BIM in the Netherlands: current state of the art

March 17, 2016 |   |  Comment  |  Story

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has seen an unprecedented uptake in the Dutch Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. BIM includes both software to manage essential building design and project data as well as project management related tools and methods. It is frequently seen as a means to reduce failure costs and increase productivity. These rapid BIM developments and wide industry support highlight the need for a systematic overview of the current state of the art of BIM in the Netherlands. I have synthesized earlier academic and non-academic work on BIM in the Netherlands in a recent research deliverable. Below are the main findings.  Read more

BIM training kits – a worldwide review

February 7, 2016 |   |  Comment  |  Story

The uptake of Building Information Modeling (BIM) applications by the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry has snowballed in recent years. BIM applications enable the creation and use of an intelligent data model that is shared and used in different phases of a building’s life-cycle. These applications are quite complex and provide much greater functionality than earlier CAD tools. This makes it hard to gain proficiency in effectively working with BIM. The lack of personnel is in fact one of the major barriers to further BIM adoption. As a response to that, training organizations are offering relevant learning contents and accompanying methodologies in a BIM training kit. Jingjie Huang, one of our graduate students, conducted a systematic analysis and comparison of state-of-the-art BIM training kits (focusing on Revit Architecture) and formulated guidelines for developing new ones. In this post, I discuss some of her findings. Read more

Boundary spanning with BIM

June 25, 2015 |   |  Comment  |  Story

State-of-the-art BIM tools connect participants from different disciplines in a construction project with each other through the development of a shared building model. Such a model is a representation of a building depending on the view taken. A building may, for example, be viewed as a set of spaces, as a sculptural form or as a set of force resisting elements. Depending on the view of the model taken, certain objects and their properties become relevant. The different disciplines involved in a construction project all need to establish and maintain their own views of the model, whereas they possess distinct, specialized knowledge and may operate from different locations. This requires forging links between knowledge at the boundaries of different professional worlds, which can be achieved through the use of human mediators or boundary objects. Read more