How masonry software can improve detailing and design

by arslan_ahmed | March 30, 2023 4:00 pm

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By Dave Jackson

In North Carolina’s Research Triangle area, which includes cities such as Raleigh, Durham, and Cary, local architects choose masonry as the preferred building material to achieve a modern, clean look for the pharmacological and, bio-research, and technological firms flocking to the region. Nicknamed “The Triangle,” the area’s rapid growth has spurred satellite businesses and the need for services.

Carolina architects rely on masonry for its host of benefits, including durability, thermal performance, fire protection, cost efficiency, and aesthetics. However, designing with masonry creates several challenges to overcome along the way.

Due to the complexity of estimating and ordering, and the vast number of individual units required for projects, masonry can be challenging to model in existing software, extremely difficult and perhaps not entirely impossible. Commonly used modeling platforms, which are more focused on steel or monolithic wall structures, are not equipped to manage the amount of data in a masonry project. The result is a significant burden on the designer to manually produce and maintain 2D content for patterns, sections, details, and specifications. It also requires a large amount of manual work to create the high-quality renderings project owners are expecting.

Michael Sutton, AIA, LEED AP for integrated design in Raleigh, North Carolina, has experienced the frustrations and limitations of masonry modeling first-hand. In 2019, he designed a multi-phase renovation of Cary’s Triangle Aquatic Center, a two-story, 5574-m² (60,000-sf) facility, which added close to 1207 m² (13,000 sf), along with 500 parking spaces. In addition, two new buildings also accommodate a new fitness center, a multi-purpose room, and a 50-m (164-ft) outdoor pool.

The existing aquatic facility had a complex masonry facade which included a mixture of three colors, two textures, and two sizes. During Phase 1, Sutton used a modeling platform and manually applied color through photo design software to produce the required elevations for the town’s review and approval.

For Phase 2, he used Masonry iQ, a plug-in that automates much of the  manual modeling work. This tool helped deliver design flexibility, modeling accuracy, and photo-realistic rendering capabilities, allowing Sutton to focus more on designing, rather than modeling.

The cloud-based plug-in was developed to address the inability to properly model masonry in current architectural design software. It maintains the workflows design professionals are already familiar with, but adds more capabilities for automatically handling the most time-consuming elements of masonry modeling, without impeding the model.

“We know how crucial it is to have an accurate model early on in the process, so there are no surprises from design to spec, to bid to production,” says Tom Cuneio, founder and president of 3DiQ Inc., the developer of the plug-in. “That is why Masonry iQ was built with precise modeling in mind. We are merging masonry models with data, so a design can directly yield a production order in a fully automated way, with less manual intervention and opportunity for human error.”

Modeling colors, shapes, and sizes

According to Cuneio, masonry has been difficult to model using existing tools because of its complexity, such as different shapes, sizes, colors, and textures; and the sheer number of units, even in a moderately sized project.

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“Often for masonry, the user has to do a lot of hand-drawing to get to spec-ready details, and ultimately, to get to final construction [phase],” says Cuneio. This translates to hours of work and added costs, and can still result in inaccuracies, especially when successive rounds of changes come into play. Unfortunately, such inaccuracies are often not realized until the construction phase, resulting in change orders and costly delays in a project.

Masonry iQ focuses on getting the design construction-ready earlier in the process, allowing architects to focus on creative design, and not the challenge and tedium of modeling. Users are able to translate their flat models into fully analyzed masonry structures and not just “wallpaper.”

In addition to minimizing detailing time, the plug-in handles complex engineering considerations, such as the placement of movement joints, rebar, corners, and field cuts, and allows these elements to be adjusted as needed. The masonry design tool handles these complex analyses in the cloud, helping to ensure the model does not include unnecessary data.

The time savings from using the plug-in for the Triangle Aquatic Center were significant, according to Sutton.

“When we specified masonry products for the first phase, we did it the long way, by photoshopping block images onto a 2D drawing to produce the final rendering,” he says. Using another modeling tool, the team had to “hand-draw the different block sizes because of the shape differences.”

They also spent even more time thinking about the design and placement of the cuts, penetrations, movement joints, and other similar details that would need to be included. Overall, the project included more than 7100 units of split-face and smooth-face masonry blocks in three colors and two textures. Sutton says the company that provided the masonry products for the second phase is now offering free licenses for the Masonry IQ software because it makes designing and estimating easier.

“Using Masonry iQ during the second phase had a definite impact,” says Sutton. “We were also able to use the plug-in to produce photo-realistic 3D renderings with accurate color and texture, thanks to the company already having uploaded their materials to the database.”

 Photo-realistic visuals

One challenge for the aquatic center’s expansion was colors on the elevations of the two additions had significantly different wall patterns compared to the existing building.

“Typically, we would take CAD elevations and try to bring it into Photoshop, but with the plug-in, all of the locally produced products were available right in the program,” explained Sutton. “We could select the colors and textures and lay out a pattern very easily, then render it out in photo-realistic detail.”

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Sutton was particularly impressed when the plug-in caught something no one had realized—a pinkish block color had been selected based on the existing building, but the submittal rendering brought up a brown block. It was then discovered the original plan called for brown block, but it had been changed to the pinkish block during the original construction. This was a game changer for Sutton, who is not only a fan of masonry, but often has it widely requested in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

“We often specify split-face and smooth-face block because it works really well for lab and research projects where block is used,” he said. “We have unlocked more ability to experiment with masonry and have achieved an even higher level of accuracy in texture and color pattern.”

Choate Interior Construction’s Jim Baker, Assoc. AIA, also worked closely with Sutton to get the accurate color match for the two new buildings.

Baker was intrigued by what Sutton was seeing virtually, as it was exactly what his team was seeing in reality on the jobsite.

“The process was tricky because the blocks had three different colors and stripes—with light colors, you might get away with nuances, but a burgundy stripe is another story,” says Baker. “This also presented a design challenge because the original building was designed by a different firm.”

When the Choate team power-washed 11 years of grime from the existing structure, it was apparent they made the right choice.

“It really had to be an exact match, and they nailed it,” noted Baker.

Improving estimation and integration with other trades

“The original design was way over budget due to increased parking space requirements and the complex configuration of the two additions,” says Baker. “During the renovation, we also contended with the Town of Cary’s stringent building requirements, pandemic delays, and the need to continue with scheduled swim meets. Masonry iQ gave us the flexibility to change things up to accommodate these challenges on the fly.”

With an improved software system, Sutton created a 3D drawing of more simplified steel configurations and relocated electrical components, reducing the scope and helping to stay within budget.

“The team was also able to perform a detailed analysis of the design to arrive at a more accurate estimate earlier in the process—all without having to go back to the drawing board multiple times,” added Baker.

For a project with an extremely tight budget, getting the design right to avoid in-the-field issues was critical.

Sutton relied on the plug-in’s ability to extract unit shapes, materials, and quantities directly from the design model to provide a more precise take-off and materials list for Baker and his team.

The ability to calculate masonry at the unit level early in the process goes beyond traditional area or volume estimates for a production order level of material cost, removing a great deal of uncertainty from the construction process.

For Baker, meeting the project’s budget challenges and color matching were essential to bringing the project in on time and with accuracy, to deliver a modernized facility for its 450,000 annual users.

“I personally wanted this project to work out well, as a former competitive swimmer and now a volunteer starter for swim meets.”

According to Cuneio, these types of projects are what the company’s software was made for. He also noted the importance of having a tight, detailed design which is easy to translate at every stage of the process.

“It is gratifying to have an architect realize such significant time savings on the process,” added Cuneio. “Helping Michael improve his ability to play with patterns and shapes by delegating the heavy lifting to Masonry iQ is a textbook example of how this tool can transform the world of architectural masonry.”

For Sutton and Baker, the design process, color matching, and estimating went smoothly for the Triangle Aquatic Center renovation, and it is now a swimmer’s dream come true for the community.

Author

Dave Jackson is senior brand manager, Echelon Masonry, dry mix and hardscapes for Oldcastle APG, a CRH Company. Coming from an ad agency background, with a specialization in building products, Jackson melds creativity and industry intelligence to help the masonry team remain the premier provider of modern masonry solutions to construction professionals, architects and builders across North America.

Source URL: https://www.constructionspecifier.com/how-masonry-software-can-improve-detailing-and-design/

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