Talk Option B – The Future of BIM is NOT BIM, And It’s Coming Faster Than You Think – The Sequel (Bill Allen)

In this presentation, Bill Allen talks about the problems with introducing new technology to designers. When designers are given these new programs that are meant to increase efficiency with their work, they often run into problems implementing the technology, which causes frustration for the designer. Allen uses Dynamo Player to eliminate the intermediate steps, or friction, that is encountered when using a new technology.

Allen also talks about how companies are constantly producing data, but not collecting the benefits of that data. Something that Allen said that surprised me was that data is now the most valuable resource in the world. It is more valuable than oil or gold, but some companies do not use the data that they have to benefit themselves. Some ways that Allen would consume this data that would be very valuable to a company is to use different metrics produced in the data to optimize designs and compare them against each other. He then presented multiple different examples of how other companies have created their own tools using their own collected data. Some of these tools involve using the data of each element in the project to create cut sheets, optimizing MEP ductwork and pipe layouts, generating unit layouts in multi-family apartment complexes depending on the building footprint, and many more.

Since it is so valuable, I would want to try to find more uses of the data that we have already generated. Since I am studying structural engineering, maybe this data could tell us which structures are more efficient or point us in a new direction to help us solve a problem that we don’t have a solution for yet. Maybe we could use the data to help explain structural concepts to clients or non-structural disciplines to help us collaborate better. We could use the generated data to easily make diagrams comparing options and not have to regenerate a bunch of the evaluators of each option.

Something I struggled with during the quarter was figuring out which items needed to be in lists and how those items needed to be formatted within the lists. Most of the time when a node wasn’t working for me, it was because the list input wasn’t formatted correctly and it was something I needed to play around with or rewatch the module videos to figure out. An AI workflow could include a message on the screen that gives more information about why the node isn’t working, or a ML workflow could use past dynamo workspaces to figure out what it is that I am trying to do and automatically correct the lists for me. I don’t think I would want the ML augmentation because if it was not for that friction, I wouldn’t understand what creating lists or transposing lists actually does to the final outputs, but I do think an AI generated message to help point me in the right direction could help.

Vizcom is a 3D rendering platform that uses AI to turn sketches into 3D renders in seconds. This is something very useful for architects when they are presenting multiple different design ideas, but don’t want to spend hours making 3D renders for each model when most won’t be used in the end. In the past, and still currently, architects spent a lot of time making their concepts look realistic with shading, color, lighting, etc., but Vizcom uses AI to make realistic 3D renders quickly. I don’t think using this platform would’ve changed a lot for me this quarter since Revit and Dynamo already create graphics pretty quickly, but I think it maybe Vizcom could’ve helped create realistic backgrounds based on real buildings and scenery for the project set in Dubai.

PiAxis is an AI-driven Revit plug-in that assists with detailing. PiAxis can generate details using prompts from the designer. It also keeps a library of the entire firm’s details and can search for similar details based on the designer’s prompt. PiAxis can also generate new details that are based on the firm’s existing library of details. Detailing is something that can take a long time for designers and must be done correctly. I think PiAxis could especially be helpful for the younger generation of engineers because it can give a good starting point for a detail that a new engineer may not be familiar with and can help them learn about what kind of details were previously used. I don’t think this tool would’ve changed anything that I worked on this quarter because we didn’t focus on detailing.

Firmus AI-MATCH is an add-on to the Firmus AI-REVIEW platform that reviews preconstruction designs. Firmus AI-MATCH specifically compares drawings between different disciplines with speed and a high accuracy rate to help designers coordinate their drawings and easily keep track of changes made within revisions. This could be a very helpful tool because projects often have many drawing sheets for many different aspects of the project and it can get hard to keep track of small changes that are made. Even though changes are small, when not coordinated between disciplines, it can cost money and add on time to the project if they are not addressed before construction begins. I think this tool could be very useful to all disciplines of a project. I don’t think this tool would have changed anything that I worked on this quarter, but maybe if I was trying to debug a Dynamo code, it could help to compare a code that was working to one that wasn’t and see what the differences were.