What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
◦ What does each of them need from the model?
◦ What do they care about most, and where do those priorities conflict?
A drawing is a picture of a building. A model is a description of one.
◦ What questions can you ask a model that you cannot ask a drawing?
A model can provide a lot of information that cannot be stored in a drawing. Most importantly, a model can store information about objects/components of the building. As a result, users can filter by object, see how objects interact, and store information within the object, such as its construction schedule.
◦ Are there things a drawing still communicates better? Give an example.
Drawings can be better for communicating details of a building quicker. For example, a quick sketch can sufficiently represent details of the building plan by focusing on what’s important. On the other hand, trying to get a rough understanding of a project through a model can be difficult due to the overwhelming amount of information that is available.
This course splits the work across Forma, Revit and Forma Data Management.
◦ What is gained by using a different tool for concept, documentation and coordination?
By dividing up the tools used for each process, it allows for early-design workflow. By having a separate tool for concept, design changes can be made quicker as the project is still simple and easy to iterate.
◦ What tends to get lost in the handoffs between them?
The changes made within each tool can get lost when transferring information between the softwares. Additionally, the decision making rationale behind the changes could also get lost in transition.
◦ Who on a real project team is responsible for making sure nothing is lost?
The project manager should be in charge of making sure all important information is retained when data is transferred between tools. Because they oversee the entire process, project managers have the know what decisions were made in each working group, and thus should oversee proper information transfer.
Where should a building model actually live?
◦ What are the practical consequences of a model living on one person's laptop?
When a model only exists in one person’s laptop, it limits the possibility for collaboration. Changes to the model can only happen whenever the model is shared with other people, rather than being a continuous process.
◦ What changes when the model lives in the cloud, for the designer and for everyone else?
Changes to the model can happen earlier in the design process when the model lives in the cloud as all members of the project have access to model details at all times. As such, changes can be made easier during a model’s infancy. Information can also stay connected through all stages of the design process, from early planning to operation. Additionally, the continuity that arises from cloud-based models allows for better AI integration.
You will make hundreds of modeling decisions this quarter.
◦ Which ones are worth being slow and careful about?
◦ Which are worth being fast about, accepting that you may redo them?
◦ How would you tell the difference before you have made the mistake?