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?
Creating a single model allows for stakeholders and others involved with the project to see how the building will look prior to and after the additions/renovations. By facilitating this comparison, the differences are more noticable and easier to comment on. Having two separate construction documents could potentially lead to some new information being overlooked.
In your project, which features of the proposed design did you choose to model as design alternatives?
I chose to model some of the exterior as part of my design alternative. In one of the designs, the arches that cover students as they walk was only limited to the seating area by the cafe. While it is aesthetically pleasing to look at the design as it covers just that area, it would be more practical for those arches/walkway above to cover students as they walk around the building. In the second proposed design, I added more of the arch/walkway along the side of the building to provide more cover, as well as create a sort of patio area along the second floor. The biggest challenges in modeling that as the design alternative was figuring how to add an additional phase and edit that without it affecting the other models.