Bye-bye, blueprint: 3D modeling catches on

The buildings are fantastic explosions of curvilinear shapes, executed in ways that seem more appropriate for paper than structural steel. They're also representative of a dramatic new approach to designing and constructing buildings: building information modeling, or BIM, in which blueprints and other two-dimensional documents are replaced by 3D computer models, with each element of the design imbued with information about its real-world properties, such as how much weight a steel beam can hold.

Gehry became one of architecture's earliest practitioners of BIM techniques largely out of necessity, because his designs have increasingly relied on specialized fabrication and placement of materials.

"Bilbao was sort of the big landmark that showed the world things were possible (with BIM) that couldn't be done in any other process," said Dennis Shelden, chief technology officer of Gehry Technologies , a software and services firm commercializing some of the techniques and tools developed for Gehry projects.

What's new:
Building information modeling delivers 3D views of designs and incorporates critical real-world data that can improve the quality, accuracy and speed with which architectural ideas become concrete reality.

Bottom line:

"BIM promises dramatic opportunities for cutting waste and errors, shortening the schedules and improving management of finished buildings."

"Companies such as drafting and design software leader Autodesk are betting heavily that BIM is the way of the future."

Intelligent design
BIM is a fundamentally smarter way of working, said Amar Hanspal, vice president of building collaboration services for Autodesk. Instead of producing design documents that consist only of lines and shapes, architects using products such as Autodesk's Revit produce 3D models in which each element is packed with data.

"With 3D modeling, the elements of that design represent real-world elements...and the objects know there are certain rules they must adhere to," Hanspal said. "The staircase knows it's a staircase; it has to land on a slab. If you move that slab, the staircase moves with it."

Intelligent design components offer several advantages, not the least of which is improving the likelihood that the final product actually looks like what the architect designed. Mistakes typically account for 15 percent to 20 percent of the cost of a building project, said Lachmi Khemlani, founder of architecture technology consulting firm Arcwiz . Errors typically result from design mistakes and unclear design documentation, and BIM can dramatically reduce both.

"One of the biggest things (BIM) can solve is errors at the construction site from not being able to fully read the plans," Khemlani said. "It's going to save a lot of time, and the designs will be much more accurate."

BIM also promises to dramatically improve the way information gets handed from one stage of the building process to the next. Current procedures involve architects producing blueprints and clients marking up proposed changes that require documents to be redrawn. Final blueprints are handed off to the contractor, who makes more changes on his own before handing the building owner a set of drawings that may have little to do with the finished structure.

Other industries have already figured out that's not a smart way to work, said James Timberlake, a partner at Philadelphia architecture firm KieranTimberlake Associates and co-author of " Refabricating Architecture. "

"Architects haven't been trained to think collaboratively; they're only interested in handing off designs," Timberlake said. "That's the way the automobile industry worked in the 1950s: The designer did everything down to the tail fins, they handed off the drawing and things would end up on the production floor not fitting. The automobile industry decided there was a better way to do it, but we're still working on it. So many opportunities for integration and coordination are missed in the building process today."

BIM promises to help by centralizing the building process on a digital document that is revised throughout the design and construction phases, giving the building owner a thorough representation of his new property.

"From the clients' point of view, a 3D model...is like having an X-ray of their building," Timberlake said. "There's tremendous value in that as you manage the building. If you have to move a bathroom or something like that, what a great tool to know what you're dealing with. Clients are just getting around to asking for this kind of stuff, but I think the more they see the results of 3D software, the more they're going to find it to be a huge benefit and really demand this approach."

Shaking up the foundation

Impetus to make BIM work is likely to come from building owners who find value in the approach. Early adopters include large manufacturers who keep much of their building work in-house and chain retailers who value the uniformity of model-based design. The General Services Administration, the procurement arm of the federal government, is already favoring model-based design for future projects. "Design-build" firms, which put architecture and contracting under one roof, are also likely to be ahead of the curve, Fallon said.

"I'm absolutely convinced the BIM approach will be the approach of the future, because you get a better result, faster and cheaper," she said. "The question is, who's going to deliver it? This is a conservative market...but at some point, there'll be a big inflection point where people see how much better this works."