Cadalyst - November/December 2008 - (Page 40)

cadalystlabsreview By Jerry Laiserin IES Virtual Environment 5.9 Software conducts comprehensive performance analysis for all levels and phases of building design. B bs • La ack in the good old days, when energy costs hovered around $30 per barrel of petroleum, I was a panelist in a round-table discussion about the future of model-based building design software. A question arose concerning cultural and organizational changes that would be necessary for model-based building design processes to become more widely adopted. Expected answers among the panelists concerned issues such as reallocation of risks and rewards among AEC project participants, shifts in legal frameworks for design and construction contracts and dispute resolution, and more collaborative and better integrated project delivery methods. My response, offered only half in jest, was “$60-a-barrel oil.” As I’d intended, my remark evoked general laughter among attendees — initially at the sheer absurdity and implausibility of oil costs ever soaring that high. But the laughter also contained a nervous undercurrent of recognition that any significant shift in the economics of energy or construction surely would render untenable and nonviable the traditional way of doing AEC business — what I call legacy design and construction (LDC), as opposed to modelbased virtual design and construction (VDC). At this writing, oil costs have soared to previously inconceivable levels far more than my $60-per-barrel witticism, and I often encounter folks who recall my remarks and blame me for predicting this catastrophic rise in energy costs. In reality, Figure 1. The VE/Solar module performs suncasting studies and animations for any date and latitude. 40 adalyst •C my goal then, as now, was to point out that market sensitivity to energy costs would inevitably drive demand for energyconscious building design methods, which in turn require the model-based design and analysis techniques collectively known as VDC or building information modeling (BIM). Solving the Problem Nearly a decade before the widespread industry conversation about BIM and VDC, and even before the founding of the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI, the world’s principal advocate for and promoter of model-based design), a company called Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) came on the scene. IES was founded in 1994 in Scotland “with the initial purpose of developing what were then primarily academic tools for building performance design and analysis and bringing them into mainstream use,” according to founder and managing director, Don McLean. The company launched commercially viable software that has grown to encompass design and analysis for all building design disciplines and to span a range of price/performance levels from the free and easy to the most detailed and rigorous. IES’ banner brand for its wide array of offerings is Virtual Environment (VE), an apt moniker for a suite of software that virtualizes the entire process of designing buildings with and for environmental considerations. Each VE flavor is tailored to specific AEC-related needs and capabilities. This core product is what the company characterizes as the full Virtual Environment, which easily qualifies as the most comprehensive, most rigorous, and best integrated suite of tools for building energy design and analysis on the market today. It is intended for building designers who wish to design and analyze in the finest level of detail, with the greatest control over all parameters, and with the www.cadalyst.com cadalyst November/December 2008 IES Virtual Environment 5.9 Building Performance Analysis Software A+ This version . . . . . . . . . . A+ Pros: Most comprehensive, Ease of use . . . . . . . . . . . . A most rigorous, and best integrated suite of tools for buildFeatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . A+ ing energy design and analysis Installation . . . . . . . . . . . A+ on the world market today. Customization . . . . . . . . A+ Cons: Not directly IFCcompliant. Interoperability . . . . . . . . A Price: $5,00–$10,000 Third-party add-ons . . . . A Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A IES 617.426.1890 Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . A+ www.iesve.com Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A http://www.iesve.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - November 2008

Cadalyst - November 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Designed after Our Own Image Budget-Conscious Workstations — 64-Bit CAD Power for Less than $2,500 Cadalyst All-Star Awards 2008 SolidWorks 2009 — 3D MCAD Software IES Virtual Environment 5.9 — Building Performance Analysis Software View Point: A Design with Teeth CAD Manager: CAD Manager’s Survey 2008 MCAD Modeling: Ask for What You Want AEC Insight: AEC Software by the Clock CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Hot Tips for Cold Days

Cadalyst - November 2008

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