ADT was used as the architectural design tool because: 1) the long time tradition of using
AutoCAD in the Architect’s firm; and 2) it is more efficient and secure to deal with a
large and complex project by dividing a big model into multiple files; 3) AutoDesk
provides more flexibility in its API for developers customize the modeling tool.
One of the interoperability issues was that ADT (the software used by the Architect) can
not read the style information of a 3D object in AllPlan (the software used by the
Structural Engineer). To solve this issue, the Structural Engineer put all the 3D objects
that had the same style in one layer and used the layer name to denote the style
information. The layer information from AllPlan was then stored in the IFC file and then
read by ADT. Another interoperability issue occurred because different 3D modeling
software has different ways to handle a model. The Architect handled the model in ADT
with multiple model files while the CM handled the model in ArchiCAD with one model
database. Initially the Architect had to spend half a day every week putting together
different model files and delivered them the CM for cost estimating. Later the Architect
developed an applet on top of ADT for the purpose of file organization. Consequently,
the file organization process only takes 15 minutes.
The Architect has two items on the wish-list of improving their BIM practice: 1)
experimenting with other tools such as Revit; 2) more efficient and effective use of
modeling software by developing customized project tools.