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Computerworld - The 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower being built on the World Trade Center site in New York is pushing the boundaries of architectural engineering because of its height and complex design. It's also a major test case for a new generation of design and online collaboration tools for the construction industry.
The tower's designers are using desktop software from Autodesk Inc. in San Rafael, Calif., to render 3-D, animated images and to try to improve collaboration among some of the parties involved in the project. That isn't the mainstream way of doing things in the construction industry, which still often relies on printed copies of 2-D drawings.
The Freedom Tower's cornerstone was laid last July 4, and precise diagrams of the building's plumbing and electrical systems, as well as detailed floor and wall plans, are now being created by architects at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) and structural engineers at WSP Cantor Seinuk, both of which are based in New York.
Adding Automation
Angelo Arzano, a technical manager at SOM, said last week that most of the hundreds of subcontractors on the Freedom Tower likely will still use paper drawings. But Autodesk's computer-aided design (CAD) and collaboration tools will help project managers schedule construction phases and can handle tasks such as automatically calculating required quantities of steel and concrete, Arzano said.
"In the old days, you would count the number of doors needed from drawings, but these tools do it for you," he said. "It takes the monotony out of it. Imagine how many doors there are in a tall tower."

A model of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower's base. Image Credit: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

One SOM architect used Autodesk's Revit building information modeling software to render a set of Freedom Tower floor plans, each with slight variations, in just two hours, said James Vandezande, the firm's CAD manager. That would have taken about two weeks using older versions of Autodesk's flagship AutoCAD software, he noted.
In addition to Revit, SOM is using Autodesk's Buzzsaw Professional online collaboration service and its Architectural Desktop design software, which is built on top of AutoCAD. The firm customized the Autodesk products, adding features that conform to its standard design procedures, Vandezande said.
SOM also had to upgrade from a 10/100 Ethernet LAN to Gigabit Ethernet to handle the transmission of design data for the Freedom Tower. Vandezande said the firm is running Autodesk's software on Dell Inc. workstations with dual Xeon processors.
Sharon Tan, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said the use of collaboration tools that give participants in a building project real-time access to data is "not widespread." Adoption will occur "bit by bit," she predicted. "As more high-profile projects like the Freedom Tower show success using these online collaboration tools, then others will follow."

	The Freedom Tower rises dramatically above the New York skyline in this artist's rendering of the planned building. Image Credit: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Liability issues are one stumbling block to full online collaboration, said Anthony Delisi, IT manager at WSP Cantor Seinuk. The structural engineering firm is running Autodesk's software in parallel with SOM, but Delisi said that Cantor Seinuk will use SOM's online drawings only as a reference against its own renditions. "You are responsible for what you create, and you don't want to use something someone else has made and take it for granted it is absolutely correct," he noted.
Arzano said the burden of getting subcontractors on the Freedom Tower project to use Autodesk's Buzzsaw service rests with the construction manager, Tishman Construction Corp. in New York.
Officials at Tishman didn't return repeated calls seeking comment.

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