ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd]

CET, Budapest, Hungary
27,000 square meters

Project
The CET is a mixed-use development project located in the heart of Budapest on the Danube River. The buildings that comprise the complex will transform a series of old warehouses into an iconic new landmark structure whose form follows the contours of the Danube River at the site. ONL’s signature non-standard architecture—evoking the automotive styling used in car bodies—will smoothly integrate the existing 19th century warehouses at one end with a new large glass and steel structure at the other.

A glass roof will span the two existing parallel warehouse buildings forming a gallery that extends into the interior of the new volume, uniting the old and new structures. Scheduled for completion in early 2010, the CET will include a variety of businesses from small boutiques and bars to large shops and restaurants, as well as a 1500 square-meter event space on the second floor of the complex. The development will include two parking garage levels as well as public walkways, bicycle paths, and terraces along the Danube—connecting the complex to the neighboring public park.

BIM Experience
Autodesk 3ds Max Design was used for the conceptual design of the CET project, providing the advanced surface modeling techniques needed to develop the undulating skin of the structure. The skin was then imported into Revit Architecture, where ONL designers fleshed out the design by draping a curtain wall system over the faceted surface model. ONL also used Autodesk 3ds Max to generate hiqh-quality, photo-realistic design visualizations throughout the design process, which were crucial for communicating the unique architectural design to the client and city officials.

Revit Architecture was also used to create models of the existing warehouse structures that were then used for the warehouse renovation. An accurate 3D model of the entire complex was vital for coordinating the new glass gallery with the existing buildings, as well as for live design visualization and feedback. As the design progressed, Revit Architecture was used to produce the requisite architectural drawing set, schedules, and so forth, as well as for quantity surveying. The project’s mechanical engineer used Revit MEP, enabling the fluid exchange of design models. Both ONL and the mechanical engineer linked each other’s model to their own design model for clash detection, design coordination, and building analysis for sustainable design.

Like all of ONL’s non-standard architecture projects, the size and shape of all the pieces of steel and glass used in the CET curtain system are unique. Yet this construction is economically viable due to the advanced computer-driven file-to-factory production process developed by ONL. All elements of the curtain system will be digitally fabricated by using a direct transfer of point data from the Autodesk 3ds Max surface model defining the curtain system to a CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine, enabling mass-customization and greatly reducing the cost of fabrication.

Ekris Headlights, Utrecht, the Netherlands
12,185 square meters

Project
This built project is a twin-facility car showroom for Ekris Utrecht, the largest BMW dealership in the Netherlands. ONL named the project “Ekris Headlights” because the design was inspired by the shaped headlights of a car, which over the years have been transformed from a non-integrated element in the grille of the car to an integral part of the shaped body. The two volumes together form a coherent image that is reminiscent of two BMW grilles with slightly tilted bars. The glass facade literally rounds the corner of the building, just like the headlights of a new BMW.

The Ekris Headlights building is another example of ONL’s non-standard architecture and the design for the showroom is, in all styling aspects, a shaped volume much like a modern car body. And like the CET project, all elements in the glass and steel facade are different, so ONL’s innovative file-to-factory production processes were used to control the precision and cost of these parts.

BIM Experience
ONL’s designers used Autodesk 3ds Max Design for conceptual design of this project, using its surface and spline modeling features to develop the shell of the building. Once the design of the skin was complete, the surface model was exported from Autodesk 3ds Max Design to Revit Architecture where ONL designers created floorplans to investigate how the skin and skeleton fit with the client’s internal program.

During detailed design, the high-fidelity modeling environment of Revit Architecture was crucial for understanding and developing non-standard, complex geometry. For example, to visualize and coordinate the double-curved roofs of the structures, the designers needed to use an enormous amount of cut sections—an impossible task using standard CAD tools. But with Revit Architecture, section lines can be dynamically “dragged” through the model, which enabled the designers to literally inspect the design centimeter by centimeter. In addition, the parametric change management was particularly valuable for keeping the architectural drawings automatically coordinated with this intricate design model.

Once again, the elements of the curtain wall system were digitally fabricated by transferring point data from the Autodesk 3ds Max Design curtain system model to CNC machines. The file-to-fabrication technique not only provided a cost-effective construction approach for this unique design, the prefabrication of building components increased the sustainable design of the project by eliminating on-site material waste and the associated energy used for the shipping of non-integrated building materials and the removal of that wasted material. Other green features of the project included the use of the Revit model for lighting analysis—in an effort to eliminate the need for a secondary structural grid used just for the showroom lighting. By placing the lights directly on the steel connectors of the curtain system and then examining the lighting levels, the designers were able to ascertain that the lighting levels were sufficient and avoided the wasted material associated with an unnecessary structural grid.