Monday, January 27, 2020

Future of BIM


BIM has revolutionized the world of building design and has dramatically increased the ability for designers to express their ideas. I suspect that this trend will continue to increase as BIM gains more functionality. One very interesting technology that will likely have a large impact on BIM is virtual reality.

As the power of virtual reality simulations continues to increase overtime, it will be possible to include more and more complex models of reality within these simulations. Ideally, users will be able to interact within these worlds with all of their senses and may not even be able to distinguish differences within them and their baseline reality. This will create endless new simulations in terms of entertainment, but also in simulations that can be productive in creating designs in the real world.

BIM will likely fall into the category of simulations used in a productive sense. If users have the ability to create designs and then proceed to walk around them within an artificial world, they will be able to get a much more real conception of what their designs are like before building them. Additionally, it may be possible for designers to make changes to their designs within these 3D realms. If they didn’t like where a particular door is placed, perhaps they can just tap a new place on the wall and their designs would be instantly updated.

This ability to view a 3D version of a building will also be very useful in selling building models before they are created. It will be possible to take a client through a virtual tour of the building and show them all the interior and exterior details of the building for virtually no cost. This way clients will know exactly what they are buying and will not be surprised how simulations on a computer screen differ from those created in the actual design. This will lead to designs much more appropriate to the desires of the client and close most design communication gaps. Virtual reality still has a long way to go before these ideas I’ve discussed will be possible, but I believe within most of our lifetimes they will be.  


Comments:

Isabel Brooks: https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/what-are-current-problems-with-revitbim.html
Isabel,
Your reasons for the lack of adoption of BIM are very important to consider. Some smaller companies are really not at the point in their development to integrate as large of a technology as BIM into their workflow. Perhaps, this points at a hole in the market where someone could create a more lightweight version of BIM for smaller companies to use. Good insights!

Manon Flamini: https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/b3-possible-future-problems-with_27.html
Manon, 
You bring up an important point to consider when you discuss how much trust we should be giving AI and robotics. In my opinion, one without the other, isn't too scary. Robotics alone doesn't have a method to interact with the world other than in ways it is told to. Additionally, AI doesn't have a physical outlet to act on the real world with. However, we must take the combination very seriously as AI can obtain a physical outlet through robotics. We must be very careful to avoid black boxes when deploying large scale AI/Robotics combinations.

Pritesh: https://ae-410-510-ay19-20.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-possible-advantages-of-bim-in.html
Pritesh,
I thought your considerations of BIM from legal point of view were very interesting. By effortlessly, increasing documentation of the building design process it will save designers time and bring legal enforcers information closer to the ground truth. By reducing ambiguity in who made what changes to a design, it will be much easier to find where a fault was made.

6 comments:

Douha Alqudaihi said...

Michael,
I believe that in future more simulations will be updated and also more models that are close to reality. The idea you have might sound crazy at first, but nothing possible. There are programs where you can design and decorate your house without even paying a cent so you can see if it fits or not. Sometimes you imagine things that you think it is going to work but when you do it and pay for it, you realize that you wasted your time and money on something that didn’t fit the place, and you didn’t like it. Therefore, these programs can help in these cases. In addition to the VR and XR human-eye resolution products, this can also be used in the construction field in the future or something similar to your idea.

Liam Ossenfort said...

Michael, I could not agree more with the notion that Virtual Reality is going to be the next big implementation of BIM products. The functionality and versatility it could provide in the design and presentation of projects is exciting to think about. With technologies like “Virtual Tours” already being used, adding Virtual Reality to the mix creates even further immersion into various projects. I also enjoyed your discussion on the potential of selling buildings with this feature; utilizing something like Virtual Reality could sway a client into loving a project more than if just a simulation is presented on the computer.

Stephen Pettit said...

Michael,

I definitely agree that simulations and virtual reality will become very popular and very useful in the future. I also thought your statement about the possibility of changing aspects of the building systems in the 3D realm. For example, it would be extremely useful to be able to change a duct size or move mechanical systems around if I notice something that should not be there. I agree that having a 3D version of the building would be very useful when selling a building. It would clear up many questions that clients, engineers, contractors often have when they first get the project.

Abigail Kryszan said...

Michael,

The new uses for virtual reality you mentioned are fascinating. It would be incredible to see a complete building design in real life and walk through it. It would help identify issues with the design as well as aesthetically non-pleasing aspects of the design. This would revolutionize the industry. It would leave no room for guesswork or last-minute decisions, as everything could be visualized up front. I absolutely hope this becomes part of our field within our lifetimes. Of course, with everything, new problems would be created, but this solves a lot of issues, so it’s worth it.

Elvira-Marie Mikhael said...

Michael,

I tend to forget that virtual reality can be used in a productive sense, rather than just in gaming. The ability to view a 3D model right before your eyes is revolutionary. Think of how that would change teaching: you could see how a beam deflects under loads and how that would look in the bigger picture, you could walk through a building to check if everything looks okay before even thinking of construction. I love the idea of making changes in real time through VR, it would save a lot of time to do so.

Andre Morris said...

Hey Michael,

I enjoyed reading this post because it points out some of the amazing uses of BIM in the future. This technology offers a wide range of advantages for how we do work in this industry and it will hopedully make the process much easier and cooled with a lot of the VR simulation based technology.