Interoperability

Interoperability is a crucial aspect of BIM, especially due to the complexity of buildings nowadays and the idea that building function as one cohesive machine, rather than a collection of systems. In practice, there are many designers working on each building: an architect, a structural engineer, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer etc. These people and their systems need to be able to communicate with each other not only on site, but also during the design process. Therefore it is necessary for computer generated building systems created with different programs to be compatible and read by other interfaces.

Elda did a great job briefing about the technical aspect of interoperability in her post. Rather than repeating what she had already said, I would like to touch more of the impact interoperability has on BIM. In order to make buildings more efficient, many building systems are cross-disciplinary. A contractor might want to save cost by providing cheap envelope, but overall the building can turn out more expensive with a larger HVAC system and larger energy consumption. By providing interoperable design methods, the designers can see how their systems will work together in real life. As the BIM Handbook states, is it possible to conduct ANSI calculations using IFC with proper labeling. This can make design more efficient and help in providing ideal solutions in terms of energy management, cost reduction, and systems’ effect on one another. As we move forward to an era of more intelligent buildings, BIM interoperability is necessary to ensure compatibility and communications between systems and avoid errors due to miscommunication and complexity.

It is true that there are still problems with IFC and other formats, such as complex curve interpretation and other problems in translation, but I believe these problems will be solved in the near future. Autodesk software seem to be the most common type of software used today in the industry, which is a step towards standardization; but as long as other programs are used there has to be a way in which files can be translated from one program to another with as little errors as possible for an efficient interoperable BIM design.