ABSTRACT
Building information modeling (BIM) has the potential to fundamentally change the entire enterprise of making architecture. It moves the production of buildings from a series of separate design efforts, and contractual document sets, to a single, integrated team effort supported by a digital model. The model serves as the repository for design parameters and related design responses generated by project participants. As a design tool, it provides the opportunity for the evaluation of the cost/benefit of alternatives under consideration. It is essentially an advanced “value engineering” tool that avoids the painful process of post-design cuts because of cost overruns. To achieve this capability, BIM encompasses systems evaluation software platforms, which can be used to provide area calculation and materials quantities, in addition to evaluating lighting, structural stresses, or even LEED compliance. It can also be used to visually evaluate the digital model from infinite sectional planes and perspective views. The advantage of an integrated model is that, as a change is made in one part of the model, the rest of the resulting changes are made automatically. The BIM also eventually serves as a three-dimensional, on-demand construction document.
