Is BIM the future of the UK's Architectural Practices?

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Is BIM the future of the UKʼs Architectural practices? What In this document I am going to look into how different offices are using BIM and the advantages and disadvantages associated with adopting it. BIM is defined by Chuck Eastman in Architecture + Urbanity journal 1. “At its most basic, Building Information Modelling is the representation of building information in a computer readable form. Like the manufacturing industries before it, BIM changes the representation of a building from drawings to become a virtual computer model of the artefact being designed. Instead of drawings that are only interpretable by people (even though computer generated), the heart of BIM is that the computer can interpret the building model, in terms of its 3D form, its spatial organization, materials, parts and structure.” 2 These opinions will be formed from different research areas, ranging from books, journal articles, and attended conferences. This will inform me so that I am able to give an opinion on how BIM is going to impact the UKʼs architectural practices. BIM is in the early stages of development, however it is already starting to influence ways in which firms design and manage projects. These are the areas I am going to examine by researching the differences between designing with CAD and designing with BIM. To form opinions on this topic I will look into the way that pioneering firms currently use BIM software and enquire if they are pushing the boundaries, so that in the future all areas of the architectural profession will benefit. Stephen Pacey in an article about Frank Gehryʼs Walt Disney Conference hall in Los Angeles addresses how Gerhy has been a pioneer in software “Frank Gehry has again challenged traditional architectural frames of reference. Now he wants to enable the rest of us to do it as well” 3. Frank Gehryʼs Studio and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill currently use BIM software, and will be used as case studies (pg 10 – 15).

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Eastman, Chuck. ʻWhat is BIM?ʼ A+U August 2009 Special Issue: Architectural Transformations via BIM, 2 Eastman, Chuck. ʻWhat is BIM?ʼ A+U August 2009 Special Issue: Architectural Transformations via BIM, 3 Pacey, Stephen, ʻPure Disneyʼ, RIBA Journal November 2003 pp 78 – 80 1


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