Press Release

March 18, 2010

Chennai Architects TMG Upgrade to World-Class Architectural Design Technology

Chennai Architects TMG are now included in the approximately 20% of the world's architects who use Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology to create their designs, thus helping India attain world-class competency in architecture.

(1888PressRelease) March 18, 2010 - Flash back two years and into Chennai, India. A developer with a 1,200,000 square foot IT project in mind goes to one of the leading architects in Chennai and asks him to create a design that will turn the world's heads.

The architect has a legion of drafters skilled in 2D (two-dimensional) drafting using lines and arcs as the fundamental drawing elements.

Four weeks later he comes back with concept drawings. They are not bad, it is just that the developer wants some rooms modified.

After much hemming and hawing, the Chennai architect agrees to put in the changes, but says it will take time because updating all the elevations in accordance with the modified floor plans is a laborious task.

He comes back two weeks later with the modified drawings. The developer wants a few changes. This costs two more weeks of drafting time.

Meanwhile the cost of materials has gone up one half percent, and the developer has paid a month's interest on the bank loan he took to buy the land.

By the time design is ultimately finalized, an approximate six months has been consumed by drafting time. The developer has lost more than six months' bank interest and materials are five percent more expensive than at the start of the exercise.

Flash forward to the present. TMG uses Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, and the total drafting time works out to six weeks. This is because BIM entails constructing the building on the computer in 3D (three dimensions) using floors, walls, windows, doors staircases, etc., as the drawing elements instead of lines and arcs. Changes are put into the 3D model by mere dragging and dropping; the elevations are automatically updated. So are the bill of material and the area statement.

The net result is that the time taken to put in changes is and order of magnitude smaller. Also because all aspects of the building are updated automatically when the 3D model is altered, accuracy is increased several percent.

TMG is able to use this technology because it has long been providing architectural services to the international marketplace, and has had to extensively employ the technology to succeed against global competition. It now makes available the same skills, hardware and software resources to the Chennai marketplace.

Says Lucky Balaraman, Executive Director of TMG, "Our plan is to also provide our engineering consultants secure online access to the BIM model on our computers so that they can incorporate their plumbing, electrical, HVAC and structural designs into the model. That way we can also ensure that there is no clash between beams, columns, electrical pipes, air-conditioning ducts and plumbing feeders."

Balaraman goes on to add, "The majority of architects in Chennai do not use Building Information Modeling, and we expect it to take some time before discerning clients realize that the architects will they choose have to employ this cutting-edge technology. We are not concerned about this, though, because we expect word-of-mouth to spread quickly about our astonishing delivery time and amazing accuracy."

In closing, Balaraman says, "Chennai is a city that is modernizing very quickly on the back of India's burgeoning growth. The technology of the city is upgrading at an unprecedented rate, and it is only fitting that Chennai architects' capabilities keep pace with the city's emerging hi-tech character."

To learn more about why TMG is prominent amongst Chennai architects, visit: http://themagnumgroup.net/Chennai-Architects.htm

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