Autodesk, IES Become Partners on Revit Software Platform

Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, Calif., announced Jan. 30 that it partnered with Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd. (IES), Glasgow, Scotland, to enhance the Revit software platform for building information modeling (BIM) to support sustainable design.

At the 2007 AHR Expo in Dallas, Autodesk demonstrated a prototype of how the IES building performance analysis tools are used with Autodesk Revit Systems to generate accurate building performance analysis data. Such data improves the decision-making process and allows architects and engineers to design better-performing sustainable buildings.

“The design of more sustainable and energy efficient buildings is key to mitigating the impact of climate change and to decreasing building operation costs,” said Jay Bhatt, vice president, Autodesk Building Solutions. The company's further development of BIM provides a goal to allow customers that abilities to conduct multiple types of analysis on their building information models.

“Building performance analysis will help architects and engineers design more sustainable buildings and we're excited to partner with Integrated Environmental Solutions to bring these capabilities to the Revit platform,” Bhatt said.

Autodesk and IES are working together to provide robust building performance analysis capabilities to the Revit platform through a workflow between Autodesk Revit Systems, Autodesk's BIM design and documentation software for M/E/P engineering, and the IES <Virtual Environment> software suite. A growing number of architects, designers and engineers are turning to the Autodesk Revit platform for BIM to meet these challenges of performing multiple types of analysis on their BIMs.

Through a demonstration at the AHR Expo, Autodesk and IES displayed how these two software applications are used together to conduct multiple building performance analyses including thermal analysis, load calculations, daylight assessment with LEED reporting and solar studies.

Through the combination of the Revit platform with building performance analysis tools, engineers are able to analyze energy use, lighting and materials and help achieve higher operational efficiency and building performance.

These comprehensive analysis capabilities could help design teams more thoroughly understand the complex thermal, light and airflow inter-relationships within their designs, allowing M/E/P engineers to make more informed design decisions, minimize risks and optimize building performances.

Dr. Don McLean, CEO of IES Ltd. commented, “Through the support of building performance analysis tools such as those in the IES suite, we hope our partnership with Autodesk will help the industry meet the demands for sustainable design and increase the value of building information modeling.”