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Building Model Benefits
August 16, 2004 By: Arnie WilliamsDesign team tests Autodesk Revit on large projects.
In the Washington, D.C., division offices of DMJM Design (www.dmjm.com), more than 250 architects, engineers, and other building industry professionals tackle multimillion-dollar megaprojects for the United States government, universities, and other high-profile clients. With the kind of strict regulations, tight deadlines, and change control that such clients demand, DMJM is continually reviewing its resources and planning for the future. Without such careful preparation in the competitive business of megaproject architecture, a company can easily fall behind.
Part of global architectural services firm AECOM Technology Corp., DMJM Design executes large projects with budgets that exceed several million dollars. In such projects, efficient project management means more than just the successful completion of a project within strict time guidelines. It also often leads to repeat business.
 Figure 1. By using Revit's rendering capability, DMJM is able to provide clients with a realistic review of what their projects will look like on completion. |
For the past four years, one design team in particular at DMJM has focused on BIM (building information modeling). During that time, the team has used Autodesk Revit from v2 through the latest v6.1 (www.autodesk.com). Use has grown from 30% of project CDs to 60% and finally to 100% in the past year. The DMJM team gives Autodesk Revit high marks for its BIM capabilities, but also suggests that the acronym emphasizes another benefit of BIM—building information management. From the very beginning of the pilot projects to test the concept, project management with the building information model proved more efficient, says project design manager Rob Smedley.
SEEING IS UNDERSTANDING
Some key benefits of BIM manifest themselves early on during client briefings, notes Smedley (figure 1). "Especially in government projects, clients are often architects themselves," he says. "When they see a building model, and then suggest changes that we make on-the-fly during the design review, that gets their attention. We've had clients suggest changes, review the results, and grant approval of the next phase, all in one meeting. That's something that rarely, if ever, occurred in meetings before we moved to BIM." Smedley also credits the effectiveness of these client reviews with earning the company repeat business.Lead technical designer Mike Brainerd, who often has to field questions during client reviews, appreciates the inherent communication power of a building model for clients who don't have architectural training (figure 2).
 Figure 2. This night view of a DMJM project is just one example of Revit's rendering capability. Clients appreciate that this is a view of the actual building model. |
"It's difficult for some clients to visualize buildings and interpret 2D drawings," he says. "A rendered view makes the design intent clear and gives the clients an immediate sense of the building."
Architectural designer Galen Hoeflinger has been a key hands-on user of Revit for the past four years, ever since joining the firm out of college. He notes that he and most of his university colleagues were self-taught on architectural software, so he was prepared when he joined DMJM to bring himself up to speed on the company's design software of choice without formal training. He was surprised, however, by how quickly he became comfortable with Revit (figure 3).
"It's intuitive," says Hoeflinger. "You spend less time prepping drawings because you're working on the design and your final construction documents in the same model."
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About the Author: Arnie Williams
