This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Architectural Bloggers and Technical Design for Building Performance Knowledge Community .
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I would be interested to know how many Architects want to take on the rewarding challenge of full IPD?
As previous posts mention "new technology skill sets are required to reclaim a leadership role".
I run a design and construction company in Sydney Australia and we have been using collaborative BIM in house now for 4 years. It is very rewarding to be able to present a model to the client, the contractors, the engineer and have intelligent discussion on buildability and feasibility before the project is presented to authorities and beyond.
At first I found it confronting to be getting input from people with little or no design skill, yet decided to give it a go on two projects. I am pleased to report the financial reward was net +2% on job A and 5% on job B and I found that the consultants & contractors now had more of a vested interest in the project and together we came up with a way to keep the design integrity whilst decreasing construction time and construction cost. In my mind I see these examples to be one of the main reasons a collaborative environment should be encouraged across the industry.
I hope in time I can come and show you all some examples of how we now do it but like most of you I am busy earning a living and running my business.
As far as technology is concerned we created our own software add on that allows easy file creating and sharing at minimal cost. I would like to attend one of the AIA course to see how others are achieving or intend a similar result.
The software we created is an add on to Sketchup that initially we used entirely for conceptual work. Now we have the add on creating the majority of BIM information automatically or with a few visual selection changes and have it adding real life textures whilst creating a 2d drawing that can be exported as DWG to CAD or Layout.
I understand that most Architects conceptualize using Sketchup and then continue their work flow in Revit or ArchiCAD as we used to do it this way as well. To me it did not seem to be the most logical way to do things as the geometry had already been created and we were redoing a job that had already been done. Besides the fact Sketchup allows us to collaborate with all involved without the hefty price tag that comes with the others.
Having the 3D model represent the entire process is the most economical way for my business to run and the most economical way to to keep drawings up to date on all elevations.
I would be interested in hearing the communities thoughts... pros and cons.
Thanks for reading and I hope this is an incentive to be involved in future IPD developments.
Regards Andrew Dwight
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Andrew Dwight
BIM manager
RubySketch
Sydney
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