One person wants to extend the Boulevard walkway up Elk River to the Civic Center. Another thinks the riverfront district would be a great place to build housing. Yet another suggested paddleboats and canoes, for an active lifestyle.

More than a dozen private citizens and city officials gathered at Charleston City Hall Thursday to share ideas for improving a roughly 10-block downtown area near the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers.

Architects from Silling Associates are holding three such meetings, plus another set of Web-based sessions, to demonstrate new software tools they've adopted. They say the tools, called BIM (Building Information Models), will revolutionize the design and construction industry.

Following a lengthy explanation of the technology, Mike Bordenaro asked people what they'd like to see at the riverfront.

"Housing," said Susie Salisbury, a City Council member and vice president of the Charleston Area Alliance. "It's at the top of our radar screen right now, trying to get more housing downtown. And since you asked about business, we need a grocery store."

Within moments, an eight-story housing complex appeared on computer screens throughout the room. Working remotely, BIM expert Finith Jernigan took the ideas he heard and drew them onto a Google Earth map of Charleston.

In an exercise last week, his first exposure to the Charleston riverfront district, Jernigan plopped down templates of fire stations  - seven in all. He used fire stations because he had them handy from a previous project.

"Of course you don't want seven fire stations downtown," Bordenaro said. "This week [Jernigan] worked with Silling Associates for about 40 minutes [and another 40 minutes on his own]."

He showed the results: Three-dimensional models of the federal courthouse, the Municipal Auditorium and the Spilman Center, all in their proper sites on the Google Earth map, instead of simple outlines. Designers might use that information to determine the location of the shadow from the courthouse on an adjacent site, Bordenaro said.

One person wants to extend the Boulevard walkway up Elk River to the Civic Center. Another thinks the riverfront district would be a great place to build housing. Yet another suggested paddleboats and canoes, for an active lifestyle.

More than a dozen private citizens and city officials gathered at Charleston City Hall Thursday to share ideas for improving a roughly 10-block downtown area near the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers.

Architects from Silling Associates are holding three such meetings, plus another set of Web-based sessions, to demonstrate new software tools they've adopted. They say the tools, called BIM (Building Information Models), will revolutionize the design and construction industry.

Following a lengthy explanation of the technology, Mike Bordenaro asked people what they'd like to see at the riverfront.

"Housing," said Susie Salisbury, a City Council member and vice president of the Charleston Area Alliance. "It's at the top of our radar screen right now, trying to get more housing downtown. And since you asked about business, we need a grocery store."

Within moments, an eight-story housing complex appeared on computer screens throughout the room. Working remotely, BIM expert Finith Jernigan took the ideas he heard and drew them onto a Google Earth map of Charleston.

In an exercise last week, his first exposure to the Charleston riverfront district, Jernigan plopped down templates of fire stations  - seven in all. He used fire stations because he had them handy from a previous project.

"Of course you don't want seven fire stations downtown," Bordenaro said. "This week [Jernigan] worked with Silling Associates for about 40 minutes [and another 40 minutes on his own]."

He showed the results: Three-dimensional models of the federal courthouse, the Municipal Auditorium and the Spilman Center, all in their proper sites on the Google Earth map, instead of simple outlines. Designers might use that information to determine the location of the shadow from the courthouse on an adjacent site, Bordenaro said.

Jernigan clicked on the courthouse and brought up a table of data - net and square footage, construction cost and total energy usage. The energy cost was calculated by tapping into General Services Information energy usage data for the building, along with local energy costs, Bordenaro said.

He asked people to think about what they'd like to see at the riverfront and bring those ideas to the next meeting, at 3:30 Thursday at City Hall.

At least one participant may have been disappointed to learn the goal of the meetings. As people introduced themselves early on, Susan Johnson said she helped start the waterfront process about five years ago and was anxious to bring it to fruition.

"This is not about bringing it to fruition," Bordenaro said. "This is about the process, about design."

Silling architect Ed Weber said the idea is to demonstrate BIM planning tools through a specific example - the riverfront improvement plan of Sasaki Associates.

"The technology is great because it opens the process up to a number of different players," Weber said. In the past, a designer would go away for months and return with a complete plan to show people.

Marc Weintraub, a City Council member and one of the hosts, said Silling architects will summarize all the suggestions and present them March 19 during the West Virginia Expo at the Charleston Civic Center.

"It will be no more significant than what my chess board looks like when my 7-year-old son and I get done," Weintraub said. "It's just play. It's not the city's plan."

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