Probe 10

Probe 9

Probe 8

Probe 7

Probe 7

BIM software has changed the way architects work and it is starting to change the way we learn to design. With BIM software architects can design structures that once were impossible. It allows us to organize different trades together and see the final product well before construction has started. It is a very powerful tool that can do great things in the right hands but hurt those who are not ready for it.

As students of architecture we have a lot on our plates. We spend the first full year of school trying to understand how to make space. Once we start to understand these ideas we quickly have to be able to give meaning to every move we make. Filling up your time in architecture school is not hard and is often done for you. Learning how to use software takes time and learning how to design with it takes even more time.

BIM software was introduced to my class very early in our schooling. At first it took a lot of time to understand how to model objects in the software. When we should have been spending time learning design strategies we were trying to figure out how to change colors on walls. On top of this the professor whose idea it was for us to work in the software didn’t really know how to teach with it. So as a result the work did not come out very well.

Unlike most of the people in my class after that semester where we were asked to design in BIM I kept using it. I learned that the best way for me to use the software was to work in stages. I would start out with simple massing then move to a very basic level of detail. I was always able to find out quickly if the design idea was able to fit within the program of the design. Once the form took shape I could add increasing levels of detail. Having done almost all the design work in one program I was able to show different stages of design from many different views. The software also saved me a lot of time when it came to producing final drawings.

BIM software is not easy for most to learn. It takes time and should be done when the final design isn’t the major goal of the class. That being said, students must learn how to design with the program. It is clear that this software should be introduced when the user already has a good base level of design knowledge and can start to see how to use it to its fullest.

Suggestions for an integration education

What we learn in architecture school has been a topic I have spent much time thinking about and discussing with other students and teachers.  I am the son of a local architect who has also been an architecture professor for many years. Coming into architecture school I had more knowledge of how a firm works than almost any new student coming into the field. After my first few weeks of architecture school I started to ask him and others questions about how it was taught. I knew that the architects in my father’s firm spent most of the day working with software that almost no one at any level used in school. I also knew that they did a whole lot more than just design. So at dinner one night I asked him why architecture programs didn’t teach us how to use more software. He told me that architecture school isn’t long enough to teach you everything you need to know; that they only have you for a short time and in that time they need to teach you as much design as they can.

            The tools we use as architects have also been simple tools. What you make with them can be far from simple. Someone who has never taken a drawing class could pick up a pencil and draw a house in detail. Odds are it will be a very bad-looking house but they are still able to use the pencil. Someone who has never been taught how to use BIM software has no shot at detailing a house in any BIM software. Programs like Revit are so complex they take large amounts of time to learn how to do even basic things. Without someone helping you it can seem impossible.

            How to teach students and architects how to use BIM is a problem that will take time to solve. It takes so much time to learn the software that it leaves little time to learn how to design with it. Many schools and teachers still see that school as a tool like the pencil. Something you use to record your ideas; not help you come up with them.

            Architects need to know everything. We only have a small time in school and it is already filled to the limit. Finding a place for more is going to be hard but if we don’t find a place for new classes we will be letting the students down.

Probe 6

Computers have had a great effect on the way we live our lives. They let us do things faster and with more ease than ever before. The cell phones we have in our pockets have more computing power then the computers we took to the moon.

As soon as computers started to show up in our everyday lives people have been saying they are either the devil or something from heaven. As someone who has grown up during this time, I can remember how things were done before and after. We now have access to all the worlds’ knowledge at any time, but yet our lives still work the same way.

Architecture is one of the oldest professions, and for almost all of that time we have had the same tools. For the first time in its history there is a now tool for us to use. In the interview Thom Mayne talks of how architects have been “invested in incredibly antiquated ideas and style and history and notions that should have been gone a hundred years ago” - those ideas have made the greatest buildings in the world, and one should be careful not to forget that. Yes, computers let us model things faster than ever before. We can make drawings in seconds that would have taken us days or weeks before. We can test ideas faster, but computers are just one tool we have - a big new tool that isn’t fully understood yet.

In my first few weeks of architecture school someone told me about this article where a well-known architect is quoted saying the plan is dead. My first reaction to this was to think “hell yeah it's dead all I will ever use is 3D modeling”. I soon found out that this was not the way to learn architecture. 3D modeling is a very important step in the design process, but we need to work in 2D at the same time.

Probe 5 DD drawings

Probe 5

Revit like most software is hard to understand at first. Step by step instructions can be helpful but it is hard to read something and then perform the task. This introduction was helpful in understanding how families work in Revit but without pictures it was hard to understand what to do and it was easy to get lost. The best way to learn something like this is to first read a basic explanation about the task, and then try it yourself. Once you have done this it is best to talk with others who are at the same level as you, so you can work out problems you have had. BIM software is very complex and takes years to understand, one should expect to have to work very hard to learn software like this.

Probe 4

BIM: A Healthy Disruption to a Fragmented and Broken Process

“Embracing a collaborative model is the most effective way I can think of to address fragmentation.”

The fragmentation between designers, builders, and owners has always been a problem. Getting everyone in the same room at the same time can be very difficult; if the architect and builder meet, they may make a decision that the owner does not want. All parties need to be able to see any changes to the design as they happen, not weeks or months down the road. Some projects done in BIM software are updated live so that each group can view the project at any point. This is very important for large projects where many different groups will need to be able to give input on the design and construction.  

This way of working with live models has only been around for a few years and will have some growing pains, but it is important for the design and construction field to be able to change with the times. As technology gets better this will become faster and better, but the more we try to use it now the better it will be in the future.

Report on integrated Practice

8 Technology, process, improvement, and culture change

The way architects work has been basically the same for thousands of years. They have an idea for a project. They then do basic drawings of the project in 2D or 3D form, and then they do detailed 2D drawings of the parts of the project. This way of design has led to many of the greatest buildings in the world. BIM and other 3D modeling software programs now allow us to design the whole project in 3D and then take the 2D drawings we need to make it from that. This is a major change in the way we can design. It is so new that many architects don’t know how to teach it to students. The way architects work is changing and the impact this change will have on the world is still unknown.

BIM software allows architects to assemble every piece of a building from a kit of parts, for the first time designers can see every part of the building put together before they start construction. This ability to plan ahead can help solve some problems but can also lead to a false sense of security. Each building is a unique project and how it is put together is also unique. In theory with BIM you can have all the parts built before the project is put together. This would save time and money, but if there was a mistake with one of the parts the others may not fit. In the past if something wasn’t made perfectly the next part could be altered to fit. BIM may be a computer program but it is still operated by people and people make mistakes. The users of this software must be careful not to rely too much on the software.

Probe 1