BIM in Your Workplace
The amount of software and industry documentation you throw at an office doesn’t matter, because so much of BIM implementation is about changing real-world processes and engaging individuals, with their various concerns, agendas, and opinions. How do you go about integrating BIM into real teams with real people?
People are the pulse of BIM, and you need to understand that the same BIM and the outputs it can generate are going to be used by different (and new) roles in the industry, at different times and in very different ways.
✔ Leading by example: Be a BIM champion and lead by example with your commitment and enthusiasm.
✔ Showing support: Give support and encouragement by identifying and providing any training needs.
✔ Communicating: Deploy simple but clear messages about why and how you’re implementing BIM.
✔ Providing feedback: Listen to other staff members and provide any reassurances that they may need around fear of change and the unknown.
There are various processes to BIM and many potential users involved. In more detail, Chapter 12 looks at encouraging BIM processes, and Chapter 17 focuses on BIM users and roles from inception to demolition (and beyond).
Our experience with BIM
We co-authored this book because we all have varied experience, from large contractors to small architectural practices. We’ve seen everything from the genesis of BIM for landscape to the development of ground-breaking software and documentation, including the various protocols and standards that the industry needs to communicate better, to evolve new methods, and to increase innovation.
BIM will continue to impact all areas of construction design, build, finance, management, and operation, and the relationships between all the parties involved in a project, both cooperatively and contractually. We think everyone can work together in more collaborative ways, toward a creative tomorrow that makes the most of diverse groups of people. Digital cooperation and access to information isn’t just the heart of BIM; it’s the heart of a connected, global society.
So are you ready? We want to make sure that you don’t miss the BIM boat!
Chapter 2
Explaining the Building Part of BIM: It’s Not Just Buildings
In This Chapter
▶ Introducing the “B” in BIM
▶ Recognizing the types of projects BIM is suitable for
▶ Exploring the use of BIM for infrastructure
▶ Delving into BIM as a process
BIM can seem like a bit of a strange term, and part of the reason it can be so difficult to explain what BIM means is that the letters don’t always help you out. This chapter, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 take each of the letters of BIM in turn and look at what they mean. This chapter focuses on the B in BIM.
As we discuss in Chapter 1, the B in BIM stands for building, which is true of most definitions of BIM. To avoid any misconceptions, this chapter makes sure the B in BIM doesn’t restrict your view of what BIM is capable of.
Understanding What Building Means
What do you think of when you hear the word building? You may think of a physical building like an office, school, stadium, hospital, or house. In that case, BIM refers to information modeling for a single building, including all of the geometry and data for architectural and structural design, mechanical and electrical engineering, and so on.
Actually, building can mean a lot more than just that. The following sections explain that building is a misunderstood word and that BIM can actually be used in many varied industries and projects. If you think of building as a verb, not a noun, you can see that Building Information Modeling is a process, not just a final product.
What makes understanding the building part of BIM difficult is that the word building isn’t clear: it can mean different things to different people.
Try to describe what a building is. Doing so isn’t easy. You can say that buildings are manmade structures, but what separates a building from a statue or monument? You can say they’re permanent constructions with walls and roofs, but you’ll be able to think of temporary buildings you’ve seen and also tunnels that have walls and roofs. In fact, one of the best ways to describe a building involves describing things that aren’t buildings, and even that’s confusing. Is a bridge a building? Is the Eiffel Tower a building?
The term building originally comes from ancient words for house. That’s why people can think of buildings just as spaces they use for living or working or leisure.
If you think of building as a verb, meaning the same as construction or the process of putting things together, then that begins to expand what BIM can apply to. Then BIM isn’t just suitable for buildings, it’s the act of building things, such as the following:
✔ Bridges
✔ Railways
✔ Highways
✔ Utilities
You can also imagine how it’s suitable for other built environment sectors like
✔ Land surveying
✔ Landscape architecture
✔ Tunneling
✔ Mining
✔ It increases the sectors that information modeling
