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Building Information Modeling Two Years Later – Huge Potential, Some SuccessandSeveralLimitations
Written by:Ian Howell and Bob Batcheler 
Introduction
Since the great Building Information Modeling (BIM) debate facilitated by Jerry Laiserinin April2003,and reportedonhere in the Laiserin Letter, much has transpired withregard tobuilding information modeling. Pilot projects have been completed, BIMsystems have evolved through several versions of software upgrades,and industryleading firms are adopting BIM on live projects. Given the number of companies wehave met during our research that have indicated some intention to seriously consider adopting BIM, we felt that it would be useful to document our findings to provide a basisfor evaluating BIM and to examine what has been learned. First, for the uninitiated, a brief recap.
CAD versus BIM–AQuick Refresher of the Basics
[Regular readers of theLaiserin Letter should feel fee to skip this section and get straight to the exciting stuff below]
The originalpremise of a CAD system was to automate the task of drafting. As such,theoriginalfocus of CAD applications was to represent2D geometry via graphical elements,such as lines, arcs, symbols, et al. In this context,walls, for example,are merelyrepresented as parallel lines. To establish some meaning behind these graphicalelements,the concept of layering was introduced to group related elements, such as thelines used to represent walls on a given ‘wall layer.’By doingso,discrete 2D drawingfilescould be generated and plotted from CAD, but more complex information, such asthe relationships between elements could not be represented. The emergenceof 3DCAD initiallyfocused almost entirelyon creating geometry in supportofvisualization,and subsequent advances concentrated on creating realistic rendering and lighting effects.More recently,object-oriented CAD systems (OOCAD) replaced 2D symbolswith building elements (objects),capable of representing the behavior ofcommon buildingelements. Thesebuilding elementscan be displayed in multiple views,as well as havingnon-graphic attributes assigned to them. The inclusion of parametric 3D geometry, withvariable dimensions and assigned rules,adds “intelligence” tothese objects, permittingthe representation of complex geometric and functional relationships between buildingelements. In this paradigm,walls are objects which can be stretched, joined, haveheight, be of a specific cross-section type,and “own”associated properties,such as a fire ratingor insulation value. Similarly, doors and windows are represented as objects, capable of representing their relationship to the walls in which they are placed and behavingaccordingly. More importantly, abstract objects,such as a space,can be defined by therelationships between physical building elements,identified (e.g. room number, roomname, etc.), described (e.g. area, volume, use, occupancy, etc.),and referenced (e.g.listed
 
in a room schedule, counted tocalculate total floor area, etc.).Capturing theserelationships and behaviors and the richness of the intelligence are just not possible in the previous CAD paradigm.Building information modeling (BIM) is the latestgeneration of OOCAD systems inwhich all of theintelligent building objectsthatcombine tomake up a building designcan coexist in a single ‘project database’ or ‘virtual building’that captures everythingknown about thebuilding. A building information model (in theory) provides a single,logical, consistent source for all informationassociated with the building.
Which BIM? –ComparingDifferent BIM Systems
The ‘utopia’ofBIM was conceived as a single building information model for the entireconstruction industry. The InternationalAlliance for Interoperability (IAI) pioneered aninternational technical effort across 19 countries to define a single building model as oneauthoritative semantic definition of building elements, their properties and inter-relationships. This work haslargely been successful with its IFC (Industry FoundationClass) Modelnow endorsed as a draft ISO (International Standards Organization)standard. However, in the absence of a single modelfrom day one, software vendorsaspiring to gain commercial advantage forged ahead with different competing BIMimplementations.In an attempt to help users, the following is a brief comparison (presented in alphabeticalorder) of the different approaches taken by each of the leading providers of BIMsolutions:
 Autodesk Architectural Desktop (ADT)
 provides a transitionalapproachto BIM, as anintermediate step from CAD. ADT creates its building model as a loosely-coupledcollection of drawings, each representing a portion of the complete BIM. These drawingsare aggregated through various mechanisms to generate additional views of the building,reports, and schedules as though there was a single BIM at the center. One overhead of this approach is complexity in managing this loosely-coupled collection of drawings andthe opportunity for errors if the user manipulates the individual files outside the drawingmanagement capabilities provided in ADT.
 Autodesk REVIT 
is perhaps the most literal interpretation of a single BIM as a central project database. The strength ofthis approach is the ability to coordinate every buildingelement in one database,thus providing users the ability to immediately see the results of any design revisions made inthe model, have them reflected in the associated views(drawings), as wellas to detect anycoordination issues. REVIT is a proprietary datamodelwhich does not currently support IFC import/export, although future IFCsupporthas been promised. For software developers, ODBC links provide limited access tothe building model information and a limited application programming interface hasbeen provided in the most recent release.
 
 Bentley Systems
interprets BIM differently as an integratedproject modelwhichcomprises a family of application modules that include Bentley Architecture (which isstill also sold in some internationalmarkets under its original Microstation Triformaname), Bentley Structures, Bentley HVAC, etc. Bentley describes this approach as anevolutionarypath that allows its Microstation users to migrate work practices that stillhave their origins based on using CAD. Access to project data is provided with DWGand IFC file formats both being supported. However,the highest levels of interoperability are only achieved when the entire family of Bentley products aredeployed on a project.
Graphisoft’s
approach to BIM is to create a virtual building model, meaningtheir ArchiCAD application is viewed as one of many satellite applications orbiting a virtual building model rather than being seen as the central repositoryfor the entire model. Inaddition to ArchiCAD being conceived as a BIM system from its inception over 20 yearsago, Graphisoft is now working with a consortia of application partners to deploy EPMTechnology’s IFC-based model server as a virtualbuilding repository,possiblythe mostinnovative technical approach to the future of BIM.
 Nemetschek 
 provides a fourth alternative with its BIM platformapproach. The AllPlandatabase is “wrapped” by the Nemetschek Object Interface (NOI) layer to allow third- partydesign and analysis applications to interface with the building objects in the model.This NOI layer is a published API which also supports IFC objects. Primarily availablein the German speaking countries of Europe, this solution provides an evolutionaryapproach from the traditional approach of Allplan.
BIM –The Promise Versus the Reality
BIM promises and does actually deliver many advantages as a single source of buildinginformation:
•
Plans, elevations and section drawings,generated as “views” from a single designmodel,are always consistent
•
Coordination ofbuilding objects created across different disciplines in a singlemodelresolvesclashes between design elements
•
Comprehensive (door, window, room, equipment) schedulesassociated withthe building are easily generated and kept up-to-datewithanychanges to the model
•
The availability of a single BIM makes it possible to capture additionalinformation throughout design, procurementandconstructionofa building,serving as a living record of the building for operations and maintenancethroughout its lifecycleHowever, experience to date is demonstrating a number of determiningfactors whichcomplicate achievingthe full promise of BIM, including:
•
Situationalproject teams comprised ofmany participants, each of whom hasoptimized their work processes to use pre-existing technologyalreadydeployedin-house
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