Shaping the memory of complex buildings

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CodeBook media coverage

AUGI/AEC Edge (Spring 2010)

Elizabeth Chodosh, LEED AP, Cannon Design, reviews CodeBook 9.0 (original article available online here).

Cannon Design recently started looking long and hard at programming tools that meet the demands of our healthcare, laboratory, and education planning teams to “take spreadsheet (Excel, Access) data to and from Revit.” Thereare a lot of different tools available to any enterprising firm, including Autodesk‘s own Revit Database Link tool that recently graduated from Autodesk Labs. We use many database tools at Cannon Design, and most recently began implementing CodeBook on a pilot test case for one of our projects. Being a newly minted user means that I, like the rest of my team, have a lot of outstanding questions for long-term implementation at a firm as large as Cannon Design. And, while we see the potential, we have only just begun to explore the software to its capacity. This article is an overview of what we‘ve found so far.

... The tool itself is really non-denominational, although it is still targeted at “complex building types” with specific emphasis on Healthcare, Education, Defense, and Airport market sectors. The further we got into the training and the more I have played around with it, the less it seems specific to only those market sectors. I think it can be applied to any Revit project requiring sophisticated Room Data management and content coordination....

One of the advantages that CodeBook offers is the ability to populate the rooms with equipment and other components (e.g. Revit Families), rather than having to dig through libraries and locate a specific piece of equipment, for example. ...

... Naturally with any pilot project when we run into problems with the program we contact our supplier, CDV Systems (US Distributor of CodeBook) to help us work through it. This project is a lot more cumbersome due to the fact that we are trying to blend the information from our REVIT model and our space programs. Had we started out using CodeBook, I believe the process would have been a lot smoother. One of my other co-workers on our architectural team, Victor Malerba, said that despite the difficulties, “It will be a powerful tool for equipment, furniture, and typical room layouts. For the planners, it is going to make our lives a lot easier to make room data sheets and creating reports for spaces throughout the building.”

CodeBook coverage