Gehry Technologies Extends Partnership with Dassault Systèmes to Develop Solutions for Building Industry

Digital Project™ solution will revolutionize management  of architectural projects by enhancing 3D collaboration between design and construction teams

 

Los Angeles, USA and Paris, France – October 23, 2003 – Gehry Technologies®, an independent organization created by Gehry Partners’ R&D group, and Dassault Systèmes (NASDAQ: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced a strategic software development agreement under which Gehry Technologies (GT) will develop and sell Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions to the building industry based upon Dassault Systèmes’ Component Application Architecture Version 5 (CAA V5) development platform. The agreement extends and reinforces the companies’ recent partnership announced September 29, 2003.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, GT becomes a Gold Software Partner within Dassault Systèmes’ CAA V5 Partnership Program. Through the partnership, GT will deliver a suite of products dedicated to the building industries that combine the collaborative 3D design and data management capabilities of PLM with the project experience in 3D collaboration and digital contracting that Frank Gehry gained while building world-renowned structures with Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA® software.

Gehry Technologies’ Digital ProjectTM, the solution planned for delivery in early 2004, will leverage the V5 infrastructure and be powered by the most advanced modeling infrastructure and collaborative environment available today. The innovative solution will be configured for architects, engineers and contractors, and will be fully compatible with Dassault Systèmes’ V5 PLM solutions including CATIA, ENOVIA™, SMARTEAM™ and DELMIA™. It will offer the building industry a breakthrough 3D digital environment enabling the shift away from 2D drawing, layering-oriented systems originally used to produce paper documents.

GT Digital Project will enhance communication and collaboration between architects, agencies, engineers, contractors and fabricators.  It is an integration and coordination tool that manages paper and two-dimensional representations of information as a secondary by-product of a process and is based on working with systems and assemblies in three dimensions.  It is designed for technical development and coordination of building systems through visualization of a “3D virtual building model” that is a gateway to project information.  It will include full 3D authoring, editing, and morphing productivity tools for architects, engineers, and detailers.

Frank Gehry believes that what has been learned in the realization of his designs has broader applications to the community of designers and builders, regardless of the architectural style of the projects they are creating.

“Much of what I have done in the last decade has been made feasible by our use of CATIA,” said Frank Gehry. “I am excited by the prospect that we will be able to pass on our experience and know-how with computers to improve architecture overall. For me this would be a legacy more significant than my architectural designs.”

Gehry Technologies secured $2M of external investment for a minority ownership of the business. Dassault Systèmes has provided the majority of this investment.

“We are convinced that just as Dassault Systèmes’ leadership in PLM is the result of successful alliances with industry leaders within the aerospace and automotive communities, our alliance with Gehry Technologies will generate similar results in the building industry,” said Bernard Charles, president and CEO of Dassault Systèmes. “We believe that the building industry is now ready to fully embrace 3D collaboration and project management, and further drive its business transformation. Our strong confidence in the success of this alliance motivated us to invest financially in Gehry Technologies directly in order to boost the development of its business.”

“We are aware of the challenges we face in introducing new processes to the building design and construction industry,” said Jim Glymph, CEO of Gehry Technologies. “This is an industry that does not have the cohesion of the manufacturing sector, and it must deal with processes, procedures, and regulations that are inconsistent among the players within a region, and have traditions of practice that differ greatly from region to region nationally and internationally. Only a robust platform like V5 can address these complex requirements in new ways.”