Of the 20 conference sessions at AEC Science and Technology Federal, which concludes today at the Washington DC Convention Center, the top five in attendance all had “BIM” in their titles. This morning a session on IFC’s (Industry Foundation Classes) and building information modeling was standing room only.
By asking questions of the audience, Socratic style, at the beginning of the session, Francois Groubler of the IAI Technical Committee and the US Army Corps of Engineers inadvertently sabotaged his session—in a good way. What might have been a dry but informative tutorial on the use of IFC’s turned into an audience-led discussion of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and problems, and general misunderstandings regarding the use of building information modeling and the role of IFC’s in creating a database of construction information.
To listen to the architects, construction managers, specifiers and others who asked questions and commented, it was a given that building information modeling is no longer a pie-in-the-sky idea. While all implementations are still early and all projects still pilots, there was no debate about whether or not to use building information modeling (or virtual building, as some prefer), but instead how to best make it work.
Looking at how other industries have been impacted by the information technology revolution, a clear trend emerges. Decision-making, and the work associated with it, is pushed forward, earlier into the “information supply chain.” When the daily newspaper I worked for as a young man first switched to a computer-based workflow, we laid off typesetters and hired editors. Two specifiers told me, in separate conversations this week, that BIM makes them into dinosaurs. The job of specifying will move much earlier in the process, and require the early stage designers to make specific decisions about construction elements.
I have to leave the conference now to catch my flights home, I hope to beat the ice storm predicted for the Washington area this afternoon. I’ll post again soon with more from the AEC Science and Technology Federal conference.
-- RSN