Revit and the oil spill

So I decided to take Eddy Krygiel up on his challenge to model the volume of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico by the BP disaster because it was just announced that the actual oil spilled may now be double the original estimates. Reuters says that approximately 2 million barrels may have leaked since the event on April 20.

2 million barrels =
84 million gallons/317 million litres =
415,895 cubic yards/317,975 cubic meters

How big is that? I started to build some masses in Revit to visualize this volume. First, I used an American NFL football field (160’ x 300’ – end zones excluded). The mass would be about 234 feet (71.3 m) tall. I then linked in a model of the Lever House office building (SOM) in New York. If I modeled a mass based on the footprint of the tower, the oil spill volume would be almost 1,400 feet (426 m) tall!

Here’s a link to download a 3D DWF file of this model to explore the scope of this disaster on your own.

Three NYC BIM Events

There are three exciting BIM-related events coming up this month in New York City – two of them are scheduled for Thursday June 10.

NYC Revit Users Group

What’s New in Revit Structure and MEP 2011
June 10, 6:00 pm

As a followup to our previous presentation on the new features of Revit Architecture 2011 (recording available on Vimeo), the June monthly meeting will focus on the latest and greatest enhancements to the Structure and MEP programs. Brian Johnson, PE – a Technical Specialist with Autodesk – will demonstrate the new stuff in Revit Structure while Jeremy Snyder, PE, LEED AP and Chad Konrad, PE, LEED AP from Buro Happold will show off some fantastic new tools in Revit MEP.

RSVP for the NYC RUG meeting by clicking here or register for the webcast.

RICS Americas

The X Factor for Building Information Modeling Success
June 10, 5:00 pm

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is hosting a panel discussion at NYU focused on the benefits in using uniform measurement standards and BIM. Moderated by Simon Taylor, FRICS, Principal of Questant Corportation, the panel will consist of:

• James P. Barrett, National BIM Director, Turner Construction
• David Burney, Commissioner, NYC Department of Design + Construction
• Greg Schleusner, Associate, HOK New York
• Andrew Mann, FRICS, Managing Director, Gardiner & Theobald Inc.

For more information and to register for this event, click here.

NYC BIM + NYC RUG Joint Event

BIM Construction to Assemblage: A New Perspective on Supply Chain
June 15, 5:30 pm

A special joint event between the NYC BIM Group and the NYC Revit Users Group will take place at the Gunlocke Company LLC. The presentation will consist of three speakers representing different viewpoints of BIM and the construction supply chain:

• Dr. Layek Abdel-Malek, PhD from NJIT will speak about the theory of tele-manufacturing
• Brian Frank, Manufacturing Industry Manager for Autodesk will discuss tools and software that are available or being developed
• David Campbell, Vice President of Operations & Technology at Hunter Roberts Construction Group will show how BIM is being applied and implemented with specific case studies

For more info and to RSVP, visit the NYC BIM group. NYC RUG members can RSVP by clicking here.