Reflection on BIM

In my limited experience with BIM, I can see the potential for BIM software having a big impact on many aspects of design. One of the biggest changes is the ability to rapidly output a variety of drawing types. Drawings that would take a long time to draft individually are now instantly created, which certainly speeds up the SD and DD process. The ability to switch rapidly between orthographic and 3d views definitely made it easier to design more quickly. The many ways of viewing the project improved coordination between floors at an earlier point in the design process.

I can see that I have not yet utilized BIM as a pre-schematic design tool in the way that it can be useful. It is difficult when our previous architectural training has emphasized the plan and hand drawing as the major tool for preliminary design. The act of sketching conceptual floorplans in Revit I found to be cumbersome and difficult, perhaps because I did not know the best way, but in general I think it can be said that Revit wants projects to be detailed and correctly modeled from the beginning. It didn't seem to deal well with the conceptual phase, and for that reason I felt that my design process was hindered because I felt that in order to make the program function, I needed to immediately model walls and floors accurately. I also believe that something is lost when the hand's role in creating a drawing is reduced to clicks of the mouse. At least until input devices advance farther, it seems that a process which integrates hand drawing should remain a part of the early phases.

Throughout the design process, the software has definitely affected the design of the building I am working on. I tend to shy away from design possibilities that I know will be very difficult for me to model. For this reason, it seems crucial that architects using BIM must have complete knowledge and mastery of almost all aspects of the software so that they do not feel this limitation.

The speed with which Revit advances the building project, with regards to specific materials and construction types certainly requires that problem solving relating to specific elements happen upfront rather than at the back-end after the entire design is laid out.

As a tool for representation, I can see that Revit has fantastic opportunities. It can do so much more than produce 2d construction drawings. The 3d views generated can become crucial tools for communicating design intent to clients.