BIM at the largest timber construction in Switzerland
Where locomotives were once built, a new district is now being created in the middle of Winterthur. The first building of the development is a wooden structure called "Krokodil". With around 30,000 square meters of floor space, it is one of the largest of its kind. Timbatec is consistently implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) in this superstructure.
With almost 8,000 cubic meters of wood, craftsmen are currently erecting the imposing wooden building over six floors. The enormous quantity of wood is made up of 5,500 cubic meters of cross-laminated timber, 1,500 cubic meters of glued laminated timber and many other wooden components. For the assembly, an additional 76 tons of steel parts and fasteners are required for assembly. The first residents will move into their new residents will move into their new homes in the "Crocodile".
The digital twin
Construction projects of this size
require meticulous and seamless planning. As early as the preliminary project
planning teams under the leadership of Implenia agreed on the
the "Crocodile" in accordance with Building Information Modeling (BIM) methods.
methods. In this way, architects, together with engineers and technicians, create a digital
digital image of the building, including a lot of additional information - even before the
before the groundbreaking ceremony.
This makes planning more demanding and cost-intensive. However, this has a positive effect on the entire and life cycle costs, because errors are detected at an early stage. detected at an early stage: If, for example, a water pipe collides with a wooden If, for example, a water pipe collides with a wooden girder, planners can detect this in the digital model in the digital model. The maintenance of a building is also considerably simplified. simplified.
Changes easier to implement
In large-scale projects such as the "Crocodile", a large number of stakeholders are involved. Changes during the planning phase are the logical consequence. Thanks to BIM, they can be implemented more easily: This is because the models and components of the various specialist planners are parameterized. Experts understand this to mean the intelligent allocation of all information to the components. A parapet, for example, remains the same height even if planners change the floor height.
If architects move a wall or a beam, the engineers check the effect on the structural analysis and adjust the dimensions of the components if necessary. With consistent BIM planning, the structural analysis software is linked to the plans for production and components are clearly identified.
A continuous link between the architectural model, the structural analysis software and the production planning is still a dream of the future. To achieve this, Timbatec is involved in projects and support groups such as "Digitalization in timber construction" ofLignum. Thanks to parameterization, the models of the various specialist planners can already be superimposed and automatically checked for errors.
BIM is much more than a 3D plan
In the "Crocodile" project, the planners use theBIMcollab software for easier collaboration. They assign so-called issues, i.e. tasks and pending items, to the various components. This eliminates the need for tedious searches in the plans: to work through pending issues, the software guides you to the right place in the digital twin at the push of a button.
The issues can also be printed out as QR codes and attached to the building or apartment entrance. The craftsmen scan the QR codes with their cell phones and immediately see a list of pending issues tailored to them. On his cell phone, for example, the woodworker sees the latest plans of a wall element, including assembly instructions. Once he has assembled all the wall elements, he notes this in the issue and thus informs the site management. The maintenance instructions for the components are also recorded with these issues.
Projection for timber construction
Timber construction planners have been used to planning all plans in 3D models for some time. Storing production data for the timber components in such models is also nothing new for timber construction planners. Timbatec is therefore looking forward to the arrival of BIM in the construction and timber construction industry.
More information on the "Crocodile" construction project at www.lokstadt.ch.
