Using BIM Design to Help Today’s Projects Prepare for Tomorrow’s Upgrades
Gilbreath Entrance HVAC System
Baptist Health Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Brown Engineers uses virtual building models to help today’s projects prepare you for tomorrow’s upgrades.
Before its enclosure, this entrance exposed patients and visitors to harsh weather extremes.
The covered outdoor passage between Baptist Health Medical Center’s south cafeteria and Gilbreath Conference Center was open to the elements, exposing the center’s visitors and cafeteria diners to seasonal temperature extremes.
Baptist Health decided to enclose the open half-wall, and tasked Brown Engineers with the HVAC design for the newly enclosed space.
Funding was limited and time was short to complete the enclosure before the hospital’s prestigious Bolo Bash, a major annual fundraiser held in the Gilbreath Center.
It’s good to have choices…and foresight
Using Revit 3D drafting software, our team generated multiple design models, from temporary stop-gap options to the hospital’s most preferred “dream” solution. These options were modeled in sufficient detail to gain very accurate cost and scheduling data. This data allowed Baptist Health to readily identify the best solution that met current budget constraints and the tight timeline desired.
Using the Revit-generated virtual models, our project engineer, Max Good, was able to help bridge the gap between the hospital’s best current option and its ultimate plans for the newly enclosed entrance. He’d learned the hospital’s long-term improvement goals for the enclosed area while gathering information to develop his design models. He then guided final design for the selected option to simultaneously prepare the site for that eventual “ultimate” upgrade as well.
Using virtual modeling, our project engineer obtained very accurate data for several design options--including one that accommodates a planned future upgrade.
Forward Compatibility = Future Savings
How? Max worked with a structural engineer to ensure that the final design not only met current needs, but was also “forward compatible” to support the later upgrade without additional structural modifications.
This thoughtful foresight will save Baptist Health a great deal of costly structural renovation that would otherwise be required in future.
Strong foundation for the next generation of improvements
In fact, the future installation can now be accomplished via rooftop access, with essentially no construction zone in the Gilbreath Center’s entrance. This is how our engineers use Revit 3D BIM modeling to expand your current choices, helping us design projects today that also benefit your projects tomorrow.
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