Blog 3 - Future Advantages of BIM

Blog 3 - Future Advantages of BIM

January 27 2015

The current advantages of BIM with respect to intelligent modeling for AEC companies has been proven and include automatic code conformance verification, parametric modeling to maintain consistency after changes to design take place, 4D construction design, and reducing costs and time required to fabricate building components. However, BIM software is still in its infant stage and is continues to develop to enhance the productivity and possibilities of design, construction, operation, and demolition.

As stated in my post in Week 3, facility owners will utilize BIM in the future to create 3D visualizations of their buildings and use automatic quantity check offs to create accurate cost estimates for projects. Multiple design options can be developed with BIM so that the owner can determine which one will provide the best building performance and life cycle costs after construction is complete and the building is in operation. Owners will shift from design-bid-build processes to integrated design and construction teams with the use of BIM to reduce change orders and have more control over what they desire for their projects.

Architects and construction services will become more transparent to benefit the owner and stakeholders by allowing them to present their actual design of the building, project schedules, cost estimates, and other planning information all at once. BIM will allow designers to simulate energy efficiency, structural analysis, acoustics, lighting, and fabrication of building parts accurate to what will exist after construction. Building product manufacturers will make it easier for designers to know the product specifications of the materials used in their models by providing hyperlinks in the BIM software to product catalogs, prices, dimensions, etc. Automated code-checking will continue to improve to prevent code violations from taking place during design and will be done either through BIM embedded tools from third-party developers, or through external software that will check the BIM model. Therefore, BIM is only going to get better for architects, engineers, construction companies, and owners thanks to technological advances for computers and in BIM software such as Revit. 

Reference

Eastman, Charles M. BIM Handbook a Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, 2nd ed. Chapter 8 - The Future: Building with BIM. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Response to Catherine Stephens:

I discussed the issues you mentioned in your post with my supervisor about a year ago, and he also told me that the integration of services between structure, MEP, architecture, and other systems would lead to lack of responsibility when design errors take place. When every contributor can make changes to a system of the building so easily, how can owners use BIM software to determine the company who is actually at fault?

Response to Rikki Moore:

The problem you mentioned (with regard to performing calculations and renderings in Revit) in your post is exactly what my senior design group is currently experiencing while designing a new community center. We would like to make realistic renders of our model, but are required to download other software such as Maya (which we do not have much experience with) to do so. Therefore, while BIM currently great for modeling multiple systems within one file, it is still not capable of being the ONE software needed to design an entire building.

Response to the Ami Amegan:

The numbers you provided for the improvements in cost estimation and savings made from automatic detection of clashes of systems through BIM were astounding. If more people could save companies more money like that, we wouldn't be in an economic recession! But seriously, I am in agreement that BIM will only get better with time and cost savings and other benefits for designers and owners will skyrocket. And to answer your question, I don;t think the benefits for designers and owners can be quantified against one another. Let's just say both are going to use BIM to save $$$.