Week 10 - Course Reflection

Throughout this course, we covered a wide range of topics relating to intelligent buildings, including BIM, robotics, sensors, networks, and databases. The blog post assignments made me think about aspects of the building industry that I had not previously considered, such as the impact of BIM on building quality, potential issues with BIM implementation, the role of databases, and the functions of sensors and networks. Through researching and formulating posts on these subjects, I was able to develop a basis for understanding them in the context of intelligent buildings. Responding to others’ posts helped me learn about different aspects of the same topics and reading the comments helped me identify areas that I had missed in my own research.

The various projects also enhanced my understanding of the material being covered. The Revit assignment was my first attempt at creating and using families and through completing it, I was able to appreciate the importance of this feature and how it can eliminate repetitive tasks during the modelling process. Similarly, I had never created a database exceeding the complexity of something that could easily be entered in a spreadsheet prior to this class. I found correctly linking all of the tables slightly confusing and would probably struggle with setting up the structure were I to do it again, but the assignment was helpful as a basic introduction to databases.

Especially valuable was the opportunity to hear from a variety of guest speakers over the term. I appreciated being able to get perspectives on BIM and its implications for the industry from various professional sectors, including BIM software developers and construction engineers. The representatives from Autodesk, Bentley, and ArchiCAD discussed some of the challenges that developers face, such as interoperability, as well as how they envision the future of BIM. Having heard from them first, I found the Whiting-Turner presentation particularly meaningful, as Paul and Murray were able to demonstrate how their firm is currently implementing BIM technology in actual practice.

Overall, this course has pushed me to consider the future of the building industry and how the advancement of these various technologies will impact my career. I feel that I have benefited from the assignments and class discussions and gained a basis for further developing my understanding of intelligent buildings.

Esther - I agree that the project assignments were really helpful in developing skills applicable to an engineering career. I'm glad you were able to get a lot out of the Revit assignment and look forward to see how you applied that in your final project.

Teddy - I also think that 3D printing is a very interesting concept and look forward to seeing how that technology develops in the building industry. I'm glad you were able to find a topic in the class that could be turned into an exciting final project.