Response to the Reading Set 2

Response to the Reading Set 2: Integrated Practice 05 & BIM: A Healthy Disruption to a Fragmented and Broken Process:

The first article, A Healthy Disruption, touches on the topic of collaboration. Yesterday, I wrote extensively on the topic of relating BIM to collaboration. David Jordani praises BIM for this aspect by claiming it will improve and impact everything from business models to global markets to risk management. This is due to the fact that knowledge is built into the system. By allowing professionals of allied fields to collaborate, the model is instilled with a lot of information. From space design to fire protection systems, each professional has placed their expertise into the model. Therefore, the model becomes the manifestation of expert incite, codes, and laws.

In terms of education, neither of these articles really presents a solution. Rather, they ask questions and present pitfalls of the current establishments. In the second article, Report on Integrated Practice 05, presents the idea of “factual facts” and “actual facts”. A designer should know how to do both: they are a problem solver and a philosopher. Renee Cheng seems to suggest that traditional teachings of BIM produce architects who can only solve problems.

It is hard to use BIM in a “sketchy” way to begin a design, similar to other products like AutoCAD. When starting studio, it is fundamental for a student to test idea and ask questions. Sketching and drawing have thus become fundamental in an architectural education. With BIM’s high specificity, it is hard to integrate it into a beginning studio; however, with more and more students migrating to a Master’s education, BIM could perhaps take its full form in education at that level. At UMD, ARCH600: Comprehensive Studio is an intense studio that examines everything from mechanical systems to structure to space. At this level, BIM is a necessity and can be completely integrated into the studio. Students will be able to explore constructability at this level, and BIM’s specificity will allow them to ask the difficult questions about Architecture.