With prognostications abounding about the potential impact of building information modeling (BIM) on the profession, AIArchitect asked the following members of the Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) Knowledge Community for their input on the issue.

“How do you think BIM will change the profession in the next decade?”

Joseph Burns, FAIA, managing principal, Thornton-Tomasetti Group, Chicago
The best way to envision the change in our profession is to look at the transformation in almost every other industry that has implemented BIM-like technology over the past several decades. Our profession has lagged behind other industries that are more vertically integrated, but the horizontal nature of our profession will become even more flat with BIM technology that is both interoperable and global. It is very hard to see how much change will occur over the next decade, but it will be huge.

Kristine K. Fallon, FAIA, president, Kristine Fallon Associates Inc., Chicago
BIM will precipitate major shifts in project delivery. It enables integrated planning, design, detailing, cost control, and construction scheduling and sequencing. Just as traditional CAD has eroded the distinctions between design phases, BIM will erode the distinctions between planning, design, and construction. BIM is inevitable because by constructing the building virtually first, many coordination, constructability, and cost problems can be avoided. The benefits are already clear to major clients, such as GSA. BIM offers architects a return to the role of master builder, without sacrificing design excellence. TAP’s 2005 BIM Awards demonstrate this. However, the issues of compensation, intellectual property, contracts, and insurance must be addressed. The AIA’s Board has convened an Integrated Project Delivery Task Force to tackle this current and critical task.

Lawrence M. Rocha, Assoc. AIA, vice president and chief information officer, Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, Newport Beach, Calif.
I see one of three scenarios playing out:

A) Contractors use BIM as an opportunity to offer “constructability” services (CDs) to owners and designers, leaving designers the aesthetic and programming pieces. Additionally, designers will be used as “design intent” consultants during the constructability phase. This is already happening.
B) Owners hire third-party CM types to collect information from all consultants, including architects, and build BIMs as a way of minimizing errors and omissions in the field, minimizing impact on traditional design firms who can submit 2D drawings as they always have. This is already happening.
C) Designers step up and take responsibility for being building information managers, leveraging BIM as a way of consolidating the information into a comprehensive database that will be used long after construction in the operation of the building.

Jill Rothenberg, Assoc. AIA, principal and chief technology officer, ADD Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
Changing the way the AEC/O industry practices will not happen easily or quickly. A decade is not a very long time for change to occur in our industry. With that in mind, BIM will change the way we practice incrementally. There is no way to predict exactly how BIM will change the profession. BIM will enable us to work smarter and faster. This is our opportunity to leverage the possibilities that it has to offer. We can either decide to change and position ourselves so we are an integral part of the process or we can stay the same and become more marginalized.

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