As the current standard for delivering complex projects, BIM software isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and the key to getting the most out of the latest technologies is extending BIM into every stage of a project’s lifecycle. BIM models and processes have always contained huge amounts of useful data, but as Stephanie Egger, evangelist with AEC Generative Design at Autodesk puts it, “Big data is popular right now, but the question becomes, ‘what are we doing with the big data? How are we actually leveraging it to make better design decisions?’”
Autodesk FormIt 360 on Windows connects with the computational engine of Dynamo.
One clear way Egger sees teams making these better decisions is through programs like FormIt 360, a 3D-sketching app that connects conceptual design with BIM data. For Tobias Hathorn, a UX designer who works on the program, FormIt 360 brings modeling, visualization and collaboration to more people on the team because its models can be accessed anywhere and at anytime via a tablet or web browser. “Everyone on the team, regardless of Revit experience, can contribute to the BIM process rather than passing off paper sketches and broken design models to the documentation team,” says Hathorn, “It’s much easier to achieve an integrated solution when you start with BIM from day one.”
From FormIt 360 you can access Dynamo properties to make model changes.
That integrated solution also allows for earlier decisions that have never been possible before with computational design. “FormIt lets you tap into computational design early in the process via Dynamo,” says Egger. An open-source computational engine, the plugin Dynamo for Revit or the standalone Autodesk Dynamo Studio both offer designers intelligent and scalable visualization of countless design options tied to BIM data, even for those who have no programming experience. “It’s a powerful tool that hasn’t always been accessible to every architect out there … Now it’s put into an environment that’s easier to play with, where you can rationalize the forms and shapes that an architect wants to explore.”
The Autodesk Dynamo Studio application is a powerful visual scripting interface.
Egger and Hathorn also both point to Insight 360 as an additional tool that uses BIM data to help architects make smarter choices for performance and sustainability. A program that can compare millions of scenarios based on site-specific data and give instant feedback on every potential decision, Insight 360 provides a faster way to work with what a client wants while ensuring Net Zero or Architecture 2030 goals. “As you’re making these decisions,” Egger explains, “You can say, ‘Okay, we should go this direction because we can have better energy savings, or we can go with option B because it will also meet these client requirements.’”
FormIt 360 connects to Insight 360 where building design meets energy performance.
Autodesk Insight 360 has an array of performance options to tune your building and compare scenarios.
Bringing BIM into the realm of visualization, offerings like Autodesk Stingray and Project Expo are combining advances in video game visuals with BIM data to help designers share their visions. By using the Stingray 3D gaming engine, Hathorn says design models can be brought to life in new ways: “Designers have honed the skills necessary to imagine buildings before they’re built. But Stingray and Project Expo help the entire team — especially the client — envision the design and experience the necessary viewpoints to make design decisions.”
An area study in FormIt 360 with building level datums that initiate BIM from day one.
For Hathorn, “The major differentiator in any design software is how it helps to communicate the design story to team members and clients. With each of these software applications, I think their true value lies in how they aid in communication.” To that end, all of these BIM extensions flow easily into Revit and beyond. Working with the buildingSMART OpenBIM® cooperative approach, each extension uses ISO-IFC standards to ensure that as BIM data becomes more integrated into each step of a project, it can also be easily shared across different platforms and other BIM-compatible software.
Hathorn sees one advantage of a more integrated BIM as opening up more time for design exploration, benefiting the “balance between technical requirements and artistic vision.” And as the industry looks to these latest advances for an extended, interoperable and better-connected BIM, the future of project workflows also looks much more efficient. As Egger says: “When we talk about the role of the architect changing with some of these tools, the overarching theme that we’re starting to see is better decisions with less investment.”