B3 - Group C - Andy Dinh - Possible future advantages of Revit/BIM

As we have seen through the few weeks so far from in class discussion and through research of our own, we can gather many advantages that Revit and other BIM software can already offer. compared to the days of hand drawings, Revit and other software offer much more accessibility to designing buildings and other structures without the need of such practice. This helps streamline projects more and allow for better turnarounds on design. Such simple tasks like drawing a straight line is made a lot easy without the need for needing a tool to keep your pencil straight. In the early days there are certainly kinks that needed to be worked out, but seeing how the technology has developed thus far gives high hopes to what the future can hold.

Time, as noted before, is a key factor in the turnaround of projects. There are always deadlines to meet, and the development of BIM is certainly helping reach those deadlines at a much better rate. Coordination and collaboration is a part of this as well. I believe that through better accessibility, even for owners and facility mangers, information on the design of the building can get to those who need it in a much more proficient way with greater ease. Not only is collaboration between those involved is important, but coordination between the user and the program or software is as important. Revit can already detect clashes within the design itself between objects. With adapting AI that has started to get better over the years, these clashes could possibly be fixed without needed human interaction, or at least what the recommended solutions are given for a problem that the user might run in to. Such solutions are already being worked on like ClashMEP [1].

Another future advantage we can look into is cost analysis. This topic can cover a wide variety of items, such as lighting, materials, energy use, and other items that play into how much a structure costs. Being able to gather and display how much everything will cost will help eliminate costly components for more sustainable alternatives. Also, having developing technology in covering maintenance requirements, and with the possible development of AI building maintenance, this technology can help mitigate both short term and long term costs. Different solutions can help solve different problems, so being able to collect all these solutions together and compare them in a much more efficient manner can help push things along.

References:

[1] Calvert, Neil. "10 Points and the Benefits of BIM." VDC and BIM Construction Blog. Synchro Software, 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. <http://blog.synchroltd.com/10-points-and-the-benefits-of-bim>.

[2] Digital School Technical Design College. "Advantages of Revit's Building Information Modeling." Digital School. Autodesk, 17 Oct. 2016. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. <http://digitalschool.ca/advantages-of-revits-building-information-modeling/>.

[3] Zeiger, Mimi. "The Future of BIM." Architect. N.p., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 30 Jan. 2017. <http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/the-future-of-bim_o>.

Comments:

Arthur McCloskey (link): It was interesting being able to read your post and comparing what the other side thinks about Revit in the future. Your drawbacks that you posted certainly do have ground to it and make sense. We can already see how over reliant we are as a society on technology, even with technology outside of BIM like our evolving smartphones and social media and such. Hopefully, we can learn on how technology can help us innovate more rather than be hindered by it, but we will have to see what the future holds in store for us. Also, with ever evolving technology in most fields, I hope we have computers that can handle such demanding tasks from the software we use, but that depends on whether the computer or software has a leg up in development.

Zhijing Zheng (link): Seeing what current issues we have with BIM software was an insight into how it is perceived today. Many can say how much it has helped in a project, but some do not really give much on how it hinders certain aspects. The point that stood out to me from your post was about the cash flow involving the program. Seeing how fees are being lowered through the ease of what the program can provide is a little depressing. Hopefully there is a better demand for it later on that will increase interest, effectively increasing competitiveness and more proportional costs for the work demanded for.

Ray Powell (link): Reading your post about what current advantages we already have for BIM gives me more credence into what I hope to see for the future of BIM. BIM is advancing as much as it can, and being able to see how it has changed from my first involvement with it back in high school about 5 or 6 years ago, there is hope that BIM can stay on that track of rapid development or it may even evolve faster than the current rate it is going right now. It would be good to see the current advantages stay true in the future.