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?
The primary goal of creating a building model is to digitally show the components that will go into a building design. The key stakeholders are engineers, architects, contractors, owners, and building occupants. The engineer needs the model to be able to design the building systems such as MEP, the architect needs the model to be able to design and develop the building, the contractors need the model the understand how the building should be constructed, the owner needs the model to ensure what is being produced meets their expectations, and the occupants need the final product to be functional and meet their needs. The engineers will prioritize how well the building systems work and are integrated into the design, the architects will prioritize the design itself and the functionality of the building, the contractor will prioritize the construction schedule, the owner may prioritize low cost, and the occupants may prioritize comfort. Some cases where these priorities could conflict is if the architect designs something that does not work with the desired engineering systems or if the owner wants to reduce cost they may make decisions that are less expensive and less comfortable for the occupants.
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?
◦ Are there things a drawing still communicates better? Give an example.
Using a model over a drawing allows for the designer to better see how the architectural, structural, MEP, etc. systems interact with each other. A model also gives more information about the building components as a whole such as the wall thicknesses or materials. Overall a model provides better visualization than a drawing does as it allows the designer to see in 3-dimensions and understand how the space is being used. Drawings may still be better if you just need to show a simple image of the building instead of the complicated information that is provided by a model.
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?
◦ What tends to get lost in the handoffs between them?
◦ Who on a real project team is responsible for making sure nothing is lost?
Where should a building model actually live?
◦ What are the practical consequences of a model living on one person's laptop?
◦ What changes when the model lives in the cloud, for the designer and for everyone else?
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?
Some design decisions that should be well thought out are the datums or baselines for the model. These are what the whole design will be based on so if they need to be changed later on in the project, the whole design will shift. Design decisions such as the materials being used can be decided quickly and adjusted later on in the project if needed. These decisions will not impact any of the spacing of the other elements or building components. The difference between these decisions depends on how changing the component will impact the rest of the design. For example, having to delete a whole wall is much more problematic than having to delete one window.