Spotlight on Parkin Architects
Parkin Architects Exceeds Customer Expectations
Established in the 1940s, Parkin Architects is a well-known architectural leader in Canada for acute and mental healthcare, recreation, science, technology and research, justice, corrections, and education. Their architects, designers, and project managers have undertaken more than 2,000 projects in the last 10 years, and their design influence can be seen across Canada’s 10 provinces as well as Nunavut.
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Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Architect: Parkin Architects Limited and Adamson Associates in Joint Venture. Photographer: Studio Shai Gil |
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Joseph Brant Hospital. Architect: Parkin Architects Limited and Adamson Associates in Joint Venture. Photographer: Studio Shai Gil |
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Providence Care Hospital. Architect: Parkin Architects Limited and Adamson Associates in Joint Venture. Photographer: Studio Shai Gil |
An Award-Winning Industry Leader
Creators of innovative solutions that positively impact lives, Parkin has won numerous awards and boasts a client list that that includes several relationships that started more than 40 years ago. Contributing to their long-term success are their outstanding teams, integrity, practical approach, global insight, and top-tier cost control.
“One way we build and retain trust with all our customers is by bringing efficiency to every aspect of every project,” said Oscar Ramos-Martinez, BIM Manager, Parkin. “This starts with commitment from our directors and principals, and it carries through hiring top talent and providing them with the latest tools.”
Parkin and Ideate Software
It was Parkin’s goal of efficiently delivering innovative designs that led them to Ideate Software. Their initial need was for a tool that could move data from Revit to Excel for fast and accurate editing, and then push the updated data back into the Revit model.
“In 2012, we were using a simple application to copy data from a Revit file into Excel,” said Oscar. “It worked, but it crashed a lot. Constantly relaunching the program was frustrating and time consuming, so our team did some research to find a better, more efficient solution.”
While browsing the internet, they came across Ideate BIMLink, which had the functionality needed and had received positive feedback from customers (See blog post from 2011 – Real ROI for Revit Projects: Ideate BIMLink Survey Results). They reached out to Ideate Software, got a demonstration of the software, and secured licenses for their team of BIM managers and BIM coordinators.
“The team quickly learned how to address our immediate need, which was to set up new models with functional project data to expedite the planning process,” said Oscar. “We used Ideate BIMLink to help create the Rooms in Revit with all the information from the Functional Program, like functional location, program number, and name. This way the model would be ready for the planners to do their job.”
Ideate BIMLink proved to be easy to use and a time saver, so the Parkin team started using it to streamline other workflows. Here are a few examples of time-consuming and error-prone manual workflows that Parkin now performs with Ideate BIMLink:
- Transferring parameter values to Doors from their hosts (Fire Rating, Wall Types, etc.)
- Managing FF&E (Equipment) ID information (Number and Name)
- Managing Room Data
In addition to expanding their use of Ideate BIMLink, Parkin also expanded its use of Ideate Software products. Here are a few ways they streamline Revit data management tasks with our tools:
- Ideate Explorer – “We use Ideate Explorer every day for quality control activities,” said Oscar. “The search capabilities in Revit are very limited, but with Ideate Explorer and its Query tool, we can find any element in the model, select it, locate it within the model, browse through its properties, identify issues, and more. This saves us a lot of time and helps us deliver clean models and accurate documentation to our clients.”
- Ideate Sticky – Parkin uses Ideate Sticky to place schedules not done in Revit onto Revit files. “For example, we use Excel to manage code requirement data and use Ideate Sticky to live-link the Excel spreadsheet to our Revit file,” said Oscar. “Now our team doesn’t spend time verifying that the information they have is correct; they know it is.”
- IdeateApps – Here are just three examples of how the Parkin team uses the many tools that come in this collection:
- Ideate ReNumber – The Parkin team reduces the time spent on door coordination by using Ideate ReNumber to easily apply room numbers to doors.
- Ideate ViewCreator – “We use Ideate ViewCreator to manually create views using the scope box in Revit, which was difficult to use,” said Oscar. “The process is easy and accurate with Ideate ViewCreator.”
- Ideate Align – “Aligning views in Revit is possible, but risky because people can accidentally move them,” said Oscar. “Now, as we are preparing documents for submission, we simply run Ideate Align and the alignments are perfect.”
- Ideate ReNumber – The Parkin team reduces the time spent on door coordination by using Ideate ReNumber to easily apply room numbers to doors.
“Delivering as promised is critical, and Ideate Software helps us do that,” said Oscar. “Their products address challenges we face, and they are easy to learn and use. When we have questions, we know we can find demonstration videos on the Ideate Software website or in Eagle Point Software’s Pinnacle Series, which houses a lot of their training material”
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Visit www.ideatesoftware.com for more information on how Ideate BIMLink and the other Ideate Software add-ins for Revit can help you save time while enhancing the quality of your models.
