Case Studies Intelligent Design Practices Meet Smart Site Objects

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	Intelligent Design Practices Meet Smart Site Objects

Intelligent Design Practices Meet Smart Site Objects

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries	Construction & Infrastructure Education
Applicable Functions	Facility Management Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Building Energy Management Predictive Maintenance Smart City Operations
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration Training
Challenge	There are three competing sets of demands to address when beginning a successful project. Balancing the needs of each while still producing innovative landscape design can be a challenge. The first set of demands comes from the client in the form of an initial site program. While this may seem basic, the needs of a client, such as their desired uses for the space, required parking, spatial constraints, and budget limitations, often conflict with the second set of requirements faced by landscape professionals: meeting landscape ordinances. These days, landscape ordinances are increasingly common, which is great because it means more sites will benefit from a landscape architect’s influence. But it adds a level of complexity to your site plan because now you don’t just have to think about your building, parking, and grading. You also have to allow for things like extra spaces for landscape areas within a parking lot, perimeter planting and buffer regulations, and saving existing trees. And if a client wants to go beyond meeting local and state regulations and wants their site to achieve LEED or SITES certification, a third set of demands has to enter into this balancing act. Designers now have to consider issues like open spaces versus buildings in their plan, as well as heat island effects, opportunities for shading, and reducing water use for irrigation. While it’s great that clients want their sites to be more sustainable, it can be difficult to prioritize so many sets of regulations. This is where designing with smart objects makes all the difference. Read More
About Customer	Holcombe Norton Partners, Inc. is a full-service landscape architecture firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. The firm is known for its innovative approach to landscape design, integrating smart objects within their design software to perform complex calculations quickly and efficiently. This approach allows them to create information-rich projects that meet various local codes and landscape ordinances. The team at Holcombe Norton Partners is dedicated to environmental sustainability, using advanced tools and methodologies to ensure their designs are both aesthetically pleasing and compliant with sustainability standards like LEED and the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES). The firm has a reputation for balancing client needs with regulatory requirements, making them a leader in the field of landscape architecture. Read More
Solution	A project file must act as a database to truly make use of BIM workflows in landscape design, according to Schrader. Rather than designing in one file and recording information in another, designers can combine their entire workflow into one document using smart objects. At Holcombe Norton Partners, this process begins with creating a digital terrain model (DTM). Landscape architects can use DTMs to produce more accurate, complete pictures of the costs of implementing their designs. Tasks like terrain and slope analysis can be accomplished by adjusting a few of the DTM’s smart object parameters, helping you reduce the amount of waste material you haul away, as well as minimize your project’s impact on the environment, existing utilities, and other site constraints like road routes and buildings. Creating a DTM is useful for making big-picture decisions at the beginning of the design process, and it also continues to inform decisions as a project develops. Since DTMs are composed of smart, parametric objects, each change made to a design impacts the data stored within those objects. By connecting this data to worksheets that run analyses for landscape ordinances and sustainability accreditation, designers can test the effects of every decision they make in real time. One example of how smart objects and worksheets help in the balancing act of designing a site plan is looking at whether the plan provides adequate building area, parking, and hardscapes while preserving enough vegetated open space to meet credit criteria. Preparing a worksheet to draw area data from a few smart polyline objects, and modifying those polygons to match the layout as it changes, is a simple way to track compliance throughout the project. Often, this can be accomplished using shaded or filled areas that also improve the legibility of the working drawings. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Predictive Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

Applicable Industries

Construction & Infrastructure

Education

Applicable Functions

Facility Management

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Building Energy Management

Predictive Maintenance

Smart City Operations

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Training

Challenge

There are three competing sets of demands to address when beginning a successful project. Balancing the needs of each while still producing innovative landscape design can be a challenge. The first set of demands comes from the client in the form of an initial site program. While this may seem basic, the needs of a client, such as their desired uses for the space, required parking, spatial constraints, and budget limitations, often conflict with the second set of requirements faced by landscape professionals: meeting landscape ordinances. These days, landscape ordinances are increasingly common, which is great because it means more sites will benefit from a landscape architect’s influence. But it adds a level of complexity to your site plan because now you don’t just have to think about your building, parking, and grading. You also have to allow for things like extra spaces for landscape areas within a parking lot, perimeter planting and buffer regulations, and saving existing trees. And if a client wants to go beyond meeting local and state regulations and wants their site to achieve LEED or SITES certification, a third set of demands has to enter into this balancing act. Designers now have to consider issues like open spaces versus buildings in their plan, as well as heat island effects, opportunities for shading, and reducing water use for irrigation. While it’s great that clients want their sites to be more sustainable, it can be difficult to prioritize so many sets of regulations. This is where designing with smart objects makes all the difference.

About Customer

Holcombe Norton Partners, Inc. is a full-service landscape architecture firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. The firm is known for its innovative approach to landscape design, integrating smart objects within their design software to perform complex calculations quickly and efficiently. This approach allows them to create information-rich projects that meet various local codes and landscape ordinances. The team at Holcombe Norton Partners is dedicated to environmental sustainability, using advanced tools and methodologies to ensure their designs are both aesthetically pleasing and compliant with sustainability standards like LEED and the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES). The firm has a reputation for balancing client needs with regulatory requirements, making them a leader in the field of landscape architecture.

Solution

A project file must act as a database to truly make use of BIM workflows in landscape design, according to Schrader. Rather than designing in one file and recording information in another, designers can combine their entire workflow into one document using smart objects. At Holcombe Norton Partners, this process begins with creating a digital terrain model (DTM). Landscape architects can use DTMs to produce more accurate, complete pictures of the costs of implementing their designs. Tasks like terrain and slope analysis can be accomplished by adjusting a few of the DTM’s smart object parameters, helping you reduce the amount of waste material you haul away, as well as minimize your project’s impact on the environment, existing utilities, and other site constraints like road routes and buildings. Creating a DTM is useful for making big-picture decisions at the beginning of the design process, and it also continues to inform decisions as a project develops. Since DTMs are composed of smart, parametric objects, each change made to a design impacts the data stored within those objects. By connecting this data to worksheets that run analyses for landscape ordinances and sustainability accreditation, designers can test the effects of every decision they make in real time. One example of how smart objects and worksheets help in the balancing act of designing a site plan is looking at whether the plan provides adequate building area, parking, and hardscapes while preserving enough vegetated open space to meet credit criteria. Preparing a worksheet to draw area data from a few smart polyline objects, and modifying those polygons to match the layout as it changes, is a simple way to track compliance throughout the project. Often, this can be accomplished using shaded or filled areas that also improve the legibility of the working drawings.

Impact #1	Holcombe Norton Partners successfully used a DTM connected to various worksheets to calculate everything from elevations and slopes to the cost of moving materials and the amount of green space on the site.
Impact #2	The firm developed a grading plan that allowed for the build-up of the Wellness Center site and turned the borrow area into intramural fields, while carefully weaving the access walks and retaining wall into the design to save a heritage-quality red oak tree.
Impact #3	The site design included smart hardscape and planting objects, which empowered the team to utilize worksheet analyses to reduce the project’s overall heat island effect despite having nine different hardscape types on the site.

Impact #1

Holcombe Norton Partners successfully used a DTM connected to various worksheets to calculate everything from elevations and slopes to the cost of moving materials and the amount of green space on the site.

Impact #2

The firm developed a grading plan that allowed for the build-up of the Wellness Center site and turned the borrow area into intramural fields, while carefully weaving the access walks and retaining wall into the design to save a heritage-quality red oak tree.

Impact #3

The site design included smart hardscape and planting objects, which empowered the team to utilize worksheet analyses to reduce the project’s overall heat island effect despite having nine different hardscape types on the site.

Benefit #1	Water usage was cut in half through plant species selection and plant density reduction.
Benefit #2	The project is on its way to being certified LEED Silver.

Benefit #1

Water usage was cut in half through plant species selection and plant density reduction.

Benefit #2

The project is on its way to being certified LEED Silver.

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Overview

Intelligent Design Practices Meet Smart Site Objects

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit