Home Sweet BIM  

Architects embarking upon the design of a new or remodeled home are discovering a new kind of residential client.

More sophisticated and informed than ever, today’s homeowners are tapping into popular social media sites, like Houzz and Pinterest, where design ideas and photos are searchable and available. With more than 30 million monthly unique users perusing the pages of Houzz and 130 million boards pinned in Pinterest’s Home Décor category, consumers have access to literally millions of ideas when it comes to residential architecture and design.

Supplementing these resources are television and YouTube channels, such as HGTV—fully focused on residential designs and DYI projects—and more mobile, tablet-based design apps.

“The amount of media is stunning,” observes Monte Chapin, business process leader, GRAPHISOFT North America, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. “Today, clientele have much more to add and articulate throughout the residential design process.”

In place of a couple of torn-out magazine pages, homeowners are now approaching architects with a plethora of designs and photos and a much better idea of what they want their new/renovated homes to look like.

Homeowners can “easily search these sites for design solutions, products, and finishes that they like, and are often coming into projects with dozens, sometimes hundreds of inspiration images,” reports Ken Adler, AIA, principal, KA DesignWorks, Aspen, Colorado.

But beyond these photos of modern kitchens, home entertainment rooms, and outdoor patios with fire pits, sophisticated residential owners are requesting materials, detailing, and spatial characteristics they would like their architects to consider.

“Clients have been asking us for buildings that are dynamic, complex, and changeable,” says Luke Ogrydziak, AIA, principal, Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects, San Francisco, California. “To successfully develop and build such complex projects, it is essential for us to have the proper tools to engage in a dialogue with our clients throughout the entire process.”

Image courtesy of KA DesignWorks

At the Sopris Drive Residence in Basalt, Colorado, BIM was utilized from schematics through construction to thoroughly vet the design and views of Mount Sopris. The software also allowed for accelerated project completion due to the integrated nature between architect, contractor, and structural engineer.

BIM FOR EVERYONE

This is where BIM’s powerful visualization capabilities come into play, as architect and client collectively work to discover the vision and context with which the homeowner seeks.

Thanks to current virtual technology, designers can capitalize on interactive 3-D presentation tools, enabling anyone to view a model.

“This technology is an absolute game changer, not only for the way we previsualize projects, but more importantly, how we help our clients to previsualize their future built home,” states David Hertz, FAIA, David Hertz Architects & Studio of Environmental Architecture (S.E.A.), Venice Beach, California. “Our clients, without exception, have been so impressed by the ability to visualize the project, from the ability to create layer sets for different texture mapping of finishes to the integration of being able to reference from 3-D to plan and sections.”

“It truly engages the client early on like nothing else,” adds S.E.A. Project Manager Ed Milan. “Renderings and plans alone are static. The BIM viewer enables a clearer understanding and deeper conversation of space planning and perception.”

Helping clients to easily visualize lines of sight, adjacencies, massing, or volumes of space, designers and users can quickly pull up different view angles and perspectives, switch between the 3-D model and 2-D floor plan, and zoom in on details. As the clients go through these virtual walkthroughs, architects are able to test out various design options and materials in real time.

“This viewing software has allowed us to dial into the experiential qualities of the design in a new way, i.e. what it’s like to walk from one space to another, lay in bed, watch TV, or look at the view from various points in the house,” explains Meghan Beckmann, AIA, architect, KAA Design, Los Angeles, California. “This comes into play during the design phases and also during construction, when it is hard to visualize or remember what a space is going to look like when the project is in framing.”

Along those same lines, Baton Rouge-based Kevin Harris, FAIA, sees BIM facilitating early buy-in, particularly for homeowners who see 2-D floor plans and orthographic projections as what he calls illegible hieroglyphics. “BIM allows me to assist my clients’ ability to ‘see’ and question what they are commissioning while it is still on paper.”

While the BIM presentation software is rather intuitive, today’s homeowners are also much more tech-savvy and generally pick up the ins and outs of viewing BIM models within the context of what their potential home or remodel might look like.

Image courtesy of CAST of Architecture

With the help of BIM presentation software, CAST Architecture helped the owners of this Ward Street Bungalow project in Seattle, Washington, feel more confident about a proposed wedge-shaped courtyard within the backdrop of the steep mountainside.

ON THE SAME PAGE

The bottom line is that residential clients are much more engaged in the design process, which is a win-win for both clients and architects.

“I love that my clients understand what we’re proposing,” says Christopher T. Lee, AIA, NCARB, Design Associates Architects, Jackson, Wyoming. “There’s no more anxiety, wondering if they understand what we’re building. We’ve covered the design in this BIM presentation software, so they know what to expect.”

Furthermore, when homeowners want to make changes, they can see the BIM software updating all of the views and drawings on the spot. This type of real-time experience further engages owners in the overall process, almost always resulting in a more satisfied customer.

“Our clients are beyond thrilled that they can pull out their iPhone and show off their ‘finished’ house, even prior to the commencement of construction,” relates Forrest Murphy, AIA, LEED AP, principal, CAST Architecture, Seattle, Washington. “We see them getting very excited when we can show them their design in full detail. The technology helps give them the confidence to move forward into construction.”

Case in point, for CAST’s Ward Street Bungalow project in Seattle, the architects proposed a two-story addition behind the small existing bungalow, with a wedge-shaped courtyard that cut into the old house between the two spaces. However, the owners were initially worried that the courtyard would feel too confined, especially on the uphill side of the steep slope.

“I remember one design meeting where we sat with the clients in front of a laptop, running sun studies in real-time as we swung the angle of the wall in and out to see how both the interior and exterior spaces felt as we made changes,” recalls Murphy. “It was a real turning point, as their doubt slowly turned into enthusiasm.”

On another CAST project, the Ranchero Cabin, Mazama, Washington, located in an open area on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, the family envisioned an indoor/outdoor lifestyle, but were concerned about the combination of high-desert sun and floor-to-ceiling glass. “Our ability to quickly and accurately adjust the project renderings as they considered different window packages was a key element in hitting both their design goals and their relatively limited budget,” relates Murphy.

Photo courtesy of CAST of Architecture

By virtue of presenting different window packages with an easy-to-use BIM viewer for the Ranchero Cabin in Mazama, Washington, the owners eventually hit upon the design that was right for them.

Sharing a few success stories, Ogrydziak relates how his firm’s Gallery House in San Francisco involved the owner’s need to display large artworks in the residence. With high-resolution scans of the artwork, Ogrydziak and his partner reproduced the entire collection within the BIM environment. Using this virtual exhibition, this assisted the designers with locating and sequencing the display walls and sculpture areas.

For this same project, the architects developed multiple options for a computationally designed facade lattice, which eventually emerged as one of the project’s most prominent architectural features. “Throughout this process, we were able to easily combine our overall BIM model and the various lattice options for evaluation and refinement with our clients,” recalls Ogrydziak.

Image courtesy of Architecture by Guy Peterson (OFA)/Joe Kelly, renderer

Located on a barrier island off Sarasota, Florida, this upscale SRQ House utilized BIM for full project development through construction documents.

Working with a very successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur as a client on a recent project, Lee relates how an individual was blown away by the capabilities of BIM presentation software. “He’d never seen anything like it, which says a lot because he hangs out with a pretty cutting-edge crowd,” says Lee.

After pulling the entrepreneur’s proposed materials into the BIM viewer and adjusting the model accordingly, the client was sold to the point that he asked the contractor to match the model, and the design was completed.

Experiencing a similar reaction from a client who was a Hollywood digital special effects professional, Hertz relates how this individual assumed that the BIM viewer would be rudimentary and had planned on using his own software to visualize the project. “After playing with the technology, he became a total fan, not only of the sophistication of the software, but especially for its ease of navigation and usability.”

PRESENTATION READY

Prior to the creation of BIM, architects would work internally in 2-D and only generate 3-D views or renderings when it came time to make a presentation. In essence, this would limit the times that architects would interact with their clients because they would have to switch from “work” mode to “presentation” mode, explains Murphy.

“Since we are almost always ‘presentation ready,’ this means that we can convene design meetings at short notice, even with clients who aren’t nearby. Instead of having two or three meetings in schematic design, with an engaged client, we might be checking in with a quick walkthrough of the BIM model once a week,” he says.

Another tool architects are taking advantage of is rendering engines, which are now available inside the BIM workflow, obviating the need to export models.

“This has made had a significant impact on our workflow,” confirms Ogrydziak. “Now, we can make publication-quality renderings extremely quickly. Because these rendering engines can simulate natural and artificial lighting effects, we are able to both analyze and share the feel of a space with a level of accuracy that was previously unavailable, and without needing to laboriously export the model to specialized rendering software. For those clients who prefer still renders to the live model, this rendering engine is a critical tool.”

Beyond end-users, all project stakeholders find these advanced model rendering, sharing, and viewing options beneficial.

For example, S.E.A. is currently working on a complex residence with many double-curved walls. Due to the nature of the design, exporting sections is not the best way to enable the team’s mechanical and structural engineers to understand the space. However, with the aid of a BIM viewer, they can fully understand the complex spaces and offer better-informed ideas about appropriate engineering designs and systems.

In other words, clear communication with mechanical and structural engineers enables early clash detection.

In terms of building team communication and collaboration, BIM viewers offer enhanced, highly efficient project interactions.

“With access to both rendered 3-D model and 2-D drawings of all of our projects on an iPad, the technology allows us to essentially have a mobile office,” notes Adler. “We can make presentations or have meaningful discourse about a project, pretty much anywhere.”

For larger project meeting groups, designers can supplement iPads or Android devices with an HDMI cable, which turns any TV into a screen. In cases where a TV is not available, phone-sized projectors can be used instead.

On a current project, the contractor working with Design Associates Architects had been relying on a BIM viewer to carefully study and understand the structure’s complex structural system.

“We had an online meeting with the structural engineer some time back to review a couple of connections, and having him bring up a 3-D assembly on the screen to a room full of nodding heads was huge,” explains Lee.

RESIDENTIAL BIM

Beyond BIM mobile, BIM technology itself goes a very long way toward establishing an efficient workflow for complex residential projects.

While BIM proffers quite a list of benefits, perhaps the most common one praised by small architecture firms is how BIM takes out all the painstaking, tedious details involved in ensuring that one design change is reflected in all the project’s document sets.

“If there is one thing I love about BIM, it’s that it eliminates most of the painful coordination problems that plague any complex drawing set,” states Murphy. “I’m talking about basic stuff, such as detail tags that automatically adjust when you move a drawing to a different sheet, door and window schedules that are always current, and intersections of complex roofs that always show correctly on section views.”

By consolidating an entire project into a single file driven from a 3-D model, not only is the manpower required to propagate design changes significantly reduced, but the potential for errors is significantly reduced, and architects are freed up to spend more time on the creative process.

Pointing out another benefit leveraged by BIM’s effortless ability to automate changes across the board, Murphy says it allows designers to make changes much later in the design process without having to redo a lot of work.

For example, architects typically don’t look at the trim and waterproofing details around the windows until late in the construction document phase and long after the window dimensions would have been ‘locked down’ in the pre-BIM days.

“Imagine that while putting together 90 percent of the CD set, we discover that we really need to increase the metal trim above a window from 2 inches to 3 inches for some technical reason, but this extra inch means that the head trim no longer aligns with the adjacent horizontal panel joints,” explains Murphy.

“With BIM, I can just make the window itself 1 inch shorter directly from the detail or elevation view, knowing that this will be instantly reflected in the schedules, the window head height on the wall sections, and other portions of the drawing set,” he continues. “To me, that represents a new kind of design freedom, the ability to circle back, to allow your late discoveries to inform your prior decisions without paying a huge time penalty.”

Looking at a typical project from more of an overall perspective, Guy W. Peterson, FAIA, Office for Architecture (OFA), Sarasota, Florida, points out that the time spent building a 3-D model and studying various design solutions in schematic design allows for a seamless transition into design development and quick execution of necessary design revisions leading into subsequent phases. Unlike the pre-BIM sequential and fragmented way of doing things, the BIM workflow is streamlined because everything builds upon prior phases in an efficient way.

Of course, another commonly quoted BIM benefit is enhanced communication. Never has an architect’s design intent been so clearly and accurately communicated than with a model.

“Being able to clearly communicate complex designs to all the members of the project team eliminates a huge amount of ambiguity regarding our design intent and allows everyone to communicate more efficiently than in the past,” agrees Ogrydziak.

Rather than trying to “tell the story” through a series of separate drawings, engineers and contractors can much more clearly see what the architect has in mind by looking at a 3-D model.

Image courtesy of Design Architects Associates

For this Design Architects Associates’ high-end, custom residence in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, BIM presentation software helped the client envision the semi-enclosed look providing a sense of shelter, as intended by the architect.

STREAMLINING CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

While BIM advantages are apparent in multiple realms, perhaps one of its more significant efficiencies is the way it supports project delivery system consistencies, which is most apparent in the construction documents (CD) phase, where the majority of an architect’s time is historically spent.

“Documentation is now a by-product of the design process, rather than being the means to the end as with traditional 2-D CAD workflow,” explains Chapin.

Sharing a typical BIM workflow, Lee relates that his firm’s template is set up to process the BIM models into a regular set of CDs. Plans, sections, and elevations are generated from model views, and those views are placed and labeled on layout sheets where they are cataloged in the cover sheet’s drawings directory. Schedules are generated, listing all the systems and products, such as windows, doors, cabinets, beams and materials—along with their areas, volumes, etc.—and are then added to the layout sheets and cataloged. All plan section symbols are keyed to the corresponding drawing on the layouts, the cover sheet information is updated, the sheet index is compiled, and the title block is constructed.

“Best of all, it all happens automatically with the click of a mouse,” states Lee. “It’s completely integrated so there’s virtually no chance for errors or inconsistencies.”

As changes or new information are added, it’s automatically processed by the template and integrated seamlessly. This high level of automation then frees up the architects to choose to explore more complex designs.

While higher-end, more intricate residential designs require more scrutiny in terms of design tolerances, alignments, precision, and structural and mechanical systems coordination, Office for Architecture’s Joe Kelly, Associate AIA, points out that most conflicts have already been identified and resolved early in the design process. “Nothing is hidden or overlooked, and opportunities to improve the design are more evident,” he says.

As a result, the CD phase usually proceeds at a faster pace, as project team members have already caught mistakes and coordination issues before they reach the construction site.

“The ability to visualize potential conflicts is especially important when the design goals are ambitious because once the installers are in the field your options are usually pretty limited,” asserts Murphy of CAST. “Nothing is more painful than breaking the big open ceiling with a soffit that you didn’t originally intend because the drain pipe has to cross below the air duct.”

SMALLER FIRMS EMBRACING BIM

BIM adoption, while widespread amongst large commercial firms, is making major inroads into smaller architectural practices.

“I would argue that BIM’s efficiencies make it more valuable to the smaller firm or solo practitioner, as a smaller BIM-enabled office can often compete with much larger firms,” states Adler. “Many residential designers are starting to realize this and are making the move.”

In fact, Chapin suggests that there’s a large selection of one-to-five-person design firms, mainly specializing in custom residential and multifamily design, that embraced BIM from the outset. “They were early adopters of BIM long before the acronym became mainstream in the profession.”

Once designers get used to the power of 3-D visualization and the software’s automation capabilities, there’s no turning back.

“I can’t imagine giving it up any more than I could imagine going back to using a typewriter,” asserts Murphy.

Of course, it’s that initial adjustment that does pose a potential stumbling block to smaller firms considering the switch, particularly when multiple projects are already under development in 2-D. As an early BIM adopter, OFA simply decided to draw a line in the sand and declare that from that point, all projects moving forward would be executed with BIM.

“There’s a misconception that BIM is geared toward larger, complex projects and that it’s expensive and unnecessary for everyday home design, but that’s wrong,” says Lee. “BIM is simply a tool for better understanding, developing, and documenting ideas, and because it’s ‘smart,’ it can handle a lot of the workload.”

The fact is that BIM is changing the industry and is driving client expectations and evolving building design. “I think that almost everyone recognizes that BIM is the future and that eventually we’ll all be using it all the time,” asserts Murphy.

That said, Beckmann points out that BIM’s efficiencies really shine through when it comes to repetitive components within a project and across multiple projects. Because smaller, residential designs are very unique in terms of site, size, program, materials, products, and deliverables, it can be challenging to streamline workflow across multiple projects because there are very few reusable details and modeling elements.

Mid-size firms—i.e. 15–40 people—are also challenged in that project teams are larger and office-wide standards are critical to success.

“We’ve found that it’s so important to maintain a template, graphic standards, and training file organization so that our team members are fluent and design and documentation output of the office is uniform,” Beckmann advises.

ROOM FOR CREATIVITY

One concern that architects sometimes express is some frustration working with BIM objects and figuring out how to customize certain aspects of their designs through the BIM process. In some cases, architects may struggle with ensuring that BIM doesn’t limit their creativity.

For instance, Harris has experienced situations where he encounters a limited selection of 3-D elements, particularly those representing customized products, which are readily available for insertion into his designs.

In a similar vein, Hertz finds that manufacturers’ geometric description language (GDL) objects are typically created at such a high resolution that they can significantly drag down the processing speed.

“Every manufacturer seems to have a Web presence and available cut sheets describing their products and recommended specifications. Unfortunately, translating this information into 2-D or 3-D objects, which are useable in my BIM program, is time consuming,” he laments.

To help rectify this, Harris encourages architects to put pressure on product manufacturers to develop and make fully functional 3-D component elements available for BIM use. In fact, Harris has been doing just that at trade shows. “I focus upon a handful of vendors with promising product lines and challenge them to produce BIM drawings of their products, complete with adjustability of size and offered features.”

Another solution, if one has the BIM skills, is creating one’s own GDL scripting, as this offers a lot of room for customization, custom object modeling, and morphing, suggests Laura Occhetti, S.E.A. project manager.

In terms of figuring out when and how to actively use BIM, as to avoid creative limitations, Beckmann is actually gearing up to present a session at the American Institute of Architects Convention on this very same topic. Overall, she advises architects to approach BIM as a tool that is part of the design process and not allow it to overtake the entire process.

“Starting too early with ‘real’ building elements, like walls with composites or windows with casing, may seem like a time saver, but I think it actually hinders thoughtful design moves because then the design is only reactionary, not inspired from within,” she suggests.

“In my opinion, it’s best to keep it loose when you start a model and only input model elements and data that you know are real, such as existing topography and property lines, and then move on to concept diagrams and massing—just like you would do by hand with sketches and study models,” she recommends. “Stay in control by continuing to work out ideas on paper.”

On the one hand, Murphy acknowledges that designers sometimes feel a pressure from the BIM process to define a lot of detail about the building elements right from the outset, whereas architects are generally more interested in thinking abstractly at that point in the project.

On the other hand, he suggests that in essence, BIM promotes creativity throughout the entire project process. “By automating much of the documentation process, BIM actually unleashes us to see all phases of the project as places for creativity. Instead of a few weeks of ‘creative design’ followed by months of laborious drawing, it gives you the ability to revisit your concept until quite late in the game.”

Coming up with a neat way to customize their designs, Design Associates Architects routinely takes photos of old barn woods or rusty metal and places them into models to see how they look in the BIM viewer and renderings. Such an exercise often produces very cool results, according to Lee.

As for the drawings, Lee and his colleagues have created custom symbols, line types, and fills so that the models appear more hand drawn and unique to the firm. In this way, architects can have the best of both worlds, a low-tech look with a very high-tech solution.

To keep things more open-ended and flexible during the initial phases of design, Ogrydziak’s firm prefers lighter surface modeling programs, which enable architects to set up their beginning designs as wireframe models. As opposed to having to commit to more solid objects, such as the thickness of a wall, the wireframes simply mark constraints like setbacks and possible floor heights, he explains.

“Within this wireframe model, we will manipulate simple box objects that are trivial to snap and scale—effectively making 3-D bubble diagrams,” he continues. “These surface-based programs are great for this kind of sketch modeling with just points, lines, and polysurfaces.”

Once these initial sketches are created, they can quickly be imported into a more solid BIM program.

Images courtesy of Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects

In order to create a unique design for this Reno, Nevada, Shapeshifter project where the soft landscaping progressively shifts into the shape of a house, Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects combined a lighter surface modeling program for free-form design with a conventional BIM engine where inputs are more firmly set.

SUSTAINABLY MINDED

When it comes to energy-efficient, sustainable designs, today’s residential consumers are more interested in including these features in their homes. As such, BIM is a useful tool for supporting such designs.

Taking a look at the American Institute of Architect’s 2015 Home Design Trends survey, the energy-efficient features reported as increasing the most in popularity include smart thermostats, extra insulation, ENERGY-STAR rated appliances, water-saving fixtures, and tankless water heaters.

Furthermore, 62 percent of those surveyed see energy management systems as increasing in popularity; 59 percent observe a growing popularity in wireless systems; backup power generation is viewed by 51 percent of respondents as popular; 45 percent identify more automation controls as growing in popularity; and 43 percent see solar panels as an increasingly popular choice for today’s homes.

As a point of interest, Murphy has observed his firm’s sustainably minded residential owners as falling into two camps. The first group are those who are very excited about sustainable design and may be interested in options, like Passivehaus certification or energy tracking, while the second batch is more concerned about design and takes it for granted that Murphy and his colleagues will prioritize sustainability in the design.

To be fair, Murphy points out that Washington state, where the vast majority of his firm’s projects are done, has one of the most restrictive energy codes in the country, so merely meeting minimum code requirements generally exceeds the standards for LEED or BuiltGreen.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, Beckmann reports that her clients often request geothermal, solar panels, living walls, and green roofs.

“BIM helps us to locate and coordinate the spatial, structural, and mechanical requirements for these elements and to communicate the aesthetics to the clients,” she says. “We also create sun studies with the model to study overhangs and shade structures.”

Similarly, Ogrydziak’s firm places a special emphasis on daylighting, capitalizing on simulation programs. “We will often go through several iterations to identify areas of glare, progressively refining our projects, in terms of daylighting, until we reach the final design.”

In addition, Ogrhdziak frequently brings in energy consultants to further enhance energy efficiencies for its residential projects. To fully support the consultants’ analysis, 3-D models are critical to support various simulations—be it lighting, energy, airflow, etc.—based on architects’ models. Naturally, this approach is much more accurate than traditional purely math-based analyses.

“With BIM, we can enter environmental and climate data specific to our site and orientation and define building systems, as well as evaluate energy source factors and costs,” explains Peterson. “All of these built-in tools allow us to refine our designs to best optimize our buildings’ passive design strategies.”

Along these same lines, Hertz relates that his firm’s designs always begin with a deep green-systems-thinking approach with respect to sustainability, and ideally toward a restorative building that gives back more than it takes. With the aid of BIM, not only are important variables such as building and operating costs more effortlessly determined, but embodied energy and life-cycle cost can be better established, in addition to providing a metric for the building’s offsets in carbon or net-zero budgets.

With BIM’s near real-time energy evaluation capabilities, more qualitative value decisions can be vetted out and incorporated into the design before actual construction begins. Then, at the commencement of construction, additional efficiencies can be gained through the use of fewer materials and less waste.

“We often share models with fabricators to get design elements produced off site to reduce shipping of raw materials and the wastefulness of manufacturing in the field,” explains Lee.

As a result of BIM’s precise, detailed, updated, and visually graphic information, fabricators, and suppliers are better equipped to provide the building team with exactly what they require, virtually eliminating change orders in the field.

“I firmly believe that increased BIM use will graphically and numerically support better designs, healthier environments, and more efficient energy consumption,” states Harris.

MOVING FORWARD

With BIM already proving its worth for a wide variety of commercial, industrial, and institutional project types, more and more residential architects are discovering that their smaller residential projects stand to benefit just as much.

“There’s no doubt that BIM helps us to resolve complex designs and conditions and limit surprises in the field because we’ve explored almost every square inch of the model,” confirms Beckmann.

In addition, smaller residential practices benefit from decreased manpower requirements, as the software’s automated capabilities take care of many formally tedious tasks.

“Mies van der Rohe would be a big fan of BIM, as it truly is ‘less is more!’” quips Harris.

While residential firms who have yet to embrace BIM will still have to navigate a learning curve, particularly when it comes to figuring out how to get to a model that looks great on-screen and generates good documents with appropriate levels of detail, it will only be a matter of time until those firms get up to speed.

Furthermore, Chapin suggests that the reward is great, and that it will only be a matter of time before they master how to easily create beautiful renderings and extract construction documentation with varied level of detail.

“I think that we’ll continue to see a rise in the use of BIM in small and mid-size firms as architects and clients alike become more aware of its value, and as young designers are coming out of school with the BIM mindset and skills,” predicts Beckmann.

In a similar vein, Harris concludes, “The future of BIM with small firms is bright. As more small firms prosper and become more competitive because of their use of BIM, more will embrace its use.”

GRAPHISOFT® ignited the BIM revolution in 1984 with ARCHICAD®, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as its revolutionary BIMcloud®, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment; EcoDesigner™, the world’s first fully BIM-integrated “GREEN” design solution; and BIMx®, the world’s leading mobile app for BIM visualization. GRAPHISOFT is part of the Nemetschek Group. www.graphisoft.com