We live in a time when science is advancing faster than ever and changing all aspects of design as we know them. Advancements in robotics, AI, databasing, 3D printing, and much more will all have definite impacts on how we perform design functions as architectural engineers. Specifically, as BIM programs such as Revit continue to become more in-depth and complex, they will have profound effects on building design. In his lecture, "The Future of BIM Will Not Be BIM - and It's Coming Faster Than You Think," engineer Bill Allen describes his vision of the future of BIM, and it's truly astounding. He describes that he believes the future of BIM is not as "Building Information Modeling," but rather as "Building Information Optimization." This means that instead of designing buildings like we do in BIM programs today, the process will be a streamlined one that requires less designer input. Currently, designing a building in Revit is done by drawing individual building components that come together to create the building. The designer has significant control over the building design but has to manually insert each one just the way it is supposed to be. By contrast, Allen sees the role of BIM in the future as much more comprehensive. Designers will no longer have to manually code every aspect of the building. Rather, they will input parameters and the program will use them to create the most optimized version of that building. As Allen shows in his video, this technology will be so streamlined and simple that it won't take an expert to design a building - even a child could do it, to a certain extent. This means that the design process will become quicker and much more efficient and, ideally, output even better designs than our designers today can produce. To take this a step further, I think this could be a great achievement, because once the design itself is optimized, designers can take more time to instead develop innovative aspects of the building, such as improved energy use, thermal efficiency, air quality, and more. I see a future with improved BIM as a future in which all aspects of building design are improved, both as a direct and an indirect result of the software itself.
Source: B. Allen, The Future of BIM Will Not Be BIM—and It's Coming Faster than You Think. Autodesk, 2016 [Online]. Available: http://au.autodesk.com/au-online/classes-on-demand/class-catalog/2016/revit/it22329#chapter=0
Comments:
Josh,
I'm really glad you brought up interdisciplinary communication in your post. It seems clear from my experiences that the only efficient way to design a building is to consider each discipline concurrently, so you don't end up with a completed structural plan for a building that doesn't take into account the plenum space needed for the HVAC ductwork, for example. I completely agree that BIM can be the answer to this communication dilemma, and something that greatly improves the way that each engineering discipline designs its space in relation to the others.
Kerry,
I absolutely agree with you that over-dependence on software is a big potential issue. It's great to have software that can design a building for us, but if we start relying on that too heavily and start to lose our own abilities - or have engineers who don't learn everything in the first place - we start to be unable to trouble shoot issues when they appear. Until such time as AI is fully developed to surpass human intelligence in the future, the BIM software itself is still unlikely to be able to catch and fix every situational failure that may occur, so human observation and intelligence is still a critical part of the design process.
Mark,
You bring up a very realistic problem. We are often so focused on the possibilities of what BIM can accomplish that we forget to consider the reality of whether it will be possible with the tools we can afford. You are absolutely right that many companies would not be able or willing to invest in completely new hardware because of yet another BIM advancement, especially in a future where BIM becomes exponentially more powerful every few years. Additionally, this puts additional strain on smaller companies who are already competing with larger companies with vastly greater resources - they'll continue to fall further and further behind as the technology that they can't afford continues to become increasingly efficient.
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some good points on how BIM will not be BIM in the future to the extent that the program will do a majority of the leg work for the designers. It will work out the mathematical and logical building design choices for the set of parameters inputted creating a very efficient and cost effective building. I believe there will still be the need to check the building to ensure it is designed correctly and up to code. Also, I believe that this technology will most likely exist someday, but that is somewhat worrisome because there will be a lot of very similar buildings out there in 100 to 200 years because a computer is designing them. Some buildings are meant to be artistic and not the most sustainable or green in design, but that is because the owner and architect wanted to make a statement with the building. If we let the building design up to a computer software, it will simply spit out a cookie cutter building for a majority of sites in a certain region.
I agree, that this technology development is moving fast and does appear very exciting. However, I am not sure to the extent at which this technology will be adopted. It will take time at first for us to gain trust in this new method of design and even once we are happy with it, I feel design still needs a 'human touch'. The surroundings needs to be considered to design a building that fits but is not identical to those next door. Will this development reduce the amount of innovative building designs that stretch the parameters of design, because everything is being done 'by the book'?
ReplyDeleteJordan,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you brought up the lecture by Mr. Allen as it seems like it emcompasses the best outlook for BIM. To be fair, we don't really know what exactly the future holds, but using Revit or other software as a self-optimizing tool would greatly impact the field. My question for this is where Dynamo or some of the other visual programming plugins fit into this view. Will they be the key to self-optimization, or will they end up being left behind as BIM evolves past the need for them. My best guess is that they will be totally integrated, and will be the way that the user interacts with the program.
Jordan S,
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading through your post on what you thought of the advantages of BIM and Revit. I like how you referenced the video by Mr. Allen. I'm curious to know if the streamlined BIM that he discusses in his video will limit the creative aspect of the design process. While I do think that making the design process more efficient, I also think that have a program generate a best-case design is limiting for the designer
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI believe you make very good points by pointing out that buildings are soon to be designed by programs rather than people, I made some similar assumptions in my post. I did enjoy the video you shared, although I am not completely sure that programs are going to be extremely easy to use, I believe that there is always going to be some training required in order to be able to use the development tools that advances in technology will offer us.