Can BIM really transform our processes?

What would happen if every part of the planning process was done in a collaborative environment? What would happen of every tool used in design could share information? What if the information could be reviewed by everyone in real time? What would that change?

What if the bid package were 100% accurate. What if assemblies from the building model were used to construct all the duct and case work off site. What if the contractor could deliver as-builts with the building, because the build matched what was originally designed?

What if energy models were created on-the-fly with each iteration of design, so you always knew the cost and performance of each change What if part of commissioning was having the building compare itself to those energy models with live data. Automatically. What if you could renew that comparison whenever you wanted?

BIM is properly about data sharing, and information stewardship across the life of a facility from initial Design Intents and Programming to final Demolition. Data sharing is based around data standards. The data standards for BIM are referred to as IFC. That is as technical as I will get for now.

The attached Quicktime movie is about 10 minutes long. The movie takes you through a real life programming charrette, and how everything is changed once access to the information becomes universal and standards based. It is marketing literature, so of course everything works. Even so, it is a good introduction to the power of interoperability during Planning and Design.

Please take the time to watch this QuickTime movie. It *will* give you the strength to read up on buildingSmart.

The movie is information about Onuma's BIM-based server software. I have no relationship to Onuma, but I think the software shows how abstract standards-based abstractions about building information change the way we interact with acquiring buildings. Abstract standards-based information about processes in buildings will change the way we interact with buildings, The good news is that that standards are the same...

Now what if you used this process throughout operations and maintenance. What tools would you use to shape building load, when energy analysis looked like this, when you knew what the space was used for, when you knew what people were doing throughout the day. What if you could pull space, time, energy, and people together because you could see how it all worked together….

To see more training information on a BIM-based project server, go to http://onuma.com/services/TrainingSupport.php

Open Design goes public with BIMstorm LAX

buildingSmart is proving to be more evangelical than its predecessors NBIMS and IFC. This is an indication that the participants feel that the slow committee work is done, the concepts have been proved, and it is time to change the way buildings are designed, built, and operated.

To accomplish the change to information sharing and stewardship across the full lifetime of a building, many people in many industries will need to change their business practices simultaneously. buildingSmart is an effort to transform the way buildings are designed, built and operated based on the principles of BIM. To accomplish this, many people in many related businesses will need to transform how they work together. ONUMA is engaging the harder work of social change flat on in BIMstorm.

As I understand it, the first BIMstorm will be the public competitive design of 30 blocks of Los Angeles beginning January 31.

It looks like there first major evangelical effort will be the public competitive design of 30 blocks of Los Angeles beginning on January 31…Owners and developers can still request that their project site to be included in the BIMstorm even if it is not in the identified area.

BIMstorm will be a cross disciplinary effort (well, it would have to be!) with standards-based exchange of information. Teams include:

• Assessors
• Appraisers
• Architects
• Brokers
• Building Inspectors
• Building Product Suppliers
• City Agencies
• Developers
• Emergency Responders
• Engineers
• Facility Managers
• Landlords
• Lenders
• Other city and state agencies (domestic and international)
• Owners of Existing Properties
• Planners
• Tenants

At the start of the BIMstorm™ selected teams will be assigned a specific site. Each site will have a recommended program based on actual project requests. Judging will take place at the end of the BIMstorm™ and awards will be given for various categories. The intent is to demonstrate real-tiime collaboration, rapid design and simulation of projects.

Some of you might want to sign in to watch the melee…

http://BIMstorm.com/LAX .

Turn-Over and Operations of the NBIMS Building

In a previous post, (Building Information Modeling),I described Building Modeling, the Building Information Model, and the difference between them. I later (NBIMS during Building Design and Construction) described why the owner is benefits from the use of BIM during building acquisition. Here I will describe how the use of BIM affects maintenance and operations of the new facility.

It is difficult to make effective use of the shelf of binders handed over with each building as an operating manual. Recently services have arisen that offer to put these documents in electronic form. All documents are placed in Acrobat (PDF) format and delivered on a DVD. It is not clear to me that a DVD with several hundred PDF files is much more useful than that old shelf of binders.

NASA attacked this problem by extending NBIMS into maintenance and operations. The Common Operations Building Information Exchange (COBIE) is an initiative to codify the electronic handover of information from NBIMS to operations. COBIE defines formats for transmission of maintenance schedules, spare parts information, and system schematics. COBIE defines a standard for direct import of this information into Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS).

The part of COBIE that I like best is that it defines metadata to link system commissioning reports to the original design in NBIMS. Commissioning is the process whereby operations verifies that they have gotten what the design promised. For now, COBIE lets commissioning reports be linked directly to the CMMS. Even if they are only hand written, they can be scanned and be linked automatically to work orders on that equipment using that metadata. For the first time, maintenance personnel can have direct access to information on how each system performed originally.

The next generation of COBIE will make this link tighter. The energy models will become the formal basis for intelligent commissioning. The information from the energy model will travel though the construction process into operations through COBIE. This may lead to automated commissioning. If we can automate commissioning off of live systems data, we can extend it though the life of the building. Perpetual Commissioning directly from automated systems will be the next great leap in building efficiency. On-line analysis of building performance as well as providing a hook for new performance approaches.

Next Generation systems envision agile interaction between disparate building systems through high level abstract interfaces. Such interfaces hide the inner complexity of systems and enable interaction with other systems without extensive integration. Systems exposing such interfaces can be quickly re-combined without expensive re-integration.

As we begin designing building systems based on standard abstract models, and as these systems are described by energy models, we create the abstract interfaces for agile interoperation and cooperation of systems. This approach is required for such initiatives as the Zero Energy Building and GridWise energy distribution. If you want to read about them , well, read the rest of this blog….

What the Owner should know about NBIMS during Building Design and Construction

In a previous post, (Building Information Modeling),I described Building Modeling, the Building Information Model, and the difference between them. Here I will to describe how I see the use of BIM changing the process of acquiring a new facility.

The National BIM Standard (NBIMS) is based on the internationally accepted IFC data standards. The IFC standards include early capture of site information, of design and program goals, of regulatory requirements, and of contract information. The NBIMS process, by capturing this information at each stage of the process, is able to verify whether these needs are met as the project progresses through design and construction.

Where CAD automated the Drafting process, Building Modeling fundamentally changes the design process. Drawings become mere views of the model. Designers can try out the models before the building is built, allowing iterations of design in which function is tested, in the same way that boat and aircraft designs have been tested in advance of construction.

There is an odd market dynamic going on right now. The best designers use a BIM that they do not share. The best Contractors develop their own BIM to produce their bid and to guide their construction process; they do not share this lest it increase their liability. The owner receives no BIM at all. Somehow, we can afford to throw out two BIMs but we cannot afford to share one. The forward thinking owner will reduce costs and receive higher quality by contracting for the maintenance and sharing of a single BIM through design and construction.

Emerging best practices, with names like Green Design, or Sustainable Design, or LEEDS, develop an energy model as part of the design process. The energy model looks at the design decisions and computes how much energy the building will use when operating. The energy model can then be compared to the design intents, and changes made to improve the design.

Energy Modeling should be an intrinsic part of design that extends throughout the life of a building. Too many of today’s energy models are merely grafted onto the design process without intrinsic link to the design. New modeling tools are now able to read the BIM directly to produce energy models. This turns Energy Modeling into a means to “commission” the design prior to construction. It also means that the effects of value engineering on cost of operations can be re-computed easily.

Even the best of traditional CAD-based design leaves many problems undiscovered. Building systems are designed by different teams and rendered on different flat pieces of paper. If, say, the ductwork and the electrical conduit run through the same space, it may only be discovered during construction, when it is more expensive. Delays and expensive change orders are the natural result.

Experienced contractors understand these deficiencies in traditional design. They add some margin into their bids to cover errors and oversights, and to allow for the inevitable inaccuracies and missing components. Early experience suggests that if a building is defined using BIM, and if the BIM is shared with the contractors during the bid process, that the bids will come in lower than if traditional blueprints only are shared. The ensuing reduction in change orders, and the resulting on-time delivery, are additional financial benefits.