Beyond BIM

The Hidden Potential of the Cumulative Knowledge Factor
 

Conquering rough seas calls for a well-trained sailing crew, where everyone onboard knows exactly what to do at any given moment in time, and their specialized knowledge is a key factor that determines how safe and how fast this imaginary yacht can sail. The scenario where, due to some tough seafaring conditions, that well-tuned and trained crew becomes decimated draws an interesting parallel to ongoing staff fluctuation in the AEC industry, and while “skippers” are desperately trying to figure out what is that makes this vessel go, the technology and navigation rules change periodically. Does this sound familiar? Just a few months ago, hearing some seasoned architectural principals labeling BIM as another big flop of the software industry that, as far as they are concerned, has no future, made me wonder how many “skippers” need to realize that Terra Incognita is where they live.

Seeing this sailing boat battling treacherous waters whilst the need for a well trained crew becomes more evident with every passing moment, the skipper will resort to taking aboard just about anybody that fits the general requirements. Would that new and not so experienced crew be able to perform according to the skipper’s expectations within the next few days? This seems like an impossible task.

One solution to this problem is to apply to the principles of knowledge management and use BIM as a knowledge archiving platform. To apply the sailboat analogy to this problem let us go back to our fictitious vessel and all of those new crewmembers. Imagine their surprise, faced with the demanding tasks of sailing, when they discover that the sailing boat itself is the one that is instructing them about how to pull the halyard or when to tack.

Back in the mid-nineties, as a fresh postgraduate I desperately tried to leverage the use of digital tools and strove to absorb and indulge myself in practicing design thinking, presented to me as the only valid path toward idiosyncratic architectural achievements. Back in those days the mantra was that design thinking should transcend the digital “box” and the values that digital media embodies do not extend beyond seductive interpretations of one’s design intent. The only purpose given to this way of investigating architectural design was to inform the chosen audience about a building’s tectonic quality through the two dimensional medium of either a screen representation or a printed image.

Luckily, every dogma generates dissidents who are willing to push the boundary and step out of the mainstream way of thinking in order to justify their convictions, and those who pursue knowledge and its implementation beyond the norms that are imposed by the establishment. During the last decade or so we have witnessed fundamental changes in the perception of what we should start asking when confronted with urban complexity, current construction methods and the sociological demands imposed on today’s built environment. Today more than ever, the progressive architect can quantify the qualitative attributes of a conceived idea before it even becomes a first sketch on a piece of trace, and that first sketch can be more like an master stroke than an unsecured squiggle of ambiguous intentions.

To make the case for this argument one preconceived notion should be discredited from the very beginning and it relates to the word Model or Modeling.

When thinking of BIM (Building Information Modeling), the majority of industry practitioners still see the capital “M” as a 3D model. 3D is indeed a welcome side effect that helps us to visualize and experience spatial design intent and relationships, but the true benefit of modeling is the ability to quantify and analyze space in a way that goes beyond glorified walkthroughs and eye-catching renderings, and initiates a first step toward Building Performance Modeling. This is happening at a time when a new breed of architectural professional, who is not afraid of engaging in discourse, has finally been presented with tools that can facilitate transfer of computing technology from other creative areas of human activity into the realm of architecture.

Following the traditional ambiguous methods of yesterday puts us right at the very beginning of spatial cognition and disregards the very essence of digital progress that is a true personification of an abstract mathematical approach toward explaining the world around us. Therefore from now on in this article we will use the term modeling to evaluate the synthetic form within the digital domain as the first step out of many in an iterative process of design optimization that serves both the client and the designer in better understanding the proposed design. This paradigm shift in accepting the almost instantaneous feedback of digital models where the laws of physics start to shape the form beyond its function and the designer has once again been put in the role of the master craftsman truly emerged some ten years ago as a viable solution in the AEC profession.

Making BIM work for your practice

In the last few years a lot has been written on BIM and its role within the construction industry with respect to the use of computing power and the accuracy of the process itself. At the recent AIA 2005 National Convention and Design Exposition the Technology in Architectural Practice conference awarded the first BIM TAP awards to a handful of prominent architectural firms that followed through with their vision of BIM implementation within the architectural office. In the midst of this BIM frenzy and its implementation in practice, the focus has been on the need for interoperability among the multitude of data formats used for describing the digital model, while one obvious opportunity has so far been quite elusive.

BIM represents a 10-year “fresh” approach to what most architectural firms will start practicing 10 years from now. Is it really necessary to challenge the usefulness of the available software solutions that claim to be BIM platforms when their potential is currently being grossly underutilized? The entire concept should be pushed further to the level where the “B” in BIM should not stand for the building as a physical artifact but for the activity of compounding and understanding the information associated with different technical, social and economic aspects of the construction industry.

To implement BIM methodology truly means understanding your own design process and the ability to identify critical aspects of the design that will become a part of the BIM dataset. Thus the amount of information that can be associated with a project is greatly dependent on one’s commitment to develop and accept BIM methodology, which means mobilizing internal resources and gathering information, acquired through years of professional practice that is relevant to the type of work that is being done.

In its essence, this kind of approach falls into the realm of knowledge management, and its implementation in the architectural design process could introduce the benefit of having complete ownership over the deliverables, as well as the ability to create another level of service that extends well beyond the traditional scope of architecture into lifecycle management of the building.

Knowledge acquired in such a way enables an individual or organization to quantify the experience and expertise that is inherent to their work and translate it through a set of variables or logical expressions into a smart object / class that has a dual purpose. First, it represents the constructible geometry of a physical building and provides a layer of information that is crucial for the understanding and production of that building. The second purpose of this methodology is to embed design thinking knowledge that is distinct with every architectural firm and defines a multitude of relationships that are inherent to their design process.

To define the process of knowledge management within the realm of BIM, one’s understanding of one’s own workflow has to extend beyond the realm of the tangible and step into the gray area of defining the rules and procedures for comprehensive and accessible knowledge repository. This approach implies the creation of truly parametric and interactive building blocks based on the principles of object-based programming that would form an intelligent building system within the domain of BIM. The functional specification for these kinds of new classes would require code execution within themselves that is aware of the project environment, and to achieve this one should resort to better understanding of underlying property definitions that can form the basis for the true character of intelligent objects, where the stipulation is that, an object is nothing else but a record in a database no matter if the same one is labeled as RVT, DWG, IFC, MDB or any other known format. A simple example would be a fire rating assigned to a door that is derived from a host, in this instance a wall, which also corresponds to a use factor that is a bit of information coming from the spaces between which this door transitions. Querying a building information model that is created following this embedded knowledge can reveal much more about a project than just simple scheduling.

Having said that, one might challenge the purpose of this approach as long as there are professionals whose expertise distinguishes one firm from another and whose knowledge is a true asset. When confronted with this line of reasoning one should advocate looking beyond what is achievable today and start thinking what if today’s knowledge can be captured to start building the potential for problem solving capability in years to come.

Within the domain of today’s BIM solutions something like this is achievable and can be a part of architects’ everyday practice. This approach lies in truly utilizing the potential of software platforms like Architectural Desktop and Revit Building, and in expanding BIM implementation from mere automation of the drafting process toward building a database of relationships and design rules that can be true depicters of one’s expertise.

An example of this kind of knowledge embedding could be an office space that informs the architect about the type and number of casework or equipment items required based on its function and size. Or it could be an operating room that gives instantaneous feedback when equipment is placed too close to the operating table, or carries additional information about the number of air changes required or the configuration of laminar flow diffusers based on the room layout.

The possibilities are endless and they greatly depend on management’s commitment to implementation of BIM methodology and their ability to elicit, organize and embed planning or design knowledge within the production system. BIM is a methodology whose real-world effectiveness has so far suffered from compromises imposed by late technology adopters; however, the opportunity for championing technological progress has finally fallen again in the hands of architects, whose knowledge can be used as a competitive advantage in expedient and timely project delivery.

In our follow up article we will try to depict how this “Cumulative Knowledge Factor” can drastically impact the conventional ROI for BIM implementation, and we will introduce a new Extended ROI formula that applies the potential of your expertise following the transition period of BIM methodology implementation.

To illustrate what has been previously said a sample file can be downloaded, and in this file a space object has been modified to capture some basic knowledge on the relationship between MV blocks and their use in specific program spaces. I would encourage you to modify it and see if any aspect of your everyday work can be captured in a similar manner and put to use on future projects.

i) MODELING TRADITIONAL
Methods and techniques > The sculptor as designer and as craftsman > Modeling
In contrast to the reductive process of carving, modeling is essentially a building-up process in which the sculpture grows organically from the inside. Numerous plastic materials are used for modeling. The main ones are clay, plaster, and wax; but concrete, synthetic resins, plastic wood, stucco, and even molten metal can also be modeled. Modeling is an ancient technique, as indicated by prehistoric clay figurines from Egypt and the Middle East. (Britannica Online)

ii) MODELING. An investigative technique that uses a mathematical or physical representation of a system or theory that accounts for all or some of its known properties. Models are often used to test the effects of changes of system components on the overall performance of the system. (Britannica Online)


Bibliography and References

• Urban Information Model (City in History) http://www.umsl.edu/~virtualstl

• Mitchell W.J., “City Of Bits” , http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/index.html

• Foley, vanDam, Feiner, Huges, “Computer Graphics, principles and practice”

• Kolarevic B., “Architecture in the digital age”

• Kieran S., Timberlake J., “Prefabricating Architecture”

• Entsminger G. “The Tao of Objects”

• 10th International Conference on 3D Web Technology, WEB3D 2005

• Whitepapers, Autodesk Inc. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5588805