BIM has Left the Station

  The Government building industry is in the midst of a revolution – a revolution in building design. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is significantly impacting new building projects, both in the commercial and government spaces. While BIM tools have been primitive and under-developed in the past, they are now mature enough to be used in prime time. The concepts underpinning BIM have been around since the 1960s. Modeling is commonplace in the automotive, shipbuilding and aerospace industries, which have been using computer modeling of cars, ships and airplanes for design and performance analysis for well over 20 years. These industries have not only been using modeling for design but also for analyzing the performance of cars, ships and airplanes for almost as long. What will happen to the car if it goes 70 mph around a 15 degree turn? What happens to this airplane if it experiences a severe wind shear when it is full of passengers? How fast can this ocean liner go if you add another engine? These are all questions that can be answered with some level of precision long before these products are ever built. Furthermore, each piece of the immensely complex item can be shaped, formed and put together in the design stage. All this is happening in the building industry now that the tools to model buildings are mature and available at affordable prices. Imagine having the ability to predict the effects of sunlight and shade on building energy consumption and being able to determine how factors such as the reorientation of the building or the addition of trees may control these costs. What if you could anticipate how the building would react to natural disasters such as a 7.3 earthquake? Or simply, how much will the building cost to build and what impact will adjustments to component pieces have on that cost? In the past, these were all questions that would take an extremely and sometimes cost prohibitive amount of time to answer. Most answers are gross approximations like the cost per square foot or the worst-case scenario. There was often no ability to do more than one “what if” and therefore no opportunity to optimize design. Thanks to BIM, all that has changed. The building industry is a good decade or two behind the automotive, shipbuilding and aerospace industries in the use of this technology. These industries have been optimizing their designs for weight, cost, strength and durability while improving quality. The building industry is just beginning. The U.S. Government is very interested in optimizing their building design. Every major agency that does any form of new construction or renovations has programs in place to push new technologies to create less expensive, better buildings in compressed construction schedules. One of the largest real estate property owners in the world, the General Services Administration, is actively pursuing BIM. According to Calvin Kam, Program Manager for GSA’s National 3D-4D-BIM Program, BIM is now required for certain major projects that need to go through “final concept approvals” with the Office of the Chief Architect. GSA officials understand, as has happened in other industries, that you can build a building quicker (by improved construction planning and materials procurement); better (able to withstand more severe conditions, better use of energy, better use of light); more durable (use of new materials, more reusable and replaceable parts); and possibly cheaper. Building design tools like Autodesk® Revit® are available today. They are easy to use and relatively inexpensive and the motives are very attractive. It is now up to the architect, engineers, planners, contractors and agencies to change their processes and educate their staff to take advantage of this huge opportunity. Jeff Gravatte, CEO, CADD Microsystems Originally published in [acronym] magazine, Issue 2