In its most basic form, building in formation modeling (BIM) is the move from analog to digital design and construction. It is a model-based technology linked with a database of project information. Radically transforming the way designs are created, communicated, and constructed, BIM is not just the electronic transfer of paper documents. It’s also more than pretty 3D renderings with construction documents as a separate function. It’s about information use, reuse, and exchange, of which electronic documents are just a single component. Moreover, it greatly increases the ability to control and manipulate data and information in an unprecedented way and in an interoperable format. When integrated 3D-2D model-based technology is linked with information, design firms have a faster, higher-quality, richer design process. Risk is reduced, design intent is maintained, quality control is streamlined, communication is clearer, and higher analytic tools are more accessible.

Phil Bernstein, vice president of Autodesk’s Building Solutions Division, laments the fact that despite the obvious productivity and economic benefits BIM can offer to the global building industry, and with the technology to implement them readily available and rapidly maturing, BIM adoption has been slower than anticipated because most companies in the construction and building industry are still using the traditional pen-and-paper method of creating designs. This causes inevitable delays in finishing building projects and consequently increases overhead costs.

"In certain instances delays can cause an average of 30 percent loss in the total construction investment," he said. He added that these delays are highly inefficient and very risky because finding design flaws during construction means stopping the progress of the project and people having to go back and forth with their partners to find out how to resolve these problems.

However, Bernstein said that investment in 3D by some pioneering architectural firms who have been integrating software into their businesses by using technology to digitally design buildings that can be viewed, reviewed and analyzed prior to construction, is adding to the improvement of the quality of construction design work and helps speed up the construction of new buildings.

Autodesk, the world’s leading software and services company for the manufacturing, infrastructure, building, media and entertainment, and wireless data services fields, showcased how one such pioneering firm — Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) — have used BIM methods to design and build the Freedom Tower, one of the most significant commercial buildings currently in development in the US today.

SOM, one of the world’s leading architecture firms has undergone process transformation to be able to deliver this visionary project, the 1776-foot tall Freedom Tower, which an office tower comprising of 2.6 million square feet of office space, as well as an observation deck, world-class restaurants, parking, and broadcast and antennae facilities, that will rise on the site of the former World Trade Center in New York and help reassert downtown Manhattan’s preeminence as a business center and establish a new icon for the United States. Construction of the building started April this year and is expected to be finished by 2011.

Darren Rizza, SOM’s firmwide director of digital design, explained how its use of a BIM platform for the Freedom Tower project was a culmination of the process change it has been proposing and driving since the late 1980s, when the firm developed its own software utilizing a virtual 3D building information model. Besides detailing its design approach and methodology for resolving the unique challenges of designing supertall buildings, the SOM executive showed how the use of technology supports and enhances the design process.

"In the Freedom Tower design, BIM made us. It improved our work when we started to use design software to construct the new building. Our supplies and partners collaborate effectively and avoid wasting time on printing and submitting designs to those involved in its construction," Rizza said. "We want them to be directly part of the design stage and ensure that all possible problems that could be encountered during construction was resolved before laying down the first block."

Rizza explained that Building Information Modeling (BIM) was a major step toward improving their productivity. "BIM requires that every part of designing a building has to be done and analyzed for technical details prior to the construction process. Its major component is using 3D models that integrate designs for structural capacity and utilities network implementation," he said.

He said that the 3D approach inherent in the BIM platform enabled the team to quickly address issues not readily apparent in a traditional 2D approach and provided improved coordination with all disciplines, enhanced quality assurance, and an anticipated reduction in revision time and RFIs during construction.

For the Freedom Tower project, SOM showed how its choice of Autodesk Revit as the project’s BIM solution provided a competitive advantage. Autodesk Revit Building software, initially used on the original design only for the complex below grade levels of the building, was eventually and enthusiastically extended to the entire building model.

Co-ordination is now carried out in 3D on a plasma screen in an SOM conference room. The Autodesk Revit platform is now being used for design and construction documentation on the redesigned tower concept, taking into account changes requested for homeland security purposes.

For team collaboration, Rizza detailed how SOM employed Autodesk Collaborative Project Management solutions that serve as a central data repository with secure, shared access, real-time notification, discussion threads and design mark-ups, project controls for change management, and more. This approach enables the clear definition of business processes, communication standards, dashboards and report capabilities, action item and task tracking, and accurate, dynamic estimates of cost-to-complete figures.

Founded in 1936, SOM a pioneer in using enabling technologies to deliver visionary projects worldwide, bringing architects, engineers, builders, and building owners together to collaborate within a single building model and realize great efficiencies. The achitectural design firm is well-known for its portfolio of some of the world’s most famous buildings – including Lever House in New York, San Francisco International Airport, the Sears Tower in Chicago and is employing the BIM platform to design other significant buildings around the globe, including Lotte Tower in Seoul, Korea. SOM has completed 292 projects in Asia alone, including the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit System, Korea World Trade Centre, Jin Mao Shanghai and the PBCOM Tower in Makati City, the Philippines’ tallest building.