) and Nordenketten bahn (Zaha Hadid Architects). Matias Del Campo from SPAN, who is also teaching in Weimar Dessau, and is doing a PhD with Greg Lynn gave a talk on architectural fabrication and effect. Bryan Lawson from the University of Sheffield challenged the notion of computational design to certain extents, including the idea of solution space, arguing for the need of classical techniques of sketching and representation. Chris Williams from Bath discussed evolutions of design through examples from the vehicle industry, and his own computational work. Sean Hanna from the Bartlet School of Architecture presented interesting ideas on innovations as shifts of paradigms (or changes of design concepts). David Rutten and Carlos Perez presented the Grasshopper parametric package for the Rhinoceros modeller. Hugh Whitehead from Fosters Specialist Modeling Group presented very interesting models for R&D within practices, and its relation to specific projects. Christian Ceccato from Zaha Hadid Architects showed examples of very advanced BIM use, also from his days as co-founder of Gehry Technologies. Martin Riese from Ghery Tech Hong Kong showed further developments of BIM use within Digital Projects (a CATIA application). Arto Kiviniemi from Granlund presented Finnish initiatives around BIM. Volker Mueller from Bentley Systems presented ideas around future development within the realm of distributed intelligence, including models for collaboration.
I have extensive notes from the event, and there are several people that I would like to get back to regarding the forthcoming Arkus publication as well as my thesis. Arto´s experiences from BIM in the Finnish context are interesting, although I do not want to fully immerse myself in these issues. Martin Riese can hopefully provide me with a good contact to Gehry Technologies Europe that acts as both software provider and consultancy for very advanced BIM projects.
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