Implement BIM for delivering your project within stringent deadlines

BIM’s contribution to construction industry cannot be counted on finger tips since it has contributed endless towards its growth and development. It has assisted architects, engineers and contractors in revamping the image and productivity of AEC industry. Once BIM is adopted by construction firms for improving the execution of building projects, their clients started to believe them in terms of on time project delivery.

Whenever a building contract is signed between contractors and building owners, it is always emphasized that the building should be completed within so and so date. Now to live up to the expectations of owners remains the biggest challenge of contractors.  There are often times when projects are not completed within stringent deadlines and contractors have to face all the after effects of that.

But with the application of BIM in construction projects, contractors started to deliver completed buildings to owners within the accepted deadlines.

BIM enables architects and engineers in making highly informed and effective project decisions which ultimately helps in tackling a lot of complexities involved in the process. Major problems that are faced by architects and engineers are related to the design of the building. But when models representing the design of the building are created by optimizing Revit’s tools and features, design flaws in them are reduced largely.

 Clash detection and BIM Coordination Services also provide great help to architects and engineers since majority of problems faced by them during the onsite construction are resolved after executing these services. Clashes between the multidiscipline models are easily detected by Navisworks, which is optimized by AEC professionals for executing clash detection services. Since all the possible complications that should have been faced by architects and engineers on the proposed location while actually executing the project have already been solved, the rest of the building process moves smoothly.

Since no changes and alterations are required in the design any more it becomes very easy for architects and engineers to complete the project within the mentioned deadlines. And hence contractors can also deliver the project to the clients within the agreed deadlines.   

Revit’s contribution in constructing sustainable buildings

Developing sustainable buildings is very important for the safety of our environment which is getting polluted or degraded day by day due to building projects. Building construction is never going to stop, and hence it important that we realize time’s demand, that is the construction of ‘green buildings.’ Every day, new building projects are making their way in construction companies, and it is crucial for architects and engineers to minimize their adverse effects on our natural environment.

Environmentalists across the world are disturbed by seeing the effects of construction projects, which are in a way responsible for ‘global warming.’ If you pay attention to surveys or researches conducted by environmentalists, they reveal that earth’s temperature is increasing every year. The research data is really disturbing; it puts a question mark on human intelligence, in term of its ability in tackling such serious and concerning issues. 

But certain steps such as constructing green buildings have been taken very seriously by Architecture Engineering and Construction industry. AEC professionals aims at constructing more and more green buildings which does not have negative effects on our environment since they are designed in such a fashion that they  consume reasonably less energy.

Innovative technology such as BIM is required by architects and engineers for the construction of green building or sustainable building. BIM which is the process of representing physical and functional characteristics of a building is optimized by architects and engineers in developing effective building design.

Revit Documentation Services is a very powerful tool for designing green buildings. Revit which is BIM software is optimized by design development team for the purpose of developing energy efficient buildings. Revit helps in conducting energy analysis which helps in determining and analyzing the energy requirements of a building in future. During energy analysis, a building is analyzed in terms of its geographical location, materials used, affect of sunlight on the building envelop etc. and all this helps in determining its energy consumption in the future. So depending on these analysis architects and engineers make some changes to the model in terms of building design. They try to develop effective MEP systems which can manage the energy requirements of the building. They basically aim at developing a building design which can meet its energy requirement by optimizing natural energy such as sunlight and winds etc.

BIM is the center of attraction for building stakeholders!

Building process involves a lot of technicalities in it, and these technicalities are largely faced by architects and engineers along with other building actors such as contractors and project managers etc. But with the advancement of technology construction industry professionals have also started to implement it for execution of preconstruction engineering services. It been approximately 30 years now, since BIM has been adopted by the industry and the growth of the industry is quite eminent.

Building Information Modeling gave a way for more systematic construction methods. It encouraged architects, engineers, contractors and building owners in strategic decision making. During conceptual design phase BIM models assists architects and engineers in taking strong design decisions so that high performing buildings can be developed.

The positive impacts of technology have been realized by all the building stakeholders now, since all of them are equally benefited by its adoption and implementation. All the stakeholders are now becoming aware of the latest technology that comes in the market which can be applied to construction industry.

Even though they personally have nothing to do with the technology, but since it is the driving force behind project productivity they are all updated with it. For example, even the owners or contractors are well aware of CAD and BIM software, and their latest versions. Be it AutoCAD, ArchiCAD, Revit, Navisworks or 3ds Max, building stakeholders are all aware of them and their uses.

BIM is optimized by architects and engineers both as technology and process, as a technology it helps in the execution of engineering services such as BIM modeling, rendering and coordination services. However as a process it helps in planning and management of entire building process by developing 3D models of building systems.

Clash Detection Services and coordination services that are executed by optimizing BIM software are highly useful for architects and engineers since they do not come across any problem when the final construction begins. Similarly contractors and owners are also benefited by BIM use. 4D and 5D BIM services are especially helpful for the owners because it tells them in advance how much money and time is needed for the construction of the building. And by successful utilization of that information owners can manage their budgets properly. 

Why is BIM considered as a powerful visualization tool?

According to various definitions of BIM, it is a process or technology that is optimized by construction industry professionals to represent the physical and functional characteristics of a building. Building’s physical and functional characteristics are represented with the assistance of multidiscipline 3D models which are developed by architects and engineers with the assistance of Revit which is BIM software.

3D building information models which are developed by BIM modelers by optimizing Revit’s modeling environment are considered highly accurate in terms of their design development. The reason for considering BIM a powerful visualization tool is that 3D models which are developed with the assistance of three primary building dimensions provide three dimensional view of the building. A three dimensional view provides enough clarity to building stakeholders and potential clients to understand the design of the facility in question.

These 3D Architectural Modeling can further be optimized for executing  architectural rendering services. Architectural rendering include interior and exterior rendering services wherein with the assistance of material creation and application of lighting and shadow effects a renderer can produce photorealistic effects to the building.

With the assistance of a 3D model, interior rendering services can be executed by a rendered to show the interior design of the building. For example, natural appeal is produced in the rooms such as bedroom, kitchen and washroom etc. by creating important materials and furniture. To create a photorealistic image of a living room, a rendered has to create or add sufficient furniture such as sofa set along with an elegant center table, attractive colors to the walls, and to make it even more realistic human characteristics can also be created by him render.

Similarly to provide realistic appeal or feel to bedroom, he has to add or create a stunning bed along with matching side tables etc. Again to give it even more realistic touch human characters lying down on the bed can also be shown by him.

3D rendered floor plans can be considered a best example for communicating the interior design of the building to the clients. 

How is CAD technology optimized by BIM?

CAD which is an acronym for computer aided-design has brought huge changes in the functioning of construction industry. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that CAD technology is largely responsible for the rapid growth of Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry. CAD technology is optimized for executing drafting services. The process of drafting is nothing but to represent the building design in 2D form. The outputs of drafting process are 2D CAD files, and these files clearly represent the design of the building systems.

Since CAD files contain the entire design data in them they are utilized by Building Information Modelers to generate 3D building models. To execute modeling services BIM software is required and Revit is the most commonly used software for this purpose. BIM modelers import all CAD files in Revit and develop high quality 3D models for architecture, structure and MEP systems. While constructing a building first separate models are developed by modelers for architecture, structure and MEP and after that these models are reviewed for checking interferences and errors. 

The process of interference checking is generally carried out in Navisworks which is again BIM software. So clash detection services are executed to find design issues between the model elements. Clash detection is generally regarded as the first step of coordination process wherein models are finally coordinated after resolving the clashes.

So to carry out clash detection services, Revit models are first imported in Navisworks and they are thoroughly reviewed in the software by the BIM users. During the process of model review thousands of clashes are detected by the software, these clashes are highlighted by using redlining and comments. They are further saved in the folders by assigning appropriate names so that engineers or modelers can easily approach them for resolving the clashes.

In this way these folders are checked by modelers and they provide required solutions for the clashes. Once all the detected clashes are resolved by the designers these individual models are coordinated together and this fault free model is generally delivered to the owners.

This is how CAD technology is optimized by construction professionals to deliver high performing buildings.

BIM based construction vs. traditional construction process

There was a time when none of the advanced technologies were applied in building construction and that was the most difficult phase in the growth of construction industry. Construction was all about architect and few engineers along with a lot of laborers. In those days everything used to be done manually by architects and engineers in construction site. And the only instruments available to architects and engineers were pencil and paper. Architects used to visit construction sites many times for taking measurements and all the building related calculations used to be done manually by them.

One of the most strenuous tasks was developing construction drawings which literally used to take a long time and multiple changes used to be made in those drawings because of human errors. One of the most noticeable problems was to make changes in the drawings, sometimes architects and engineers had to start the drawings from scratch.

Preconstruction stage was not that important during that time as it is today since everything used to take place directly onsite. It always used to take more than the expected time to complete the project because architects used to face a lot of rework situations which used to consume extra time.

But with the passage of time CAD and BIM technology came into picture which completely transformed the construction process. CAD technology is optimized for developing highly accurate construction drawings by construction industry professionals. The best part is that multiple changes can be made on these drawings without putting much efforts and time as per design requirements.

These CAD drawings are further utilized for creating 3D building information models. The data in CAD files is optimized by BIM modelers by importing these files in Revit to develop 3D models. Revit models are considered highly effective for building construction since they appropriately describe the design of the building.

By optimizing 4D and 5D BIM models building design teams can further improve the building process because with their assistance time and money required to complete the project can be known in advance. All these pre-construction activities helps in improving onsite construction process. 

Growing potential of BIM

BIM as a technology is growing day by day. The basic purpose of utilizing BIM in construction projects is to safely tackle the digital information that is optimized in construction. BIM technology is improving continuously which is ultimately responsible for seamless construction. In other words new features and tools are added to BIM software so that engineering services that are executed in pre-construction stage can be improved.

Since the time BIM first appeared, a lot of improvements have been made in its functioning. For example in the beginning its users were only aware about 3D BIM models, but slowly it evolved to 4D and 5D with the addition of extra dimensions. The addition of new dimensions helped in conquering new heights, such as all the stakeholders would now know in advance the time and money required to complete the project. This greatly transformed construction activities since contractors started optimizing this information for improving productivity by utilizing minimum resources to get maximum output. 

Slowly and gradually construction of green buildings also became possible with BIM, wherein BIM software tools are  fully utilized by architects and engineers to develop better performing designs for different building systems. This became possible when architects and engineers started performing energy analysis for the building designed by them. Energy analysis is done with the help of modeling software such as Revit, wherein the already created models can be converted into energy analytical models and building’s future performance can be measured in terms of energy consumption.

BIM can now optimize laser scanning technology in construction projects and this is a huge development. Laser scanning technology is used in the execution of renovation projects, wherein the entire building can be scanned in a very short period. The data which comes in the form of ‘point cloud’ is then used to create BIM models of as-built structure. Construction drawings such as floor plans, sections, elevations etc, can be extracted by architects from this BIM model, which assist them when they start working on the structure.

In this way the power of BIM to influence new areas is increasing continuously, and we might see new developments soon in feature for improving construction.  

How does BIM help in designing better performing MEP systems?

To design better MEP systems, purpose-built BIM software was required by architects and MEP engineers and their demands were fulfilled when Autodesk came up with Revit MEP. This software dramatically revolutionized the MEP workflows. The computable models generated by optimizing Revit MEP, helped in the collaboration and unification of design development team. Digital 3D models generated in Revit’s integrated digital environment are highly potential of capturing all the concrete and crucial information concerning the building systems.

These computable models consist of highly reliable, consistent and well integrated design information that is optimized by MEP engineers from time to time, to improve the quality of MEP systems.

Revit digital environment: 3D models of building systems are developed in Revit MEP’s digital environment. This digital environment is optimized by MEP engineers to develop better designs for MEP systems. This provides huge platform for the unification and collaboration of team members who can share huge information among each other that is vital for design development.

Conventional 2D drawings are optimized by MEP engineers to create 3D digital models.

Collaboration of team members in Revit MEP is very convenient. With its assistance members of different MEP disciplines can integrate for designing better MEP systems. Revit server helps them in saving a central model in a location which is accessible to the entire design development team. Revit environment allows different team members to save a file of this model in their workstations. By utilizing this file they can work independently and can alter the design if they feel it is necessary. The changes made by them are saved and stored in the central model and other members can easily track these modifications. This helps in increasing design understanding among design team, which further helps in making the design better.

Also energy analysis can be done for MEP systems by engineers. They can make use of the information that is stored in 3D models generated by them. Revit’s tools allow engineers in carrying out energy analysis by fully analyzing the kind of material used in designing these systems. Depending upon the conclusion of analysis, new design options can be explored by engineers to develop high quality MEP systems.