Which types of structural framing systems and materials are most commonly used in the US for residences? For office buildings?
What factors determine why these are the most used materials?
Why do different teams of designers and subcontractors link and share their models during the design process?
What are the advantages of linking models?
Are there any disadvantages to linking models?
Different designers and subcontractors link and share their models during the design process to avoid design conflicts and to create a more accurate model. This also benefits the project in general because if there are less errors, then the final cost of the project is closer to the predicted in the budget. In other words, errors translate to money savings. The main disadvantage to linking models is probably the fact that two different models (i.e. architectural and structural) cannot be opened at the same time in Revit, so if a designer needs to make a change, he or she would need to close all current windows and work on the two models separate.
How do you think design coordination was done before we started using digital models?
What advantages does doing this coordination digitally have over previous methods?
I think all design coordination was done by having various meetings between the different designers and using blueprints to highlight important information, The advantage of doing a collaboration digitally is that there are many ways to use shortcuts that allow time savings in any modelling of a project.
What strategies can design teams use to find and avoid clashes prior to the start of construction?
What can be done besides sharing the models digitally?
There is certainly a great advantage of using BIM modeling to find and avoid clashes as well as keeping track on model changes on a daily log, and having meetings where designers can talk about changes in the model. Having a person that coordinates these efforts is very important.
At what point in the project development process should design coordination start?
Is it ever too early?