ABSTRACT
The architect, urban designer, educator and the late Dean of Architecture at MIT, Bill Mitchell is famously quoted as saying, 'Architects drew what they could build, and built what they could draw'. As software that facilitates representation, rationalization, analysis, design, prototyping, component fabrication, and construction becomes ever more available, and ever more cross-platform compatible, what an architect can draw and build has grown and shifted. Software tools with one, some, or many of these applications are increasingly a vehicle for collaboration among architects, engineers, contractors and owners. Increasingly, as emerging software becomes more accessible and easier to use, digital tools have a significant role to play, potentially addressing a number of the challenges to architect-engineer partnerships, and making teamwork more efficient and integrated. In addition to advances in computation, visualization techniques, and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software, Building Information Modeling (BIM), which enables teams to create comprehensive shared digital models, is also revolutionizing the collaborative design process.
