Building Products in BIM  

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is dramatically changing the process of designing, documenting, constructing, and maintaining buildings globally. A McGraw-Hill Construction survey of North American architects, engineers, contractors and owners published in December 2009 found that:

• 48 percent of these companies were using BIM to some degree
• Over 95 percent of the companies using BIM planned to expand their use of it
• 40 percent of the non-users forecasted they would adopt BIM by the end of 2011

The industry-transforming power of BIM comes from the fact that the physical and functional characteristics of a building are set forth in a relational database format rather than in drawings, which are just a collection of lines, arcs and text that have no native intelligence and require human interpretation to derive meaning.

The BIM data resides inside intelligent objects of building elements and products which are assembled and configured to produce a virtual model of the building. There are a growing number of objects available for:

1. Fundamental architectural elements (slabs, exterior walls, roofs, interior partitions, etc.)
2. Discrete building products (windows, doors, hatches, chiller units, toilets, furnishings, etc.)

These objects contain highly accurate geometric data which is critical for popular BIM processes such as spatial coordination (also known as "clash detection") where system interferences are identified virtually and corrected before causing expensive field changes.

BIM/Revit® Image courtesy of DeMichele Group

In addition to geometry, a BIM object also contains a variety of relevant non-graphical data such as material strength, insulation value, finish, surface reflectivity, light transmission or fire rating. They can also carry links to other associated documentation such as technical data, warranty and maintenance information.

BIM-compliant data is also being made available for a variety of materials, finishes and coatings (glass, paint, etc). Although these don't have the same 3D graphical importance as the other categories, their non-graphical data is increasingly critical to successful use in BIM.

Because both the graphical and non-graphical attributes are stored in a normalized database format inside the objects, they are machine-readable, meaning they can be electronically extracted and used by software programs. There is a rapidly expanding array of model-based programs that leverage these attributes to perform valuable processes, such as:

• Accurately visualizing appearance from a variety of perspectives and environmental conditions
• Conducting analysis or simulation processes such as lighting design or building performance
• Extracting quantity information for budgeting and cost estimating
• Developing specifications
• Evaluating alternatives and substitutions
• Planning tactical project execution

This article will focus on BIM objects of building products and manufactured materials which come to a job site ready to install (as opposed to raw materials that are used at a construction site such as concrete or lengths of conduit). Because they represent a large percentage of the objects in a building that is created in BIM, and they contain both graphical and non-graphical data, the intelligent objects of building products and materials play a critical role in the successful use of BIM from design, through construction and into facility management. Industry consultant and former Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) executive Roger Grant sums it up simply with his perspective that "the building information model is just a big product model."

Types of Building Product Content for BIM

There are different types of BIM content, related to the characteristics and installed use of the products and materials they represent.

Parametric Objects

Many products are commercially available from building product manufacturers (BPMs) in a wide variety of configurations. For example, doors are available in an almost limitless number of combinations of heights, widths, thicknesses, materials, panels, lites, finishes, hardware options, frame types, fire ratings, sound transmission coefficients, blast resistance, etc. The same goes for windows, which also involve a vast selection of glass types and thermal properties. While it is possible to develop an individual BIM object for each possible iteration of available features for any product like this, it is not a practical approach.

A parametric BIM model can contain data to generate multiple instances of a product, based on user needs for a particular project. Image courtesy of CDV Systems

Because BIM software works as a relational database, it can take advantage of objects that are built to be parametric, meaning they contain enough data to represent more than one configuration of alternative features. These are sometimes referred to as nested product types or product type catalogs. The user can identify which feature set is appropriate for a given project requirement and the software will create an instance of the object that contains just those features, including both the graphical and non-graphical information.

A 72" x 36" generic window in BIM selected by its dimensions from a list of generic Double Casements with Trim. Further information about the window, such as frame finish or glass type, is either manually entered into the object�s data fields by the user, or the generic will be completely replaced with a manufacturer�s proprietary window object at some later point in the development of the design. Image courtesy of CDV Systems

 

Another advantage of parametric objects is their ability to interact intelligently with other objects. For instance, when a parametric door object is inserted in a parametric wall object, the wall object automatically adjusts itself to create the proper opening, modifying both its graphical and non-graphical properties. So, for example, when the entire BIM model is electronically queried to determine the total surface area of interior partitions, perhaps to determine wall finish quantities, the wall objects know to deduct all the door openings in the calculation. Also, if the BIM software is creating and maintaining a door schedule, any additions, deletions or modifications made to any of the door objects will automatically update the door schedule.

Static Objects

The simplest BIM objects represent just a single product and do not carry any inherent options for alternate features. These static models are appropriate for product lines that have limited options for dimension, finish, etc.

Materials and Finishes

Although BIM content for materials and finishes is the least plentiful type being provided by BPMs, BIM software often comes preloaded with a number of generic materials which can be modified by users to represent the specific requirements of a project. For sophisticated visualization, some BIM software applications enable extensive customization of material appearance to a remarkable level of detail, by manipulating the rotation, size, brightness, and intensity of textures, gloss maps (also known as shinemaps), transparency maps, reflection maps, oblique reflection maps, hole maps and bump maps.

Generic and Proprietary Objects

Across all of the types described above there is an important distinction between generic and proprietary BIM objects of building products.

• A generic object carries geometric and non-graphical data representing the functional need for the particular product in that project, but does not carry specific information identifying it as a particular manufacturer's product. Final recommendations on manufacturer-specific products are ultimately made by contractors based on bidding and market conditions.
  
  
• A proprietary object represents a specific manufacturer's product, with its particular dimensional and functional characteristics. These are commonly used when an architect wants to identify a preference or as the Basis of Design, where alternates must be equivalent to be approved.

Creating Building Product Content for BIM

Most BPMs already create and distribute extensive libraries of CAD-based content about their products, focused primarily on graphical and geometric aspects. Non-graphical data is usually found in accompanying spec sheets, and other technical product literature.

BIM requires an entirely new kind of content that combines the graphical and non-graphical data into intelligent objects. The process of creating these intelligent objects of building products has been evolving as BIM adoption and implementation have grown over the past decade.

Architects

Architects were the first group that represented large scale adoption of BIM in the U.S. construction industry. Since there was very little BIM content at the beginning, most practitioners had to build their own. This created a variety of problems:

• Inconsistency.Each practitioner created objects to suit the immediate needs of a project so the approach to both geometric and property data were not consistent from object-to-object or from project-to-project, and certainly not across firms.
  
  
• Inaccuracy. Because the information is entered into data fields, mistakes were hard to catch and might not be discovered until much later in a project, or when an object is used by another modeler.
  
  
• File size.Some BIM software is particularly vulnerable to being overloaded by objects with large file sizes, slowing performance and sometimes crashing the software.

BIM Software Companies

In response to growing customer demand for content, the BIM software companies began creating libraries of generic objects that could be shipped with the software. Many of these companies are still actively expanding their libraries and refining the quality of the objects for optimal performance in their tools. Some BIM software makers also provide templates for users to create their own objects.

Building Product Manufacturers

As an increasing number of design professionals began asking for BIM-compliant product information, the BPMs initiated a variety of programs to create and distribute BIM objects. Each is distinctive to the nature and usage of its particular products.

BIM content can be made available both as a library of pre-built individual objects that users can download, and through an online configurator (shown here) that creates complete BIM wall assemblies on demand then uploads the full assembly into the user�s BIM project. Image courtesy of Georgia-Pacific Gypsum and DeMichele Group

 

Many BPMs had already recently developed a new type of 3D modeling content for use in Google SketchUp. Warren Barber, Dens® Brand product manager at Georgia-Pacific Gypsum recalls, "We got involved fairly early with 3D models for Google SketchUp, but we stood at the edge of the BIM pool for a long time." As industry-wide BIM use advanced, his company realized the benefit of "being where the architects are. We know you can never have enough sales people in the field, so we have BIM models out there that can act as a sales person for us." He also recognized the trend towards earlier and more collaborative product decision making that is being facilitated by the assembly of a model. "We want to be at the decision-making table sooner in the process by providing our models. If contractors on BIM projects have influence on product ideas, we want them to be able to easily introduce our models."

Regarding Google SketchUp, Jurgen Schroeder with NanaWall's Technical and R&D Department says it is still actively used, especially for early design activities by owners. Back in 2006, they also produced models in a manufacturing industry software called SolidWorks, which was effective for visualization but not for technical integration into BIM. These early attempts to create objects for BIM were not very successful. "They were too generic without enough information about the properties of the walls, what the hardware, glass and sill options were, and all the technical aspects," Schroeder recalls. In March 2010 the company released more robust objects with specification information that have been well-received by architects.

According to Tim Aspinwall, National Sales Manager of Nystrom, Inc., a manufacturer must be fully committed to BIM users' technical needs with its "supported content." Nystrom's Product Manager, Kristine Oppong, defines supported content as reliably reflecting the manufacturer's "technical knowledge about how the product functions, its limitations as well as how it operates within a model." To be successful, manufacturers must also actively seek input from the AEC community to expand and improve their product lines.

Illustrated here is an opening product shown in a BIM-generated rendering. All aspects of its geometry, finish, reflectivity, transparency, etc. are calculated by the BIM rendering tool from the data in the BIM object. Image courtesy of NanaWall Systems, Inc.

 

In reflecting on what inspired his relatively small company to embark on a BIM content program, James Sable, Executive Vice President at greenscreen®, says "we partner with 80 percent of the top 50 firms in America," and they are aware of the fact that these firms are advancing along the line of BIM adoption. "We wanted to provide models and we wanted to be part of that dialogue," he adds. Sable believes offering BIM content "streamlines the process of incorporating our offerings into a faÇade design," enabling architects and landscape architects to "grow their palette" of alternatives.

Shown here is a BIM object of a louver in a BIM exterior wall assembly. Image courtesy of Nystrom, Inc.

For window and door models, architects want smart objects that prevent them from selecting sizes outside of parameters, provide flexibility with muntin patterns and sizing, include exterior and interior finish options, provide fields for important data like U-factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, and make it easy to group windows, adjust setbacks, and change interior trim conditions. "BIM was something our commercial customers were asking for so we provided them with the design tools they needed for their projects," states Terry Zeimetz, AIA, CSI, CCPR, Pella's Commercial Marketing Manager. Architects are now actively accessing the company's BIM objects in a variety of product lines. The company chose to offer the ability to either download individual products or what is called a Type Catalog, which is user-configurable across several options.

Shown are BIM objects for double doors and a double-hung window, as well as a pair of multi-lite double-hung windows. Images courtesy of Pella Commercial

 

Joanne Funyak, Market Manager with the Flat Glass Group of PPG Industries is seeing "consistent traffic" to their content and knows that the performance data is definitely providing value to BIM users. She says their company "got into BIM because we believed strongly in making the data about our products available to the applications that want to use it." The company collects information on lifecycle benefits for its materials (re-paint frequency, etc.) so it can be prepared when applications develop to the point that lifecycle costing can be simulated in BIM. They are also evaluating other product manufacturers whose products are in assemblies with theirs so they can work together on more comprehensive BIM solutions.

These images show the BIM object (on left) and the final installation (on right). Images courtesy of greenscreen®

Independent Content Creators

Sensing that the emergence of BIM was creating a demand for content skills, a number of service companies began providing outsourcing for:

• Total project BIM modeling for architects and contractors from 2D design files
• BIM content libraries for architects and contractors that can be reused on multiple projects
• BIM objects of building products for BPMs

Many of these service companies were existing CAD and BIM resellers, or were established outsourcers of CAD services to architects and contractors. Many leverage lower cost offshore labor and some are actually headquartered overseas. As this process has matured, the requirement to coordinate closely for successful outsourcing has given rise to a hybrid model known as blend-shoring, where project management and client liaison is handled locally with U.S. staff, but actual production takes place overseas.

Entrepreneurial architects are also leveraging their BIM experience to develop a new source of revenue by providing BIM content creation as a direct service to BPMs. Several are citing this as a core capability on their firm websites, offering to help make sure the manufacturer's product lines are compatible with BIM technology from the end-user's perspective, thereby generating a competitive advantage for those products.

This view of a BIM model shows a generic window system where one pane of glass has been updated as a specific manufacturer's product. Image courtesy of DeMichele Group

 

Integrated BIM Content for Multiple Products

BIM is creating a demand for product and material information to be accessible across full building systems and entire buildings. According to Roger Grant, "The goal of having a model is to represent the building and how it performs so we can better simulate performance in advance of physical implementation." The National Institute of Building Sciences has devoted a comprehensive website to this subject, called The Whole Building Design Guide (http://www.wbdg.org/), the goal of which is to "create successful high-performance buildings by applying an integrated design and team approach."

This trend is driving demand for BIM content that represents ever-larger subsets of whole building information, which in turn requires integrated information about many products. Several sources are emerging to serve this need.

Building Product Distributors

Some building product distributors are becoming involved in creation and distribution of BIM content by making multi-component systems of BIM objects that represent multiple products that they carry, like a complete ceiling system with grid, tiles, lights, etc., from manufacturers they represent.

The objects are a hybrid of generic and proprietary, allowing them to be generic for an architect or contractor to put in the model initially, but easily updated to represent one of the proprietary products carried by that distributor based on pricing and approvals. The users benefit because the graphical and non-graphical data for the whole system is in the model so they don't have to deal with individual products. The distributors benefit because final selections are intended to be made from within their line of proprietary products.

Online Configurators and Content Generators for BIM

The recent launch of several online building product configurators that generate BIM content on demand as opposed to using pre-built objects represents an important evolution in BIM content creation, especially for multi-component systems and assemblies. Several BPMs have developed sites that allow BIM users to automatically replace the generic BIM objects in a project with custom-generated objects or complete assemblies of objects, like door/frame/hardware combinations, or multi-layer exterior roofs and walls. These services are free to users and do not require expertise in the use of BIM software, a great benefit to the industry as more stakeholders need to work with a model, but don't have the skills of experienced BIM software users.

One manufacturer's free online BIM configurator allows users to create and test exterior wall assemblies, then have the BIM content built on-demand and inserted in the user's BIM project, including details and specs. It also provides specific vapor barrier and building wrap products for more flexibility. Image courtesy of Georgia-Pacific Gypsum

 

Operating as a toolbar plug-in, the configurator reads the BIM model, identifies the elements to be developed, then takes the user through a structured set of product attribute selections to filter out inappropriate product alternatives and identify one or more that meet the specific needs of that project.

The objects or complete assemblies are then custom-built on demand and inserted in the BIM, replacing any generics that were placeholders.

Steve Jones researches, writes and speaks globally about the impact of economic, technological, business and environmental changes on the future of the design and construction industry. He also leads McGraw-Hill Construction's initiatives in developing alliance relationships with major companies for technology and content.

Some online configurators also conduct analysis to help architects determine performance of products or assemblies. For example, some BIM configurators incorporate ENERGY STAR data to simulate annualized energy performance and calculate dew point for configured exterior wall assemblies based on project location, so performance of alternatives can be tested before content is generated for the model.

Several BPMs are allowing information and services from their configurator to be used by other, non-competing configurators. For instance, users of online BIM configurator tools on one BPM's website have access to BIM objects from the other manufacturers' sites, enabling more comprehensive building envelope configuration. Each can also take advantage of the others' building performance evaluation tools.

Georgia-Pacific's Warren Barber particularly likes that the fact that the configurator "removes obstacles to getting the benefit from BIM." He notes, "I would think having to search through a large library to find a pre-built model of an assembly you want would be very frustrating." Barber's belief is that "it's easier for architects to design their own models in a configurator than modify an existing generic one. You avoid having to have expertise in building BIM content. Instead you can get a tool to build the content for you."

Challenges Related To Building Product Content for BIM

As the industry continues to adopt BIM and demand more content, a number of challenges have arisen, including:

• Interoperability of BIM content
• Quality of BIM content
• Incorporating business rules into BIM content
• Integrating BIM content with traditional specifications
• Evaluating return on investment (ROI) for the BPM on its investment in BIM content.

The Challenge of Interoperability

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) defines interoperability as "the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged." Overall, the lack of interoperability between software tools is very costly for the U.S. construction industry.

• NIST (The National Institute for Standards and Testing) conducted a study of the unnecessary costs associated with transferring information manually between construction industry software tools to be $15.6B annually.
  
  
• Respondents to a McGraw-Hill Construction research study on Interoperability reported an average of three percent of an average project cost that could be saved by improved interoperability.

Since each BIM software application has a unique technical architecture, BIM tools typically have limited interoperability. Each one requires that objects be created in its particular file format.

Therefore, a BIM object of a building product created for one BIM application is generally not useable in another, unless it passes through a structured, technical translation and exchange process.

Creators of BIM objects have to decide in advance what program they will create the content for, and realize that, at least for now, it is just for that tool.

In keeping with the diverse nature of the construction industry, there are numerous, parallel standards initiatives underway to address this problem. Ones that are particularly relevant to BIM objects for building products are:

• IFC (Industry Foundation Classes)
  • http://www.buildingsmart.com/bim
  • IFC is an open data format for building information models. IFC can be used to exchange and share BIM data between applications developed by different software vendors without the necessity to support numerous native formats. Software applications correctly implementing IFC are said to be IFC compliant. The buildingSMART Alliance is leading the effort to develop and implement the IFC standard in the US.
• SPie (Specifier's Properties Information Exchange)
  • http://www.buildingsmartalliance.org/index.php/projects/activeprojects/32
  • The SPie project is developing BIM templates for building products to include their related property sets. It is a building SMART Alliance project and is actively seeking volunteers to work on developing the templates.
• COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange)
  • http://www.wbdg.org/resources/cobie.php
  • COBie is an information exchange format for the life-cycle capture and delivery of information needed by facility managers.
• NBIMS (National BIM Standard)
  • http://www.buildingsmartalliance.org/index.php/nbims/
  • NBIMS is a committee of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) Facility Information Council (FIC). The vision for NBIMS is "an improved planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance process using a standardized machine-readable information model for each facility, new or old, which contains all appropriate information created or gathered about that facility in a format useable by all throughout its lifecycle." There are currently 126 people on the NBIMS-US Project Committee and new members are welcome.
• Green Building XML (gbXML)
  • http://www.gbxml.org
  • The Green Building XML (gbXML) open schema helps facilitate the transfer of building properties stored in building information models to engineering analysis tools, streamlining the ability to design resource efficient buildings and specify associated products and equipment.

Major BIM software makers are committed to improving interoperability between their toolsets. Several are also supporting creation and evaluating adoption of some of these standards. At the same time, the multiple efforts, though each well-intentioned, are creating some confusion in the industry. A primary objective of the buildingSMART Alliance (www.buildingsmartalliance.org) is to help coordinate these efforts, reduce redundancy and communicate effectively to the industry about the purpose, value and status of each initiative.

Quality of BIM Content

Due to the large number of people creating BIM content and the lack of a consistent standard for doing so, the quality of content is a constant concern for users.

Working with the BIM Forum (bimforum.org), McGraw-Hill Construction conducted BIM Content research with approximately 400 BIM users. Responding to a question about quality issues with BIM objects, respondents rated the top five leading challenges (see chart):

The issues of managing what BIM content should be used on the firm's projects is a major part of Tim Logan's responsibilities at HKS. Based in the firm's Dallas headquarters, Logan manages the firm's central library of standard BIM content. He also builds a large amount of content for HKS project teams, and reviews objects proposed by HKS staff for library inclusion.

Asked about issues of BIM object quality Logan recalled a model of a warming cabinet that was produced by its manufacturer and is currently available for download online. "Something like that should have a file size of no more that 700K," he says. "This one was 5MB. When you think about how many of those might be in a major hospital project you quickly see the huge impact it would have on overall file size and slowing down the performance of the BIM software." As it turns out, the content creator had not understood how to use the BIM software and had nested many separate versions of the warming cabinet inside each other until the overall size was unwieldy. To use it, Logan was able to strip it apart to isolate a single cabinet that was about 1.2MB. That, however, required skill with the BIM software that many average users do not have.

Some BIM content configurators address this by giving users a hierarchy of options for level of detail (i.e., how much information they want in the objects), from very schematic for design to highly detailed for downstream fabrication. A record of the product selection is maintained on the configurator so downstream users can generate BIM content that is appropriate to their workflow needs.

Similar to the establishment of CAD, the increasing maturity of BIM will generate best-practice approaches among users, software makers will provide more capacity and flexibility to manage rich BIM content, and the further development of standards will provide guidelines for content quality that will control its creation.

Incorporating Business Rules into BIM Content

Just because a parametric BIM object can be sized by the user doesn't mean it can be realistically manufactured by the BPM. Jurgen Schroeder of NanaWall says, "You can stretch the models to create panels that are over four feet wide, which is not technically possible." He is pleased that "about 99 percent" of the users of the company's BIM objects stay within constructible limits of their products, but support is available for those who need technical advice to conform to realistic manufacturing limits.

Several of the online configurators include business rules in the software to notify the user about potential structural or other product failure issues prior to final acceptance and creation of content. For example, some online configurator tools will flag potential warranty issues as product layers are being configured for an assembly.

Integrating BIM Content with Specs

Ideally, specification information would either be in or linked to the BIM objects. But at this point most project teams are still creating specifications as a stand alone document and only leveraging the BIM objects for their geometry and some of the technical and performance information.

Michael Brennan, CEO of InterSpec, whose software aligns specifications with other project documentation, including BIM objects, is operating at the juncture of this issue. The existing specification "is a legacy format we are dragging around with us," he says. He is hoping BIM shifts the focus to "the information about the product, regardless of the spec section it traditionally resides in. Rather than having this convention that says ‘I need this book,' with BIM we could just build this all up directly." This is especially true as BIM drives the industry towards whole building thinking for design, fabrication and construction. "Specs aren't about assemblies," Brennan continues, noting that an assembly could require reference to "half a dozen different spec sections. This evolution can't come quickly enough for me."

Justifying the Investment by BPMs

Where a number of BPMs saw BIM as an emerging trend and seized it to express industry leadership, many are still evaluating or conducting limited programs. David Bandi, Manager of Autodesk's Seek website for product content cites several major obstacles to BPM investment in BIM content. "BIM content has a level of complexity to it that requires a strategy behind it. It's not a cheap, quick and easy fix. Also, the lack of standards and varying definitions of what BIM is are confusing to BPMs. And even if they are ready, the timing question of when to do it is holding some back, perhaps waiting for more recovery in the building industry."

Some manufacturers do see a specific lift from BIM. NanaWall's Jurgen Schroeder is particularly enthusiastic. "Lately we are seeing our business really pick up from having BIM content," he states. The company is getting into foreign projects in China and Singapore through having BIM content that it would never reach through its traditional channels.

Accessing Building Product Content for BIM

Once content is created, there is a growing number of ways it is distributed to users. In the early days of BIM, only a few architects at any firm were working with it, so they kept their home-made building product objects on their hard drives to reuse on other projects. As firms grew their implementation across projects and more staff needed access, firms began to house the objects in a central repository similar to the way a firm's CAD library was hosted.

In keeping with the overall grass-roots nature of the BIM phenomenon, early users began exchanging BIM objects with each other to save the time of building it themselves. Sites such as Revit City (revitcity.com), which now boasts over 20,000 members and over 10,000 BIM objects, became popular by providing free, user-contributed objects, forums and discussion groups, even job postings.

As referenced above, most BIM software companies provide libraries of generic content that is built to work with their applications. It is typically included with their applications and also available from their websites. Some have also expanded to include BPMs' proprietary content as well, such as Autodesk Seek.

BPMs who have BIM objects for their products and materials typically host them for download on their websites. As referenced above, some BPMs have also invested in online configurators that build customized content on-demand for users, rather than relying on searchable libraries of objects to satisfy the diversity of users' needs.

 

Established industry content aggregators have added BIM objects to their existing libraries of BPMs' building product content, and also made them available online for free. These include Sweets, ARCAT and Reed. The cost for this hosting is borne by the BPMs.

There are also subscription-based sites where users pay for access to content and the creators generally share in the revenue. These include FormFonts and Objects.com.

Many BPMs feel that using a combination of sites gives them the best total coverage. "Different people have their favorites so let's put them where they want to get them," Pella's Zeimetz says, referencing his company's decision to be on three aggregator sites as well as on the company's own web site.

Other BPMs are taking a more proactive approach. "We're taking BIM to the streets," says Tim Aspinwall of Nystrom, by actively visiting design/build firms, a niche they feel will be particularly successful with BIM, to deliver their content and services. "We're out talking with our clients to better understand their methodologies and challenges. The BIM discussions are always welcomed. The exchange and sharing of information is foundational to the success of BIM."

Despite the increase in quantity and availability of BIM objects, most BIM users are still using mostly self-made content. In McGraw-Hill Construction's BIM Content research study, nearly 60 percent of respondents reported making their own content either all or most of the time (see chart).

Next in popularity for access were free object libraries, followed by exchanging directly with other BIM users. Least popular was accessing from a paid subscription service.

Using Building Product Content for BIM

Now that BIM objects are in ever-widening circulation and being incorporated in more projects every day, users are increasingly enjoying the benefits, which include the following:

• Visualizations are becoming increasingly realistic because the appearance can be calculated by the software rather then being imagined by the individual renderer. For instance, material properties such as surface reflectivity integrate with precise luminosity data from lighting fixtures to generate exact replicas of highlights, shadows and color rendition. Even the contribution of exterior lighting can be integrated because of the light transmission and gradient of the window glass is known as well as the location of sun patterns. This greatly facilitates client approval processes and more effectively aligns expectations with final results.
• Energy evaluation is another important way that building product data can be effectively leveraged. Joanne Funyak from PPG, whose company invested in creating BIM content for their commercial glass products several years ago, knows from user feedback that "the performance data [in our BIM objects] is definitely being used for energy evaluations." Jurgen Schroeder of NanaWall is also aware of his product's R-value information being similarly utilized.
• The precise geometry of BIM objects contributes to the effectiveness of multi-trade coordination, one of the most widely used features of BIM to facilitate integration among disciplines and reduce costly field issues.
• Constructability of a proposed design can be evaluated in advance to the nuts-and-bolts fabrication level, averting serious downstream problems for designers and contractors in the field. This is being especially rigorously applied to envelope design. A recorded webinar of a compelling example that avoided over $2M of extra cost on a hospital project, even after complete CAD-based shop drawings had been approved and fabrication was underway, is available for free viewing.

The Future of Building Products in BIM

BIM users, BPMs and technology developers are looking forward to enhancing the value of BIM by further leveraging building product content, and are underway on a wide variety of initiatives. Among these emerging trends are:

Fully Parametric Search for Building Products

With product attributes available in a normalized database, users will be able to search for products based on project-specific needs rather than evaluate products individually against those needs.

Building Performance and Life Cycle Simulation

With relevant performance attributes of products, materials and finishes available as data to software programs, users will be able to comparatively evaluate different combinations and optimize the proper balance of first cost and life cycle value that is appropriate for a given project.

Detailed Estimating

With quantities available in the BIM project and increasingly sophisticated intelligent systems to analyze it against material and labor cost databases, teams will be able to develop better estimates earlier in the design process, impacting product and material selections.

Model-Driven Prefabrication

As accuracy increases in the configuration of products, building elements and systems in BIM projects, fabricators will increasingly take advantage of the cost, safety and quality benefits of offsite fabrication to make ever-larger and more complex parts of buildings. This will involve products, materials (both raw and manufactured), finishes and assembly connectors. Job sites will focus more on assembly than construction and comprehensive as-built data will be inherent in the BIM model.

Mass Customization

Model-based design and fabrication are already well-established in major manufacturing. One benefit of computer controlled manufacturing is the decreasing cost of short-run production, heading towards true mass-customization where there will be no more "specials."

Assemblies and Systems as Products

Manufacturers of products, materials and finishes that are ultimately installed and function as assemblies or systems will create assembly-friendly content and multi-BPM offerings enabling specification of larger and larger pieces of buildings as a single "product." This will include a blending of civil, landscape and architectural elements, supporting an integrated building-and-site approach.

Owner Standard Prototype Buildings

Owners that do repeat projects will develop BIM versions of their prototypes for local design and construct teams to site-adapt. They will make enterprise-wide product selections and incorporate them into their BIM programs, likely taking advantage of the trend towards larger assemblies and systems as single "products."

Facilities Management BIM

The turnover of information to Owners after construction will become fully electronic, with an accurate FM BIM model serving as the "digital double" of the constructed facility. BIM objects in the model will integrate with their actual counterparts to monitor performance, trigger maintenance and manage warranty issues. They will also stay in contact with their manufacturers and serve as a point of communication for product updates, scheduled maintenance, replacement needs, etc.

Design Decisions Informed by In-place Performance Data from FM BIM

As FM BIM monitors in-place performance of installed products, materials and finishes, design professionals will access this data for product evaluation on new projects. This transparent, full-circle information loop will become critical to the industry and greatly enhance BPMs product design processes to everyone's benefit.

Conclusion

As BIM continues to revolutionize design construction and operations of facilities worldwide, the role of BIM-complaint building product content will become increasingly important, serving as the vessel in which mission-critical data is carried and accessed by multiple users over the lifecycle of the asset. Architects will be developing no less than the genetic DNA of a building when they assemble and configure these objects and elements. And the manufacturers responsible for their creation and maintenance will bear an ever-greater responsibility in supporting them with current, accurate, comprehensive and flexible content. The partnership between design professionals and manufacturers will continue to evolve as both move forward into this exciting future.

Steve Jones researches, writes and speaks globally about the impact of economic, technological, business and environmental changes on the future of the design and construction industry. He also leads McGraw-Hill Construction's initiatives in developing alliance relationships with major companies for technology and content.