Ray Powell B3 - Current Advantages of BIM

Buildings, their design, and management benefit greatly from advantages of BIM. Some of the major benefits consist of modeling, construction, and analytical aspects.  As the designer puts information into the software, it is recorded, presented, and recorded accurately in many fashions. This is very beneficial because the objects, or families, are modeled three-dimensionally, typically with parametric modeling techniques. This digital model is available for analysis and as a tool for creating schematic or construction documents with details for informed decision making. Yusuf Arayici and Sas Mihindu list nine of the major benefits, but I have summarized their list into six.

1. Faster, more effective processes
2. Better design and customer service
3. Controlled whole life lifecycle and environmental data
4. Automated and better production quality and assembly
5. Integration of planning and implementation processes
6. More effective and competitive industry

With this rapid advancement, learning the software can benefit products of the industry and the industry as a whole. As designers utilize the software’s benefits, their designs will perform better to the owner’s intensions. A case study of John McCall Architects notes many of these as being true, but also reports that there are economical, business benefits that help their firm, such as increased revenue, better cash flow within the project, reduced costs for travel and documentation, additional bids achieved, and higher client satisfaction, when switching to BIM from 2D drafting. (Arayici) This is likely because modeling allows the staff to apply their knowledge much more effectively and better determine the direction of the project. The staff, and clients, can visualize the final product and address potential issues before production moves from schematic design. In a similar study questioning firms about the benefits of using BIM technology over drafting, significant results indicate that creativity, sustainability, quality are improved, while resources, costs, and time are down. (Yan and Damian) Furthermore, another article, “Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Sustainable Building Design”, shows how BIM is utilized as a construction and facility management tool in integrated project delivery projects to organize and maintain information specified by the designer. Utilizing the software in this manner enables the staff to analyze the needs of the building from a digital model before applying them to construction or facility practices. Combining this level of organization for facility management with the vast benefits through the design process, it is evident that BIM is a great tool for improving building design and management.

Sources:

Arayici, Y., P. Coates, L. Koskela, M. Kagioglou, C. Usher, and K. O'reilly. "BIM Adoption and Implementation for Architectural Practices." Structural Survey 29.1 (2011): 7-25. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.

Mihindu, Sas, and Yusuf Arayici. "Digital Construction through BIM Systems Will Drive the Re-engineering of Construction Business Practices." 2008 International Conference Visualisation (2008): 1-6. ResearchGate. Web. 25 Jan. 2017. <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yusuf_Arayici/publication/4355673_Digital_Construction_through_BIM_Systems_will_Drive_the_Re-engineering_of_Construction_Business_Practices/links/00b7d51af58bee9a95000000.pdf>.

Wong, Kam-din, and Qing Fan. "Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Sustainable Building Design." Emerald Group Publishing Limited, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.

Yan, Han, and Peter Damian. "Benefits and Barriers of Building Information Modelling." (2011): n. pag. 12th International Conference of Computing in Civil and Building Engineering. Web. 25 Jan. 2017. <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f611/6b6af1c57f1dee8463cfb58239d3170216da.pdf>.

Comments:

Chris brings up good points about the legal aspects and computer issues that create disadvantages for utilizing BIM to its potential. The documents that Architects and Engineers produce are legal documents about how the building is to be built, so creating a legal, secure product is always a concern of designers. There are many places where a designer could specify something that puts society at risk and leaves the firm liable, but I cannot associate any error or information omission increase due to BIM. Software that uses BIM to create construction documents does produce much more information than drafting, but operational aspects of smart referencing, such as tags or schedules, this information remains much more accurate. Additionally, producing this much information, especially so rapidly, requires a lot of computer power. There are many computers that are incapable of running the software effectively, but that number is decreasing. Computers are becoming much more powerful very quickly to meet our industry’s computing power demands. I assume that some of the most popular, best CAD machines are very expensive, but there are currently many computers that offer enough computing power to use BIM software effectively.

Nick discusses how BIM has many benefits, but there are limitations that make adopting BIM difficult for some. For some projects, there could be no need to utilize BIM. It is much more complex software and some projects do not require this level of complexity, but this software typically operates on a small scale as well as it does on large projects. Creating models and documents with software like Revit requires a very similar process to drafting in two-dimensional AutoCAD, but it constructs additional information for other parts of the project, like elevation and section views. Also, there is an unfair advantage given to firms with high revenue because they can provide software like Revit to their employees much easier than firms with less revenue. The price for the software and the machines that are needed to operate the software can be substantial. The software also does offer major updates that can be difficult to adjust to, but your suggestion of upgrading more frequently, instead of waiting for the large updates, should make this adjustment smoother for the design staff.

Peter presents some very interesting ideas with his posts about possible future advantages of BIM. Collecting geotechnical data and integrating it into Revit would be very beneficial for designing how the building interacts with the ground around it. Similarly to this, actually just yesterday a friend of mine was explaining a way to convert SketchUp’s topography from Google’s satellites into a surface in Revit, but it was a slightly cumbersome process. Hopefully, this will become easier and implement more accurate data than satellite imaging, but it’s a start! Revit has become excellent modeling, drafting capable, and software for many in our industry since its creation, but applying its information to additional software will only make it more useful for more people. Exporting information from Revit to something like Solidworks would allow flawless integration from design to manufacturing. Additionally, I agree with Peter that Revit is lacking in simulation and responsive environments, but this has never seemed to be something the software did well and it may want to stick to what it does best, information modeling. Currently, combining analytical simulation software capabilities with what Revit is achieving may surpass the power available even from some of today’s most powerful computers. I think future progression will involve more of referencing BIM models to and from analytical models, but even that process needs improvement.