A "model" tool:
New software programs enable building designers to collaborate
 n late fall 2006, Professor Larry
Bank seized an opportunity to create a new course around a suite
of cutting-edge 3-D building-information modeling software programs.
In the space of only a day, students—both undergrads and graduate
students—had registered for all 20 available spaces and the inaugural
course, held in spring 2007, was a complete success. “The students
got into this,” says Bank. ”I was amazed. The learning curve
at the beginning was really very steep, but by the end, they did amazing
things.”
Building information modeling technology, or BIM,
enables architects, structural engineers and mechanical engineers to
work from the same parametric building model. “Typically what
would happen in the old days is that the architect would have a set
of plans and would ship them over to the structural engineer, who would
completely redraw, rebuild the building—another whole set of grids,
another whole set of levels—and build a structural set of plans.
And then that set got sent over to the mechanical engineers,”
says Bank.
With BIM, an architect creates a single parametric model and passes
it to the structural engineer, who adds structural components and conducts
a structural analysis. Next, the mechanical engineer adds the building
systems—heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, plumbing, piping,
fire safety and the like. “All the professions will be able to
work consecutively on the same base model, and add their components,
so that you won’t have problems with construction in the field,”
says Bank. “Everything will be modeled parametrically, in three
dimensions, virtually, before you actually build anything.”
Though BIM technology is in its infancy, it is gaining popularity and
acceptance in the construction profession, says Bank. Building owners,
in particular, welcome the opportunity to view their virtual “finished”
building in three dimensions. (One requirement for the architects and
contractors for the new Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building
on the UW-Madison campus was that they had to create the building via
BIM software.)
Construction managers also like that the shared model enables them to
view and resolve “clash” areas—for example, a pipe
running through a duct—prior to construction, says Bank. “Their
ability to manage all the subcontractors and not run into problems with
clashes and pieces that don’t work in the field, that’s
a tremendous savings for them, because they can get the building done
on time and under budget,” he says.
In lectures delivered by Autodesk building solutions specialist John
Harrage, students learned how to use the Autodesk Revit suite of BIM
software, which includes Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit
MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing). They also wrestled with the
limitations of an evolving technology, often sharing knowledge, insight
and frustrations via online REVIT chat groups and bulletin boards. They
created a model of Engineering Hall (shown above) and they modeled a
new UW-Madison dormitory. In alternating weeks of the course, they learned
about real-world applications of and potential problems with BIM via
guest speakers from J.H. Findorff & Son, Arnold & O’Sheridan,
and Affiliated Engineers, among several others.
Because BIM is so new that companies are offering their employees on-the-job
training in the software, Bank says students who have the skill have
an edge in the job market. “A number of the students have already
parlayed this into jobs working with it,” he says.
Bank’s course now is offered year-round; PhD students Matt Dupuis
and Ben Thompson—who mastered the technology in the inaugural
class—have taken over as course instructors: They currently are
teaching the BIM course and plan to offer it again in spring 2008.
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