BIM is the most important event that has ever happened to the Architectural,

Engineering, Construction, Facilities Management (AEC/FM) and Building Product

Manufacturing (BPM) professions. Our professions have been lagging in the world of
automation and efficiency. Part of the reason for the lagging (dollars spent per year per
person in the AEC professions is the lowest of almost all other industries) is that the
industry is not integrated, the collection and sharing of information is almost non
existent so any efficiency is limited to the immediate individuals/company efficiency.
Compare this to banking where I can make a deposit almost any place in the world at an
ATM and my account is adjusted, using the automation of the AEC professions someone
would need to print out a drawing of my deposit, scan it in to a computer, attach the
scan to an email, send the email, print it out and enter it by hand into my account.
The AEC/FM, BPM professions combine to be the biggest industry in the world, bigger
than automotive, aerospace and oil. When the worlds largest industry is inefficient and
wasteful in both time and money anything that will save time and money is a big deal.
In the case of BIM it is going to not only save time and money, but it is going to lead to
more aesthetically designed buildings, substantially more energy efficient buildings and
buildings that are going to perform better for the occupants and operators of the
buildings.
The reason for this remarkable future is summed up in a few words integrated,
sharable information.

We are not going to get to this remarkable future instantly; we will go through stages of
automation, what we are calling;
BIM 1.0 Visualization
BIM 2.0 Analysis
BIM 3.0 Simulation
As we progress through these stages the use of BIM will become more and more
sophisticated, and the results more and more impressive. This paper will look at these
phases, what they mean and when we can expect them to become common place.
BIM 1.0 Visualization
A majority of BIM users today are in the visualization phase. BIM is used to design and
document the design. We have moved from hand drawing to CAD to BIM, but are
fundamentally still using BIM to create the same 2D contract documents that we
created when drawing by hand. There is no question that BIM is better than hand
drawings and CAD for coordination, speed on creating the documents, and reduced
errors & omissions. The Visualization phase includes powerful rendering tools that use
the BIM model for the renderings with little additional work by the user.
Plan View, 3D Wireframe and Rendering
Design professionals are moving to BIM three times faster than the transition from hand
drawing to CAD which took about fifteen years, BIM will be the predominant tool of
choice throughout the professions by 2011. Not only are the designers moving to BIM,
contractors are redrawing CAD drawings into BIM to reduce the cost of construction
through savings in coordination, reduced conflicts and better visualization for the
workers. Owners are hearing of the savings that can be realized through the use of BIM
and they are requiring their designers use BIM. We just completed a project for a
building product manufacturer where the architects requested that the manufacturers
traditional CAD drawings be redone in BIM so they can be easily blended into their BIM
project for the creation of the contract documents.

This is a most exciting period. Design professionals are making the move from CAD.
Contractors are seeing that BIM is their future for reducing costs and increasing
efficiency. Owners are already hearing of 5% to10% savings on BIM projects. Building
product manufacturers are now getting requests for their objects in BIM, predominately
in Revit. It is only a matter of time before you will see workers with computers at job
sites like you see cell phones today. Or, perhaps I should say you will see workers with
cell phones that they use to look at the drawings, days activities, details and more.
BIM 2.0 Analysis
When I look back at the progression of CAD it moved from visualization to analysis, BIM
is taking the same path, although we are just scratching the surface and the processes
are not yet smoothly integrated, but they will be and soon.
Revit structural integrates with analysis programs. I was in a conference last year and
one of the speakers was from a major structural firm, they said that they are telling their
architectural customers that they need to move to Revit or they will not work with them
because the savings and reduced risks in using Revit Structural with analysis are so
substantial that they will only work with Revit.
There are several energy analysis programs available that extract the geometry and
materials from the BIM model and return day lighting and heat loss/gain calculations.
Autodesk has recently acquired analysis companies so clearly the integration between
the drawing and the analysis will be better and more powerful soon.
We have just scratched the surface, the next six years will find scores of new analysis
programs, not just analysis but analysis connected to the software API resulting in
automated drawings, schedules and specifications. At Reed we have developed (to be
released next year) a very sophisticated Quantity Take Off product that calculates
quantities to any degree of granularity (number of windows, or down to number of
screws needed to hold the windows). The product ties into RSMeans costs (A Reed
Company) as well as customers own spreadsheets. Others companies and universities
are working on concrete, rebar, lighting, and much more. The floodgates to analysis tied
to drawings are opening.
Currently the interface between the BIM project and the analysis programs is not as
smooth and seamless as it will be. There is no question that in the near future you will
push a button and see your energy usage, costs, day lighting and then sit back and
watch the automatic creation of your engineering drawings.
BIM 3.0 Simulation
With CAD we have had visualization, with CAD we have had analysis tied to CAD,
however neither to the level we will see with BIM, but with CAD we have not had
widespread or viable simulation. With BIM simulation is the end game. Simulation will be
a valuable tool during design, construction and post construction in the operations and
facilities management of the building. Just imaging during the design phase if you could
decide on the design of a shading device and see immediately what the consequences
are on energy usage and the cost of construction. There are thousands of lighting
options fixture spacing, layout, types of ballasts, lamps, reflectors, mounting height,
and the use of day lighting. The designers selections determine the quality, intensity,
construction costs and operating costs for providing lighting. In the near future you will
see the results of your decisions in photorealistic renderings, operating costs and
lighting intensity as tested against the end user tasks.
Buildings use about 50% of our total energy. There is tremendous concentration now on
automobiles and making them more energy efficient, we need the same concentration

on buildings. To make informed decisions we need to see the immediate consequences

of our design decisions so they can be adjusted and refined immediately. HVAC
calculations are very complicated, the variables include exposure, acceptable
standards, weather, occupancy, material selections, landscaping on the demand side
and then design, delivery, operation and equipment selections on the delivery side. The
power of the BIM will come when you get immediate information that is integrated and
in real time. Years ago I wrote about a time in the future when you would design and in
real time in the corners of your monitor you would see, the cost of construction, the
time to construct, and the maintenance and operations costs to operate the building. I
remember getting feedback that this was impossible. It is not impossible, in the next
eight to ten years you are going to have some, if not all of these tools at you disposal.
When we have these tools, we will be better designers and we will have better
buildings.
Construction stands to gain the most through simulation. My father worked for Fluor
during the 1950s and 60s, a time when we were building refineries throughout the US.
Fluor had one of the largest physical model shops in the world. They modeled the
refinery not only for presentations to the owner but to test construction sequencing. The
physical models for refinery construction have been replaced with tremendously
expensive software, software that can be justified on these expensive and massive
projects. Buildings projects, with few exceptions, have not been able to justify the
expense of simulations, but with BIM and the data concentrated in integrated locations,
we are on the path to wide spread building simulations. Buildings are a very
complicated construction process, with hundreds of suppliers, contractors, and workers.
Wasted time is rampant, materials are stored in one place on Monday, moved to
another on Wednesday because they are in the way and then moved back to the
original location the following Monday. Concrete is poured and the next week it is saw
cut or jack hammered out for a pipe or duct. Workers arrive and then stand around all
day waiting for the trade ahead of them to finish. A construction conflict will find the
architects, engineers, several contractors and scores of workers all investigating and
waiting for a decision on how to proceed. Once we have the tools it will be much less
expensive to plan the project on a computer, to run a simulation and see the conflicts
with just electrons running around and not workers running around.
Conclusion
BIM is what we have been waiting for. Unlike hand drawing and CAD, BIM will not be
replaced by a new process. BIM will continue to get better, faster, more integrated and
more powerful. Our professions have move slowly in the past, change could be
measured in decades, and automation just scratched the surface or what could be
imagined. Now let your imagine run wild, because the next decade will be amazing.