BIM? WHY?

[Anonymous]

We all know by now that BIM is the next evolution of the AEC industry. However, what I am unsure of it what began the revolution? For me I went through Architecture school doing 3D modeling as a standard practice. It just makes sense to me to take that model and use it for everything that it is worth. What I can not figure out is why we see resistance from architects of today? Now, I am not talking about the senior architects, they actually seem quite receptive to the notion. I am talking about the 30 something guys, the guys who were on the other side of the coin not to long ago with the CADD revolution. Today, I here things like, “BIM won’t last, it is just a fad and the industry will go back to the way it was.” Sound familiar to anyone? I wasn’t around when computer drafting began, but I’m sure that the same things were said then. My question to the group, why?

[Scott Davis]

jdk wrote:
That's why Autodesk acquired Revit, which is the attempt to copy ArchiCAD.

I wouldn't come close to calling it a "copy".

[Anonymous]

>>That's why Autodesk acquired Revit, which is the attempt to copy ArchiCAD.

>I wouldn't come close to calling it a "copy".

Indeed, I said "attempt to", with respect to BIM too.

Bob

[Anonymous]

Ok, so paradihm shift and all, I know some of you guys are making the transition just as easily as us "young wipper-snappers", there must have been a reason you believed in it or even just trying it out. In trying out BIM there was probably a point where you found something extremely useful and it clicked that this was the right way to go about doing something. What was that point? Or, did we all just start believing without testing, cause lets face it the dollar signs are still a factor. There is art in architecture I know but everyone who owns a firm is out to make money, right? No one got into this business to lose it (although that is pretty easy to do). There are obvious time saving and cost benifits to using a BIM process, we all know what they are. But what made you guys decide to give it a shot? Why not stick with CAD and what was working? I ask this because I have some guys now who have a bad taste in their mouths because their first BIM project went south. Now, this had nothing to do with ArchiCAD, it was late design changes and a lack of decisions and time spent by the PA and team. The learning curve hurt a bit sure but the failure of the project was not BIM's fault. They would say otherwise. What would you suggest I work with the guys on or tell them to help sway them back?

[Anonymous]

I can only talk of personal experience, but I have seen this happen often enough:

It reminds me of that drawing, where the homo sapiens evolve from a walking tree dweller, left to right.
You see 5 or 6 stages of development, ever more vertical and hairless.

First thing that drew me to VB (I still like Virtual Building more than BIM) was automatic drawings. You just build the stuff and the drawing are all there (we wish...).
Lately we have seen some trends in software development (latest version of Revit, where they make a big brouhaha on integrating 500+ 2d details) that seem to point BIM away from automatic drawing. That is not to say they don't do it any more, but the emphasis is on database, interoperathionality (argh, can´t even spell it), IFC, whatever.
Looks like they are scared of this subject, the promise they made 23 years ago: Completely automatic drawings.

Next comes visualization. After you get pretty good with you model, you start producing very nice renderings with almost no extra effort.

Next comes design decisions. As you get better, you start leaving the pencil and paper even in early stages, and experiment directly on your computer.

Only then are you ready for the true BIM (whatever that is), taking all that data out of the model.

So, in order of importance and on a personal time scale:
2 years - automatic drawings
0.5 year - renderings
2 to 4 years - design decisions directly with VB
After those initial 6 years - true BIM (or as near as you can get).

For all those flatcadders that need rescuing from the 2d world, I always focus on stage one (get out of the trees!) on automatic drawings and automatic update.
Nobody likes to do the mule work, so if you focus on automation, ppl usually brighten up.
Automatic drawings is maybe a small percentage of BIM, but it sure is the most important one for designers.

[Stephen Dolbee]

I first started CADD in the mid 80's. It was strictly 2d, of course. CADD gave a "cleaner" drawing (although some missed the hand-drawn look). The other benefit-changes were easier. No more erasing and redrawing and no more sepias. I could always draw faster by hand, though. However, when the whole modeling concept was introduced I loved the idea. I first saw Archicad at an AIA convention in Atlanta-early 90's. It was incredible! I got a demo copy and began playing with it and couldn't stop. To be able to visualize the building as it is being drawn-what an idea! I even drew a small house with the demo and took polaroid pictures of the monitor to show the client different 3d views (praying that the power didn't go out). I finally convinced the boss that this was the program we needed. We have been using it ever since. I believe BIM is here to stay.