Drafting through the decades series
Part 4: Hello Technology! aka the Game change
As already discussed, hand drafting was well established as the default way for presenting an engineer’s work. Then, the computers kicked in! We all know that computers had been under development since the 1950s, but it was not until the early 1980s that the first commercial CAD software showed up in various industries. This, combined with the introduction of the first IBM PC in 1981, set the stage for extensive adoption of both CAD packages and PCs. Every engineering firm that wanted to be innovative and ahead of the rest had to have (and know how to use) one.
Commodore 64 and PC10 — Our first “partners”
The first computer that we bought was Commodore 64, a basic machine (meaning that it ran on BASIC) that we connected to a TV. The second was a Commodore PC10, equipped with DOS (Disk Operating System for the young people out there) and a 12-inch screen, it would only display in black and green. Just like the Matrix.
Structural analysis and design software
Structural analysis software ran on that PC. Our first one was DOMUS, a software package based on the 1959 building regulation. It was a piece of software written by Sotos Demetriou and fairly customized to operate according to the Greek regulation mentioned above. It had a plain text environment and could run plane frame structural analysis. That means that the engineer designed every important plane section. The sections included the major construction elements, columns, beams and slabs. Nodes’ coordinates and bearing loads had to be specified. Additional data and information about each frame, like dimensions, were necessary, in order for the analysis to run. Each analysis required several hours to complete and sometimes the entire night. If a mistake popped up you had to run the analysis again. And perhaps again. And again. There were times that the same analysis ran for several nights straight until the desired results were reached.
After running the analysis the engineer had to print out the results for regulatory submission. That meant that a printer was connected to their workstation. Ours was a dot-matrix printer connected to the PC10. The exact model was Star NL-10. The walls in our old office space still echo the sound of that printer, working 24/7 to finish the printing of the analysis.
After DOMUS, we created DomusII, which required a more evolved PC to run. We decided to expand our computer task force with a PC equipped with the intel 80386 processor and a 16-color display.
How the regulation affected the situation
In the mid 1980s the way buildings were being analyzed structurally changed completely. The 1959 regulation was construction-centered, meaning that the way a building was designed and analyzed focused mainly on the building remaining intact when bearing the heaviest load or at least make it through with the least damage. Small column sections and huge beam sections prevailed the engineer’s design.
Increased seismic activity led to the release of new regulations that shifted the focus from buildings to people. It was very important to guarantee people’s safety, especially in case of an earthquake. As a result, the engineer had to make sure that the damage in a building would become visible as soon as possible, so that the residents would have enough time to evacuate. Typical column sections got larger and typical beam sections smaller. The requirements in reinforcement bars changed as well. On top of this, the regulation made space frame structural analysis mandatory. Inevitably, all the engineers had to buy a PC workstation to keep their office up-to-date with the technological advance.
The in-between
Hand drafting and computer-aided design overlapped for a period of time. The transition from the ‘pen and paper’ safe place to the uncharted new worlds of ‘mouse and screen’ took time, as all major changes do. During this time both our design and construction approach changed. Computers created a fertile environment for new ideas and a variety of construction solutions that overflew the engineers’ minds and influenced the evolution of their work. This process went on until everything was molded into its final form and our new identity emerged on how we did things from then on. Meaning, computers were here to stay and it was up to the engineers to figure out how they would best incorporate this amazing piece of technology into their daily working routine.
Keep up with us to find out more about this innovative period as we’ll go in more depth.
