Folks interested in improving Charleston have long eyed the area along the Kanawha near the Elk River as prime for redevelopment.

Designers from Sasaki Associates recognized the district's value in their study of the riverfront two years ago, as have others.

But what do you put there? Hotels? Restaurants. A marina? Shops? Condominiums? How about a park? And what will it cost?

Designers at Silling Associates, a Charleston architectural firm, think they have a way to answer some of these questions ... or at least approach the problem. It's call BIM - Building Information Models.

"BIM is CAD - computer aided design - on steroids," said Mike Moore, marketing director at Silling. "It's the next generation of CAD. It changes building processes."

BIM is not a single piece of software, but a whole collection of tools that can be used by architects, builders and planners. Moore and Ed Weber, a Silling architect, are trying to introduce BIM to the West Virginia construction community.

"We see something new on the horizon that will affect not just architects and engineers, but everyone," Weber said. "It's taking pieces of data and linking them together - a new tool set, very powerful yet very simple."

One of the problems is that it's hard to explain exactly what BIM is. So Moore and Weber decided to take on a local project as a demonstration. Their choice: The 10-block riverfront district that runs from Elk River to Court Street, and from Quarrier Street to the Kanawha.

"We saw that riverfront plan from Sasaki Associates a couple of years ago," Weber said. "We could take ideas coming from planners, from council members, from engineers, and tie those ideas together in a way that becomes more efficient."

They invited a reporter to their office last week to show a few ways BIM can be used. Working from another site that day, architect and BIM guru Finith Jernigan started with Google Earth images of downtown Charleston. He plopped down some new buildings on the riverfront district.

Because of time limitations, Jernigan used a building model or "template" he'd used previously, for fire stations. Several hours later, he had a perspective drawing of the area with a bunch of new buildings - all fire stations. He sent the computer images to the Silling office, where they were projected on the wall.

"What you see are the spaces mapped out for seven fire stations," Jernigan said in a conference call. He clicked on one of the stations and detailed data - square footage, cost, etc. - popped up.

"These are tagged with building information into a database. This started as a 7,000-square-foot fire station. If I added floors, it would recompute the square-foot costs and energy costs."

Folks interested in improving Charleston have long eyed the area along the Kanawha near the Elk River as prime for redevelopment.

Designers from Sasaki Associates recognized the district's value in their study of the riverfront two years ago, as have others.

But what do you put there? Hotels? Restaurants. A marina? Shops? Condominiums? How about a park? And what will it cost?

Designers at Silling Associates, a Charleston architectural firm, think they have a way to answer some of these questions ... or at least approach the problem. It's call BIM - Building Information Models.

"BIM is CAD - computer aided design - on steroids," said Mike Moore, marketing director at Silling. "It's the next generation of CAD. It changes building processes."

BIM is not a single piece of software, but a whole collection of tools that can be used by architects, builders and planners. Moore and Ed Weber, a Silling architect, are trying to introduce BIM to the West Virginia construction community.

"We see something new on the horizon that will affect not just architects and engineers, but everyone," Weber said. "It's taking pieces of data and linking them together - a new tool set, very powerful yet very simple."

One of the problems is that it's hard to explain exactly what BIM is. So Moore and Weber decided to take on a local project as a demonstration. Their choice: The 10-block riverfront district that runs from Elk River to Court Street, and from Quarrier Street to the Kanawha.

"We saw that riverfront plan from Sasaki Associates a couple of years ago," Weber said. "We could take ideas coming from planners, from council members, from engineers, and tie those ideas together in a way that becomes more efficient."

They invited a reporter to their office last week to show a few ways BIM can be used. Working from another site that day, architect and BIM guru Finith Jernigan started with Google Earth images of downtown Charleston. He plopped down some new buildings on the riverfront district.

Because of time limitations, Jernigan used a building model or "template" he'd used previously, for fire stations. Several hours later, he had a perspective drawing of the area with a bunch of new buildings - all fire stations. He sent the computer images to the Silling office, where they were projected on the wall.

"What you see are the spaces mapped out for seven fire stations," Jernigan said in a conference call. He clicked on one of the stations and detailed data - square footage, cost, etc. - popped up.

"These are tagged with building information into a database. This started as a 7,000-square-foot fire station. If I added floors, it would recompute the square-foot costs and energy costs."

In a three-hour exercise, Jernigan worked up information on several million square feet of new construction. "So now, can we afford a $22 million project on that site?"

Charlestonians will get their first crack at plopping down hotels, or shopping centers or whatever, on Thursday. Conceptual design sessions will be held at 3:30 p.m. each Thursday for the next three weeks in the third-floor technology conference center at City Hall.

Silling Associates will host hour-long online sessions at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and Feb. 19, 26 and 28.

"We're going to learn about BIM and collectively brainstorm about what they'd like to see," Weber said.

People in the construction industry have already been invited, but the sessions are open to the general public. "Everyone who's interested can come," Weber said.

Marc Weintraub, a member of City Council who attended the demonstration last week, sees the opportunity for some radical thought.

"Just for the sake of discussion, there's the Municipal Auditorium," he said, pointing to the site marked in the riverfront district map. "We can explore the possibilities [building something else there], no harm, no foul."

Participants, both here and online, should look beyond the boundaries of the riverfront district, Weber said. "How does this site relate to the [Town Center] Mall, drive traffic to the mall, without taking away from Capitol Street? How does it relate to the state Capitol? It's such an undeveloped site in the middle of Charleston."

After all the meetings, Jernigan and others will synthesize all the ideas into a final plan. "March 19 at the West Virginia Expo [at the Charleston Civic Center] we'll present what everyone designed," Weber said.

If all this sounds too confusing or technical for you, take heart, Jernigan said. "Even technology experts in the building industry don't understand this. They say you can't do this. Excuse me, you just did."

For information on the design meetings, call Mike Moore at 346-0565 or e-mail mmo...@silling.com.

To contact staff writer Jim Balow, use e-mail or call 348-5102.