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.