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?

• Why not create a separate model for the new proposed design?

The principal advantage of using a single building information model of the existing conditions as the foundation for modeling proposed additions/renovations is that you don't have to think about what an addition would require in terms of demolition, that is easily recognized in the existing model. Another advantage is that it's easy to identify what materials were used prior so that when an addition is made the correct material is used. I found that especially helpful in my own model, just clicking through the existing model to see what material I needed. Building off the material identification advantage there is also a stylistic advantage. When having the pre-existing building model on the same sheet as the new model it is easy to see if the design of the additions/renovations match with the existing model. That way, the addition is just that, an extension, not something completely different or unexpected.

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?

In my project I decided to create design alternatives for the student gallery and a small outdoor space. I choose the student gallery because I though it was a really cool feature of my building and it would be interesting to see how different project displays would look from the outside of the building. It made me think how different projects need different hosts like walls or tables. I also choose the small outdoor space because I figured it would be easy to take a picture of in 3D without having to go through the trouble of an interior photo. The biggest challenge was just creating an alternative because my "primary" were actually things I would've preferred so I had to get out of that mindset. I also had trouble when doing the views, initially if I tried taking a picture of my non-primary option then the view was grey. But, I somehow managed to fix that.