"However, BIM fails to reach its full value because it typically is confined to the design and pre-construction stages. To realize its true potential, BIM must be integrated into the entire construction project life cycle, which would allow the 3-D model to respond to changes during each construction phase."
- Tech Trends: "Integrating BIM into the Entire Project Life Cylce", Hamdy
The past two weeks I have been talking about the advantages of parametric modeling - BIM - over older, 2D-geometric modeling. Certainly, the improved 3D models are an aesthetic advantage, as well as the ability to interface with other programs to incorporate intelligence into the procedure, beyond just the design phase. I brought up potential usages of BIM software, for example Smart Cities and applications to construction and management phases of building life-cylce. I had gotten a little bit ahead of schedule with these thoughts, as they actually fit better with this week's reading and discussion: databases.
The success of those potential uses of BIM software - geographically accurate city models, tracking of material deliveries and construction staging, etc. - all depend on effective interfacing of the corresponding BIM software with 3rd party programs that provide these scheduling, GIS or estimating functions. Frequently what these programs are are DATABASES. Databases of information that are either drawn from the model, or independently created, still with the intention of interfacing with the model to complete some desired function. As we learned last week from the last half of Chapter 2 in the BIM, different BIM programs lack various capabilities, and can be interfaced with different programs; certain programs are geared towards more specific functions, often derived from by companies that focus on that specific work, while others like ArchiCAD and Revit are more generic BIM softwares. In either case, much of the functionality that the software provides is through interaction with other programs. There is no programs that can complete every function, for obvious reasons.
So far I have basically talked circles around the same point: BIM and Databases are more effective when used together. I wont go so far as to group them with Peanut Butter and Jelly, Burgers and Fries, but a similar relationship exists. The first article I read expresses this point in fairly un-technical terms. The quote at the beginning of my post is taken from this article, and it succinctly expresses this idea. Truly, it seems, that without integration with other programs, most BIM softwares are only slightly more effective modeling tools. "Slightly" is a misleading quantity. Surely it is much more effective than 2D geometry based programs. Being able to correspond between and lock objects together to provide automatic model updating is a vast improvement over geometric modeling. The parametric capabilities of the BIM software themselves drastically reduce design time by almost eliminating manual iteration. But the bigger point is that, all of these amazing capabilities that you hear about BIM being used for, are achieved through a mix of programs. This is a good thing; I don't mean to say that BIM is actually some complex procedure that shouldn't be bothered with.
The first reading discusses how databases are used to extend the use of BIM past design and pre-construction phases, to during construction and post-construction. Things like material delivery tracking and construction stage completion, and health monitoring can be completed by interfacing between the model and a database, with information going both ways. The article mentions how the number of RFI's that traffic back and forth throughout a construction project could be significantly reduced by more accurately accounting for materials and deliveries, beyond what is already provided to contractors by the 3D models (as opposed to 2D). These are pretty neat concepts, and are where the true advantages of BIM lie, with respect to construction.
The second reading is a much more specific example of how BIM and databases are combined. It is a technical paper from 2010 that discusses how a Java-based BIM program was developed, along with geographic input from a spatial database (GIS platform). The geographical data was what allowed for the relationship between objects to exists, while the BIM program kept track of each individual object/component. Its kind of a heavy read, and it describes the construction of a very specific BIM program - its function was modeling an 8-story Reinforced Concrete structure - rather than a proprietary BIM platform (like Revit or ArchiCAD). (To clarify, it was a Java-based BIM program that was written for the sake of the project, not an existing BIM software that was used). Still, the result is the same: that interfacing between parametric modeling and information databases are what result in effective design and construction practices.
Reading 1: Integrating BIM into Entire Project Life Cycle
Reading 2: Integration of Java-based BIM with Spatial Database
Felt the same way you did about writing and talking circles around the fact that BIM and databases really need to work hand in hand in order to reach their full potential. The ability to have fully integrated databases within a building model would allow for better design, estimating, and overall construction.
ReplyDeletewhoops... mispelled ingredient in the post title. -5 points for that.
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