Case Study: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Case Study Collecting, Archiving and Exhibiting Digital Design Data

Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Case Study: Renzo Piano Building Workshop The Renzo Piano Addition to The Art Institute of Chicago, not yet constructed, is an interesting case study from a number of perspectives:

The building will be of cultural and artistic significance. The lead architecture firm is the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris. This is the only case

study where the lead firm is not U.S.-based. The architect of record, InterActive Design, Inc., is a Chicago firm and there are considerable

differences between the two architectural firms in the level of adoption of digital design techniques.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop and InterActive Design, Inc. both use digital design techniques in many areas. However, InterActive Design, Inc. reported that digital techniques were their predominant way of working in Data Gathering, Documentation and Collaboration and that they expected digital approaches to predominate within five years in Communication/Presentation, Design Exploration and Product Comparison/Cost Estimating. In contrast, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop indicated that digital techniques only predominated in Documentation and projected no other areas where they would predominate in the next five years. This compares to the overall survey response in which a majority indicates that digital techniques either are or will be predominant within five years in:

Data Gathering Documentation Communication/Presentation Collaboration Design Exploration Design Analysis/Validation.

Unlike the other case studies, the design decision making for this project could be well documented without reference to digital data. The Renzo Piano Building Workshop worked out design issues primarily in physical models, and then documented the decisions in CAD. Design decision-making took place at periodic workshops that brought together relevant team members for two to three days. Decisions taken at these meetings were documented in books of drawings that were distributed as hardcopy. Physical models were the primary medium used in design presentations. Occasionally, the firm used CAD data to produce components for models or mockups. An example is shown in the Illustrated Narrative of a model of the flying carpet light-diffusing lattice that was produced by laser cutters driven by CAD data. The team for this project consists of many geographically dispersed firms (see the Project Data Sheet for a listing.) Communication and collaboration among the members of this large design team were managed through the use of a Web-based system, Framework Technologies ActiveProject. This was deployed on a server managed by InterActive Design, Inc. and accessible to project participants worldwide via the Internet. Because this collaboration application was of particular interest, InterActive Designs computer environment is the one documented for this case study. The concept was for this server to be the main file for the project. Would this then create a ready-made project archive that could be turned over to an archival institution, such as The Art Institutes Department of Architecture, at the end of the project? The Web site does provide a clear organization of project documentation and there are clearly tabbed sections for documents related to each major project milestone. (See the Illustrated Narrative). Documents managed include meeting minutes, requests for information, reports, comments, drawings, cost estimates and program information. The system links comments and markups to the correct drawings. Unfortunately, the two major design outputs that best indicate the design decisions taken and the architects design intent are the books of drawings produced at the end of each workshop and

Case Study: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

the physical models. None of this information is stored on the ActiveProject site, even though the models were digitally photographed. The ActiveProject system was very effective in streamlining communications and eliminating lag time caused by the geographic separation of team members. This is discussed further in the Illustrated Narrative. It is interesting to note that the preferred format for documents to be output on printers or plotters in other offices was PDF. However, the fact that design documentation that is arguably most important from an archivists perspective was not included illustrates the point that design firms must be encouraged to include the long-term archival perspective when planning the management of their digital project documentation.

Use of Digital Design Tools: InterActive Design, Inc.

100% 100%

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%0% 0%

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Data Gathering Documentation Communication /Presentation

Collaboration DesignExploration

Design Analysis/ Validation

BuildingSystems /Product

Selection

ProductComparison /

Cost Estimation

DesignGeneration

RapidPrototyping

Construction /Fabrication

Computer Use During Design

Predominant Way Firm Performs Design

Will Be Predominant Way Within 5 Years

Use of Digital Design Tools: All Respondents

87%

93% 94%

76%

88%

55%

32%28%

44%

24%25%25%

31%29%

31%

54%

87%

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Design Analysis /Validation

Building Systems/ ProductSelection

ProductComparison /

Cost Estimation

DesignGeneration

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Use of Digital Design Tools: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

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Data Gathering Documentation Communication/ Presentation


Design Analysis/ Validation

BuildingSystems /Product

Selection

ProductComparison /

Cost Estimation

DesignGeneration

RapidPrototyping





Use of Digital Design Tools: All Respondents

87%

93% 94%

76%

88%

55%

32%28%

44%

24%25%25%

31%29%

31%

10%10%

26%

15%16%

29%

51%

35%

72%

87%

54%

11%

20%21%

27%

38%

17%

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0%

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Design Analysis /Validation

Building Systems/ ProductSelection

ProductComparison /

Cost Estimation

DesignGeneration

RapidPrototyping







The Department of Architecture of the Art Institute of Chicago is conducting a study to identify and address the emerging need to collect, archive and exhibit digital design data. The study is being conducted by Kristine Fallon Associates, Inc. This study is the first of its kind, and its ground-breaking findings will be presented in 2004 at international architectural and archival conferences.

This survey will help the museum plan for incorporating digital design within its future exhibitions, programs and archives. Please take a moment to let us know how you use digital design tools. Many thanks for your cooperation!

About Your Practice Firm Name: Interactive Design, Inc. Total firm staff (all locations) 9

Your Office Location: Chicago Total number of architects (including interns) 8

Please select the title that best defines your role at your firm: Sole Practitioner Project Manager Managing Principal Lead/ Senior Designer Design Principal Design Team Member CTO / IT Manager / CAD Manager Drafter/ CAD Technician

Please refer to the following definitions when answering the survey: Data Gathering Digital tools used to collect information that informs the design process: site

survey, program, etc. Documentation Classic CAD using computers to create drawings in the manual tradition (plans,

sections, elevations) Communication / Presentation

Using more advanced computer graphics tools to improve ability to show the design concept: rendering, image montage, animation

Collaboration Using special-purpose applications (not email) to share information and manage shared work processes with remotely located team members or clients

Design Exploration Developing a design concept on-screen: the software replaces or adds to traditional tools, such as physical model-making

Design Analysis / Validation

Quantitative analysis, excluding cost; from computer-generated solar penetration or shadow studies to engineering analysis

Building Systems / Product Selection

Automated selection of products and components; not operator selection from electronic catalogs

Product Comparison / Cost Estimation

Automated generation of cost estimates from computer model of building; ability to substitute products or assemblies and compare results

Design Generation Using automated techniques to generate design or configure products / systems Rapid Prototyping Data from computer model drives prototyping device Construction / Fabrication

Using design data to fabricate building components (full-scale) or to generate a list of specific manufactured components or products; using robotics in construction

How does your firm use digital design tools?

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Please check all the ways your firm uses computers during design Please check if this is the predominant (most frequent) way your firm performs this activity

If this is not currently the predominant method of working, check if you believe it will be within the next 5 years


Please indicate which digital design products your firm is using, and in which ways. Check all that apply.

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3ds Max AccuRender ActiveProject Adobe After Effects Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign Adobe Photoshop Alias Power Animator Alias Sketchbook Pro Alias/Wavefront alphagraphics AutoCAD Autodesk Architectural Desktop Autodesk Buzzsaw Autodesk Revit Autodesk VIZ Citadon CW Citadon ProjectNet Eudora formZ Graphisoft ArchiCAD Graphite IrfanView Lightwave 3D Macromedia Flash Maya Media 100 Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft PowerPoint MicroStation MicroStation TriForma NuGraf Pro/Engineer QuarkXPress Rhinoceros Others, please list

Please return your survey via email or fax no later than July 15, 2003:

Kristine Fallon Associates, Inc. 312 641 9337 (fax)

[email protected] you! Click on the link above and attach the survey document

mailto:[email protected]

The Department of Architecture of the Art Institute of Chicago is conducting a study to identify and address the emerging need to collect, archive and exhibit digital design data. The study is being conducted by Kristine Fallon Associates, Inc. This study is the first of its kind, and its ground-breaking findings will be presented in 2004 at international architectural and archival conferences.

This survey will help the museum plan for incorporating digital design within its future exhibitions, programs and archives. Please take a moment to let us know how you use digital design tools. Many thanks for your cooperation!

About Your Practice Firm Name: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Total firm staff (all locations) +/-100

Your Office Location: Paris , France Total number of architects (including interns) +/-75

Please select the title that best defines your role at your firm: Sole Practitioner Project Manager Managing Principal Lead/ Senior Designer Design Principal Design Team Member CTO / IT Manager / CAD Manager Drafter/ CAD Technician

Please refer to the following definitions when answering the survey: Data Gathering Digital tools used to collect information that informs the design process: site

survey, program, etc. Documentation Classic CAD using computers to create drawings in the manual tradition (plans,

sections, elevations) Communication / Presentation










Design Generation Using automated techniques to generate design or configure products / systems Rapid Prototyping Data from computer model drives prototyping device Construction / Fabrication


How does your firm use digital design tools?

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Please check all the ways your firm uses computers during design Please check if this is the predominant (most frequent) way your firm performs this activity

If this is not currently the predominant method of working, check if you believe it will be within the next 5 years


Please indicate which digital design products your firm is using, and in which ways. Check all that apply.

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Doc

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3ds max AccuRender ActiveProject Adobe After Effects Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign Adobe Photoshop Alias Power Animator Alias Sketchbook Pro Alias|wavefront AlphaGraphics AutoCAD Autodesk Architectural Desktop Autodesk Buzzsaw Autodesk Revit Autodesk VIZ Citadon CW Citadon ProjectNet Eudora formZ Graphisoft ArchiCAD Graphite IrfanView Lightwave 3D Macromedia Flash Maya Media 100 Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft PowerPoint MicroStation MicroStation TriForma NuGraf Pro/ENGINEER QuarkXPress Rhinoceros Others, please list

Please return your survey via email or fax no later than July 15, 2003:

Kristine Fallon Associates, Inc. 312 641 9337 (fax)

[email protected] you! Click on the link above and attach the survey document


mailto:[email protected]

Case Study: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Project Data Sheet Project name: Renzo Piano Addition Location:

Columbus Drive and Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois

Client: The Art Institute of Chicago

Date completed / occupied: 2007 projected

Project / facility type: Art Gallery; project includes galleries, educational facilities, trustee / board facilities, restaurant / caf, retail store and support areas.

Size: 230,000 gross square feet

Lead design firm, office: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris, France

Consultants: InterActive Design, Inc. (Associate Architects) Ove Arup & Partners, London (Structural, Mechanical, Lighting) Lord Cultural Associates, Toronto (Program) Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd. (Landscape) Sebesta Blomberg & Associates (Mechanical Upgrade) Jose DeAvila & Associates (Mechanical Upgrade) Patrick Engineering Associates (Civil, Site Utilities, Railroad, Traffic) Wiss Janney Elstner Associates Inc. (Structural) Morgan Construction Associates (Quantity Surveys, Cost Estimating) W.E. ONeil Construction (Preconstruction Services, Constructibility, Logistics) Dept. of Design & Construction, Art Institute (Owners Representative)

Major design issues:

Creating a 21st century architectural identity for a cultural institution known for its Beaux-Arts building; Transparencycreating views to the city and greater legibility of the complex; Creating a spatial and formal relationship to Millennium Park; Redefinition of the flow of visitors to the museum, with a new entrance for visitors arriving by car; Supporting the educational mission of The Art Institute; Creating gallery space to enable more cohesive presentation of The Art Institutes collections.

Your role on the project:

Project Director What was the most important digital tool used on the project?

ActiveProject collaboration Web site; digital photography What image or object was the most important or effective communication medium?

Physical models produced by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Renzo Piano Building Workshop:

The Art Institute of Chicago Addition

The initial program for this addition to The Art Institute of Chicago was developed internally at The Art Institute and envisioned only 60,000 square feet of primarily gallery space on the air rights over the railroad tracks. A second part of the program was the revamping of the mechanical systems for the entire campus.


Robert A. Jones

In the program validation phase, after the selection of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop as design architects for the gallery addition, it became clear that building on grade would be much less expensive than developing the air rights and that the program needed to be expanded to better accommodate the educational mission of The Art Institute. In addition, the emerging presence of Millennium Park, with 8,000 parking spaces,suggested a re-orientation of the east side entrance to welcome patrons arriving by car. Lord Cultural Associates of Toronto were engaged to develop the expanded program, which was validated with the user groups by InterActive Design, Inc. The revised program includes 53,000 square feet ofnew galleries, a major new education center, a new garden and sidewalk caf, plus below grade storage and other back-of-house space.


Michel Denanc, Photographer

RPBW

This program, as realized by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, will add a 21st century presence on Monroe to a museum known for its Beaux ArtsMichigan Avenue faade. The addition will transform internal circulation, reorient the east side entrance and provide natural light and greater transparency, with views out to Millennium Park and the Chicago skyline.


Images Courtesy of AIC

The full design team for the 230,000 square foot major addition is geographically dispersed. The Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Paris (design architects) works continuously with the London-based structural and building systems consultant, Ove Arup & Partners, from the earliest conceptual design phase to fully integrate building systems. Also, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop does not hand off design to the associate architects (InterActive Design, Inc. of Chicago), but requires ongoing collaboration on issues of code compliance, local construction methods and so forth. The landscape consultant is based in Seattle.

Considering how to handle project communications, the Project Director from The Art Institutes Department of Design & Construction pursued a Web-based production control system. The product chosen was Framework Technologies ActiveProject. This is deployed on a server managed by InterActive Design, Inc. and is accessible to project participants worldwide via the Internet.



Because there is a seven-hour time difference between Paris and Chicago, this system allows the associate architects to review drawings posted by the design architects and return markups and comments before the next days start of business in Paris. The Art Institute required all participants to use AutoCAD for documentation in order to facilitate data sharing.


Robert A. Jones

The Web-based system is not used for design decision-making, however. Several times a year there is a workshop in either Chicago or Paris. This brings together the owner, the design architects and the appropriate consultants. These are typically two-day, intensive workshops followed by a third day, which is a wrap up of the discussions, the decisions and the direction going forward. This conversation continues subsequently via the Web site.



At the end of every workshop Pianos office produces a book that documents the output of the workshop. This is primarily graphic documentation. These drawings are not shared on the Web site. Each consultant attending produces additional documentation.


Robert A. Jones

Robert A. Jones, AIA Architect

RPBW

The Renzo Piano Building Workshop designs primarily in physical models.


Michel Denanc, Photographer

The office has a master carpenter on staff for this purpose. Approximately 300 models were produced during the schematic design and design development phases of this project. Once design issues are worked out in model, they are documented in CAD.


Images Courtesy of Robert A. Jones / AIC

During design development, full-scale mockups were constructed, especially of the gallery space and the flying carpet roof to visualize how much light would enter the space.


ARUP

There were also computer simulations performed to understand solar penetration through the light-diffusing lattice. In this animation the viewers eye follows the path of the sun. If the viewer can see through the lattice, then the sun is directly penetrating into the gallery.

Click image above to play animation.


Robert A. Jones

The design development set comprised 250 drawings, but the primary materials used for the presentation were models.


Robert A. Jones

Some model components were produced by laser cutters working from CAD data. An example is this model of the flying carpet light diffusing lattice.



With the exception of the books documenting the design workshops and photographs of models, the Web site serves as a shared project main file. Documents managed include meeting minutes, requests for information, reports, comments, drawings, cost estimates and program information. There is a separately tabbed section for documents related to each major project milestone.

The PDF format is used extensively. Instead of faxing information, it is captured in PDF format and transmitted via the Web site. This reduces telecommunications costs. PDF was chosen because it was more universal than TIFF.


RPBW

The team also plots drawings to PDF format. Any large format or color AutoCAD drawings create output problems otherwise.

The Renzo Piano Workshop maintains an archive warehouse in Italy, where they store models and other project documentation.


WHO WHAT HOW OUTPUT

Internal / externalparticipants in theprocess

What tools - digital orother - are used

Design activity (process) ordecision

Manifestation / communicationmedium - digital or physical

Owner

Owner

Massmodels

Design Architect

Consultant

Program

SchematicDesignstudies

Design Team, with Consultants

Design Team, with Consultants

Owner

Studymodels

Sketches

Createprogram

Select DesignConsultant

Programvalidation

Reviseprogram

Studyprogram

SchematicDesign

Develop /validate

newprogram

Collaborationvia Web site

AutoCADdrawings

Scan toPDF

Reviewcomments

Plot toPDF

Workshop

Designdecisions /revisions

Book ofdrawings


WHO WHAT HOW OUTPUT

Internal / externalparticipants in theprocess

What tools - digital orother - are used

Design activity (process) ordecision

Manifestation / communicationmedium - digital or physical

Models

Drawings

Book

DesignDevelopment

Workshop

Studymodels

Book ofdrawings

Full-scalemockups

Design Development presentation

Models

Drawings

Book

Design Team,with Consultants


Owner


Owner


Owner

ApproveSchematic

Design

DesignDevelopment

Collaborationvia Web site

AutoCADdrawings

Reviewcomments

Plot toPDF

Approve

ConstructionDocuments

Engineeringanalyses

Designdecisions /revisions

Schematic DesignPresentation

Simulations /renderings


Case Study: Renzo Piano Building Workshop Computing Environment Firm, office location: InterActive Design, Inc., Chicago, Illinois Definition of Terms Data Gathering Digital tools used to collect information that informs the design process: site

survey, program, etc. Documentation Classic CAD using computers to create drawings in the manual tradition

(plans, sections, elevations) Communication / Presentation










Design Generation Using automated techniques to generate design or configure products / systems

Rapid Prototyping Data from computer model drives prototyping device Construction / Fabrication


General Product / Version Category Microsoft Outlook Email System Microsoft Office Professional Edition Office Applications Microsoft Windows 2000, XP Professional Operating System(s) Primary Design Tools Product / Version Use (see above) ActiveProject, Version 10 Collaboration Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional Documentation Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Documentation

Communication / Presentation Design Exploration

Autodesk Architectural Desktop 3.3 Documentation Communication / Presentation Design Exploration

eCopy Documentation SpecLink Documentation Microstation SE Documentation

Communication / Presentation Design Exploration


Flow and Aggregating Tools (translators, etc) Product / Version Used to: Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional large format PDF conversion Custom Applications Purpose Internal Development? InterActive Designs Computer Environment InterActive Designs Network consists of two servers; one for project files and the other for Web hosting. Each server is running on Windows 2000 Server. Two of the ten PCs in the office are running on Windows 2000, the rest use Windows XP Professional. Each PC, except one, is loaded with Autodesk Architectural Desktop 3.3, Adobe Photoshop 7.0, Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional (to be used for large format PDF conversion), eCopy and SpecLink specifications software, in addition to Microsoft Office Professional Edition. Three users also produce drawings in Microstation SE. The bulk of computer use is on Autodesk Architectural Desktop for producing design and construction documents; Microsoft Word for transmittals, minutes, reports, proposals and brochures, etc.; Microsoft Excel for invoicing, timesheets, submittal and RFI logs; and eCopy, a scanning software that allows digital mark-up and conversion (JPG, PDF, TIF, etc.) of any sheet that can be scanned in-house. The office hosts and administers ActiveProject v. 10, a Web-based project management software, for the Art Institute of Chicago, which relies solely on email for notification of changes to the site (drawing publication, comments, mark-ups, posting of meeting minutes, RFIs, etc.) The software coordinates with Microsoft Outlook for email synchronization and delivery (delivery is also possible on the Web via the software).

Table of ContentsSection 0: Executive Summary and IntroductionSection 1: Current State of Digital Design Tools and DataDesign Firm Survey and Case Study FindingsCase Study: Valerio Dewalt Train AssociatesCase Study: Ross Barney + Jankowski, Inc.Case Study: OWP/PCase Study: BECKCase Study: Garofalo ArchitectsCase Study: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLPCase Study: Murphy/Jahn, Inc.Case Study: Renzo Piano Building WorkshopIntroductionUse of Digital Design Tools - Interactive Design Use of Digital Design Tools - Renzo Piano ChartSurvey Response - Interactive DesignSurvey Response - Renzo Piano Building WorkshopProject Data SheetIlustrated NarrativeDesign Process DiagramComputing Environment

Case Study: IDEODepartment of Architecture ExhibitionsOther Digital Architecture ExhibitionsDigital Data Presentation Via the Web

Section 2: Archiving Digital Design Data: Practices and TechnologySection 3: ImplementationSection 4: Looking ForwardSection 5: Appendices

2004-08-12T16:44:58-0500The Art Institute of ChicagoFinal Version