BIM Handbook A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors.
This book is about a new approach to design, construction, and facility management called building information modeling (BIM). It provides an in – depth understanding of BIM technologies, the business and organizational issues associated with its implementation, and the profound impacts that effective use of BIM can provide to all members of a project team. The book explains how designing, constructing, and operating buildings with BIM differs from pursuing the same activities in the traditional way using drawings, whether paper or electronic.
BIM is beginning to change the way buildings look, the way they function, and the ways in which they are built. Throughout the book, we have intentionally and consistently used the term ‘ BIM ’to describe an activity (meaning building information modeling), rather than an object ( building information model). This refl ects our belief that BIM is not a thing or a type of software but a human activity that ultimately involves broad process changes in construction.
The BIM Handbook is addressed to building developers, owners, managers, and inspectors; to architects, engineers of all disciplines, construction contractors, and fabricators; and to students of architecture, civil engineering, and building construction. It reviews Building Information Modeling and its related technologies, its potential benefi ts, its costs and needed infrastructure. It also discusses the present and future infl uences of BIM on regulatory agencies; legal practice associated with the building industry; and manufacturers of building products — it is directed at readers in these areas. A rich set of BIM case studies are presented and various BIM tools and technologies are described. Industry and societal impacts are also explored.
The book has four sections:
I. Chapters 1 , 2 , and 3provide an introduction to BIM and the technologies that support it. These chapters describe the current state of the building industry, the potential benefi ts of BIM, parametric modeling of buildings, and interoperability issues.
II. Chapters 4 , 5 , 6 , and 7provide discipline – specifi c perspectives of BIM. They are aimed at owners (Chapter 4 ), designers of all kinds (Chapter 5 ), general contractors (Chapter 6 ), and subcontractors and fabricators (Chapter 7 ).
III. Chapter 8discusses potential impacts and future trends associated with the advent of BIM – enabled design, construction, and operation of buildings. Current trends are described and extrapolated through the year 2012 as are forecasts of potential long – term developments and the research needed to support them through 2020.
IV. Chapter 9provides ten detailed cases studies of BIM in the construction industry that demonstrate its use for feasibility studies, conceptual design, estimating, detailing, coordination, construction planning, logistics, operations and many other common construction activities. The case studies include buildings with signature architectural and structural designs (such as the Beijing National Aquatics Center, the 100 11 th Avenue apartment building facade in New York City, and the environmentally friendly Federal Building in San Francisco) as well as a wide range of fairly common buildings (a GM production plant, a federal courthouse, a medical offi ce building, a parking structure, a high – rise offi ce building, a mixed commercial and retail development, and a coast – guard training facility).
