B2 Week 3 - Ronald Park - What are the current advantages of Revit/BIM?

What are the current advantages of Revit/BIM?

In the world of construction/engineering, designers have been using the CAD software since the 1980s. Drafters and designers have been relying on the technology on 2D space layout. It certainly has its advantage over accuracy and effective time over drawing manually with a pencil. As years go by, new design software began to appear called BIM software, including Revit. Revit has been used by all designers in construction world since its release in 2000. Comparing to CAD software, BIM has many benefits CAD is unable to fulfill:

Collaboration Improvement - Thanks to the software Autodesk360, which ties with Revit, sharing files has never been easier between engineers/contractors/architects. This can automatically increase functionality within a firm itself, and increase speed and reduce cost time for peer coordination. Time for review and markups will also be cut down due to the fast collaboration between multiple shop drawings.

Simulate and Visualize - 3D views are one of the best presentable figures to be shown, whether showing in a presentation, or when forming all floors and foundations of the model together in one visualization. In CAD software, visualization in sleek 3D display was almost impossible. But in Revit, not only does it include many simulation tools, but analysis tools to help fix or add any details without corrupting other parts of the model.

Sequence - With the high amount of accuracy that be done in each sublevel of a building in Revit, not only sublevels can come together in one drawing, but building material, foundation, bedrock detail, etc. can also be added in the visuals of the model. This can be done easily in animations, coordination of steps and processes, so a predictable path to the expected outcome can be made.

References

http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/autocad-release-history.html

https://www.thebalance.com/building-information-modeling-bim-benefits-845045

https://redshift.autodesk.com/building-information-modeling-top-10-benefits-of-bim/

Comments

Andy Dinh (link) - Sharing information in Revit has been far easier than CAD software than ever before. Collaboration is very essential for communicating with other firms/contractors/owners, even within the own firm itself. Easy collaboration can lead to fewer meeting times for review and markups, which can also cut down cost time and increase building speed, which leads to another point I agree with you. Cost analysis is vital to the industry world. Many construction jobs suffer from liquidated damages simply from project delays or time conflict. With the help of Revit, design speed can increase exponentially and hopefully it will minimize the cost damage by a high amount in the near future.

Paulina Gower (link) - BIM software is currently being used frequently by a large amount of design firms around the world today. However, transitioning to tis powerful tool requires a lot of time and proper training, things some firms do not have a lot of time to spare. Even though Revit/BIM software assist the firm greatly, they would have to learn within their free time outside of current projects being done with other CAD software. BIM is not easy to learn and can be proven to be difficult to use. I also agree with you that BIM does not cover the electrical component side very well. Revit is mainly used more productively with civil engineers/architectural engineers/MEP/construction managers. Having all fields included within the BIM software can go a long way for even aster collaboration.

Taryn Francischetti (link) - I agree with you of the risks for easy collaboration between files using Revit/BIM. Although to be proven to be very helpful, it can be messy if the person sharing those files do not put their names on them. If so, ownership can post a huge problem and needs to be protected through copyright laws. I also agree with you on the constant updates. Sometimes if someone's software is not up to date, it can either decline and file transfer, file would be corrupted if transferred, or model is not aligned, etc. Updating has been an issue since the software is relatively new and always changing to be the perfect building tool. Hopefully in the near future, updates can come out automatically in a more cleaner way.