by Elizabeth Bollinger

The Hillier Group, of Princeton, New Jersey, has a long history with computer-aided design. Recently the architecture firm has added to their repertoire a new software product that they believe to be revolutionary in the world of CAD.

Revit, from Revit Technology Corporation, changes traditional design and project management models for the AEC industry. It offers an integrated, digital model of a building that can be used to maintain and operate that building throughout its lifecycle.

A Tradition of Pioneering

Hillier started using computers in the early 1980s with word processing and accounting systems. They implemented their first CAD system, GDS, beginning in 1983. For $120,000 they bought a minicomputer, a plotter, two terminals, and two seats of software running on the Prime operating system.

Bob Ritger became the CAD Manager for The Hillier Group in 1995 and began the process of converting all the hardware to PCs running Windows NT. They opted to use MicroGDS, a PC-based 32-bit CAD application written specifically for NT.

Ritger says, "Although some schematic design was done with our workstation environment it wasn't until we switched to the PC that we saw the popularity of using the computer in the early design process take off. We also switched out our office application software to become a Microsoft house and began deploying seats of other applications."

In the fall of 1999, Hillier was contacted by Charles River Software (CRS), an unknown startup software development company from Boston. Scott Oglevee had joined CRS and thought Hillier would be a perfect company to involve in the development of their new AEC product.

The Newark office of The Hillier Group designed a building for the Commercial Realty & Resources Corporation (CRRC) building. They worked with rendered models to develop ideas for exterior materials. Image: The Hillier Group A portion of the floor plan construction drawing of the CRCC building. Image: The Hillier Group   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.