AECOO-1 Testbed

For more information please contact innovation@ogc.org

AECOO-1 Testbed Webcast
(Architects, Engineers, Construction, Owners & Operators Testbed 1)

Effective design, construction and management of buildings and other capital facilities requires information exchange among all disciplines and professions that have a stake in the design, construction and operation of those facilities. The AECOO-1 Testbed looks at streamlining communications between parties in the conceptual design phase to get an early understanding of the tradeoffs between construction cost and energy efficiency. To that end, the project developed Information Delivery Manuals (IDMs) for quantity takeoffs and energy analysis needs, and used these to define subsets of Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) needed in these analyses.

The Sponsors of the AECOO-1 Testbed were: 

Architecture Firms: HOK, Burt Hill and Ellerbe Becket 

General Contractors: Webcor and Gilbane 

Government Agencies: US General Services Administration and Statsbygg (Norway) 

Trade Associations: American Institute of Architects and Large Firm Roundtable

Reports

• Summary Engineering Report

Information Delivery Manuals

• Design to Quantity Takeoff
• Design to Energy Performance Analysis

Model View Definitions

• Design to Quantity Takeoff (BSA-001)
• Design to Energy Performance Analysis (BSA-002)

The AECOO-1 Webcast occurred on May 28, 2009. This Demonstration presents the results of a 9-month effort to increase interoperability between these actors. A recording of the event is available for online viewing here:

View the AECOO-1 Webcast

The demonstration webcast shows:

1. How the use of standards-based, interoperable technology can make Integrated Project Delivery faster, cheaper, and more flexible in the future;
2. Achievements involving data exchange between various building information model software applications and EnergyPlus energy analysis software; and
3. Creation of alternative quantity take off and cost estimates for a moderately complex building where the scenario involves evaluating a number of different energy conservation approaches that may improve energy performance and life cycle cost.

AECOO-1 was a broad international effort in which participants cooperated in solving a discrete set of AECOO community problems defined by the sponsors. The testbed also facilitated cooperation among AECOO standards bodies to achieve results no group could achieve alone.

AECOO-1 was led by the Open Geospatial Consortium  and the buildingSMART alliance. Sponsors included Associated General Contractors of America, American Institute of Architects, Burt Hill, Ellerbe Becket, Gilbane Development Corporation, HOK, Large Firm Round Table, NIST, Statsbygg (Norway), US General Services Administration, and Webcor Builders.

Participants in the demonstration include: Bentley Systems, Digital Alchemy, Faithful & Gould, Graphisoft, Lawrence Berkely Nat’l Lab, PhiCubed/Sofi Executive Systems, Nemetscheck NA, Nat’l Institute of Standards & Technology, and Tokmo Solutions.