Today’s design tools ensure greater adherence to budgets, plan for reduced operational costs, and allow for more appealing aesthetic designs. When MEP design partners add computational design and machine learning concepts to their work, architects win as well. With a partner who can shorten the time to compute complex tasks and routing requirements, and reduce conflicts that occur in the field, architects can gain greater confidence in their early designs, specifications and cost estimates. Better designs mean happy clients who return for additional projects down the road.
If you didn’t realize just how much value can be captured by cutting edge MEP design software, then it’s time to take a look at the level of support advanced artificial intelligence concepts can provide. Below we list seven items you can teach a machine about MEP design, in order of technology advancement and sophistication. These seven items provide increasing levels of value for architects and owners. By layering these advancements into a single design software solution, MEP engineers are able to provide tremendous support for more efficient and cost-effective projects.
The ability for MEP design systems to capture and carry object-level details through building information modeling systems (BIM) carries tremendous value for architects and, as more building owners are discovering, end-users. Designers can assign data to system objects in developmental drawings that reflects characteristics of the equipment or system that will be installed. This information can be incredibly precise, including details on sizing criteria, the materials used, insulation levels, when/where it was made, operation and maintenance manuals and any other details that can prove useful for long-term maintenance and future replacement planning. The object level database storing this information allows for tremendous flexibility on the type of information stored, yielding major benefits for designers and owners alike.
MEP design tools can capture material pricing and cost estimating information that helps architects better support owners in developing and maintaining more accurate budgets for their projects. Providing this information early in the design developmental stage means architects and owners gain greater control over their overall project costs. What’s more, as MEP contractors bid to work on a project, the design documentation can provide a baseline for gauging bid accuracy. Through new AI and Cloud Technologies, this data can be updated continuously and regionalized for the most accurate predictions possible.
Thanks to improved computational design capabilities, computers can now take on the repetitive tasks of performing complex MEP calculations at speeds unattainable just a few years ago. This can include the work of performing load calculations or calculating pipe, duct and wire sizes. Assigning these calculations to a machine speeds the process of performing the MEP work and, to some degree, reduces the risk of human error in performing these complex calculations. Input accuracy is still critical to obtaining a correct result, however computational design allows for improvements in both speed and accuracy.
MEP design software can be taught to account for the varying code and regulatory requirements that apply in various jurisdictions, ensuring that MEP calculations and information comply not only with the owner’s expectations and design team’s vision, but also national, state and local codes. Including this layer of compliance throughout the design process helps to reduce the number of errors that may not be caught until they appear in the field. What’s more, incorporating this step within the engineering design phase can support quicker permitting processes and a quicker approval when the time comes to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy from the local building officials. The granularity of this code and regulatory information can be applied all the way down to the zip code of the project, to ensure fast approvals and full compliance in any jurisdiction.
Buildings alone are responsible for 40% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, and corporations, organizations and governments are setting more stringent climate goals to reduce that emission level. Designers are being held accountable for identifying opportunities for reducing a project’s carbon impact, in addition to other requirements. Now, MEP design tools can calculate both the embodied and operational carbon impact of a specific MEP design. That means designers can specify systems and materials that have the lowest carbon impact in their production—from material mining through manufacturing, transportation and installation—as well as those products that will most efficiently operate across the building’s life cycle.
Computer optimization can not only help architects move closer to their own embodied carbon goals, but also find the best solution for balancing carbon emissions and operational costs.
Optimized routing is a very complex subject in computer science, one that’s been studied for 20 years or more without any clear or final resolution. The concept is to use computer optimization to identify the most cost-efficient route for all systems, a route that accounts for all relevant factors, such as obstructions, other systems, and so on. However, these problems are not directly solvable in any reasonable period of time. As the number of variables increase, the computational time grows exponentially and becomes completely impractical.
Instead, through machine learning concepts, the computer can be taught how to find the most likely solutions and test those solutions to determine which one is best. Through efficient optimization routines, MEP software can get extremely close to the optimum routing in a reasonable period of time. These optimized routing calculations can provide architects confidence that the proposed MEP layouts are the best possible solutions for meeting a tremendous range of requirements and priorities—all within a reasonable computational timeline.
Teaching the computer how to recognize and avoid obstructions in a complex routing solution is a game-changer in reducing the system conflicts that arise in the field as the trades come together onsite. This skill involves teaching the computer to identify where it can and cannot route wires, pipes and ducts in a computationally efficient manner. This effort is an ongoing process by which the computer is able to consistently gain knowledge about obstructions, as designs and systems evolve over time. Obstruction avoidance software is the next frontier in the automation of the MEP design process. Computational complexity and the massive amount of data involved in bringing this technology to the industry remains a challenge, however new technologies and approaches to the data set are yielding progress in this exciting area.
MEP design systems have gained tremendous intelligence in recent decades, allowing MEP engineers to support the development of more cost, energy and time efficient designs. However, the computer can’t produce the optimum design alone. Despite the tremendous potential held by future Artificial Intelligence technologies, some design factors will always be best left to a knowledgeable engineer.
For example, when your MEP engineer is able to use AI based optimized design tools to route and size MEP systems more efficiently, that partner is then able to spend more time prioritizing building aesthetics and functionality. The machine may provide the best routes and carry all critical information, but the best route doesn’t always work with your aesthetic goals. The human engineer can then adjust the parameters of the design to provide a better overall result.
Your MEP engineer also carries the critical insight needed to select the appropriate systems and troubleshoot new or existing systems that aren’t performing the way they should. This creative insight will always be necessary to ensure that the necessary operational performance is achieved.
Finally, your MEP engineering partner carries critical experience. They know what works, and can quickly dismiss what doesn’t work based on proven experience in the field. The most valuable partners can also convey this information to all project stakeholders in a way that’s easy to understand. This experience cannot be replaced by design software—but that design software can certainly make for a stronger, more knowledgeable partner.
If you’re ready to partner with an MEP engineer who can support your next project with cutting edge computational insight and decades of practical experience, contact Schnackel Engineers today.
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