Module 5 - Points to Ponder

Submitted For
Module 5 - Points to Ponder
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Please share your comments on 2 of the following Points to Ponder questions. (Choose 2 of the questions below.)

What are the principal advantages of using a single building information model of the existing conditions as the foundation for modeling proposed additions or renovations?

  • Having a single persistent model that contains temporal phases is much more helpful because it allows for changes to be tracked over time and to show what needs to be demolished in the future, and what needs to built in the future. Having a separate model for past and future would require a lot of cross-examination to figure out what action needs to be taken (what materials to acquire, contractors to hire, etc), but the single model allows for a simple isolation of exactly what is to be changed.

What sort of complexities are introduced when you construct a building complex in phases?

  • What happens at the interfaces between the buildings as the phases advance?
  • How can you plan and prepare for these complexities as your create your initial building model?

What are the principal advantages of using a single building information model of the existing conditions as the foundation for modeling several proposed design alternatives for a portion of the building?

  • Having a single model as the foundation for several design alternatives is crucial because if you want to make any other change to the model unrelated to the alternatives, keeping it in one model means you only have to make the change once, and it’s persistent across all design alternatives. If you have multiple models, it will be very hard to make a change and push that through correctly to each one. Additionally, switching between alternatives is as simple as toggling a single setting, whereas the other involves opening up a new project, so the actual process of experimenting with alternatives is super easy, so you could try out a bunch of different alternatives really quickly and keep them all saved.

In your project, which features of the proposed design did you choose to model as design alternatives?

  • Why did you choose these building features? And what were the biggest challenges in modeling them as the design alternatives?