Alexander Koo - B2 - BIM Tools and Parametric Modelling

BIM or Building Information Modelling can be considered an intelligent 3D model-based that assist architecture, engineering, and construction professionals with the appropriate tools to plan, design, construct and manage infrastructure efficiently. BIM is rapidly transforming the construction process as we know it; speeding project completion, lowering costs and improving the overall quality at the same time. In other industries, companies use parametric modelling to develop their own object representations and to reflect corporate knowledge and best practices.[1] The use of BIM will, however, differ from industries to industries.

Chapter 2 in the BIM Handbook focuses on the BOM Design tools and Parametric Modelling. In other words, it focuses and provide an overview on the primary technology that distinguishes the BIM design applications from earlier generation CAD systems.[1] The main focus for this post will be the existing BIM Environments, Platforms, and Tools. BIM offers many design applications and range from being a design tool to using it for energy analysis. In order to understand the BIM applications, three terms needs to be considered; BIM tool, BIM platform and BIM environment. 

A BIM tool is task-specific application that produces a specific outcome.[1] Some examples of those tools are model generation, drawing production, cost estimation and energy analysis. The tool output are often standalone but can, in some cases, be exported to other tool applications for further analysis. These specific applications range from quantity take-offs to cost estimation. A BIM platform acts as an application that generates data for multiple uses, usually for design. Through the platform, a primary data is provided and hosts the information onto the platform. Tool functionality such as drawing production and clash detection are usually also incorporated into most BIM platforms.* Platforms incorporates interfaces to multiple other tools with different level of integration allowing the user to interact with many tools for the same purpose. BIM platforms allow sufficient information to support design operations unlike BIM tools which lack the structure and rules for updating building design. The BIM environment, can be referred as the data management of one or more information pipelines that integrate the applications within an organisation.[1] Its purpose is also to support policies and practices of information within the organisation involved. BIM environment often grow with the firm involve meaning that they are usually not conceptualised and will evolve as the firm evolve. They also allow the carry of wider forms of information such as videos, images and emails; on the contrary of BIM platforms. One example is the BIM360 by Autodesk which provides a collaborative construction management tool. It enables the user to access the project data throughout the building construction lifecycle anywhere at any given point in time.[2]

As mentioned by Maissoun Ksara in her blog post, one example of a company using a BIM is Boeing. One example of a BIM software incorporating all three aspects mentioned above, is Revit which provides a user friendly interface and a lot of design features for building systems. 

Post: https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/maissoun-ksara-b2-chapter-2-bim-tools.html

References:

[1] Eastman, C., Teicholz, P., Sacks, R., & Liston, K. (2008). BIM Handbook. Pages 71-91. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved January 21, 2017.

[2] http://www.autodesk.com/products/bim-360/overview

Comments:

Taryn Francischetti – I like how you introduced the concept of BIM with a brief description of the history of BIM. The description of how the BIM software uses the concept of families was very interesting. How the different components react with each other is an essential feature of a BIM software. Revit is indeed on of the most common BIM tools nowadays and is used in a lot of industries and disciplines. One thing to think about would be how the other BIM tools differ from Revit and for what purpose they are used. Post: https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/taryn-francischetti-team-week-2-blog.html

Joseph Chaudhari – Your post provided a detailed description on how BIM evolved from its early stages to the very advanced version available today. You also provided a good description of the differences between parametric modelling used in BIM and modelling used in other industries. That is something I never really thought about before. A lot of examples were also provided throughout the post which enables the reader to better understand and visualise the context. One question to think about would be which software uses what specific kind of modelling. Post: https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/chaudhari-group-bim-tools-and.html

Nick Pawlikwski – While using a BIM software, the user doesn’t really think about the interoperability between the different applications. That interoperability is however essential. You provided a very detailed description of how the different applications interact with each other in order to accomplish a task. I agree with your description and the examples were very helpful in understanding. I’ll be reading the Chapter 3 in more details as I am now very interested in how the different application interact with other to accomplish a task requiring a bigger flow of information. Post: https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/nick-pawlikowski-interoperability.html