Projects

BIM &
Digital Twin

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Immersive Experiences

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Lean
Construction

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Energy & Sustainability

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Enhanced Education

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Active & flagship projects

BIM & Digital Twin

ifc dataArrow Application Development

U.S. National BIM Standard Version 4 Framework

Version 4 of the U.S. National BIM Standard is composed of a variety of updated and new standard sections.  We are developing the overall framework description along with core content updates for the BEP standard, guide and templates.

BIM Project Execution Planning

BIM Standards Development

A team of faculty and students updated the BIM Execution Planning Guide to Version 3 (current posted version) to improve alignment with the BIM Use terminology along with other important revisions.

BIM Project Execution Planning Guide, Version 3.0

BIM Project Execution Planning

A well documented BIM Project Execution guide will help ensure all parties are clearly aware of opportunities and responsibilities associated with the incorporation of BIM into a project workflow. This guide provides a structured procedure for creating and implementing a BIM Project Execution Plan. The goal for developing this structured procedure is to enable effective planning and enhance communication among the project participants during the early phases of a project. The Guide is included in the National BIM Standard – US (Version 3).

BIM Project Execution Planning

BIM Planning for Facility Owners

The BIM Planning Guide for Facility Owners outlines a procedure to create a strategy for integrating BIM throughout an owner organization. This guide, developed primarily for facility owners, focuses on the decisions required to define an organization’s standard BIM processes and practices; design information integration strategies; and identify appropriate BIM contracting strategies. The Guide is included in the National BIM Standard – US (Version 3).
Uses of BIM

The Uses of BIM 

This work builds upon concepts within the BIM Project Execution Planning Guide and the BIM Planning Guide for Facility Owners. This document presents a system for the classification of the Uses of BIM. This classification system provides a common language for the Uses of Building Information Modeling (or BIM Uses) that can be leveraged to communicate the precise purpose and context of implementing BIM on a capital facility project.

Using BIM in Construction

Using BIM in Construction

Information Models developed within the early stages of a project can provide significant benefits within the construction process. This project outlines the different ways that models can be used within construction, and outlines an approach toward planning the adoption of modeling throughout the design and construction process. The use of BIM in construction has several benefits, including improved collaboration, reduced errors and rework, better project visualization, and increased efficiency.
PennDOT project photo

PennDOT BIM Planning

In collaboration with HDR (prime), we have been assisting PennDOT in the development and implementation strategy for adopting digital delivery through the Digital Delivery Directive 2025.

Digital Twin

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Construction Digital Twins 

This project focuses on developng a use case of Construction Digital Twins. Under development.

ifc dataArrow Application Development

Digital Twins – A Planning Guide

This project focuses on providing a planning guide and template for Digital Twins in the AECO industry.

ifc dataArrow Application Development

The Uses of Digital Twins

This work presents a system for the classification of the Uses of Digital Twins. This classification system provides a common language for the Uses of Digital Twins that can be leveraged to communicate the precise purpose and context of implementing Digital Twins. We also provide a library for Digital Twin Operational Uses and Use Cases

Lean Construction & Project Delivery

Lean Deployment Planning Guide

Lean Deployment Planning Guide

This project is about developing a guide for Lean Development Plan. The plan will help project teams apply Lean principles and practices throughout the project by embedding them into their project management processes. The plan is meant to be developed by the project team aiming at helping it through the steps of the planning procedure. The guide details the steps and provides template resources.
Maximizing Success In Integrated Projects

Maximizing Success In Integrated Projects

The most successful facility projects follow distinct delivery strategies. In particular, those strategies that align the core project team – owner, designers, primary building and key specialty trades – are more effective in meeting or exceeding their cost, schedule and quality goals. Best leveraged in a workshop setting, this guide will illustrate the process for selecting a delivery strategy that meets the need of your project.
Maximizing Success In Integrated Projects

Trade Adoption of Lean Construction

Trade adoption of lean construction approaches is critical.  This project, sponsored by the Lean Construction Institute, is focused on developing approaches and resources for trades to plan their adoption of lean methods on projects.

Maximizing Success In Integrated Projects

Contracting for Lean Construction

This project is conducted with the support of the Lean Construction Institute and is currently under active research.

Maximizing Success In Integrated Projects

Measuring Lean Construction Adoption in Organizations

This project is conducted with the support of the Lean Construction Institute and is currently under active research.

Virtual Prototyping & Visualization

Penn State Old Main Virtual Reality

Virtual Penn State

As we develop more model information about our facilities and campus environment, we are exploring better approaches to organize, store, retrieve and visualize this information. The Virtual Penn State project is focused on developing an interface to the facility information at the University Park Campus of Penn State, along with leveraging reality models of the campus to visualize this information.

Safe and Efficient Cyber-Physical Operation Systems for Construction Equipment

Safe and Efficient Cyber-Physical Operation Systems for Construction Equipment

This award will conduct research to improve the safety and efficiency of cranes by integrating advances in robotics, computer vision, and construction management. It will create tools for quick and easy planning of crane operations and incorporate them into a safe and efficient system that can monitor a crane’s environment and provide control feedback to the crane and the operator. Resulting gains in safety and efficiency will reduce fatal and non-fatal crane accidents.
Fostering Innovation and Learning through Immersive Virtual Facility Prototyping

Fostering Innovation and Learning through Immersive Virtual Facility Prototyping

The design and construction of facilities requires the conceptualization of complex systems and processes. While many industries have embraced rapid prototyping processes and technologies, the use of prototypes in the building industry remains in its infancy. Expensive scale models and mock-ups of building components are used to analyze design and construction. However, they represent only a single snapshot or configuration of the construction process. 3D and 4D computer aided design tools allow virtual models to be constructed.
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Developing an Immersive Environments Lab

The Immersive Environments Lab was developed to evaluate the impact of immersive virtual reality for education and project visualization. The Immersive Environments Lab has been used for many years to visualization projects. The initial development was a collaboration of the Architecture Department, Architectural Engineering Department, and Penn State Information Technology Services.
Using BIM in Construction

Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Construction Cost Reduction through the Use of Virtual Environments

A virtual mockup of the auxiliary building of the Westinghouse AP1000 Nuclear Power Plant was developed to evaluate the benefits of using full-scale, 3-D mock-ups. The virtual mock-up was placed within the SEA Lab CAVE™, a five sided immersive projection display system.

construciton robotics

Penn State Old Main Virtual Reality

Planning for Construction Robotics

This project delivered the planning guide for robotics.

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Development of Construction Robotics Class Activity

This project is developing a construction robotics class activity with the i-Construction Lab of University of Tokyo.Under development.

Archive projects

BIM & Digital Twin

ifc dataArrow Application Development

ifc dataArrow Application Development

dataArrows ifcMiner is a free tool developed to facilitate querying information in IFC models. It also contains a module for validating IFC models against related schemas.
Interactive Workspaces Guide

Interactive Workspaces Guide

Interactive Workspaces are team meeting rooms that have been augmented with technology to enable visualization, interaction with digital information, and team collaboration for enhanced decision-making. This guide assists a capital facility project team in the identification and selection of workspace requirements for their integrative team meetings.
BIM for Infrastructure

BIM for Infrastructure

In collaboration with HDR (prime), we have developed an approach to calculating the business case for BIM use on infrastructure projects, along with a maturity model to assist owners in the evaluation of their BIM adoption maturity.

Energy & Sustainability

Evolving Penn State Sustainability Policy for the Built Environment

Evolving Penn State Sustainability Policy for the Built Environment

This project aims to lead the transformation of the design and construction practices at PSU to be more sustainable while providing engaged scholarship opportunities for the students. Office of Physical Plant, in collaboration with PSU’s Department of Architectural Engineering is working to evolve PSU’s Sustainability Policy for the build environment to reflect a dynamic based process that encourages the engagement of OPP teams in the earliest stages of a project, Build the policy to reflect the unique place and needs of PSU’s campuses and communities.
Safe and Efficient Cyber-Physical Operation Systems for Construction Equipment

Battery Energy Storage System and Training Initiative (BESS-ETI)

This project is convening experts from the electrical engineering and energy storage industries to create a robust education and training program for electrical workers and technicians. The portable curriculum and interactive web-based learning exercises created by the project will enable the expansion of energy storage training at community colleges and electrical worker training programs.
OpenStudio Enhancements to Support Energy Retrofit Projects

OpenStudio Enhancements to Support Energy Retrofit Projects

The enhancements will further the development of OpenStudio and Radiance to support modeling of physically based lighting layouts and systems including daylight integrated photocontrol. These additional enhancements to OpenStudio, as well as Radiance, will improve energy efficient design for small and medium sized retrofit projects, while achieving high levels of lighting quality. These capabilities will continue to be supported by developing increasing levels of interoperability with BIM applications via BIMserver integration with a focus on extending beyond the core geometric information for energy modeling to enable more analyses related to lighting.
Integrated Building Life Cycle Process Model for Advanced Energy Retrofit Project

Integrated Building Life Cycle Process Model for Advanced Energy Retrofit Project

Advanced energy retrofit projects are critical to contributing to the reduction of energy consumption within the United States and abroad. Successful retrofit projects require detailed coordination throughout the design, construction, and operations process. As a part of the consortium for building energy innovation, we developed an integrated building lifecycle process model for performing advanced energy retrofit projects.

Technology Enhanced Education

Lean Deployment Planning Guide

Battery Energy Storage System and Training Initiative (BESS-ETI)

This project is convening experts from the electrical engineering and energy storage industries to create a robust education and training program for electrical workers and technicians. The portable curriculum and interactive web-based learning exercises created by the project will enable the expansion of energy storage training at community colleges and electrical worker training programs.
Virtual Construction Simulator

Virtual Construction Simulator (VCS)

The VCS is a simulation game that teaches students dynamic nature of the construction process and frequent changes to construction schedules. The VCS provides the user with an advanced 3D graphical user interface (GUI) for the development of the planned schedule, together with a 3D simulation environment. The purpose of the game is to allow user to experiment with the planning and managing of construction schedules, while learning the difference between as-planned and as-built schedule.
ecoCAMPUS

ecoCAMPUS

The ecoCampus augmented reality educational application is focused on increasing students’ understanding of sustainability, LEED rating system, and design principles early in their academic careers. This application allows students to redesign a building facade, and evaluate the impacts of their design on sustainability while visualizing the design in the actual building via augmented reality.
ecoCAMPUS

Collaborative 4D Model Visualization for Construction Education

A collaborative 4D model was developed and implemented for evaluating the impact of 4D augmented reality model review by students in an upper level construction course.