BIM Tools and Parametric Modeling - Group A

                This post will be discussing an article written by Allison Arieff on July 31^st, 2013 and published on the MIT Technology Review website.  The article by Arieff is titled “New Forms that Function Better” and discusses the significance of parametric modeling and BIM.

                One of the first things that Arieff points out is that computer aided drafting tools, which have been part of the industry since the 1980’s, act more like simplified hand drawings or digital pencils.  In other words, most computer aided drafting programs react to the inputs of the user such as drawing a line or arc, but will not adapt or update itself when another user input contradicts a previous one.  With AutoCAD especially you may be working with upwards of hundreds to thousands of layers and line types and sheets that are all intertwined and relying on one another for information.  In many cases when you are required to alter a section of the drawing you must go back through all of the other aspects to ensure that nothing else is compromised due to that change.  This can be extremely tedious and time consuming which could cost a company a lot of money.  As Arieff points out in her article, our technology has improved so the point where parametric models contain the ability to update and adapt to any change the user makes.  Arieff lists a few excellent examples of this adaption, one of which would be changing the pitch of a roof and the walls automatically updating to the correct height.  These types of interactive parametric modeling programs can be extremely helpful in the design of buildings and structures and can save a lot of time that would otherwise be spent constantly double checking drawings.  As previously mentioned, by saving all that time of revising and checking a drawing a company can save a lot of money which is always one of their top priorities.

                It is my belief that parametric modeling and BIM software will become completely integrated into the industry standards for building design, especially as our technology advances even further.  As always there are critics who claim that this technology creates a false sense of security that may cause improper designs which could lead to fatal disasters, but I believe that if engineers and architects who utilize these programs take the time to check their work and do not become absolutely dependent on such programs then such fatal disasters due to design flaws will not occur.

Source:

Arieff, Allison. "New Forms that Function Better." MIT Technology Review. N.p., 31 Jul 2013. Web. 21 Jan 2014. <http://www.technologyreview.com/>.

Comments:

Andrew Paladino:
Great post, Andrew! I really like how you focused on how it's possible to integrate between different systems and how important it is to keep things organized. Bentley is a great company to focus on as well, great find with the white paper.

Michael Kilgallon :
Great post, Mike! That was a wonderful review/summary of Chapter 2 of the BIM handbook.  As I was reading, I also thought it was really interesting that the two different modeling techniques (B-Rep and CSG) were separate entities at one point and I’m glad you put emphasis on that in your post.  I have not used Revit for many things either and this gave me a better appreciation for it.