With this article, I will have written for Canadian Architect for half my life. In that time, I have seen no development that has had?or will have?as profound an impact on the profession as Building Information Modeling (BIM). With Computer Aided Design (CAD), we merely emulated hand drafting and rendering using computers, but BIM challenges the very way we think about buildings and design.
Getting a handle on BIM is itself difficult. As Bruce McGarvie, department head of CAD and BIM Technologies at Vancouver Community College, pointed out to me, ?There?s BIM and then there?s BIM.?
What he meant was that BIM cannot be separated from the dramatic ways that architectural practice is evolving in light of new approaches such as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and Blockchain. BIM is just one of a tsunami of changes that are flooding over the AEC industry. Scott Chatterton, formerly HDR?s international BIM integration lead and digital design leader for BIM planning and quality, believes that ?Drawing packages will go away eventually. Traditional contract paper delivery doesn?t contain a tenth of the data contained within the Building Information Model.? Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) used BIM to produce a highly detailed model of the Library of Parliament. Image courtesy CIMS
BIM does, and will, play a critical role in these changes. The key to understanding BIM is to reimagine a building as a da...