Cadalyst - November 2007 - (Page 46)

aecinsight To BIMfinity and Beyond! Building information modeling for today and tomorrow. By Jerry Laiserin F ive years into the industrywide conversation about building information modeling (BIM), it has become clear that BIM is simultaneously bigger, smaller, and more diverse than many first imagined. It’s bigger in that its process encompasses far more than do many of the current so-called BIM software programs. It’s smaller in that early steps in BIM automation will — as with any technology adoption cycle — mimic earlier tools and methods. It’s more diverse in that the BIM model is fragmenting into discipline-, phase-, and role-specific models that mirror the business facts of life in designing, constructing, and operating buildings. The Big BIM Theory To think of BIM only in terms of specific software programs is to miss the point. My own definition of BIM has evolved since I initiated discussion of BIM in 2002. In a keynote at the April 2005 GeorgiaTech/LaiserinLetter Conference on BIM, I proposed that Building information modeling is a process of representation, which creates and maintains multidimensional, data-rich views throughout a project lifecycle to support communication (sharing data); collaboration (acting on shared data); simulation (using data for prediction); and optimization (using feedback to improve design, documentation and delivery). do we wish to improve?” Some potential areas for improvement are: Accuracy. Complete, correct communication between AEC/O project participants; for example, owner requirements to designer (program/brief), designer feedback to owner (visualization/simulation), design intent to construction documents (CDs), and CDs to constructors/bidders Consistency. Uniformity within a representation; for example, within a set of drawings or specs Integration. Linkage between related representations; for example, between drawings and specs or between models and sequencing/schedules Coordination. Interference checking among disciplines; for example, between building and site or between structural and mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) Synchronization. Achieving comparable levels of detail/resolution over time; for example, drawings/specs versus cost The Right Tool for the Job CAD vendors promote their model-authoring tools to architects and engineers as BIM, when the reality is that most such tools are being used to generate more consistent sets of drawings. These model-authoring tools include Vectorworks Architect from Nemetschek North America; ArchiCAD from Graphisoft; Revit Architecture, Structure, and MEP from Autodesk; Bentley Architecture, Structural, Building Electrical, and Building Mechanical from Bentley Systems; and Digital Project from Gehry Technologies (figure 1). Using modeling tools to improve consistency is an example of the initial smallness of BIM to which I referred above. Early adopters want modeling tools to mimic both the output and input of paper drawings and 2D CAD. (The Virtual Trace feature of ArchiCAD 11 is one of the best-executed examples of this technique.) The history of technology diffusion shows this phase is a necessity, like the horseless carriage. Some drawing/model-consistency tools include visualization capabilities to improve the accuracy of design feedback. Vendors rely on differing strategies for achieving accuracy through other kinds of simulation and analysis. Some link to third-party tools, primarily through application programming interfaces (APIs) and other program-specific pairings. Others rely on open standards, such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), for interoperability with multiple software partners. The point is that accuracy in, say, building-energy–performance This definition makes no reference to parametric objects, database technology, or indeed to any software at all. It doesn’t even require computers. In my seminars and other writings, I emphasize the view that BIM is a business process, not a software program. Successful AEC/O businesses already practice BIM as a process. Everything an AEC/O firm does is geared to its existing (BIM) process. Therefore, automating and externalizing that process via software will change everything. I use AEC/O here to include the role of owner/operators who — along with designers and constructors — have recently begun to focus on these issues because newly available process-automation tools enable everyone to step outside of their existing process environment and see it as they never have before. If BIM is a process and software can automate portions of that process, then the first question to ask is not “Which BIM model-authoring tool should we buy?” Instead, the question should be “What aspects of our existing processes 46 November 2007 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - November 2007

Cadalyst - November 2007 Contents Editor's window Cad Central Conceptual Inspiration for Less Than $200 From Any Angle - Publish and Share Your 3D Designs NX 5, Part 1 - CAD/CAM/CAE Software Newforma Project Center Fourth Edition - Software for Project Information Management CAD Manager's Survey 2007 Sharing and Collaborating with Your Team To BIMfinity and Beyond! Solutions for Sending Large Digital Files Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Cad Fidential

Cadalyst - November 2007

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