Ashrae Journal - December 2008 - (Page 44) Engineering-Centric By Chris Wilkins, P Member ASHRAE; and Arto Kiviniemi, Ph.D. .E., B uilding information modeling (BIM) is the next generation of computerautomated building design. The theory is that all building data would be maintained in a single data format that allows all applications to share data with all other applications. This includes intradiscipline and interdiscipline data sharing. One example of interdiscipline data sharing is the ability to exchange data directly between the architect’s physical model and the engineer’s load/ energy model. Another multidisciplinary application is automated interference checking (sometimes referred to as clash detection). Many readers may believe these types of applications are already in use. In reality, significant technical and process limitations exist, which are preventing full implementation of these and other BIM applications. To understand why interdisciplinary BIM implementation is being limited from a technical and a process standpoint, it is necessary to discuss the concept of a data view (sometimes referred to as 44 ASHRAE Journal specific needs in mind. The focus is on accurately representing the building as it will physically appear. The architect may also be interested in tallying program space areas of the building or in determining quantities of finishes or furnishings that facilitate automated cost estimating. The data or model view required by an energy model (for example) is different from a typical architectural data view. If an energy model tried to work with the architect’s “view” of the data, the software would choke on the large amount of unnecessary detail provided and then if it got past that, it would starve because of missing data. Figures 1 and 21 illustrate the difference between the architect’s view of the building floor plan and the view that must be created or defined if an energy model is going to work with the architectural data as input data. The simplified view About the Authors Chris Wilkins, P .E., is director of engineering at Hallam-ICS, S. Burlington, Vt., and is chair of TC 7.1, Integrated Building Design. Arto Kiviniemi, Ph.D., is vice president of innovation and development at Olof Granlund Ltd., Finland. a model view) and how this relates to interoperability. The architect is the originator or author of much of the building’s physical data. In creating the data that represents the building, the architect has ashrae.org December 2008 http://www.ashrae.org
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