AEC Tech News (#205)

BIM Dos and Don'ts

Two BIM professionals offer some real-world insights for success.

When it comes to moving from 2D design to full-fledged building information modeling (BIM), the necessary technology, process, and workflow changes affect almost every aspect of design. After consulting with many AEC firms as they make the transition to BIM, we at Avatech have learned some important lessons -- essential steps for successful implementation as well as common pitfalls to avoid. We share five key dos and don'ts with you here.

DO Make a Strong Commitment
The pilot. Most firms prefer to begin working with BIM using a test project as a pilot to prove the return on investment prior to making a company-wide move to BIM. Architects at Harley Ellis Devereaux chose a sophisticated 130,000-square-foot ambulatory care center (ACC), which is part of a hospital expansion, as their pilot project.

"Our pilot project allowed us to see the opportunities of BIM and incorporate our processes within this environment. We also began realizing rapidly how staff resources would be modified to accommodate this environment," said Shaun Rihacek, associate project architect of the ACC at Harley Ellis Devereaux. "Our existing software was just not going to get us to BIM, and when we saw the results of the [Autodesk] Revit pilots, we recognized this was the opportunity we had been looking for."Read more>>

AEC in Focus — Teaching the Next Generation

By H. Edward Goldberg, AIA

A generation is considered 20 years; therefore, a generation of professionals has grown up during the first AEC/O (architect, engineer, construction, and operations) electronic revolution. During this period, electronic drafting generally replaced hand drafting, but the professional-to-drafter relationship stayed the same. In most cases, education was done on the job or was handled by community colleges and reseller networks. Read more>>

VisMasters Design Modeling & Visualization Conference
August 9-11, 2007
San Diego, CA
This two-day event focuses on the business, art, and technology of design visualization, bringing together designers and industry leaders from around the world to share their accomplishments and vision for the future. Session topics are intended to benefit architects, designers, students, and professional visualization artists. Read more

Click here to view the complete calendar of events at Cadalyst.com