Companies View IFC as a Strong Interoperability Option for Users Columbia, Md. (April 15, 2014) – Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. and Synchro Software Ltd. have joined forces to provide truly open and flexible collaboration between architectural modeling and construction planning BIM tools. Both companies are committed leaders to the proliferation of open BIM workflows in design and construction and work to improve the efficiency of the industry through the successful implementation of open standards-based data exchange. In addition, both companies support the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) file format as an interoperability solution for their customers. One recent example of a large BIM project using Synchro and Vectorworks software is the construction of two metro subway stations in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Consortium Heleno & Fonseca and the TIISA made use of BIM technology as a support for studies and planning of the stations Eucaliptos and Moema, both part of the expansion of line five of the Sao Paulo metro. Vectorworks Architect software was used for the generation of the BIM models of the stations and for accurate estimations of volumes and areas of different building elements of the 3D models. Synchro was used to associate the elements of the model to the schedule activities, as well as to generate the 4D analysis. Some of the resulting benefits of the 4D analysis included more speed and accuracy in the generation of the studies of the construction schedule alternatives, greater versatility and speed in decision-making, the creation of informative presentations of the work for external stakeholders through short videos, and visualization of the structures and equipment in different phases of the project. More information about this project can be found here: http://www.cadtec.com.br/news/bim4d_metrosp_en.html
