We are also looking at using the CodeBook International company page on LinkedIn as a means to keep our followers updated, and are investigating use of Facebook to further improve our communications.

As a UK-based company, we were especially pleased to see HOK shortlist a London project, a biomedical research facility for the Francis Crick Institute, in the collaboration category. On this project, the design team, HOK, was co-located with the client, project manager and contractor, and all parties had access to a large number of BIM tools – including CodeBook – and adopted a shared BIM strategy. Lachmi highlights the role of CodeBook:

“The use of a Codebook database was also important, as it allowed the connection of room and furniture data with the main models. The vision was to allow this data to be used for procurement as well as downstream for asset management later.”

The project did not win the overall award, but it was a close-run thing; Lachmi noted “the overall quality of the projects was so high [that] the choice of winner in each of the four categories was far from unanimous among the jury members.” Well done to the Francis Crick Institute team for getting to the final shortlist (and thanks for using CodeBook as part of your collaborative effort).

CodeBook International showed the new version 10 of its CodeBook platform, which now supports SQL Server database tools and adds CAD and BIM support for Revit Architecture 2011 and 2012 and Revit MEP 2011 and 2012, in addition to ArchiCAD 15, AutoCAD Architecture 2011 and 2012, Bentley Architecture V8i, and MicroGDS 2011. CodeBook was displayed for the first time at Autodesk University 2004, where it was exhibited as a project manager’s tool that organized the entire project program in an Access database, linked it directly with the project CAD drawings, and then compared and validated the textual, programmatic database with the CAD files. Now it works with BIM and links to models, shares data, and gives detailed reports and validations throughout the design and construction phases of a project, thus managing information from project inception through to facilities management after project completion.

As we mentioned last week, we were delighted with the interest shown in CodeBook by the many visitors to our stand – some of them shown in our picture gallery….

An AU session by Elizabeth Chodosh (senior associate and BIM specialist at Cannon Design‘s Phoenix, Arizona office) prompted a massive increase in traffic to the CodeBook stand. I don’t think I have ever completed so many back-to-back demonstrations in my life! In fact we didn’t leave the hall until way past 10pm that evening! (Cannon Design is deploying CodeBook on a major Canadian hospital project too.)

We asked Elizabeth what she had said about CodeBook and she summed it up as follows:

I was presenting on a topic that is near and dear to me: “geoparametricinfotegrity.” Of course, this is a nonsense word that I use to get people thinking beyond the acronyms of BIM or CAD. It’s meant to suggest that in order to have good information, you need good geometry; you have to consider geography (not only in terms of the Earth, but also in terms of relationships between objects, macro and micro concepts).

Data is parametric and also has associated parameters, but the only way to do that is to have a sense of integrity of purpose in your work in Revit. This means employing Revit, rather than using it. This is where CodeBook comes into play: it augments Revit and enhances our planning and programming and tracking capabilities as designers.

I mentioned CodeBook in my presentation in relation to how we are leveraging evidenced-based design knowledge in Revit. We are creating what we call “Tools and Libraries,” and by adding CodeBook to our toolkit, we have taken our abilities to track compliance and standardize planning and programming information to a whole new level.

The class was not a class on CodeBook, and therefore I was fair and balanced about the application itself as a resource that does something useful. It provides a strong database that can be connected to geometries that hold more information than we can get out of manufacturer-provided equipment; it allows us to adapt to client requirements fluidly with our own flexible placeholders and quickly reach a level of compliance to their requirements.

CodeBook is the first product we’ve seen that’s allowed us to leverage this much information across a very large project. By employing Revit’s Type Catalogs to drive simple shapes that represent objects in space and their required installation area (“no fly zones”) and tie those to parameters, we can count, quantify and track them in CodeBook as they are placed in Rooms. We can then organize coordinated visual representations of room layouts with room data sheets where the same information is reported visually and in text.

When attendees asked about CodeBook, we described it as “a handshake” between Revit and the accumulated information about any given building, allowing users to connect objects in a smart manner.

The key question I got that probably took CodeBook beyond general discussion was in relationship to embedding Families and using Groups. An attendee asked about embedding Families to achieve more smart objects that are reusable. I said: yes, indeed, that is a successful method, but our research and experience suggested effectiveness was limited as there are only so many levels of embedding you can employ before you can no longer track the embedded object as an individual instance. The ‘Union’ command through CodeBook excels at allowing us to “prefab” groupings of elements that have standard relationships to each other.

Many thanks to Elizabeth for extolling the virtues of Codebook in her class.

CodeBook version 10 adds CAD and BIM support for ArchiCAD 15, AutoCad Architecture 2011 and 2012, Bentley Architecture V8i, MicroGDS 2011, Revit Architecture 2011 and 2012, and Revit MEP 2011 and 2012. It also supports Word and Excel 2007 for reporting purposes; Windows XP and Windows 7 64-bit operating systems are both supported, and CodeBook v11 also now offers SQL Server as a database option.

Of all the new capabilities, we are most excited about the SQL Server option. CodeBook has been used by thousands of industry professionals to capture data about complex buildings using Microsoft Access. By adding SQL Server support, we are taking the product to a new level, opening up the potential for simultaneous, multi-user access to share BIM information during program, design, construction and handover processes.

Our product roadmap for 2012 includes further enhancements to make CodeBook genuinely enterprise-class, and to support more distributed team-working. Web support for data entry and reporting, and better facilities management tools will extend CodeBook’s value for designers, contractors and building owners and operators alike.

Come and see us on stand 4C at Autodesk University 2011. We are looking forward to talking to both existing and prospective new users about the application, and also want to talk to potential new resellers about distribution opportunities. I will be accompanied by CodeBook CMO Andy Hamer and by Cyril Verley of CDV Systems, one of CodeBook’s staunchest supporters.

Under the design-build contract with Turner Construction, AECOM — in a joint venture partnership with RLF — is using a BIM approach, along with Autodesk’s Revit Architecture, to design a 744,000-square-foot, 72-inpatient-room hospital and clinic that will replace the existing facility.

Using Codebook, which links with Revit, AECOM was able to extract data and generate reports from components throughout the hospital and clinic BIM models. The reports generated by the process tell the client the appropriate equipment that needs to be ordered for each hospital room.

“This is the first healthcare project in which we are using Codebook to provide a methodical solution and deliverable,” said Luis Posada, senior medical planner for AECOM’s Design Planning practice, North America. “Revit Architecture, in tandem with this software platform, has also allowed us to use information from BIM to weed out any discrepancies between the model and what is required in each room.”

The team was also able to see the differences between programming requirements and what has actually been modelled.

In November 2010, we announced that our US distributor, CDV Systems, was working with AECOM to integrate BIM Lifecycle Management solutions into AECOM’s overall BIM initiative/strategy, providing firm-wide Revit and codeBook implementation and training.

The new corporate identity and website have been created by Farnham, Hampshire-based digital agency 1minus1. The ‘ribbon bookmark’ logo hints at use of CodeBook as a key source of reference, helping users find key information about their building project. We have also taken expert advice on using more ‘social media’ channels to help spread the CodeBook message, and to provide more interaction. Why not subscribe to our blog (either through its RSS feed, or as an email subscriber), or follow @CodeBookInt on Twitter?

However, we won’t be neglecting traditional communication channels – such as face-to-face. Users in north America, for example, will be able to come and talk to us at Autodesk University in Las Vegas, 29 November – 1 December 2011. We will have a stand at this event (stand 4C), and will be keen to talk to both existing and prospective users of CodeBook.

I quickly realised that computers would help ensure greater consistency of output and reduce the time we spent on drawing repetitive room designs. For example, I created libraries of furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) for a major hospital project. However, the drawing of room elevations still required an army of students. And no matter how good they were, there was no automatic validation of drawings other than by eye.

The arrival of personal computers, spreadsheets, databases, and the compound increase in computer power and capacity changed the game. Now textual elements could be linked to graphics – and designs could be automatically checked against project requirements.

Today CodeBook helps designers and fellow professionals create and manage a model for a building containing all its information, from the originating brief to the day-to-day operational management of the completed, occupied structure.

I think CodeBook’s foundation as an application for complex healthcare buildings has made it the success it is (HOK London won an award in 2007 for its use on the Royal London Hospital for example). CodeBook can be used to manage the owner/operator requirements of just about any large building requiring sophisticated management of FF&E, particularly where those requirements are often repeated tens, 100s or even 1000s of times. No wonder, therefore, that we are seeing designers use the application for airports, hotels, railway stations and prisons – among other things.

Peter Mann

Chris Razzell, practice CodeBook Leader at Hassell, an architects’ firm based in Sydney, Australia, has started the CodeBookLama, “aimed at educating, promoting good practice and demystifying the use of CodeBook within Architecture”.

It’s early days (and Chris says he is still changing his mind about the background, colour palette, font, etc), but he aims to write regularly about his experiences of using CodeBook. He is considering writing some “how to” posts (“ie: we needed to do this on our project and so by doing x, y and z the benefits were…”), talking about project events, and explaining useful work-arounds and fixes that he’s discovered.

Since his first, scene-setting blog post, Chris has written four further blog posts – the latest one is about CodeBook Libraries - and we look forward to future editions. Meanwhile, we have made his blog the first addition to our ‘blog roll’ of key CodeBook links.

In today’s economic climate any process that can save time saves you money. I think it’s fair to say door scheduling regardless of the CAD system used is a very time-consuming process. As such, two tools I find especially useful are the bulk door linkage function and the ability to dynamically both push and pull data from door objects within Revit.

An example: you have a 600-room department in which you need to link a door to a space, perform a validation that the door matches the schedule and then perform a relatively simple task of marking the door number back in to the drawing.

It is possible to do this within Revit, but it is a lengthy process and leaves the possibility for mistakes to creep in. Utilising CodeBook, one can use predefined, validated templates to add a door or multiple doors to each room. Once the doors exist in CodeBook, the BIM Editor Door linkage tool can be used to bulk link the door to the space it currently resides in. Once the linkage has taken place CodeBook can then validate that the door matches the schedule.

CodeBook will validate that the correct door family as specified in the template has been placed and that the widths are as specified.

Any deviation from this will be displayed by colour coding the doors and a report is generated detailing the specifics.

At this point we can be absolutely sure that the correct door has been placed with in Revit.

Now the linkage has taken place we can use CodeBook’s ability to pass data bi-directionally to and from doors using shared parameters to tag attributes such as door number, room number, manufacturer’s name, code …. the possibilities are endless. It’s also possible to map this shared parameter to a door label so we can see a clear concise label.

I hope that next time you have to label up and validate 650+ doors the above should go some way to saving you that extra bit of time.

Sam Oliver, CodeBook Support, Telephone +44 (0)1939 290080, email Sam.Oliver@CodeBookinternational.com