Kris,
I think you did a fine job introducing and summarizing various aspects of BIM in your articles.
I think another important factor for everyone to consider is that BIM is 90% process and communications and 10% technology. If you don't change the way you design, collaborate, and deliver, then the technology, and all the expenses and pains that go with it, doesn't amount to much. The technology is
in service to the processes. If you throw BIM tools at the same crappy processes, then you still get crappy results. If you, and your collaborators and clients, are willing to change, adapt, and grow in the way you practice, design, and deliver, then the technology can enable a significant transformation.
Also, as Deke Smith, Executive Director of buildingSMARTalliance, like to say, "BIM is a team sport!" Everyone, including the owner and contractor have to be on board for everyone to get the benefits. Everyone must be and feel invested in a way that they may not be used to from previous "traditional" past experiences.
Lastly, BIM requires three things: (1) Planning, (2) Planning, and (3) Planning (to fail). Often times people simple buy technology and dive in without thinking ahead of what they want to get out of the technology and processes and how to get there. If an owner ask for a "BIM deliverable", what do they really mean? What are they looking for? A Revit model? Why? What are they going to do with it? If they have no means to use it, then why deliver it? How much detail is needed in the model? Is it to be used for fabrication/construction? What do we do when something goes wrong? And on, and on, and on...
The point is, too many times the focus is on the software and the model, without looking at the BIG picture of how and why. As architects, I believe we are trained to look at the big picture, but often times we forget to do it with the same vigor and rigor as we approach other issues.
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Jeffrey W. Ouellette, Assoc. AIA
Austin TX - Architect Product Specialist, Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc.
- Communications Chair, AIA TAP
- Vice-Chair, National BIM Standard-US, v3
- Deputy Chair, buildingSMART International Implementation Support Group
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