Gawor - Current Problems with BIM

Current Problems with BIM

Using BIM for project design requires more work upfront. The process inherently is more collaborative. It requires greater initial communication between designer, owner, and contractors. The effective use of BIM software is highly dependent on how it is implemented. Good use of software like Revit requires intimate knowledge of the program, establishing client needs, office standards, and new design practices. The use of BIM can require a great deal of licensing and training, and often requires hiring several individuals to oversee implementation of these programs and practices in office.

A lack of standards on how building models should perform is another issue. Drafted drawings were read as showing design intent, but now modelled buildings may be read as instruction for construction depending on their level of detail. Ensuring accuracy in a BIM model suggests maybe more risk than that of a drawing set. The ownership of the BIM model and its data are uncertain.

There is a learning curve with BIM, and smaller practices might not have the resources or time to invest in this new software, making for a longer learning curve and time of adaptation. The transition from drafting to modelling can take many months, even years. If a model is meant to be used long term to inform building operations, it will take more time and input from the owner to assure engineering teams this is something they want and will use.

The electrical industry is not very well represented in BIM. Most BIM software do not provide electrical elements out of box, nor have they developed the type of compatibility that is not built in to running piping or vents. There is no intelligent circuit design available. Other issues that need to be developed in BIM software include better representation of architectural planning processes, more intuitive user interfaces, integration with GIS systems, integration with energy modelling, connection to real world capture and feedback. [1] Developing the design for a building usually involves some amount of information collection and abstraction. Buildings are not born perfectly in the mind of a single architect, ready to be represented in highly detailed 3D but are a process of adjusting, elaborating and correcting upon a concept.

Resources

[1] http://usir.salford.ac.uk/12898/2/PaulCoatesLimitationsofBIMICSU.pdf

[2] http://www.caed.calpoly.edu/content/pdci/research-projects/simonian-10

Peer Comments

Taryn Francischetti

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/taryn-francischetti-team-blog-post-3.html

Taryn, I agree ownership of these BIM models and how they might be used post project construction is a big issue that is yet to be resolved. There is no benefit for the design team to share their model, as they might be held liable for discrepancies in the model post construction. Specialty contractors working on the model might want to maintain their rights to their details of design. Proprietary information left in the hands of an owner could find its way to a competitor. The desire to use the models for future repair and maintenance of the project will have to be balanced with liability issues.

Peter Dannemann

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/b3-group-c-peter-dannemann.html

Peter, you are right geotechnical and site related work is underserved in existing Revit design.There is also minimal integration with GIS systems. The location of the project so greatly informs a project and its performance that it seems a ridiculous omission.

Hayley Selden

https://ae-410-510-ay16-17.blogspot.com/2017/01/selden-b3-revit-vs-other-drafting.html

Hayley, with respect to your comparison of Revit and Sketchup you are completely right. Sketchup serves as a more intermediate design concept phase of a project, more than a platform for detailed design, especially when it comes to detailing or engineering systems. This ‘concept’ or planning part of the design process is not really built into Revit. You touch on the distinction between drafting and modelling. For me this is another interesting problem. Drafted drawings are read as showing design intent, but now modelled buildings may be read as instruction for construction depending on their level of detail. Ensuring accuracy in a BIM model suggests maybe more risk than that of a drawing set.

Future Problems with Revit/BIM - Arthur McCloskey

     While Revit is getting increasingly popular among design and engineering firms, it still has a lot of drawbacks.  Revit can be a confusing program to learn, especially for those that are unfamiliar with object based modeling.  Particularly, employees that have been accustom to AutoCAD can  have particular difficult adjusting.  As the industry moves closer and closer to making Revit the new standard of modeling, it can only be assumed that the problems will minimize over time.  Many people see Revit becoming easier to use, have increased capabilities, and better sharing capabilities.  However, it is an interesting exercise to think about what could still be a challenge as more and more improvements are made to the program.

     Perhaps one of the most obvious drawbacks to large-scale adoption of Revit is the decreased understanding of traditional architectural design or engineering.  When issues arise in the field or in design, over-reliance on computer modeling hinders innovation, and encourages a narrow-minded perspective.  In the article "Want to be an Architect?  Don't Learn Revit" speaks a lot to this point.  Over-reliance on BIM puts architects and engineers in programming and drafting positions exclusively, which suppresses the potential of these individuals [1].

     In addition to the effect that Revit has on people, it can also have some technical drawbacks in the coming years.  These are more difficult to research, as most sources report that it is expected Revit will become more robust technically.  I think that there is a potential for the program to include capabilities like structural calculations, HVAC flow calculations, electrical component sizing, etc.  These may sound like a benefit (and they are), but all this increased computing requirements will be burdensome on our computers.  They also will now require a particular care in construction of a model.  This opens up new problems when, for example, an architect goes to edit a wall section, rendering the structure unstable and crashing the model.  Additionally, these models can become inflated in size, which can make using them on-site nearly impossible.  On most of my co-ops, our field representatives would often open drawing generated by traditional CAD programs.  If these 3D models are brought to the site, perhaps this ability will be overshadowed by the enormous model sizes as functionality increases?    Overall, I see many of these potential issues being mitigated and overcome, as that is just the nature of progress, but it is important to consider them as the program develops

Comments on Others:

Brennan Connolly - I think the article you linked was very interesting.  I always saw Revit being incorporated to analyze aspects of design we usually use other programs for, but it is interesting to see AutoDesk already developing a plugin to assess energy performance.  This, as you mentioned could really have a profound effect as more and more buildings are pushing for LEED certification.

Zhijing Zheng - The list of current issues with BIM was really useful to me as I constructed my blog post.  I was very interested in your comments on the effects on smaller firms.  We often do not think about how these large software agglomerations can put a huge burden on the little guys who might not have necessary computing power or technical infrastructure.  Perhaps BIM could be a major player in the reduction in small engineering/architecture firms.

Ronald Herazo - I found the figure you have on your post particularly interesting.  We always seem to assume the construction industry is far behind on the adaption of technology, but it is stark to see how far.  As BIM gets more and more complicated, we might just be trying to take on more technology that could prove useful or operable for us.

References

[1] Architectural Ellipses, Intern Architect.  "Want to be an Architect?  Don't Learn Revit."  Web.  Available: http://archinect.com/arch-ellipsis/want-to-be-an-architect-don-t-learn-revit

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.