The transformative power of BIM.
◦ Which specific thing in this course could not have been done with drawings alone?
◦ Which things were harder in a model than they would have been by hand?
Your building is a set of decisions, most made before you knew enough.
◦ Which decision are you most confident was right, and what evidence supports it?
I think choosing the L-shaped building was the right decision. Compared to the rectangular option, it creates a courtyard that can be used as a shared outdoor space for residents. The sunlight analysis also showed that the courtyard still receives daylight, although some areas are shaded. I think this is a reasonable trade-off because the design provides both residential space and a more comfortable communal area.
◦ Which would you revisit, and what would you need to know first?
I would probably revisit the residential floor plan, especially the unit divisions and circulation areas. I struggled a bit to fit different unit types into the L-shaped layout, and some spaces were not used as efficiently as I wanted. Before revising it, I would need a better understanding of the actual space requirements, building codes, and structural layout to make sure the design is not only efficient in Forma but also practical to build.
You produced roughly thirty deliverables across ten weeks.
◦ Which one taught you the most, and why?
I think developing the floor plans taught me the most. At first, I thought dividing the building into residential units would be straightforward, but it was actually quite challenging, especially with the L-shaped layout. I learned that a building can look good in 3D but still be difficult to organize into functional spaces.
◦ Which felt like busywork at the time and turned out to matter later?
I would say the early massing and site analysis. At first, comparing building shapes and checking sunlight exposure felt a bit repetitive. But later, when I started designing the façades and floor plans, I realized those early decisions affected almost everything that followed.
Every model in this course was a simplification.
◦ What did your model never know about your building?
My model could show the building's geometry, unit layouts, and sunlight exposure, but it did not fully consider structural systems, construction costs, building codes, or how people would actually use the spaces. As a structural engineering student, I was especially aware that a building looking feasible in the model does not necessarily mean it is structurally practical.
◦ At what point in a real project would those omissions become unacceptable?
I think these simplifications are acceptable during early conceptual design, but they would need to be addressed before moving into detailed design. Especially before finalizing the floor plans and structural layout, we would need to check code requirements, structural feasibility, and construction constraints.
What's next?
◦ Which part of this work would you want to do professionally?
◦ What is the biggest gap between what you can do now and what a practising professional does?