BIM: First digital - then real

3D models are not enough 

On a day-to-day basis, increasing complexity is revealed by ever-larger project teams, design diversity, more specialized knowledge, new materials, innovative manufacturing methods and higher demands for safety, sustainability and lifecycle costs - and the requirements will continue to rise. The first step in getting a handle on such projects is to recognize: Is the project really complex or rather complicated? After all, complicated projects, such as sophisticated architecture, can be managed well using conventional methods. Just a few years ago, buildings with an unusual design - such as the double helix shape of the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart or buildings designed by Zaha Hadid - were difficult to calculate. Today, unprecedented shapes can be represented by computer. Control is not made more difficult by the complexity of a project, but by the complexity within the stages of planning, building and operating. In all stages, processes and procedures interact, they influence each other. Collisions often occur, for example, when planners work on different plan statuses or the trades are not coordinated. The management of complex construction projects is therefore not a geometric problem that can be mapped in a three-dimensional space. Rather, the realization of such projects takes place in n-dimensional space, similar to a network in which every point is connected to every other point: It is not possible to estimate what will happen if one of the threads is pulled. Linear solution approaches are doomed to failure for this reason; 3D models are not sufficient to represent the countless links. The solution is offered by Building Information Modeling (BIM), which goes far beyond 3D modeling - which is also referred to as BIM in some places. Simulation and workflow across all stages of a construction project are critical to success in managing complex projects efficiently.

Simulations as support - Build it twice!

In contrast to other industries, the construction industry always builds one-offs and errors are often only detected during construction. BIM offers the opportunity to uncover weaknesses during planning, long before the first construction worker lends a hand. To this end, the building is first "built" as a digital prototype and various design variants are run through, which are linked to costs and deadlines - in order to detect possible sources of risk and reduce interfaces between the different trades. The subsequent operation is already thought through in advance. Strategic process managers advise on project definition as well as on defining qualities, standards and organization. For example, people flows in a cafeteria are simulated, fire and smoke or even daylight or building physics simulations are carried out. It is possible to represent future processes in the building: from usage scenarios to energy flows of the building and the construction of the property, starting from the construction process to detailed logistics. Computer-aided simulations are used to illustrate the influences and consequences of planning changes. The interdisciplinary collaboration of all specialist planners, which is coordinated and controlled via the BIM method, begins as early as the target planning stage. Planning and project communication as well as data management take place via digital models. All processes are structured and transparent. A target value design is developed at an early stage and the concerns of facility management as well as room book, costs and deadlines are linked to the planning contents. The concepts can thus be harmonized and optimized design variants created. In addition, it is ensured that everyone works with the current plan version and that changes and their effects are immediately visible. From process consulting and target definitions, through planning and construction, to the operation of the property, a BuildingInformationManager takes over the overall control and function. The BuildingInformationManager has an overview of which content is to be provided by whom, when which party needs which information in order to be able to continue working, and where gaps or divergences arise. The content is fed from input from the specialist planners, architects and the client. In the spirit of Build it twice, the execution phase, including site logistics, is also simulated first. Based on the virtual prototype, discrepancies are quickly identified, for example with regard to the timing of the individual construction processes. Even during actual construction, in combination with daily updated board planning, it is possible to see immediately where, for example, materials are missing, deadlines are threatening to be postponed or trades are interfering with each other. Commissioning and acceptance are precisely timed and the additional data required for facility management is prepared at an early stage.

New ways of cooperation

The transition from the drawing table to CAD, and subsequently the implementation of the third dimension, was a technical improvement that has changed little in the way we work together. We continue to draw plans, only we pass them on as a file and not as paper. Working with BIM enables a completely new form of collaboration: moving from data delivery to workflow. Those involved in planning do not have to rely on the delivery of documents, which also usually contain a lot of information that they do not even need. Instead, they retrieve the information relevant to them at the right time from the shared model. In terms of content, the approach is very different. In an integrative approach, an object is processed jointly by the planners involved. For example, an object that has been recorded in terms of data, such as an exterior wall, can be supplemented by the architect with requirements for color and surface, by the building physicist with requirements for sound insulation, by the fire protection expert with requirements for fire resistance, and so on. Since the information can be assigned to the object, it is also possible to check whether requirements are mutually exclusive. For this integrative way of working, the location of the objects must be clearly clarified and the data-technical possibility to add information must be created. The building model helps with orientation. In addition to this data-technical cooperation, there is also a second, completely different improvement in planning: spatial proximity. Experience from current projects, such as Roche Building 1 in Basel, shows that spatial proximity of planners, for example in project offices, generates a significant increase in planning quality through improved information flow. BIM is not a software product - rather, it is a method of collaboration with a purpose. This makes BIM less of a technical challenge than an organizational one. For a successful BIM project, the type of collaboration must be defined first and foremost. In German-speaking countries, the field of BIM is still in its infancy to some extent. Current examples, such as the Sutter Health Group in California or the BIM standards already specified by the authorities in Great Britain or Singapore, however, show how this methodology can be used quickly and efficiently. A first sign that BIM has arrived in Switzerland was the SIA's track group on this topic. In 2013 year was established by buildingSMART Switzerland a BIM guide for Switzerland has been launched, and the first projects in which clients are demanding BIM are already underway. The optimizations speak for themselves: It is no longer a question of if, but when this methodology will also become established in our country. Regardless of whether you are a builder, planner or contractor, you need to get fit for this.