International Collaboration in BIM Design: A Case Study of HDR|Rice Daubney and Obayashi Corporation

Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Event-Driven Application
Applicable Industries
- Cement
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Construction Management
- Construction Site Monitoring
About The Customer
HDR|Rice Daubney is a creative firm for architecture, planning, and design with experience spanning 38 years across Australia and Asia. As one of Australia’s leading architectural practices, HDR|Rice Daubney produces projects that have a common emphasis on quality, commercial focus, and innovation in design, across all the sectors of the business, Commercial, Retail + Town Centres, Health + Research and Defence. On the other hand, Obayashi Corporation, with its history of around 120 years, is one of the world’s leading construction contractors and Japan’s leading listed companies. Leveraging its core competence, technology, it provides construction services and such construction related services as engineering and urban development.
The Challenge
In 2013, HDR|Rice Daubney of Australia and Obayashi Corporation of Japan participated in the Build Sydney Live event, a 48-hour challenge that required participants from around the world to design a new International Convention Centre for Sydney. The project was part of the specified 19 Hectare area of the Darling Harbour Live project and was run virtually using mobile technology. The event represented a significant challenge due to the strict requirements for design development and presentation materials, as well as the need for effective international collaboration between the two companies. The success of their collaboration depended heavily on their use of Open BIM and Graphisoft Archicad Teamwork through the BIM Server.
The Solution
To overcome the challenge, HDR|Rice Daubney and Obayashi Corporation leveraged more than 10 types of software. In Sydney, HDR|Rice Daubney used SketchUp, Solibri, Rhinoceros, dRofus, while in Tokyo, Obayashi Corporation used FlowDesigner, CADWell Tfas, MIDAS, SS3, Tekla, and NavisWorks. Archicad with Teamwork was used as the authoring tool for the entire communication of all the software. The workflow of Open BIM was described as being “without any issues or problems.” The success of the overseas collaboration was attributed to the fact that “both parties were very experienced with IFC.” The ability to translate between different software packages was a significant benefit in their ability to collaborate in BIM.
Operational Impact
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