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?
- Why not create a separate model for each of the design alternatives?
A single building information model of the existing conditions as the foundation ensures that you're providing clients with an understanding of proposed design alternatives within the actual completed building design, and not just an isolated portion of it. This offers a holistic understanding of what the design might look like in its entirety, avoiding misunderstandings that might come from only seeing a small portion of the building. Additionally, having a single model ensures that all elements (e.g., dimensions, components, etc.) of the building are the same in all of your proposed design alternatives. Finally, if you decide to change your model at any point, doing so in a single model ensures that these changes will show up in all of your proposed design alternatives as well. It's much easier to keep track of these changes or different design alternatives in one model versus multiple separate models.
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?
I chose to model a socialization space and a small group meeting space. I chose these two spaces because I wanted to provide a sense of what the building could look and feel like when students are actually using and spending time in the building as intended. I also chose a socialization space because I wanted to show what it might look like looking into the building through the large glass window at the rear of the building. The biggest challenge in modeling these spaces as the design alternatives was choosing furniture that aligned with the style I was envisioning. I downloaded a number of components from bimobject.com, but none of them were exactly what I envisioned.