B2_Chapter 5_Scope of design services

  For Chapter 5, the author introduced the BIM (Building Information Modeling) for the architects and engineers.  Many experts of architectural, engineering and construction are currently using BIM tools for modeling. This design approach is evolving from simple warehouses to new complex buildings.  The BIM provides a virtual building model for the design teams (such as architects, surveyors, civil engineers, structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers) to be delivered to the contractor/owner, who can add their professional information, update, and track at each stage. Change and maintain this standard, single model. The result is a desire to reduce the information gaps and communication conflicts that occur when the project provides and receives information between participants.

  Design-bid-build is a traditional project delivery process. In this process, architects and engineers will do the design work individually, so they will not cooperate with the constructor and fabricators. When there is litigation, since collaboration is not the architects’ responsibility, they may withhold the information for their design. Therefore, it is not efficient both for money and time. For the improvement, there is the design-build process. In order to involve in the larger projects and to deal with the capitalization, the large firms will cooperate with small firms. For design-build delivery, the efficiency raised, but I like the new option—Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). For IPD, the architects, engineers, constructors, fabricators, and the owners will come together to form a single cooperation unit. During the collaboration, the architect and the engineer can receive potential payment and benefits for their contribution for the design performance, such as the project can be finished before the deadline, the building sustainability, the energy use saving, and environmentally friendly improvements. The reason why I like IPD the most is that it can dramatically increase the efficiency of time. Because of the potentially lucrative rule, the architects and the engineers will push the effort to design a better building. On the other hand, the technic improvement for saving the environment and energy will happen during this process. Moreover, the collaboration will reduce the conflicts between the constructors/owners and the designers. Different from the traditional methods, architecture and engineering take important roles in IPD, so it also benefits the design services.



Work Cited:

Eastman, Charles M. BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, 

Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors. Vol. 2nd ed, Wiley, 2011. EBSCOhost, http://ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=364239&site=ehost-live.

Comments:

Harvin Bhandal:
I agree that using BIM tools will save your time and your money, for example, when you finished a 2-D drawing on Revit, you can also get a 3-D model for your floor, and you can also use Revit to analysis the sunlight effects on your design. You mentioned in your article that you never used Revit before.  Don't need to worry, the processes for using it is not complicated, and you might also find fun from it because when you can put your thought from the brain on an actual 3-D model is very cool.

Alec Silverstone:
I agree with you. Because of designed-bid-build and designed-build, which are the two traditional procurement processes, the relationship between architects, engineers, and constructors is not close cooperation. Therefore, for many cases, the constructors will join into the project at the very late, so the conflicts are hard to avoid at that time.  This case will waste time and money.

Christian Tait:
I agree with you because when I use Sketchup and Revit, or other Autodesk related products, I suffered a lot because of their incompatibility. Formit is undoubtedly a great product, but for now, it is not as widely used as Sketchup. As well, for some function tools, such as the content library, Formit is not as developed as Sketchup, because the database of Formit is not as plentiful as that of Sketchup. Therefore, the different BIM products from different companies cannot perfectly match each other, which is a problem for BIM.