BIM

BIM

BIM Meets Prefab: Suburban Prototype Home, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey

Fri

Dec

We hear and read a great deal about the promises- and potential pitfalls- of BIM in the context of its use as a tool for sustainable design. Accordingly, we were interested to read in the most recent issue of Dwell about the Suburban Prototype Home in Bergen County. Designed by Hoboken-based Nastasi Architects for clients in the New York City suburb of Woodcliff Lake, the designers used a BIM model to successfully execute the curves and angles of a steel and glass addition to a traditional suburban ranch residence. Essentially, BIM is colloquial for advanced computer modeling design programs that allow designers to create 3-D models of a project that are loaded with extremely detailed information, at a level of precision that reduces construction time and waste and assists in the type of integrated design necessary for a truly sustainable project.

For the Suburban Prototype, Nastasi was able to transmit electronic drawings to its detailer and fabricator that set forth both geometric dimensions for the project and details on the strength of materials. The firm was also able to build a model of the property’s energy consumption by loading data on the angle of the sun, prevailing wind speeds, and average temperatures for the exact coordinates of the project site. The drawings sent to the fabricator were extremely precise, allowing it to manufacture the addition’s structural elements at comparable cost to conventional construction. John Nastasi told Dwell that he hopes to install similar types of additions on hundreds of homes, calling BIM modeling “more flexible and adaptable than other prefab methods that rely on mass-produced components and materials that are put together the same way over and over again.”

The premise of BIM- a 3-D design model that can be transmitted from architect, to client, to fabricator- offers sustainable designers an unprecedented level of control over their projects.

Green Insurance Law: Industry Thoughts on BIM and LEED Coverage for Design Professionals

Wed

Dec

by Stephen Del Percio

0 comments

Last week, the AIANYS Statewide Advisory Committee and the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York sponsored the 2007 Annual Joint Session on Current Insurance Issues for Design Professionals. Speakers from a number of prominent insurance companies, including Lexington, Beazley, Zurich, CNA, Liberty, and XL shared their thoughts on the current state of the insurance industry, from a softening market for professional liability insurance, to comments that several panelists made regarding the insurance coverage implications of BIM and LEED for design professionals. Of particular interest to us here at gbNYC, the entire panel agreed that the standard of care for architects and engineers is "changing rapidly," in large part due to the power of BIM technologies and the proliferation of USGBC’s LEED green building rating system.

First, with respect to BIM (which is discussed extensively in the context of sustainable design in the latest issue of eco-structure magazine), each insurer confirmed that their professional liability policies would cover errors and omissions in digital data, including BIM models. However, Lexington's representative called BIM "just 3-D CAD" and warned the audience that the true insurance coverage implications for BIM projects have yet to play out. In an interesting, though potentially sinister, twist, Beazley's panelist also noted that coverage would not extend in the type of situation where a firm hosted a BIM model on its own server, the server was compromised by some sort of hacker, and the digital model was damaged. This is not a designer's error or omission, so coverage would not be available to the architect or engineer who built the model. The same panelist noted that hidden risks are "key" with respect to BIM, and designers should guide themselves on such projects accordingly.

In terms of green projects, each of the panelists agreed that a design professional's errors and omissions coverage will not cover claims by an owner brought in the event that a LEED project does not reach the agreed-upon certification level.

Building Information Modeling- BIM: Contractual Risks are Changing with Technology*

Tue

Feb

by Stephen Del Percio

0 comments

*This article is posted with the permission of its authors, Ryan Miner and Dean Thomson, of Fabyanske, Westra, Hart & Thomson, P.A. It was originally published in the firm's Construction Law Briefing Paper, a publication of FWHT distributed to its clients and other industry professionals, in August of 2006. You can access all of the firm's briefing papers relating to a variety of construction law topics here. A New Era in Design The everlasting quest to exceed Owners’ expectations is driving innovation in the construction industry. Owners are demanding that complex projects be completed more quickly and cheaply. These demands, plus a desire to avoid claims, have led designers to think beyond two dimensional blue-prints and to develop three dimensional Building Information Modeling (BIM). This month’s Briefing Paper will focus on the legal issues facing designers, owners, and contractors who use this technology, but first, we’ll examine the developing state of the art that has led to these new methods. The concept of BIM is relatively simple yet revolutionary. The theory is that if every piece of data required to design and construct a project were entered and developed within a single online system, we could construct the project in the virtual world first. The system could create dependable 3-D models and add additional fourth and fifth dimensions of schedule and cost. Attaching cost estimates to various design and schedule options will allow the team to do cost-time-benefit analysis of different designs and construction sequences, almost instantaneously. The product of a team’s collaborative effort would include shop fabrication drawings, constructability analysis, structural models available in 2 and 3-D, energy and air flow analysis, mechanical and structural collision identification, as well as operation and maintenance reports. Basically, the model’s output would produce all the documentation that the team members would otherwise have to create in isolation and duplication, without the model.

BIM Treatise for Contractors Released

Tue

Dec

by Stephen Del Percio

1 comment

The Associated General Contractors of America has released a forty-eight page treatise entitled The Contractors’ Guide to BIM: Edition 1. Co-authored by general contractor/design-builder Barton Malow’s executive vice-president Les Snyder, the Guide hopes to allay contractors’ various fears about BIM, including its potential legal risks. Cadalyst AEC believes the Guide is the first BIM publication written from the contractor’s, rather than the architect’s, perspective.

BD+C Green Building White Paper Acknowledges Potential Green Liability Issues

Tue

Nov

by Stephen Del Percio

2 comments

I'm planning a more detailed post about Building Design + Construction's recently released 2006 White Paper on Sustainability (this year's is titled Green Building and the Bottom Line), but I wanted to briefly point out that item number ten (of ten!) in the editors' Executive Summary is a direct acknowledgement of the legal issues that LEED, BIM, and other green building technologies are starting to implicate. The editors also recognize that, unfortunately, very little scholarly attention has been given to this potentially enormous area of liability. 10. The legal profession needs to examine potential liability issues resulting from developers and owners failing to build to green standards. Will the time come when green building certification will be seen as a minimum standard?

GSA to Require BIM for Select Projects

Thu

Nov

by Stephen Del Percio

0 comments

Following up on my last post about BIM, the General Services Administration has announced that it will require new buildings designed through its Public Buildings Service to employ BIM during the design phase. “We are making this fiscal ’07 requirement as a minimum requirement,” said Calvin Kam, GSA’s BIM project manager. “We are encouraging [people], project by project, to go over and above the minimum.” GSA is just dipping its toe into the water, said Deke Smith, chairman of the National BIM Standard Project Committee. “Where they’re now requiring BIM is on space planning,” Smith said. “It’s only a piece of what BIM could be, even for a new building. It’s a very small first step.

Thoughts on the Autodesk/USGBC Partnership

Mon

Nov

by Stephen Del Percio

2 comments

The news coming out of Greenbuild includes the announcement of a partnership between Autodesk and USGBC. This is excellent news for smaller projects interested in applying for LEED certification, but at the same time will present liability issues for design teams, particularly with respect to Building Information Modeling (“BIM”).