COLD SPRING, MN - Cold Spring Granite Co., a leading quarrier and fabricator of dimensional or cut-to-size stone in North America, has announced the creation of a vast online library of Building Information Modeling (BIM) families.

BIM, the process of generating and managing building data during its life cycle, typically involves the use of three-dimensional real-time software, such as the industry-leading Autodesk Revit. In response to the growth of BIM and with more product information becoming readily available in a BIM format, Cold Spring Granite has assembled their products in Revit families.

“With increased collaboration of designers, constructors, suppliers and manufacturers earlier in the design and construction process, the trend is heading toward making specific product selections sooner rather than later,” said Jeanne Ver Dugt, Drafting Supervisor. “Cold Spring Granite’s families will help meet the need for technical product information faster.”

Cold Spring Granite established functional details and parameters in the created models such as sizes, height and slope. This information can be taken directly from the project and incorporated into the production tickets to streamline the manufacturing process.

“This will further enhance our efficiency as a supplier,” said Tim Feldhege, Drafting Manager. “We’ve been careful to keep our family files to a manageable enough size for practical use by architects and general contractors.”

While acknowledging the importance of universal accessibility to a basic family and type catalog, Cold Spring Granite also recognizes the appeal of utilizing this information from a design perspective. Enhanced files, featuring the addition of color and finish combinations for rendering, are also available on the Cold Spring Granite Web site. The ability to add color and texture during the early stages of the design process has been met with favorable feedback from the market.

Cold Spring Granite’s BIM object families are available in Revit 2010 format on the company’s Web site and currently include family details such as stone wall facings, anchors, thresholds, floors, coping and sills. Architects will find both three-dimensional versions for their models and two-dimensional for their drawings. As such, the families offer ease-of-use for the design process.

“In our family files, we included essential product information such as CSI MasterFormat Section number, the OmniClass Construction Classification (a system used for applications ranging from organizing library materials, product literature and project information to providing a classification structure for electronic databases) and contact information,” said Ver Dugt. “As architects use our families, they can identify data on available colors and recommended thicknesses and will find links back to the Cold Spring Granite Web site for more information.”

Additional stone information, such as panel sizes, weight and test data can be found on the Cold Spring Granite Web site. Currently, Cold Spring Granite has 20 families, with approximately 50 more building product models in the works.

With the ability to access Autodesk certified BIM object families, architects will possess reliable information they can use with confidence. In addition, architects can expect complete and open interoperability from Cold Spring Granite BIM families.

“Architects will be able to use our BIM objects to specify piece sizes or make adjustments,” said Feldhege. “If their requirements go beyond the parameters of what we’ve established, we can work together to make changes and adjustments specific to the project.”

To view Cold Spring Granite’s BIM Families, visit www.coldspringgranite.com/Products-Colors-Finishes/Architectural/#bim.