YSA Design is close to completing what it believes to be the first example of a cruise ship newbuilding project that uses the Building Information Modelling (BIM) technique for its entire scope.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become a significant tool in land-based architecture and its use is now increasingly becoming a feature of cruise ship construction.
YSA Design has used BIM techniques on land-based architecture and as part of cruise ship design and, in the latter case, the company is certainly an industry pioneer, with one of its most recent projects using BIM throughout the process.
BIM helps YSA Design provide customers with an accurate and efficient methodology for calculations that at the same time allows both shipowners and shipyards to work in 3D through every phase of the project. Working in full 3D brings better understanding: considering different outfitting and installation options early in a project means that potential problems can be highlighted and changes made without undue costs, for example.
Exemplary of the benefits of BIM is Autodesk-based Shipbuilding & Offshore Software Solution (including Lofting 3ds Max), which YSA Design uses so that all participants can keep the entirety of the ship in mind at every project stage. This is more efficient in itself but also opens new channels for communication with clients and shipyards which, in combination with the GA, deepen understanding for all. Now, the virtual tour can take in everything from ‘big picture’ items such as cruise ship atriums to the fine detail of piping arrangements in awkward spaces.
YSA Design has also led the way when it comes to using Virtual Reality, which envisages interior spaces and outside areas in an instantly digestible format to help owners, builders and contractors better understand spaces in terms of volume, atmosphere, texture, lighting, etc. In combination with Revit 3D software, VR makes it possible to see and ‘feel’ the space immediately, and to experience the impact that changes of atmosphere or materials can have before construction has begun.