Overcome Geographical Boundaries! A Center for BIM Technology Innovations

The Architecture and Building Research Institute, under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior, will set up the "Architecture Digital Display and Training Center" to promote building information modeling (BIM) technologies and support future development of applications for digital construction. It appointed the Taiwan Architecture & Building Center (TABC) to take charge of the preparation and plans for a grand opening before 2024. The aim is to create the first BIM technology and digital technology exhibition and training center for construction enterprises in Taiwan. To strengthen connections and cooperation between industries and government for professional technologies, TABC chose GIGABYTE to display a solution at TABC. The GIGABYTE solution is “a distance education and 3D design collaboration”. With NVIDIA Omniverse™ as the core framework and the GIGABYTE W771-Z00 GPU workstation as the virtual workstation, the solution uses ultra-slim mini PCs, GIGABYTE BRIX Extreme GB-BEi7HS-1260 and GB-BER7HS-5800, as thin client solutions to provide high-performance computing and flexible deployment. It is suitable for design, education, building, and construction industries and supports the needs for real-time remote connection and 3D collaboration.

Simple hand-drawn diagrams or computer-aided design (CAD) drawings are outdated. Throughout the world, they have been replaced by building information modeling (BIM). BIM is not confined to singular 3D software such as Autodesk Revit. It is in fact a process developed for building and infrastructure planning, design, and construction. BIM software is used to create and optimize project models. Plans, designs, construction, and operations based on BIM models can be used to attain high-performance, economic, and environmentally friendly projects.

The introduction and implementation of BIM technology has become more urgent than ever. Mr. Ming-Hao Li , Manager of the Application Promotion Division of TABC stated that the construction industry has borne the brunt of the impact of labor shortages caused by the aging society and low birthrate. Therefore, the domestic construction industry must undergo upgrades and transformation. Using BIM technology in all phases of building construction to support industry upgrades has become a global development trend. Mr. Li stated, "Large-scale promotion and training are necessary to promote the digital transformation of the construction industry and address the technology integration issues in model building. The program must encompass all the participants in all project life cycles of the construction industry including public and private sectors, building design, construction, electrical engineering, and other professionals. To support the policies of the Architecture and Building Research Institute under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior, TABC referenced the experience of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Academy of Singapore for promoting the digital transformation of buildings. In addition to organizing related courses and speeches, the program also provides case studies, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) in BIM applications as well as software and hardware collaborations."

However, there are many challenges in the process of helping industries adopt BIM technologies. The challenges include the integration of different data sources for BIM and the compatibility of software tools. In addition, the construction industry still maintains many traditional practices in practical applications, including problems in regulations, management, and technical training. These are all challenges that must be addressed to promote BIM technology. Mr. Li used the technical level as an example to explain that the construction industry has yet to integrate with the Common Data Environment (CDE), which is a cloud-based data platform for sharing projects. Different professional teams must convert and integrate files from different software in order to communicate, and this has made the collaboration process exceedingly complex. The compatibility issues in importing or exporting files have significantly increased the time to complete projects. In terms of talent training, although BIM technologies can facilitate multilateral collaboration and design review between the architect, builder, and electrical engineering suppliers, the collaboration process is difficult to implement in existing courses and attendees are unable to gain hands-on experience in the implementation and benefits of multilateral collaboration.

To actively respond to the aforementioned challenges, TABC identified GIGABYTE's "distance education and 3D design collaboration" solution with the help of the Architects Association. The demand for remote operations has increased drastically in recent years due to the impact of the pandemic. With the continuous advancement of NVIDIA GPU technologies and the launch of a 3D simulation collaboration platform called NVIDIA Omniverse, the solution is able to create immediate benefits for the industry.

Leo Wang, Business Development Manager at Giga Computing stated, "We satisfy requirements for 3D design work and remote collaboration with the fusion of software and hardware. The solution includes the GIGABYTE W771-Z00 workstation, which can accommodate up to 4 dual-slot professional GPUs, as well as the flexible and scalable BRIX mini PC as the thin client. With the NVIDIA Omniverse platform, it facilitates real-time multilateral collaboration irrespective of geographical boundaries." GIGABYTE is an NVIDIA-Certified server partner, and GIGABYTE's hardware has been validated for NVIDIA GPUs and high-speed networking. The W771-Z00 workstation set up by TABC includes two NVIDIA RTX™ A5000 professional GPU cards, which are key for real-time computing. The workstation also supports NVIDIA RTX™ graphics cards A2000, A4000, A4500, and A6000, making multilateral remote connections and real-time collaboration a breeze.

Mr. Li added that GIGABYTE’s "distance education and 3D collaboration" solution allows multilateral project teams composed of architects, builders, and electrical engineering suppliers to use the real-time simulations, cross-software functionality, and multilateral collaboration features of NVIDIA Omniverse to bridge the workflow from pre-conceptualization, to conceptual design, to constructing a simulation, and even maintenance management, thereby reducing the waiting time for different professional teams. The virtual workstation design also increases the flexibility of discussions in different regions, increases communication efficiency, and allows people to complete their tasks in a timely manner.

In addition, the simulation and collaboration capabilities of NVIDIA Omniverse can also resolve BIM collaboration issues that previously could not be resolved. Mr. Li stated, "We can use NVIDIA Omniverse to demonstrate the benefits of multilateral teamwork and help attendees or visitors quickly understand how to collaborate through BIM."

The core concept of BIM in the entire project life cycle is to integrate and coordinate the design, construction, and operations of all related parties. These parties include architects, engineers, contractors, suppliers, and owners. With a shared common digital model, the professional team can work together in real-time and gain a better understanding of the design. NVIDIA Omniverse and GIGABYTE's remote solution significantly enhance collaboration with BIM and provide superior visualization effects. Mr. Li said, "NVIDIA Omniverse is a scalable open platform for virtual collaboration that facilitates communication between different software used by professionals. For instance, different professional teams can engage in real-time 4D construction simulations on the platform and learn about the arrangements and restrictions for machinery operations and movement on the construction site. It can thus increase safety on the construction site. In addition, users can make adjustments and corrections in the virtual environment to address issues and proceed with construction onsite after the completion of adjustments."

Eric Chang, Chief Technology Officer at Gemhorn, was responsible for the software and hardware integration and setup for this project. He explained that NVIDIA Omniverse facilitates collaboration across different software based on Universal Scene Description (USD). NVIDIA also provides connection plug-ins for more than 45 types of software used by professionals, including software for construction design (Revit, ArchiCAD, SketchUp, etc.), interior design (Autodesk 3ds Max, etc.), animation (Maya, Blender, iClone, etc.), game design (Unreal Engine and Unity), and special effects (Houdini). Users do not need to change their existing work processes and only need to take a few simple steps to upload the model to the platform and activate the Live Sync function in Omniverse for instant file sharing with other people. All modifications are updated at the same time, which saves massive amounts of time required for file conversion, upload, and communication.

There were challenges in the process of setting up the "distance education and 3D design collaboration" exhibition area in the Architecture Digital Display and Training Center, that include the licensing issues for the virtual desktop software VMware Horizon, designing flexibility for future hardware expansion, network environment set up across different regions, and finding a suitable software and hardware integration company for system setup and training. Leo Wang said, "The most difficult part of the setup process was the cost of communication between software and hardware providers and the division of responsibility in the system maintenance period. Fortunately, the collaboration between GIGABYTE and Gemhorn is comprehensive and mutually complementary, which significantly reduces the uncertainties and obstacles."

The creation of a virtual environment requires extensive resources and computing power. Eric Chang, CTO at Gemhorn, has been satisfied with the performance of the GIGABYTE W771-Z00 workstation. "The workstation offers outstanding scalability and strong performance. A single workstation can satisfy the requirements for BIM technology and the development environment. In addition, the actual setup process was very smooth and there was no software or hardware compatibility issues." The workstation that operates in the actual exhibition space is placed in a hidden server room in the same venue. So, the mechanical sound can hardly be detected in the exhibition space. It allows the visitors to fully experience the performance and convenience provided by the virtual environment in a quiet and comfortable environment.

In addition to the aforementioned features, the W771-Z00 GPU workstation also benefits from outstanding security management and subsequent equipment maintenance. This workstation uses the newest generation of enterprise-grade baseboard management controller (BMC) that allows users to manage and maintain the workstation remotely with a browser or a phone. The flexible allocation of resources made possible by the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) architecture also significantly reduces the software licensing fees and the hardware maintenance costs. The workstation provides redundant 2000W power supplies, which meets the requirements of the high-availability architecture while providing sufficient power for GPUs.

Many renowned foreign architecture and landscape planning companies have used VDI architecture and enhanced GPU computing systems with NVIDIA Omniverse to facilitate hybrid workflows in a real-time collaboration in a variety of projects. For instance, companies in the United States such as Browning Day, CannonDesign, and Multistudio use the hybrid work process to facilitate effective communication between designers and customers in different regions and significantly improve 3D rendering and information security management. Mr. Wang suggested that companies that intend to adopt the same solution can proceed with planning based on the "complete hybrid deployment" concept. He said, "Distance education and 3D design collaboration solutions are well designed in terms of the space and infrastructure design and the deployment of endpoints in the hardware layer. To meet the different workload requirements of customers, GIGABYTE launched products that meet the needs of different front-end resources from professional workstations to different types of server designs as well as the construction of data centers. It also offers both air cooling and liquid cooling solutions to ensure flexible expansion and optimal deployment in server rooms and endpoints for the existing environment and future expansions."

In summary, the "distance education and 3D design collaboration" solution includes two core concepts — resource allocation and remote work. The solution is very suitable for organizations that require project communication and collaboration between many people such as schools as well as offices, workshops, and research centers in different regions.

In conclusion, the Architecture and Building Research Institute, aims to work with TABC to demonstrate BIM and digital technologies in the "Architecture Digital Display and Training Center". It also plans to organize large-scale seminars from time to time to promote the latest high-tech applications and offer training programs with training for the public sector as the core objective to increase the participation of professionals from the public sector, education institutions, owners, and design, construction, and maintenance management. With these courses, participants of projects can also learn about the benefits of BIM technologies in practical applications and verification methods. Practical workshops can also be organized in the future for attendees to gain hands-on experience in software operation procedures.

TABC Manager Ming-Hao Li admitted that in addition to training programs, the digitalization of building information still requires legislation by the government to encourage participation in the industry. They must work together to identify issues of concern and increase the demand and sense of urgency in the industry to ensure effectiveness. The exchange of professional know-how between GIGABYTE and Gemhorn facilitates research and cooperation between the industry and government to improve the ecosystem of the industry. Leo Wang , Business Development Manager at Giga Computing stated that GIGABYTE will be pleased to continue the collaboration with TABC and will continue to play a key role in promoting related hardware equipment and technologies for BIM applications and support the development of the industry.

GIGABYTE provides enterprises and organizations of different scales with a comprehensive server product line. The W771-Z00 workstation offers superior stability, heat dissipation, and ease of maintenance and is suitable for animation, architecture, and interior design industries. In addition, GIGABYTE's G-series servers offer a full range of products for different AI applications, including ultra-high-density GPU computing that can accommodate up to 16 single-slot professional graphics cards and the AI computing monster that supports the NVIDIA HGX™ H100 8-GPU. The automatic fan speed control, dual-ROM architecture, and GIGABYTE Server Management (GSM) designed and launched by GIGABYTE offers ultra-high computing performance as well as system security and ease of management. It satisfies the current demand for large-scale computing in data analysis, high-speed computing, and AI. If you are interested in the product, click this link to learn more.