While I agree with both Douglas Elting and Ryan Smith there is a much bigger picture here, tied not only to BIM, but to how and why our profession is changing.
Yes, BIM, and more specifically 3 dimension thinking/modeling has radically changed how we design and convey information, but the underlying problem still is "garbage-in, garbage-out". We have come to believe that BIM/3D modeling is going to solve all the system conflicts, make better designs and solve all our problems. Our interns, and yes even some of our seasoned professionals, actually believe the computer is going to do this automatically, and actually fix the problem. We are so caught up in what cool computer models we can build, and how much technical information we can turn into 1's and 0's, we have lost sight of who we are actually creating the drawings for...the contractors...those individuals, tradesmen and craftsmen that have to actually build it. Once we get past the design concepts, killer presentations, photo realistic models and computer generated images, the only group we are then creating the documents for are those building it. Our construction documents are "instruction manuals" on how to put a particular building together...in finite detail. And this is where we are falling down and failing.
Don't believe me? Then count the number of RFI's, supplemental instructions, clarifications and revisions that get recorded on a project which often hundreds, and even thousands. Yes, projects are more complicated and technically complex, but that is all the more reason to prepare better documents, and clearer, more accurate information for those building it.
We, as a profession, have let our interns down in a monumental way. We are no longer teaching them how a building goes together, and more importantly why each little component is important, and how they all tie together. In fact we actually have a whole generation of practicing architects that not only don't know all the intricacies of how a building actually gets built, but they are passing this lack of information along to our interns.
BIM is not just "Building Information Modeling"...it is supposed to be "Better Information Management". As architects, we are supposed to be trained to think 3 dimensionally. In our minds eye, we see what others don't, and that is why we create the documents, and information to get what we envision transferred from our minds to the physical world.
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Oza Bouchard AIA
Morris Architects, Inc.
Houston TX
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