If I was asked to summarize the essensce of BIM, including its objectives and future uses, I could find no better sentence than this. Straight from the horses mouth. In an industry where companies live and die by competency and creativity, BIM is the future. And it deserves that spotlight.
After reading only 28 pages of the BIM handbook, and two separate articles, I am hooked. In fact, I am disappointed in my reluctance to learn BIM, and my general obliviousness of the subject up until now. Although, my own experiences with BIM are not unlike the Civil/AEC/Building industry's relationship with BIM. As the handbook mentions, the Building industry is just now coming around to the benefits of parametric modeling, while mechanical industries - most notably aviation - have long been familiar with the tool.
The potential for BIM is astounding. And yet its not even a complex idea. Its the most intuitive way to model. Attaching information to the objects you draw; referencing to adjacent objects and the global model; defining geometries based on reference lines or "hard" dimensions or angles with respect to adjacent elements... It just makes sense. I can imagine that the programming that went into creating these programs was quite intense, but the product is definitely worth it. Companies that have already adopted BIM have seen this through increased productivity. The 2nd article I read discusses this in quite a bit of detail. It talks about how companies that are using BIM/parametric modeling technology have been able to weather the recent economic recession. Not only that, but they are poised to make significant gains as the economy turns around, and put distance between themselves and other companies that are yet reluctant to get on the BIM-wagon. The advantages that BIM provides, automatic updating of the model after changes, cost-estimating... these are all things that will cut down on the time spent in the design phase, and will also help smooth the transition between phases of building.
This is where the title of my post comes into play. One of the recent industry trends is Design-Build. Infrastructure projects have had a lot of success in this practice by combining the inputs from the construction and design teams throughout the whole process, and eliminating idle time. Save time, save money. I see a ton of potential for BIM in conjunction with Design-Build in the Building industry; in fact, there is little reason why the two shouldn't go hand-in-hand. Imagine having a global model of the building, which both the design and construction team can make updates to. Everyone is up-to-date and involved. The need for transmittals could be almost eliminated. As the building process goes along, changes can be made to the model based on what is done in the field. As the article mentions, changes are easier to track this way, as opposed to visa-versa. Additionally, when the project is complete, you have an accurate model of the in-place structure. No need to spend time making as-built drawings either. More time saved, less money spent. Turn the model over to the building managers, who can use it to track the health of each element in the building, and share that information seamlessly with the same engineers who designed it! Drink the Kool-Aid.
The concept of 'families' is also quite intriguining, and I think this is where most of the potential lies. The handbook mentions its similarities to the old 'block files' that are used in 2-D AutoCAD drawings, and I agree; these families will replace those standards, and each company can develope their own set of generic elements/families.
While reading I was struck by the idea of an "open-source BIM database," which seems beyond cool. Like the handbook says, different companies that specialize in certain geometries or building types will develope their own families for use in future design projects. If everyone had access to these families, the success of the parametric modeling would continue to snowball.
I'll take it one step further. Consider current tools such as SketchUp and ArcGIS. Some municipalities like Philadelphia and New York are using ArcGIS and other geographical mapping programs to create fairly accurate outlines of their city's infrastructure. This data is used to identify conflicts with existing infrastructure during ongoing construction or maintenance projects. Similarly, you can download a SketchUp model of most recognizable buildings or other landmarks. It all depends on what someone has modeled and uploaded. But imaging combining these two concepts witha program like BIM. A complete, geographically accurate model of the entire city. Buildings, bridges, sewerlines and watermains. A 21st century 3-D model of a city. Furthermore, we can update the model as construction projects are complete, old infrastructure is removed or other changes are made. Information on condition, age and other parameters can be attached to each element and continually updated. Upcoming construction projects can be designed into the model; every project can be shovel ready.
The first article talks about this, with respect to geotechnical projects. The accuracy of geotechnical investigations and site surveys could be greatly improved through the use of 3-D parametric modeling.
It all comes full circle. Having these instantaneous city models would decrease the need for pre-design site investigation, removing another phase of our currently cumbersome building process. Saving more time, saving more money.
The first correlation between this post and my own is the reference to time and money saved. BIM, for simply that reason, among tons of others, will become the future in building engineering once the technology is ready to perfect it. Projects could be designed in small percentages of the time they currently take if a BIM model was created by multiple designers adding to the model as it's being built. One fact from this post I hadn't known is that firms currently using BIM are far ahead of the competition and will only continue that surge. I feel that engineering programs should be focusing more on BIM in the classroom in order to prepare young undergraduates for the future of design that they will surely face in the professional world. Concerning the "open BIM database", I don't know if this will ever actually become too large because firms will want to design their own baseline data with no intentions of sharing it with competing firms. Lastly, I have actually seen something on it's way to becoming what was called a "geographically accurate" 3D model of a city. Recently, I attended a Turner Construction information session where they showed an image of a model they had created showing a "Turner City", which included all of the buildings that Turner had built over the past year. This kind of modeling is certainly the future of our industry, and it's results are extremely impressive to see.
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