From Airplanes to Bilbao
Tuesday, July 11th, 2006Increased competition across the entire manufacturing sector is driving innovation to unprecedented levels to meet demand in faster and more cost-effective ways. Technological advancements including computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and rapid prototyping, are beginning to penetrate every industry, from consumer goods to health care, and even large-scale building construction.
In 1981, Dassault Syst²mes of France developed a software product known as CATIA. It allows manufacturers to simulate all the industrial design processes Æ from the pre-project phase, through detailed design, analysis, simulation, assembly and maintenance Æ and has since become the most commonly used product development system in the world. Originally conceived to design airplanes, CATIA gave Boeing engineers and designers the ability to see each part as a solid image, then simulate the assembly on-screen, easily correcting misalignments and other fit or interference problems. CATIA has also opened up what’s possible in architecture. Frank O. Gehry uses the computer-modeling capabilities of CATIA in the development of his structurally complex buildings. Without it, the construction of the Experience Music Project or Walt Disney Concert Hall would not have been possible.
BUILDING IN A COMPUTER: a CATIA rendering of Frank Gehry’s Der Neue Zollhof buildings in Dusseldorf, Germany. In this design, CATIA allowed the architectural team to specify the size and dimensions and of each window while maintaining the curvy building forms. In Germany law requires that every office have its own window. Image Courtesy Frank O. Gehry and Associates
