Project Overview
The Dalian Shangri-La Hotel project covers a land area of 5,900 square meters, with a building footprint of 2,655 square meters. It features a super high-rise tower consisting of hotel-style apartments and long-term rental hotel apartments, supported by a podium structure at the base. The above-ground construction area totals 40,700 square meters, with an additional 12,330 square meters underground, resulting in a combined construction area of 53,630 square meters.
The podium comprises four floors, with a fire protection height of 19.20 meters. It primarily houses the apartment lobby, retail shops, a children’s adventure park, gym, banquet hall, and various support facilities for both apartments and the hotel.
The super high-rise tower rises to 34 floors, with a fire protection height of 118.60 meters and a maximum height of 131.80 meters. It is divided into two units: the west unit includes supporting offices on floors five to seven, long-term rental hotel apartments from floors eight to thirty, and hotel-style apartments from floors thirty to thirty-four. The east unit consists exclusively of hotel-style apartments. In total, the west unit offers 137 long-term rental apartments, 24 hotel-style apartments, while the east unit provides 179 hotel-style apartments.
The basement spans three floors and is dedicated to equipment rooms and parking facilities. Key equipment rooms include a heat exchange station, fan room, fire water tank and pump room, and substations. The underground garage offers approximately 182 parking spaces, including two accessible spots.
Design Concept
The project aims to establish a high-end residential and service complex situated in the core of Dalian’s Zhongshan Square commercial district and the forthcoming Donggang commercial district. It integrates three key functions: residential, commercial, and conference facilities. These include business services, a clubhouse, and conference amenities that cater to both hotel guests and apartment residents, fostering strong interaction among these functions.
BIM Challenges
Since the scheme design and construction drawings were developed by separate teams, this project involved collaboration among multiple teams, specialties, and hierarchical levels. Frequent adjustments and modifications during the drawing process prompted the design institute to adopt BIM technology to enhance collaboration efficiency. Given the tight project schedule, it was essential to improve efficiency while maintaining design quality.
A New Collaborative Workflow
“3D Collaboration” represents a new working model enabled by digitalization and supported by BIM technology. In this three-dimensional collaborative environment, architects, structural engineers, and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineers work from a shared, fully information-based building model. Coordination issues can be detected early and resolved through direct, visual communication within the team, ensuring integrated and high-quality design outcomes in a timely manner.
Based on the principles of “Building Systems,” “Divided Construction,” and “3D Collaboration,” this approach establishes a clear framework for dividing and integrating work responsibilities. It allows efficient disassembly and assembly of design contributions from various disciplines and ensures all building systems reach the required design depth. Parametric technology underpins a geometric control system that flexibly manages the building’s geometry by presetting, debugging, and dynamically adjusting parameters. This multi-level geometric and parameter control approach lays a solid foundation for precise engineering execution.
BIM Training for Project Teams
To guarantee the successful application of BIM on the Dalian Shangri-La project, the design institute partnered with Beijing North Wei Huayuan Software Technology Co., Ltd. to conduct a series of BIM training sessions for participating engineering staff. Training covered topics such as basic REVIT software skills, collaborative design in REVIT, custom family creation, advanced collaborative design, and advanced drawing performance in REVIT.
Building a Multi-Level Digital Team
Following training and project implementation guidance from Beijing North Wei Huayuan Software Technology Co., Ltd., the design institute formed a dedicated BIM technology team. Zhang Zhenhua leads the architectural and structural disciplines, supported by four architectural and two structural specialists. Team leader Tian Feng oversees the electromechanical disciplines, including two electrical engineers, two HVAC engineers, and two plumbing engineers.
BIM Implementation Process
The project’s BIM collaboration was divided into three stages, beginning with assigning tasks to specialized designers to develop the structural building model. Once the model reached a certain level of completeness, standards and specifications for downstream disciplines were established. Resources were then allocated to these disciplines to encourage early involvement in collaborative design, allowing timely feedback and necessary structural modifications.
This interactive process continued throughout the entire design phase. Collision detection was performed before and after completing each professional model to identify interdisciplinary conflicts. BIM technology facilitated the identification of clashes, which were then addressed through coordination meetings and model adjustments. Subsequently, construction drawings were prepared, detailed drawings completed, and final drawings issued.
Throughout the BIM implementation, the design team developed numerous custom BIM family components across various disciplines, such as the stone curtain wall components illustrated below.
Using parameter-driven families enabled the rapid and accurate creation of similar components, with modifications easily applied by adjusting family parameters. During the construction drawing phase, the team also created multiple view templates for each discipline, significantly enhancing standardization and efficiency in producing layout drawings. These efforts helped the design team complete the project on schedule.
Summary
The implementation of BIM on this project has demonstrated the profound impact and opportunities BIM brings to the construction industry. Embracing BIM technology provides architectural design institutes with a competitive edge, while failure to adapt risks falling behind. Moreover, the experience and BIM assets accumulated during this project establish a strong foundation for the design institute’s future large-scale BIM deployments, enabling the delivery of increasingly high-quality architectural projects.
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