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 |
Read BD+C's full 2014 Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
ASHRAE research targets tying together BIM and energy efficiency
Ensuring that a common language of “energy efficiency” is spoken by both building information modeling software used by architects and energy analysis and simulation software used by engineers is the goal of new research funded by ASHRAE.
| Aug 11, 2010
Three Opus Corporation companies file for bankruptcy
Opus Corporation, a developer headquartered in Minnetonka, Minn., filed for bankruptcy in three of its five regional operating companies: Opus East, Opus South, and Opus West. CEO Mark Rauenhorst said sharp declines in commercial real estate values and tight credit markets caused difficulties in refinancing assets and restructuring lending agreements.
| Aug 11, 2010
ZweigWhite names its fastest-growing architecture, engineering, and environmental firms
Management consulting and research firm ZweigWhite has identified the 200 fastest-growing architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms in the U.S. and Canada for its annual ranking, The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List. This annual list features the design and environmental firms that have outperformed the economy and competitors to become industry leaders.
| Aug 11, 2010
SSOE, Fluor among nation's largest industrial building design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Industrial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Best AEC Firms of 2011/12
Later this year, we will launch Best AEC Firms 2012. We’re looking for firms that create truly positive workplaces for their AEC professionals and support staff. Keep an eye on this page for entry information. +
| Aug 11, 2010
AAMA leads development of BIM standard for fenestration products
The American Architectural Manufacturers Association’s newly formed BIM Task Group met during the AAMA National Fall Conference to discuss the need for an BIM standard for nonresidential fenestration products.
| Aug 11, 2010
HGA creates greener outlook with print systems from Océ
Since its founding in 1953, HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA), a full service integrated architectural and engineering firm, has operated with an unwavering belief that good design is sustainable. HGA takes its environmental responsibility seriously, both in the buildings the firm designs, its internal operations and its vendor partnerships. Therefore, when HGA decided to investigate new options for its printing and scanning needs, the firm wanted a vendor who shared its values.
| Aug 11, 2010
ACSA announces 2008-2009 ACSA/AISC steel design student competition winners
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce the winners of the ninth annual steel design student competition for the 2008-2009 academic year. Administered by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the program challenged students, working individually or in teams, to explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction.
| Aug 11, 2010
iSqFt acquires technology and key assets of Plan Express Inc.
Today iSqFt, the nation’s leading online preconstruction network, announced it has purchased the technology and key assets of Plan Express, Inc., a partner document-sharing network.
| Aug 11, 2010
Autodesk 2010 Certification Now Available for Design Professionals
Autodesk, Inc., (Nasdaq: ADSK), today announced that design and engineering professionals can become Autodesk Certified in AutoCAD 2010, Autodesk Inventor 2010, Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010, and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 software. Becoming Autodesk Certified allows professionals, and companies boasting Autodesk Certified employees, to validate their industry skills and knowledge, demonstrate expertise and gain credibility.
