Blog post 3 - Technology in the AEC industry in 10 years

The technology used in the AEC industry has developed a lot since the computer became a common tool for everyone at the office. BIM have been implemented more and more, though in different levels. But the fully opportunities that BIM can give for the architects, engineers, contractors, and building owner are still only used few places compared with how large the trade is. How it will develop during the next 10 years is a very good question. I think that the implementation of programs like Revit will be larger and it will be a tool that almost very one in the trade will use during the next 10 years. The program have  been on the market since 2000 and is now taught for both architects and engineers at the universities as a necessary tool to know. So with young graduated engineers and architects working in the field during the next 10 years more and more will have the ability to use the tools and companies will have to use less money on training the employees. Though the license are very expensive so the company have to know how much time and money they can save by using the tool, before they invest in the program.

Though I think that the fully implementation of tools like Rhino/Grasshopper and Dynamo in the AEC industry will take more than 10 years. When the industry still have not fully have implemented Revit yet, which has been on the market for almost 20 years, I think it will take more than 10 years to implement the next steep of BIM. But I think that more and more people will start using the tools and see the many opportunities it can give to optimize e.g. the design, geometry, materials, and time. Maybe the implementation of the tools will develop in relation to the larger focus on sustainability, because the tools can be used to minimize the materials for the building and do integrated design easily. But I think it really depends on the size of the projects. For a large project the time which is put in the building up the models can be a large saving in the  end because it will be easier to change the parameters. But for a smaller project the time and money probably will not be saved in the end because only few changes will be made during the design, which could be done without the tools.

So to sum up my assessment of where the technology for the AEC industry will be in 10 years I think that Revit will be almost fully implemented but the next step of using the dynamic and parametric tools like Rhino/Grasshopper and Dynamo will take more than 10 years to fully implement in the industry.

Matt Mullen: Interesting that you also can use VR walkthroughs as a tool to minimize changes orders given by the owners, because they can see the walk around in the building before it is built. I think that also shows that more and more tools are being developed to investigate problems before they occur.