B3 - Current Problems with BIM / Revit

BIM

BIM (Building Information Modeling) has definitely improved our professional lives. Visualizing, or trying to, is a different experience from being able to actually see a 3-Dimensional rendering of a concept. Projects, ideas, concepts are almost tangible nowadays, and that is all thanks to BIM Technology. Revit, in particular, is widely used in the engineering and architectural world as a tool of communication between different spheres / disciplines within the "building world". BIM has advanced widely in the last decade or so, and its advantages most definitely counterweight its setbacks. However, there are a few things worth mentioning regarding possible flaws in BIM and Revit, that engineers, architects, and even students encounter often enough for them to be considered as problems / disadvantages.

Following the class discussion on this topic [1] I am going to try to expand more on some of the major pointers that we were able to summarize last week. 
It seems that one of the main reasons people get frustrated about when it comes to Revit, is that when the file becomes too large (above a few MBs), significant lagging starts to occur. This might be directly related to how much power the computer and graphic card the model is trying to be run on, has. However, this is considered a design flaw, because there is other software out there who are able to compute a myriad of data in a few seconds, without displaying obvious lag or crashing.  
Another aspect in which Revit could use some improvement on, is a better incorporation of systems, done so in stages. There has been a demand for this feature for a few years now, and Revit developers were able to accommodate clients' needs by creating the "virtual cloud", as a way of storage for one single model to be saved on, and later on be accessed by different computers and users. The problem with that is that not a lot of people can work on the same model at the same time and be able to save all the changes by superimposing them.  Each user gets a notification if the file is already open on a different computer, and they can access it as view-only, without being able to save changes or modify the original model. 
Revit has also been described as very used-dependent. Each firm has a dedicated team of drafters, whose job is to draft or detail Revit models. However, there is an absolute need for basic knowledge of Revit by engineers and designers as well. The project proves to be more time-efficient if the designers know how to assemble different systems based on their design. Setting up an initial model is very time-consuming and its benefits aren't observed right away. However, taking the extra time to model or assemble the model correctly in the beginning, proves to be rewarding in later stages of the project, when modifications might be necessary. Going back to the idea of user-depended, I also wanted to point out that Revit is a very powerful tool. This is significant because a software's power is often related to its complexity, which might be a reason why not a lot of people are very "fluent" in Revit. The software could improve the user interface to make it easier for beginners to have a better experience. 
Generally speaking, our group also pointed out that electrical engineering is one of the slowest fields, in our experience, which has adapted BIM Technology. Converting 3-D models into 2-D plans often requires additional work, to better display overlapping and system interaction. This may counteract the initial purpose of using BIM, which is to manage tasks in a timely manner.

Resources

[1] Week 3 Class Discussion - Group B - Current Problems with Revit/BIM
https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/week-3-class-discussion-group-b-current.html

Peer Review Comments


Alexander Koo: I think it's interesting that you touched upon the legal aspect of BIM data. That's something that hadn't occurred to me. It must be extremely hard to keep track of which user implemented which feature throughout the lifetime of a project, which can vary from a few weeks, to months. As you mentioned, the "blurring" of responsibility can be dangerous. However, final plans are always reviewed and seen by many sets of eyes, and at the very end sealed by a professional engineer. This ensures careful consideration of every single feature and detail in the project. Finding the responsible party is necessary only when something goes very wrong and someone needs to be blamed, which will hopefully not be the case in future projects. 

Prahlad Singh: I agree with the points you made while comparing AutoCad to Revit. I just wanted to point out that in many cases, people try to compare AutoCad 3D to Revit, solely based on better three-dimensional capabilities that AutoCad 3D features. But as Professor Mitchell mentioned in class, AutoCad 3D is not considered very well-designed, therefore you don't hear of any architectural firms using it. As Pierre Derenoncourt eloquently put it, "with AutoCad you’re using lines to create basic geometry that represents real life objects, while with Revit you’re using geometry that’s equipped with real life information." [2]
[2] AutoCad or Revit - Where do you draw the line?
http://blog.digitaltutors.com/autocad-revit-draw-line/

Chris Sager: First and foremost, I appreciate your sense of humor. Second, thanks for providing those quantities; it helped me get a better idea of how much money you need to invest in order to get a decent computing power that can handle complex BIM. (it's outrageous!) I mentioned the high processing power needed to run Revit as a major design flaw in my blog post as well. I don't know how, but I am sure there is a way to optimize and improve Revit in that sense, and that could be an interesting subject of research for a computer science or IT major who wants to specialize in data synthetization. It's a problem, especially in work environments where more than 20 computers need to be upgraded in order to keep up with recent technologies.