Bentley Architecture

BIM for Architectural Design and Documentation

Better Buildings on Time and on Budget

Bentley Architecture is an advanced, yet intuitive and easy-to-use architectural building information modeling (BIM) application that empowers architects and designers to create with unlimited freedom.

Bentley Architecture is an advanced, yet intuitive and easy-to-use architectural building information modeling (BIM) application that empowers architects and designers to create with unlimited freedom, to explore more design options, to make better informed design decisions, and to predict costs and performance. Design and construction documents are automatically coordinated, eliminating errors and omissions. So, architectural and AE firms can deliver better buildings on time and on budget, thus improving client services and increasing revenue - business-critical benefits in today's competitive environment.

Unlike stand-alone architectural applications offered by most vendors, Bentley Architecture is part of Bentley's integrated suite of Building Information Modeling (BIM) applications that provide seamless integration between design, engineering, analysis, construction, and operations for the entire lifecycle of facilities. Used by the world's leading architectural, engineering, and construction companies on the largest and most complex projects, this unique solution supports multi-disciplinary workgroups and global teams in a managed environment, allowing them to build as one.

Advantages

Model building information

Bentley is committed to delivering complete BIM solutions that support the whole project delivery process for the entire lifecycle of facilities. Built on a single platform while supporting industry standards, these solutions focus on design rather than drafting, integrate design with engineering, facilitate multi-disciplinary collaboration, and allow distributed teams to "build as one" within a managed information environment.

Bentley Architecture, an advanced building information modeling (BIM) application, virtually creates 3D prototypes of buildings, thereby providing significant business-critical benefits for architectural design and AE/EA firms of all sizes. Allowing them to deliver better buildings on time and on budget, they can substantially improve client services, reduce costs, and increase revenue.

Benefits:

Achieve greater design quality on time and on budget
Avoid cost overruns, delays, and claims
Improve client services
Gain a competitive advantage
Increase revenue

Image courtesy of: PLH arkitekter as

Compress design development time

To facilitate the rapid design and modeling of the most complex buildings, Bentley Architecture supports the creation of virtually every type of building object and component with a comprehensive range of dedicated tools. Walls and compound walls, foundations, columns, beams, slabs, roofs, doors, windows, curtain walls, stairs, reflected ceilings, spaces, and so on are created and modified parametrically-that is, dimension driven. Connectivity between components further accelerate the implementation of design changes, thus allowing the evaluation of far more design iterations or the compression of the design development process.

Benefits:

Rapidly design and model the most complex buildings
Gain more time to evaluate more design options
Achieve significant time savings in the design development phase

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Create virtually any form

For rapid creation of complex parametric objects and assemblies, such as doors, windows, curtain walls, shop fronts, or handrails, Bentley Architecture includes extremely powerful modeling technology. Known as "dimension-driven, feature-based, parametric modeling," it defines component dimensions as user-definable variables and expressions, relationships between objects as dimensional constraints, and arrays of components as rules, like "maximum distance" between curtain wall mullions, thus capturing design intent.

In addition, it provides a full range of advanced solids modeling tools, which allow the creation of virtually any form, including openings, recesses, and protrusions. Unlike applications that use facets to emulate curved surfaces, Bentley Architecture creates truly curved and double-curved surfaces and solids for accurate construction information and smooth rendering.

Benefits:

Rapidly create complex parametric objects and assemblies
Create unlimited combinations and variations of parametric building objects
Create without limits

Image courtesy of PLH arkitekter as

Get immediate visual feedback

Bentley Architecture provides immediate visual feedback and streamlines the creation of convincing presentations without the need to export data to an external visualization application, because powerful design visualization tools, which include ray and particle tracing, radiosity, animation, lighting, and camera controls, and more, are seamlessly integrated.

In addition, Bentley Architecture not only supports Adobe PDF, the standard for electronic deliverables in AEC. You can include embedded 3D models, and connect to the Google Earth service.

Publish 2D and 3D models in DGN and DWG directly to the Google Earth environment, so you can:

zoom from space onto a site
view the facility in the context of rich geography imagery
fly around the building
and then view associated content, like floor plans, sections, elevations, details, schedules, rendered images, or Web pages via embedded links.

Benefits:

Forget the need to export models to external visualization application
Streamline the creation of convincing client presentations
Better communicate the design intent and project information to stakeholders

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Reduce construction documentation time

From a consistent building information model, you can automatically generate coordinated floor plans, sections, and elevations that comply with user-definable drawing standards. Tools give full control over the cut plane(s) and forward and reflected view representation, as well as levels, symbology, material hatching and patterning, annotation and labeling, and dimensioning. Resymbolize 3D objects to their appropriate 2D symbolic representation and highlight changes since the last extraction.

Benefits:

Create coordinated construction documents
Control every aspect of representation
Achieve significant time savings in the construction drawings phase

Image courtesy of PLH arkitekter as

Predict performance, quantities, and costs

Query the building information model using the user-definable properties associated with building components, and make selective or global changes to the geometry and non-graphical information. Accurate quantity and cost reports, schedules, and specifications can be generated and linked to Microsoft Excel spreadsheet templates for further formatting and processing.

Benefits:

Query any aspect of the building information model
Make geometry changes through associated attributes
Generate accurate schedule and reports

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Avoid errors and omissions

Bentley Architecture automatically coordinates architectural design and construction documentation through all project phases and manages inherent component attributes and properties significant for design, documentation, analysis, construction, and operations.

All information is tightly linked, so changes made in models or drawings are reflected in corresponding representations and reports. Building objects and components can be pre-defined and stored with settings for level, 2D and 3D symbology, and default properties for quantity takeoff, rendering, etc., thus not only enforcing corporate and project standards, but also capturing knowledge for reuse on subsequent projects.

Benefits:

Assure consistency across all forms of project documentation
Enforce compliance with corporate and project standards
Capture knowledge for reuse on subsequent projects

Empower your organization

Unlike applications that impose a particular way of working, Bentley Architecture provides complete workflow flexibility. Using the same tools and an identical interface, you can work in a traditional 2D plan or advanced 3D model environment, attach attributes and properties to building components and objects at the time of placement or add them as the project progresses. You can promote "dumb" 2D graphics-even if they came from other CAD applications-to "intelligent" 3D objects. In any case, changes made in either environment may be tracked and synchronized.

Available in major languages, Bentley Architecture is delivered with localized content for a variety of country-specific CAD standards. Datasets include common parametric and non-parametric building objects and components with settings for 2D and 3D symbology, level, and properties for quantity takeoff and rendering, plus attribute schemas, seed files, steel tables, annotation symbols, report templates, and more. In addition, 2D symbols and 3D models of 1,000 architectural objects can be downloaded from Bentley's Web site. So, Bentley Architecture can be used right out of the box.

With Bentley Architecture, 3D modeling is as simple as 2D drafting, because the user interface is easy to use, intuitive, and self-explanatory. Fully customizable, it can be tailored for particular tasks, workflows, or user preferences. In addition to extensive user manuals and documentation, online-help is always at hand.

Designed to increase the productivity and profitability of AEC professionals, Bentley offers professional training programs at Bentley Institute training facilities, on-site, and in virtual classrooms. To minimize training costs even further, Bentley's Enterprise Training Subscription (ETS) offers convenient multi-user training for a fixed annual fee, which not only facilitates budgeting, but also delivers comprehensive training to the entire organization.

Benefits:

Work the way that best suits your projects and workflows, not the application
Use Bentley Architecture right out of the box with localized content
Shorten the learning curve
Empower architects, designers, and technicians
Streamline budgeting for training
Achieve significant savings in training costs and greater return on software investment

Better collaborate and interoperate

Bentley Architecture is fully integrated with other Bentley applications, such as GenerativeComponents, Bentley Structural, Bentley Building Mechanical Systems, Bentley Building Electrical Systems, Bentley Facilities, and Bentley Navigator. It provides a truly multi-disciplinary collaboration environment.

For interoperability with CAD-based applications, it supports all major industry standards, such as DGN, DWG, DXF, STEP, and IGES. Export model information in STP-format to facilitate rapid prototyping with laser cutters, 3D printers, and stereo lithography machines. Finally, Bentley Architecture includes full support for IFC 2x, the emerging standard for information exchange between object-based BIM applications in the building industry.

Benefits:

Collaborate seamlessly across disciplinary borders in shared multi-disciplinary models
Interoperate across different file formats
Facilitate rapid prototyping
Build as one

Image courtesy of Jacobs Facilities

Work in a managed environment

Bentley Architecture tightly integrates with Bentley ProjectWise, a collaboration server that manages access to project information across a LAN, WAN, VPN, or through the Internet, and publishes and synchronizes shared information, manages change, protects intellectual property rights, and more.

Benefits: