What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
- The primary goals of creating a building model include providing an accurate, understandable representation of how the client’s needs, architectural plans, structural plans, and MEP plans align. Modeling can be used to also help with estimating costs, finding errors in overlap of plans, and bring the client’s vision to 3D.
- The primary stakeholders include the client, architect, engineers, subcontractors, general contractors, and project managers.
What does each of them need from the model?
- They each need clear understandings of the measurements, costs, materials needed, schedule, visualization, and integration of each part (MEP, Architectural, Structural).
What do they care about most, and where do those priorities conflict?
- They each care about details in their area of expertise, where, for example, the engineers care most about the work that they put into their plans, making sure it is feasible for actual construction. I believe conflicts arise when each stakeholder’s idea of what the client wants does not align, scale/measure wise or concept wise, allowing for there to be errors in initial modeling of the project.
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 drawing is 2D, whereas a model is typically 3D. A drawing can hide the intended shape of aspects within the building, as we say with the example of in the module videos with the odd-shaped roof house. Therefore, you can ask a model for measurements in a 3rd dimension, as well as the intended geometries of aspects of the building.
Are there things a drawing still communicates better? Give an example.
- I believe that a drawing can communicate specific measurements and notes better than models can.
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?
- I think being intentional about groups, families, and labels early on will help organize data and make things easier down the line. Also, making sure that scale and measurements are accurate initially is a big modeling decision that will be difficult to adjust later.
Which are worth being fast about, accepting that you may redo them?
- I think that aspects of design, like facades or finishes, that you are not completely sure about yet or believe will be adjusted later on are modeling aspects you can be fast about since it should be relatively easy to adjust those later.
How would you tell the difference before you have made the mistake?
- I think having a plan beforehand and a list of what decisions are set in stone already versus the smaller details that are still being worked out will tell the modeler where to place most of their time, making sure those aspects are correct.