Tech giant Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is constructing a series of buildings for its Reality Labs campus, in Redmond, Washington. One of those structures is Building X, a 5 storey high office space, that began construction in 2018 with architect Gehry partners at its helm. Known for designing landmarks such as the Guggenheim Museum, Gehry Partners is set to work on the forthcoming Building Z, another Meta building that will be connected to Building X via a skybridge. (Include BNBbuilders)
Redmond Washington is a vibrant tech hub, home to a range of tech companies including Microsoft which is headquartered there. It lies east of the scenic Puget Sound, and boasts a natural beautiful landscape, making it just the right satellite spot for many a silicon valley giant.
Leveraging Technology to Deliver Outstanding Results
New Vision, founded in Florida with its production team in Ukraine, is a BIM and VDC outsourcing agency. With a team of 40 professionals, the company specializes in creating and managing highly detailed BIM models that offer comprehensive visualization, simulation and analysis of construction projects. These virtual models help clients improve constructability and enhance coordination between multidisciplinary teams. As a result, firms can identify and resolve potential issues early on, avoid rework and delays down the road.
One of their core departments is the Interior Framing Department which designs wood and steel structures, including interior non-load bearing structures, drywall systems, soffits, and ceilings for acoustic purposes.
Interior framing for Building X
New Vision was contracted by BNBuilders to create BIM models and design the interior framing for Building X, a new building for Meta’s campus designed by Gehry Partners, with a total project area of 762, 815 sq ft.
The project was executed to a Level of Detail (LOD) of 500—including detailed and accurate as-built conditions in addition to precise specifications, quantities, size, shape, location, and orientation.
Designing and coordinating Interior Framing with MWF
New Vision needed a framing software that would integrate with the project’s existing Revit models, and enable its teams to manage the framing for their project. This included:
- Automating repetitive workflows to meet deadlines faster.
- Designing LGS wall panels to custom configurations, and producing construction documentation such as BOMs (bill of materials) and shop drawings.
- Performing MEP clash detection and framing around intersections quickly.
Adapting to Changes
New Vision faced the challenge of adapting to frequent changes and modifications during the design phase. The project underwent more than 15 Supplemental Information (SI) changes, and numerous modifications to the MEP systems. Each alteration of MEP elements required amendments to be made to the wall panels and any resultant documentation. As a result, more than 120 MEP opening configurations were created using MWF templates.
Due to the sheer size and scope of the Revit project, each change had to be made meticulously as it meant hours added to the timeline. It would take New Vision between six to eight hours to regenerate panels for a single level. Sometimes the designers would let the regeneration process run overnight for a single level’s worth of panels. This issue was fixed in the latest version of MWF, causing the entire workflow to take a few hours.
The Results
New Vision generated approximately 3588 LGS wall panels, each with its own Bill of Materials (BOM) to aid construction. A total of 249 sheets (shop drawings?) were created. They took full advantage of MWF’s customizability by creating 64 wall panel templates each with their unique configurations. The designers would choose their template based on the requirements of the zone, and create panels for entire levels or sections without having to configure each panel manually.
New Vision’s Managing Partner Alex Vysochanski estimated that it would take teams working on a similar project 5 times longer to design an interior wall without MWF. The software played a crucial role in automating the large-scale project, enabling New Vision to automate and streamline the design and coordination of interior LGS framing, reducing manual tasks and speeding up production times with accurate documentation.
The Software
StrucSoft’s framing software is a Revit based solution capable of automating and accelerating the design, coordination, engineering and manufacturing of wood and light gauge steel framing. Eliminate manual and repetitive workflows with Strucsoft’s rule based, template driven approach, and seamlessly manufacture your designs, all within Revit. Learn more by visiting StrucSoftSolutions.com.
