CATIA Virtual Laboratory Revolutionises Curriculum

A School of Construction and Property Management product story

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Jul 30, 2004

IT tools will form a virtual laboratory for the exploration, testing, and simulation of ideas and concepts for all aspects of new and existing buildings.

SCPM, alongside Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Stanford University (considered to be world leaders in construction education) are working together with Gehry Partners LLP and Dassault Systemes on an initiative endeavouring to develop a virtual laboratory for architecture and construction based on CATIA software.

This laboratory will use the latest CATIA technology to develop a virtual reality environment with the intention of improving teaching, research and interaction with industry.

This will enable exchange of knowledge through the use of IT tools which will form a virtual laboratory for the exploration, testing, and simulation of ideas and concepts for all aspects of new and existing buildings.

Professor Peter Brandon, one of the initiators of this project, commented: "This is a very exciting opportunity for us as it could become the root of a new curriculum for the teaching of all disciplines in the built environment and augment research into better products, performance, processes and use.

It could change the construction educational syllabus and revolutionise current curriculum." CATIA software, known as computer aided three-dimensional interactive application, has been used very successfully by aircraft industry over recent years.

Gehry Partners LLP, a world high flyer in the architectural sector, is a pioneer in using CATIA software in architecture design and is developing a digital project package that will enable it to be used in this newly created laboratory.

Graduates from Salford and other partner universities will be able to access Gehry's case studies.

With the software's assistance they can assess potential problems in advance and also figure out quantities and costs accurately.

In other words, they can build a virtual building and gauge all the practical resources necessary via the computer.