Building for the Future, Virtually
September 11, 2008
The design industry continually evolves with changes in design technology, and like technology, those changes are occurring at an exponential rate. The latest example of this phenomenon – Building Information Modeling, or BIM – takes design into a virtual world where a three-dimensional building model incorporating all design disciplines can be crafted in Real Time.
The Real Time aspect of BIM ensures that each discipline works with only the most recent model of a project, eliminating wasted time and duplication of efforts. Housing architectural, engineering, and other subconsultant models together in one place takes advantage of an integrated design process that keeps team members coordinated with each other’s most recent work.
Each building element incorporated in the virtual model replicates the actual product and is embedded with important data like its make and model, manufacturer’s website, and specification section. On a typical project with multiple team members, opportunity for mis-coordination is greatly reduced because this information can now reside in one place.
A key benefit to having intelligent objects within a single model is that BIM software can run conflict checks to find potential problems. Detecting and solving problems during design is much more economical than discovering them during construction. The Building Information Model can find building elements that are colliding with each other, such as mechanical ducts running into structural beams or plumbing piping conflicting with architectural ceilings. It can then create reports, including views showing the areas in conflict that become part of an ongoing coordination effort. The result is a better coordinated building with major issues avoided and resolved before construction begins.
By working in a three-dimensional environment, owners, architects, engineers and contractors are better able to visualize what a building will be before it is built. BIM enables the owner to take a virtual tour of their project and experience it from multiple angles, where just years ago they were subject to their interpretation of drawings. The use of BIM streamlines the construction process and allows better informed decisions to be made throughout the project’s life cycle.
Virtual modeling enables architects to better analyze a building’s design performance potential and minimize its future energy use. By simulating the path of the sun designers can maximize the potential of daylighting strategies which reduce a building’s dependence on artificial lighting. A project’s life cycle cost savings can be analyzed and compared to initial costs to ensure that sustainable design elements will decrease long-term maintenance and operational costs.
In addition to clash detection and sustainable design, BIM benefits the contractor by allowing projects to be sequenced in detail prior to the start of construction, which in turn allows scheduling issues to be resolved early in the process. Addressing these issues before construction begins helps to streamline the construction process and keep the project on track.
NTD Architecture, headquartered in San Diego, has been using BIM for the past three years. Current projects being designed using this method include the Business Technology & Mathematics Building and Arts & Humanities Building at San Diego Community College District’s Miramar College and the new patient tower at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona.
Richard Nowicki, AIA, Partner of NTD Architecture describes BIM as progressive and revolutionary.
“Having incorporated virtual modeling into several of our projects already, we have had the thrill of seeing first-hand how much time, money, and effort can be saved with BIM,” says Nowicki. “It has quickly become a new standard for us and we expect that any designers who have not used it yet will be hooked the first time they do.”
The two buildings at Miramar College, though still in the design phase, have already greatly benefited through the use of BIM. Clash detection has solved several potential construction dilemmas and the buildings have been oriented and designed to achieve optimal energy efficiency. Both have optimized solar panel capacity after sun studies confirmed the ideal positioning of future photovoltaics.
“Our projects at Miramar College serve as great examples of the many benefits of using BIM, from their enhanced sustainability to what we anticipate will be a smooth construction phase,” says Nowicki. “I think I speak for many designers out there when I say that virtual modeling is one of the greater things that has happened to the design industry in recent years, and we look forward to using it even more on future projects.”
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