BIM Handbook - Chapter 2

In an ideal BIM model, there would be parametric relationships within each building system that would allow it to adjust to changes in another system.  These changes would have a ripple effect across all other building systems as there would be parameters set up to do so.  But, it would appear that building design and the construction industry have so many years of previous conventions and different groups working with their own set of specific practices within those conventions, that completely pre-assembling any one building with a BIM model at this point would take a tremendous amount of manual editing, fine-tuning and collaboration.  This is not to say that it cannot be done or that the example given of the Boeing 777 did not (see G. Carpenter’s post for explanation or page 46 of the book), but the effort resulted in 1000+ planes as opposed to one, single building.  Not to mention the relationship to the site and environment, file size, and managing the different versions of the model within all contributing parties.

The author of the BIM Handbook states, “The range of functionality offered in each market is still being sorted out.  The market is the battleground” (69).  This is very much the case, currently, as each building system and specialty utilizes their specific tools and methods, without having to share a BIM model and create a BIM compatible convention.   This can be seen in the issue of something as simple as drawings.  Page 61 of the BIM Handbook discusses how the necessary drawings required by the building industry are “laid out in different ways in different stages of design” by different system designers and would require that the model be set up with very stringent rules to take into account these conventions to avoid significant manual editing after the fact.

This typically used method of design where each system is designed and contracted separately lacks the required collaboration necessary to avoid the current “clashes” discussed by R. Krall in his post regarding BIM in Construction and J. Lancellotti in her post regarding BIM for Owners and Facility Mangers.  This, I believe, is the real issue as creating interoperability (see posts by E. Cifligu and T. Ben-David) with respect to the software and networks becomes much easier once the groups of people themselves are able to do so.

Reading: BIM Handbook, Chapter 2 (2011 Edition)