BIM: The Latest Architecture and News

Simply placing the word "smart" before any kind of architectural or technological term, or any term for that matter, seems to convert it into something new and futuristic. Some examples, such as the smart city, smart industry, or smart commerce show us that the "smart" adjective is already more common than we think, and that, moreover, it doesn’t sound that strange anymore. The smart building is also a novel concept used in today’s architectural world. The difficulty of discussing this concept, as with every innovative yet ambiguous term, is finding a clear definition of it. There is already much writing on it, and we won’t find an absolutely clear definition, but generally, we could define a smart building as: "A construction that strives for full energy efficiency in its usage, reaching this goal thanks to integrated and automated management and control of all its systems."

Vectorworks Architect is well-known for its BIM capabilities, allowing firms around the world to maintain the integrity of their internal design and documentation strategies with an all-in-one solution. The ability to collaborate between firms and share files with ease lets users shift their focus to their designs and all but forget the stress of document sharing. This was the case for Idle Architecture, a Melbourne-based firm that got into Big BIM completely by accident.

When we talk about BIM methodology, we refer to a new and very technologically advanced form of work. Yet if we pay attention to the language of BIM conversations, we might notice that we always speak in future tense: "in 10 years' time everyone will…" or "this is the methodology of tomorrow." Is this methodology not currently mandatory? And if not, when it will be? To begin grappling with the first of these queries, below we summarize how BIM is currently dealt with around the world.

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Quebec Wood Export Bureau is adding another tool to your arsenal: a free BIM plugin on Revit. With the help of its wood-producing members, the nonprofit group has stepped into the free software world to put a growing suite of structural wood system components at architects’ fingertips.

Currently, specialized technical skills in the use of BIM methodology are in high demand, especially in the field of architecture. Even during the pandemic, job offers in this area have remained relatively stable, especially due to the flexibility of this methodology and the possibility of working collaboratively from remote locations. However, when looking for a new job, those interested in BIM should consider several questions: What am I specialized in? What areas are in highest demand? What type of professional BIM role is the most common?

Floors, roofs, ceilings. Speaking in a very generic way, they are practically all the horizontal elements that we can find in the construction of a building. These three parts have a very similar way of modeling in Revit and this is the reason why when learning this software, they almost always appear one after the other. The order is usually a rather logical and therefore similar order: starting first with the floors, later the soffits and, finally, the ceilings. All this, clearly after having modeled the exterior and interior walls of our building.

Over the past decade, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been widely adopted and become integrated to varying degrees into every aspect of the design, construction, and maintenance of buildings. But this isn’t where BIM stops, the future of BIM incorporates altered/virtual reality (AR/VR) and has the potential to go as far as automated and intelligent lifecycle management of assets. The concept of creating a “digital twin” to a physical building or system with the aim of making that real-world entity safer, more efficient, and more resilient begins by making our way towards fully-integrated BIM.

Proven and effective construction methods are not static, instead they're always improving. In Quebec, Canada, light wood frame and modular manufacturers are always pushing the limits of innovation. Their craft is now linked to building systems on a bold scale with offsite light wood frame construction.

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One of the great difficulties we encounter with “classic” plan delineation methodologies are ramp and stair projections. It has always been difficult to avoid calculating the ramp’s slope, as well as the dimensions of the footprint and riser of the communication staircase between two floors of a building. Do they comply with current regulations in my country? Do they adapt to the project standards? Will they be accurately calculated?

Thanks to great advances in project modeling using BIM methodology and Revit software, these calculations can be made with greater ease. However, these elements will probably be an aspect of modeling that will bring us the most difficulties in the project phase.

In the last few decades, architecture and interior design have experienced a dramatic shift in the workflows that professionals consider standard. Hand-drafting is long gone; for many it’s nostalgic, and many more embrace the power incumbent to digital drafting tools. Some take it even further with BIM, embracing the process to lead their businesses into lasting success.

Architects don’t make buildings. Architects make drawings of buildings. But of course, someone has to make the building. The construction industry is one of the largest economic sectors and we all interact with the built environment on a daily basis, but the actual work of getting a building from drawing to structure has barely evolved over the decades. While the rest of the world has moved into Industry 4.0, the construction sector has not kept pace. Architecture has begun to embrace some digitalization. After all, not many of us work with mylar on drafting tables anymore. So with the architecture industry’s everlasting link to the construction industry, will the latter pick up some new technological tricks by association? And when it does, how will that change the role of the architect?

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Panelized facade systems are a popular exterior design element across multiple project types in today’s architecture. Different material and color options create unique and completely customized exteriors versatile enough to fit almost any design style. Ensuring the vision comes to life exactly as imagined, however, can be tedious with Revit’s or ARCHICAD’s innate capabilities alone. The time-consuming manual process of specifying the design, pattern, colors, and fabrication methods of a panelized facade can be simplified and made more intuitive with Steni’s BIM elements.

Building Together is a global digital event for architects and engineers hosted by GRAPHISOFT. Join them online on July 8-9th as they showcase how GRAPHISOFT software is changing the way architects and engineers work together through disruptive BIM workflows.

We are heading for a scenario in which BIM technology will greatly help us to maximize the roles and skills of civil construction professionals, making room for us to plan, design, build and manage buildings and infrastructures much more efficiently, integrating all systems, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing in a responsible, economical and sustainable way.

In today’s world of digital architecture, one term appears more than all others: BIM. Building Information Modeling (BIM) concerns the appending and otherwise referencing of data in a digital model. Architects use BIM for a variety of reasons, but the common denominator of BIM use is having a single model which serves as a touchpoint for coordination between internal and external teams.

Flansburgh Architects, a Boston-based firm that specializes in educational architecture, implemented a Big BIM workflow for the design of a new school for the town of Holbrook, Massachusetts. Kent Kovacs, AIA, Vice President and principal-in-charge and Brian Hores, AIA, BIM Manager shared how this process benefited the project.

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During the academic formation process, beginner architects are educated and trained to develop projects on the most “traditional” software. Several reasons might explain that: the partnerships that these companies usually make with the university labs, the lack of time to learn a new program, or the culture to use the most popular software.

The scape Landschaftsarchitekten office was founded in Düsseldorf, Germany in 2001 by Matthias Funk, Hiltrud M. Lintel, and Rainer Sachse. The firm primarily works through a young and committed team in cooperation with urban planners, architects, ecologists, and communication designers, mainly on the planning of urban landscapes. Current projects range from master plans for entire city districts to object plans for parks, pedestrian zones, squares, and streets, to detailed planning of their own street furniture systems. One of these projects was for The Viega Group, an internationally active family business in the field of mechanical and plumbing technology for sanitary and heating systems. A new seminar center is currently under construction at their headquarters in Attendorn, and Vectorworks Landmark was used to implement the landscape architecture through a BIM process.