CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
4 January 2006
Implementation Investments
Autodesk Connects Design and Construction Firms on First Major Construction Package for the Freedom Tower Project
Autodesk, Inc , announced that its Autodesk Buzzsaw collaborative project management solution played an integral role in the first major construction package that was issued in December on the Freedom Tower project. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), the architects for the Freedom Tower, are using Buzzsaw to connect the design teams, consultants, engineers, contractors and project managers from multiple firms of varying disciplines throughout the project lifecycle. During this first major construction phase, the project team relies on Buzzsaw to manage and share 3D models, design and construction drawings, streamlining the flow of all project information.
"Requests for information and questions from contractors and subcontractors come in daily and with Buzzsaw we only need to respond once to each request and the entire project team gets the response at the same time with the latest information about the project," said Angelo Arzano, senior technical architect on the Freedom Tower project. "Autodesk Buzzsaw is our primary communication tool. The degree of communication and collaboration that Buzzsaw makes possible would have been inconceivable five years ago."
SOM is using Autodesk solutions across the entire Freedom Tower project including the design development and construction documentation phases, which produce at least 100 different subsets of drawings that team members need to share. The on-demand Buzzsaw solution is the primary communication and collaboration technology being used on the project to link multiple firms from varying disciplines including structural engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer Jaros, Baum & Bolles. Because it's easy to use, Buzzsaw also makes it possible for World Trade Center Properties, LLC, an affiliate of Silverstein Properties Inc., and Tishman Construction Corporation, the project's construction manager, to simply and securely manage and share up-to-date project information.
"The Freedom Tower redesign presented an unprecedented challenge, in that SOM had extensive experience designing buildings to stringent security standards -- but no company had ever designed one so secure and so tall in such a short time-frame" said Carl Galioto, partner-in-charge of SOM's Technical Group. "Autodesk Buzzsaw, already a fundamental enabler of the way we work, [0]has been indispensable in the coordination of our design efforts and we expect it will have the same impact during construction."
Return on Buzzsaw Investment
Even before construction of the project begins, SOM has already saved hundreds of hours and reduced costs using the Buzzsaw collaborative solution. As the project moves into construction, typical project tasks and construction management processes such as requests for information (RFI) and submittals take considerably less time with the configurable forms that are automatically created, distributed and reviewed through the Buzzsaw project management site. As a result, SOM can turn around an RFI in one day rather than five or seven days, a significant time savings. The personalized Buzzsaw dashboards and project reporting features also provide the SOM team with up-to-the minute, comprehensive project information that can be accessed from anywhere at any time. Process improvements such as these have led to greater accountability and productivity that are essential for SOM to meet tight project deadlines.
"Buzzsaw is instrumental in this extraordinary demonstration of teamwork. It's exactly the kind of situation for which we designed Buzzsaw - where process must be streamlined and disparate teams must work effectively to meet aggressive timelines," said Amar Hanspal, vice president of Autodesk Collaborative Solutions. "Technology is bringing greater efficiency to the building industry, and we anticipate that more building owners and real estate developers will begin to require collaborative project management solutions such as Buzzsaw to manage their increasingly complex projects."
The Project
The Freedom Tower design features 69 office floors and 2.6 million square feet of commercial office and public space. The Freedom Tower will also incorporate the highest standards of building safety and quality and employs the latest technologies in sustainable building design. In addition to using Autodesk Buzzsaw and Autodesk DWF Composer for collaboration, the project team is using Autodesk Revit Building and Revit Structure, AutoCAD and Autodesk 3ds Max software products as the primary design and visualization tools.
About SOM
Founded in 1936, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the world's leading architecture, urban design, engineering and interiors firms. SOM has completed more than 10,000 architecture, engineering, interior architecture, and planning projects in more than 50 countries around the world. The firm has expertise in designing super high-rise buildings. It was responsible for the design and structural engineering of America's tallest building to date -- the 109-story Sears Tower in Chicago. Other signature projects include Lever House, an office building in New York City that set standards for office design around the world; the 100-story John Hancock Tower in Chicago; Jin Mao, an 88-story mixed-use tower in Shanghai; and the Bank of America World Headquarters in San Francisco.
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