Building Information Modelling (BIM) had its beginnings in the 1970s, as the design innovators from the United States, Western Europe, and the Soviet Block competed to create a software solution to disrupt the architecture. Thanks to this technology, which keeps growing and optimizing itself, in the late 20th century, modern architecture went through a mini-renaissance.
BIM’s collaborative nature allows multiple stakeholders like architects, engineers, and other construction professionals, to seamlessly work together to bring the most out of their projects.
In the year 2020, BIM is no longer an avant-garde approach to building modeling, but the global norm of architecture.
Here’s a look at why BIM took over the world of construction in just a few short decades, and it’s only the beginning for its popularity.
Seamless Collaboration to Bring Out the Best
Celebrated basketball player Micheal Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” This vision is especially true in architecture.
BIM is a powerful tool that superpowers the engine of each ambitious architectural project: Collaboration.
Thanks to it, the project managers not only stay in the loop with every detail but also enables teams to exchange design data and streamline every stage of the project.
This high-level overview allows stakeholders to review the “publish” status against deadlines to keep on top of everything.
More Competitive Architectural Projects With Less Resources
Over the last decades, a significant issue that strained the construction sector has been low profit margins, affecting even the large and established firms. While the volatilities in the global financial market contribute to this, a significant factor for low profit margins is inefficiency: Large projects across asset classes typically take 20 percent longer to finish than scheduled and are up to 80 percent over budget, according to McKinsey. Due to this inefficiency, in the EU alone, up to 30 percent of the waste comes from building materials, bringing a devastating environmental impact.
BIM and further digitization of the sector is slowly changing this picture. Increased efficiency, laser-sharp planning and execution dramatically cuts down both costs and environmental impact.
According to one survey, 70 percent of BIM users believe the software gives them a competitive advantage. Thanks to the bird’s eye perspective project leaders gain using BIM, they can do everything better, faster, and at a lower cost — using fewer resources.
Van Wijnen, a Dutch architect, reported that the software halved their development timeline: When it used to take 120 days for his team to complete a house, the same work with BIM takes 60 days.
Creative Exploration Leads to More Ambitious Projects
From state-of-art skyscrapers to human-made islands, the 21st century has seen a soaring number of uniquely ambitious architectural projects everywhere. The proliferation of BIM and the rise of these projects aren’t coincidental.
The ability to complete the projects efficiently and smoothly, sometimes ahead of time, allows the architectural visionaries to explore creative options to go the extra mile. Hence, the smooth collaboration, quick feedback, and holistic oversight help the design masterminds to soar to take their projects to new creative heights.
With BIM, fabricating new ideas, exploring, and testing them is no longer a daunting effort to take months or weeks.
Propelling an Architectural Renaissance
Construction remains one of the least digitized industries in the world. However, the way that BIM took over the world of architecture since the 1970s shows that the global community of builders are hungry for disruption. As the enthusiastic embrace of BIM and other digital technologies are on the rise, the world is on the brink of another architectural renaissance.
