The recent posts and articles from my colleagues have inspired me to begin writing once again.
Frame | Paul Seletsky
I applaud the efforts of those who are attempting to assign a more profound nomenclature to what I still like to refer to as Virtual Building Modeling. After all, where would we be if we didn't understand what terms like ATM, DVD, or SCUBA meant? However, I encourage the forward-thinking members of our community to focus more on the potentials of this BIM/Hypermodel/VBM.
Along the continuing topic of interoperability, one potential breakthrough may be the IFC Model Server. Imagine a complete and wholly accessible database of your entire project that can be queried for everything from energy analysis to cost estimating to scheduling to computerized fabrication. Such a service would provide great benefit to the design team, but who would be responsible for maintaining this data? Administration of permissions? Liability for downtime? To avoid risks, the owner, architect, engineers and contractors must work together under an umbrella of impunity as witnessed in collaborative projects such as London's Heathrow T5.
The division of labor for any given design project will change dramatically with the use of BIM/Hypermodel/VBM tools. How will we staff these projects at each phase? How will our billable time be affected? Do we charge more or reduce our staff? What changes will be necessary to our contracts of service or consultant agreements? What additional services can be offered that were previously deemed cost-prohibitive?
Many of my colleagues have also suggested an examination of the manufacturing industries for similarities. While some of the design tools utilized are similar to those employed in the building industry, the process is fundamentally different. Manufacturers create a few custom parts to assemble into a mass produced whole, while we attempt to assemble mass produced parts into a customized whole. Collaborative tools like Revit or CATIA allow Architects and Engineers to analyze their designs much sooner in the collaborative process; whether for visualization, area calculation, finite element analysis or the like. This bears some semblance to the 'vaults' and 'online collaboration' that production designers utilize in the manufacturing industry.
In summary, I believe our friends at the "factory" are on the right track, and I would hope to see an API, IFC data export and 'intelligent' linking appearing in the near future.
My $0.02.
Reply With Quote
