Sunday, April 08, 2007

Learning how to walk.....

I would definitely recommend this article to everyone that contemplates their position and role in the brave new world of BIM. Nigel Davies is one of the very few people out there that manages to circumvent BIM hysteria and deliver a sober and measured view on how to adopt the new methodology while maximizing its capacity within the boundaries of one’s true need assessment...(Mis)understanding BIM

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

First, a little background:
I have been a registered architect in the state of Virginia for 30 years. Back in 1999 (+/-), I won a seat of ADT 3.0 as a door prize at a AutoCAD sponsored event to kick off ADT 3.0. I decided to go on subscription and have received each update over the ensuing years. We use ADT, now AutoCAD Architecture 2008, exclusively in ever aspect of the practice I am part of (a small firm with two registered architects).

I found Nigel's comments to be interesting, and to some extent I agree with many of them. But, there are areas that we differ.

BIM is 3-D for our firm. We produce all of the visual information for the life of any of our projects with ADT(Architecture 2008). This includes presentations, preliminary design, design development, contract documents, and contract administration. We are able to produce more than would be expected traditionally with a firm of our size because of the capability of using a ADT 3-D "BIM" model. I am not aware of how (at least in our case) the statement that it would be possible to have BIM in 2-D alone would ever be possible or applicable.

"BIM" is very close to being a "single database or "single building model"" in the way we operate. The only area still not fully reconciled in our actual day-to-day practice is the BIM to specifications link. And this is on the verge of being solved through programs such as e-Specs.

So, for our firm, "BIM" is for the most part BIM. I agree with Nigel that BIM is the management of project information. Therefore, with regards to the management of project information, at least in our case, it does seem for that "3-D ADT BIM" has almost matched the BIM hype.