Arup, USC team uses BIM to design, construct and maintain university housing village

Los Angeles — Arup has been engaged by Harley Ellis Devereaux Architects (HED) to provide engineering services for USC Village, a $430 million, mixed-use development at the University of Southern California. With a keen understanding of energy and water efficiency through mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) system design, Arup is in step with the University’s forward thinking approach of delivering the project using building information modeling (BIM).

This is the first project of this scale at USC to implement the institution’s BIM Guidelines to fully integrate design, construction and facility management activities, and is a statement by the University about the future of how BIM technology will be used to design, construct and maintain their buildings. This transformational project underscores USC’s commitment toward thoughtfully interacting with its community and providing intelligent, well-maintained, and functional environments for its students and staff. The 1.2 million-square-foot project encompasses six mixed-use residential buildings with ground floor retail and a central utility plant, and is situated on 14 acres directly north of the USC’s main campus. Arup is providing MEP engineering, acoustics/ITC/AV consulting and building physics, which includes microclimate and daylighting analysis to maximize comfort for students both in the building and in the outdoor amenity spaces.

Arup has collaborated with USC, the contractor, HED and their other consultants to develop a comprehensive Joint BIM Execution Plan (JBEP) that establishes the criteria and process to model the design, the “as-built” condition, and provide the necessary data and intelligence to maintain the buildings. Previously, Arup helped USC develop campus standards for building systems. University clients nationwide are looking for programs that allow their facilities management department to track maintenance and operations data on campus properties. Working with USC on documenting the systems in BIM becomes an important implementation step by applying it to a project of this size. The mission for USC is to improve coordination during construction, support efficient maintenance, and track system performance.

“It’s exciting to work with a client like USC who wants to push boundaries and harness the power of BIM to manage facilities,” said Ed Paul, BIM manager with Arup. “This gives us the opportunity to deliver on the other goal of BIM, which is to collect the information during the engineering and design phase, enhance it during the construction phase, and utilize the combined data to effectively manage the facility.”

Arup has enjoyed a 25+ year relationship working with USC on such notable projects as the LAC + USC Medical Center Replacement Hospital with HOK; the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research with ZGF; and the Parkside Apartments Phase II with CannonDesign, among others.  In addition to the USC Village, Arup is currently working with USC on the Raulston Memorial Research Building Renovation with SmithGroupJJR, and a feasibility study for the renovation of the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with DLR Group.