SHoP: keeping design data attached
The Barclays Center facade offers a lesson in carrying information from the model through fabrication and assembly.
SHoP’s published account of Barclays Center describes a model-based process connecting facade design information to fabrication and assembly instructions. It also describes an in-house app that tracked panels through production and installation.
For us, the transferable question is how information stays attached to an element as it passes between people. A small studio can begin with one consistent part identifier and one well-defined export.
Improve a single handover
Choose a facade panel study, for example. Identify the source model, the fields the fabricator needs and the changes that require a revised issue. Test the actual exported file in the receiving workflow.
The recipient should be able to find a part, match it to the source and tell which revision it belongs to. Record a failed example alongside a successful one; both help explain the information contract.
Let the prototype question the model
A physical prototype can expose joint access, assembly order or the effect of a tolerance. Its value is in informing the next iteration. Keep those observations with the digital record, so a revised model responds to what making revealed.
What we take into our own work
- Keep identifiers consistent between the model and its exports.
- State who needs each field and why.
- Record the revision that changes a part and inspect the receiving file.
- Use prototype feedback to update the source.
Our starting point from SHoP’s published project is a handover another person can inspect and repeat. The small study we propose would test whether part identity, revision information and fabrication feedback stay connected before attempting a larger platform.