Which types of structural framing systems and materials are most commonly used in the US for residences? For office buildings?
Wood structure is often used in residential buildings because the cost of the material tends to be more affordable than other structure types such as concrete and steel. On the other hand, office buildings tend to adopt concrete or steel. One of reasons is large buildings need to resist larger loads and concrete and steel are better choices for the purpose.
Why do different teams of designers and subcontractors link and share their models during the design process?
By using linked and shared models, stakeholders can easily find problems such as conflict. Also, they can quickly share the problems through the models. As a result, the problems can be solved in the early process.
How do you think design coordination was done before we started using digital models?
My opinion is using 3D models is a good way that stakeholders collaborate. One of the merits BIM provides is stakeholders can visually understand the design of buildings, which promote their collaboration. Stakeholders have different trainings and visualized materials are useful for their communication.
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?
At what point in the project development process should design coordination start?
Is it ever too early?