How to make online collaboration easier to design an office

Office architectural design and collaboration: how to efficiently manage the work of engineers, suppliers, contractors, etc. using an online platform

Office architectural design brings together different disciplines involving various technical experts that need to collaborate often in real time. Collaboration allows team members to come together on a common platform and work towards the achievement of a common goal.

In this article we’ll provide you with some useful information and a simple BIM management tool to efficiently manage projects, documents, information and collaboration with your team.

Particularly, you can access:

a technical guide to design an office;
the 3D model of an office to use as a guide for your project;
a free online collaboration platform that simplifies collaboration processes, communication and coordination with your team.

Office design | Render of the work area made with Edificius

Collaboration tools for office design

Collaboration and interoperability is the ability to share project data with the various stakeholders in the process. This can be done through BIM platform and applications throughout the design, construction and management phases.

This makes it possible to collaborate dynamically and directly on project deliverables simply by using a web browser, displaying the changes made in real time.

Now let’s see in detail how to proceed with the design of an office.

Architectural project

When planning the architectural design of an office, several aspects need to be considered, such as:

the type of office, identifying whether the offices will be open plan, activity-based, cellular offices, etc.
space analysis, specifying areas for employees to work, relaxation area, meeting rooms, toilets, etc.
comfort and safety of the working environment, by defining the amount of lighting, the emergency exits, etc.

These aspects must be well defined in order to guarantee smooth and risk-free movements at all times.

If you want to learn more about this topic, I recommend reading the article How to design an office: the practical guide where you can find many useful aspects for designing an office.

Office design | Render of the manager’s office created with Edificius

Plant engineering project

Once the architectural model is available, we can continue with modelling the technical installation systems. In this scenario, collaboration is essential, and therefore the use of platforms that allow all documents to be managed and shared in real time.

For the installation project, the first step is to study the comfort conditions necessary for the occupants to carry out their work in the best possible way. In the article How to design an office: the practical guide all the aspects to be taken into account are indicated.

Office design | Render of the workstations created with Edificius

With the use of collaborative tools, you can also federate newly created models and thus view possible interferences. For example, with usBIM.clash you can find out if certain elements of the electrical installation overlap with structural (columns, beams, etc.) or architectural elements (windows, doors, finishes).

In addition, with usBIM.BCF (the usBIM application) you can keep track of all generated revisions, with a history of comments, notes and images, making changes immediate.

A key aspect of collaboration is immediate communication with your colleagues. This is made possible by two tools that ACCA puts at your disposal:

usBIM.chat allows you to create dynamic chats with entire teams or individual collaborators
usBIM.meet allows you to create online meetings and conferences which allows you to create online conferences with webcam and desktop sharing with your team members or collaborators.

How can you take advantage of these applications?

A practical example

We’ll be taking a look now at how you can achieve maximum collaboration with your future projects.

First you need to log in to usBIM:

if you have an ACCA account:
- go to the usBIM log in page and insert username and password
if you don’t have an ACCA account:
- register on the MyACCA page
- insert your data
- insert your email address and password to login on usBIM.

usBIM access page

In the usBIM home page you can create new folders in which you can add all the files from your PC or create them directly in usBIM.

These files can be viewed directly online using unBIM.browser and, in the case of 3D models, can even be navigated using VR viewers (devices that allow you to harness the power of virtual reality).

You can federate several models with stunning results. In fact, you can use this ‘new model’ to get a complete view of the project or to check for collisions. This last aspect is made possible thanks to usBIM.clash which, in addition to detecting interferences between different elements, allows you to add notes and comments. All this information can be exported in BCF format and shared with your colleagues. This leads to a more agile collaboration on specific problems by exchanging information and comments while updating the document at the same time.

Collaboration and videoconferencing with usBIM.meet

The collaboration phase is optimised thanks to:

usBIM.chat the application of the integrated usBIM system for creating dynamic chats with your team or with single collaborators.
usBIM.meet the advanced online meeting service with webcam and desktop sharing with your team members or collaborators.
the cloud space, an online environment where you can upload all types of files and share them with your colleagues.

Finally, you can also draw up a bill of quantities with PriMus online:

directly in your browser without having to install any software
on any device (desktop or mobile, Windows or Mac)
with safe and easy access to your data on the cloud
in real-time with your team and communicate via chat in the same working environment.

Download the sample model in EDF format for free

Download the sample model in IFC format for free