BIM Reading

For this week’s reading, BIM was once again the topic. In the articles that I read there was a lot of discussion about the topic of BIM and how it is being put to use by design teams and people in the AEC field. The two articles I read were:

“Building Information Modeling and Green Design”
“Building Information Modeling”

The first article I read was about BIM software is being used to create sustainable designs. It discussed the idea of using energy simulation programs with the BIM software to create the most efficient building possible. Within the article, different types of BIM software’s were discussed and how each of the software’s has its own energy simulation program to be used within it. The main point of the article was to show how BIM and sustainable elements, most important of which is energy analysis, are being used together to create a better model and all around better final product. It also discussed how within the building model, the simulations model energy and are very helpful in helping to estimate costs as well future building performance.

The second article I read was about BIM and the legal issues that are coming up because of the BIM programs. Ultimately, the article says that if something goes wrong in the design it will be much harder to figure out who to sue, due to the fact that the model was created by an entire design team consisting of architects, engineers, and contractors. The article also discussed the idea of copyright issues within a model and how this may become a problem with BIM designs. The article does state however that BIM will be a very useful tool for all members of the design team, as it allows a more seamless model to be created. This is due to the fact that all members of the design team, from the architects to the engineers to the contractors, can work on a model together and will be able to coordinate their designs much more efficiently. Also, since there is one model of the building, the owner will be able to see a more complete design then they
ever have before due to BIM.

The article which we were required to read this week was mostly about the different types of programs which are considered BIM software. It also talked about the main components of BIM, and how they work within the model. Although the information provided in this article was helpful in understanding the different types of BIM, it was not very interesting. The articles which I read went more into the benefits that BIM software’s have as compared to CAD, and other things important to know when looking into BIM programs. Like Monika said, before this week’s reading though, I was really ignorant to how many different types of BIM modeling programs there are. As she said, it would be interesting to look into some of the programs in more detail, such as Tekla Structures or ArchiCAD. I use Revit on a daily basis, but I think it would be cool to know a little more about all of the BIM programs.