Making BIM the Best Tool for Design
May 30, 2014
BIM should be the best tool for design, but it’s not. What’s holding us back? A lack of creativity isn’t helping.
Four BIM Flavors
The convergence of 25,000 years of Art History leads to BIM
May 2, 2014
I love creating diagrams. But this BIM Diagram is by far my favorite. It probably should become my new logo. Find out why it took 25,000 years to make.
Self-awareness vs Environmental-awareness: A working definition of BIM
March 5, 2014
From pencil to CAD to BIM, we have come a long way in the past fifty years. What makes BIM so special & different? Here is my working definition of BIM.
GRAPHISOFT Releases EcoDesigner STAR
January 21, 2014
GRAPHISOFT®, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) architectural software developer, has announced the launch of EcoDesigner STAR, the first software that places standard-compliant energy analysis in the heart of the architect’s familiar BIM work environment. EcoDesigner STAR enables architects to design the most energy-efficient buildings, by themselves or working together with engineers or specialist consultants.
Architect Magazine, November 2013: BIM for Emerging Firms
November 25, 2013
I wrote an article for Architect Magazine on BIM for Emerging Firms. You should read an article in Architect Magazine on BIM for Emerging Firms.
Skeuomorphs and Architectural Documentation
April 21, 2013
Architectural Documentation in the 21st Century There’s a good chance you’re aware of Seth Godin. He writes some pretty amazing stuff. My current favorite is this post: Skeuomorphs = failure. If you’re not familiar with what a skeuomorph is, here’s the first sentence from the wikipedia entry: “A skeuomorph is a physical ornament or design on an object made to resemble another material or technique.” I think this fits perfectly
Augmented Reality and Micro-payments
February 26, 2013
Sooner than you think. Much sooner than you believe possible. You’ve reached BIM IV-IV, the pinnacle of Social BIG BIM. You talk with prospective clients about the AECOU relationship. Your BIMs are integrated with the final buildings so that they are a part of the user experience. You are in the realm of augmented reality. Anyone who walks into one of your buildings can query an infinite amount of information
Architects are Lazy (plus ArchiCAD 17 news)
February 21, 2013
News of ArchiCAD 17 The shape and form of ArchiCAD 17 continue to be slowly revealed. I’m not sure if I’m just more aware this year or if more news is getting shared than in the past. Either way, here’s a very interesting article from Enigneering News-Record that talks about both EcoDesigner STAR and some time frames for the eventual release of ArchiCAD 17. I guess we can start tossing
Who is in the BIM? AECO meet AECOU
February 20, 2013
I couldn’t fit this graph in the previous post on social BIG BIM, so it gets its own post. Which is good because I also want to ruminate on the acronym AECOU. Once we reach Social BIG BIM, IV-IV (augmented reality), the time line of the building/BIM and who is using it might look something like this: Blue is 100% in the model, Gray 0% in the model. Note 1:
The Ideal BIM Software
February 12, 2013
Understanding the Challenge of a BIM Challenge The histories of BIM and CAD are littered with shoot-outs, comparison tests, and pissing contests. By now you probably know my favorite Mine vs Yours, ArchiCAD vs Revit saga:Â The Unkillable Beast with a 1,000 heads. Though now it’s more like 1,400 heads. A lot of people are annoyed by this thread, but as I’ve said before the longer it goes on the more
Primary Benefits of BIM
February 5, 2013
This is the third part in a series about demystifying BIM. The first post Why you failed at BIM (you were impatient) looked at the struggles with BIM adoption. The second post There are Four BIM Flavors clarified the term BIM by looking at two major factors: BIG/little and social/lonely. The result of the second post was a diagram that divided BIM into four major variants. Each quadrant has a
There are Four BIM Flavors
January 31, 2013
“In the short term, we are little bimmers. In the long term, we are Big Bimmers.” -David “Joshua” Plager, AIA The comment above was posted on LinkedIN in response to my blog post “Why you failed at BIM“. What a great sentiment. In all the back and forth discussions of what BIM means, we all pretty much agree on the concept of little bim, BIG BIM. I’m not sure if
Why you failed at BIM (you were impatient)
January 29, 2013
While writing a post about a former coworker, I paused to create a few diagrams explaining why others in his position often fail to make the switch to ArchiCAD and BIM. These three diagrams help illustrate what causes people to panic during their early adventures with a new way of working. A note about the fail line. People who give up at this point typically keep spinning their wheels without
Switching to BIM? Emulate Paul’s Mindset
January 28, 2013
Part 1 “I just want you to know that computers are my life now.” Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â -former coworker who loves hand drafting Paul never used AutoCAD or any other CAD program. In mid-2011, he got the go ahead from our bosses at SALA Architects to start learning ArchiCAD. Paul was (and still is) a project architect at the firm. It was a bold move on the part of
Only 3D? You are worthless and don’t deserve to say BIM Model
November 4, 2012
Have you watched this 4 minute video on modeling the Sagrada Familia in ArchiCAD 16 with the new Morph Tool? It’s insane. Take some time and watch it. Too busy? Just skip through a few parts of it. And then be prepared to end up watching the whole thing anyways. Now I can already hear many of you screaming at your computers “But this isn’t BIM! This is just fancy