"This technology provides a way for me to get closer to the craft. In the past, there were many layers between my rough sketch and the final building, and the feeling of the design could get lost before it reached the craftsman. It feels like I've been speaking a foreign language, and now, all of a sudden, the craftsman understands me. In this case, the computer is not dehumanising; it's an interpreter."
Frank Gehry

As one of the twentieth century’s most exciting architects, Gehry needed a medium to express his ideas, to convey his thoughts and deliver a cohesive design to customers, suppliers and contractors. Seeing the need for a reduction in the many different people who were involved from concept to finished product, where ideas and details are differently interpreted, he saw that the design process should be rationalised.

This would ensure that the architect or engineers intent was reflected accurately in the final building or structure, he was an early proponent of the concept of the Single Building Model – a single design database, reflecting all the geometry, structure and detail. A Single Building Model delivers, not a multitude of abstract non-associated 2D drawings to define a building or construction, but one database which defines the complete structure including all mechanical and electrical services. All details can then be created from the single database – from sections to elevations – created on demand from the “live” model.

Desktop Engineering has been involved in industries where these exact same problems have been inherent for many years. The key business driver in manufacturing industries is the time taken to design and produce a product – the ‘time to market’. Earlier delivery of the product means earlier sales revenues. Hence processes to improve concurrent working delivers reduced design time. A single model database gives these benefits.

The concept of a single model to define a complex assembly has been developed in the automotive industry for over 12 years where now a whole car is a single database – worked on by many engineers, both design and production engineers. Using this technology, key manufacturers have reduced the time to design a new model from 5-8 years to 2 years.

Digital Project delivers this functionality – and is proven in many industries, from automotive to aerospace to shipbuilding to rail and the architectural and construction industry.

The Single Building Model is not an end in its own but a step-by-step process, whereby features of Digital Project are built into your design process that deliver real return, overall driven by the objective of concurrent working with full data control.