BIM Reading 2

The required reading from the BIM Handbook continued to explain the tools within BIM and parametric modeling, as well as the different types of programs within the BIM family.  The tools and capabilities were discussed in greater detail, and how these were strengths and weakness for BIM.  I felt that these were useful "overview" sections, allowing one to gain an understanding of the specific software's purpose prior to use.  The main programs discussed were Revit and Bently Systems, which is to be expected.

The article I read, Improving the Construction Process With BIM, was about how the use of BIM was changing the industry, from an insiders point of view.  The article refers to the CABA, Continental Automated Buildings Association,  summer conference where productivity and BIM were discussed.  Statistics from the conference showed that 82% of companies in attendance felt that BIM was helpful the companies productivity.  However, this isn't all that unusual from an automated buildings association conference.  One of the more interesting parts of the article was from an organizational point of view and how that improved the designing process, allowing designers to spend more time designing, and less time organizing and keeping track of documents and specs.  This is something that was reinforced from the BIM tutorial.  I had forgotten how nice and intuitive the "project" window in Revit was, allowing for all aspects of the projects to be easily accessed and arranged.  The article also talked about companies creating their own objects and families for widespread use.  The article mentions manufacturers starting to accept BIM as the future and beginning to place their own products within the software. Overall, I felt that the article was a good link to the different A1 assignments.