BIM

Photo credit: George Dudley;Painting by him using acrylic on canvas

What do you do in a country where contractors can cheat you with poor cement mixes, fake wires and over ordering but supplying less? You keep watch dogs all over the place. What do you do when builders ask for illegal construction? They feel free to ask because while each extra flat may give them upto Rs. 1 crore, they may be fined only by about Rs. 5 lakhs by authorities. So what have they got to lose? How can you have an efficient implementation when you build more than what the structures were designed for just because a builder suddenly wants some more spaces to be built two floors above permissible limits?--Grumblings from architects...

Architects shy away from using non-standard technologies, too, especially ones that have not been tried and tested and do not seem to have an expert implementation team to put it in place. When some architects do venture to be adventurous they do so at the risk of failing which is more often the case. Standardisation and commercially viable and available implementing groups seem to be the need of the hour, too. Time gets lost in experiments and only pioneer-like architects or builders venture to try such things.

Clients complain about architects, architects complain about builders, builders complain about consultants, everybody blames the construction worker and calls project managers inefficient...there is deep chaos in the building industry in India in the large, medium and small project levels. No benchmarking exists says, Dr. Koshy Varghese, IIT Chennai, who is leading the Integrated Construction Practices division in the university. His research team is involved in trying to see how rapidly a building could be designed and built with least pain. It would be interesting to see the result of their study which will be available within a year's time. But he feels, too, that nothing will be possible within India without governmental incentives and recognition.

In the very large builder level there is better assurance of project management at site level as they have in-house doers in the form of construction workers, who have become skilled with course of time. The leaders of such firms' grouse is mostly to do with inter-departmental coordination which they feel get managed by BIM kind of software. But none of them are using it for sustainability as yet as there is no dying need for it. It appears useful to use it for conflict resolution, impeccable and quick scheduling, quantities extraction and project management. 3D modeling is however a registered need ranging from using those that Revit kind of software offer to the photo finish modeling that 3D Max kind of software can offer. The bigger players feel there is still room to develop a better working culture amongst Indian professionals...one of thirst for detailing at the design stage itself and the ability to have every aspect on print before work begins. The culture of putting off for later is something leaders of bigger organisation seem to want to remove from their professionals within the organisation. External niggling problems again have to do with unpredictability of materials' availability and cost escalations.

# Indian architects find cost of installing BIM and sustainability software expensive upfront. Chandravarker and Thakar however have done it from 1995 as have some other architects. Main software they use is Revit floated by Autodesk which is a BIM software.

# Sustainability software are several. Each is a small module, some free, others at a cost. Many more must be on the anvil too. LBNL has come up with many software for ensuring sustainability in buildings, too.

# Autodesk has floated a combo of Revit + Ecotect which gives an overall ECO BIM through Green Building Studio (GBS) software just a few months ago. Even offices in US have not started using it fully. Canada seems to have made strides in it. Many however use a combo of Revit with energy simulation and solar heat gain calculators to do the job that GBS could do.

# Why this attracts me so much is the fact that it will make the designers play with different models that will give them a dashboard of impact due to design and materials instantly, making them design best designs and having it so coordinated that MEP, and contract ordering, scheduling and some parts of project management functions also can be carried out seamlessly reducing onsite during construction and operation, costs due to oversights, wrong designs and wrong choices.

# Questions in my mind...why would architects, builders want to take up BIM or ECO BIM?

# Why would Indian counterparts want to do that?

# What can I learn from ECO BIMers around the world?

# While I know the pains builders go through, I need to quantify and qualify the pains they really have by staying with some of them on site.

# I need to look at architects and contractors from an observer's point of view and understand their pain points.

# Beneficiaries of whatever I am trying to do:

1. Builders can save money by removing a lot of unnecessary activities
2. Architects get to design greener buildings that can easily be LEEDable
3. Lesser cost set aside for experts that builders resort to in the present scenario

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Warm Regards,
Radha Eswar.
Picture Courtesy: George L Smyth.

Building Sciences have always held a fascination for me. To potter around a construction site enabling translation of a dream into a reality is a feeling only a few groups of people like architects, artists, teachers, and maybe parents can understand. But in the several years of witnessing the happenings within this energy guzzling industry, I have come to realize that it is an activity that really needs to tighten its belt and get its act together in being responsible about the footprint it leaves on the planet. I could talk about how it makes huge sense to use sustainable materials, go in for sustainable design methodologies and maybe add a few interesting stuff about energy efficiency and renewable energy gadgets. I could spice it all with some bits on water and waste management and top it with indigenous planting on site. I know I would get a few eyeballs to get to roll over my few words. But there is something that has bothered me greatly for many days...What about the process that happens while designing and constructing? The innumerable mistakes that happen in the process of designing, creating schedules, placing orders, redesigning, allocating resources, constructing...these get swept under the carpet often times and it seems like a huge area that can do well to see how it can become greener and consume lesser by being more efficient.

As architects we know that Building Information Modeling (BIM) addresses many of these issues. Add to that streamlining extra information that serve sustainability better and you really have a fine case of sustainability in design and execution happening. But how many architects in India use this? A handful use software like Revit. Mostly for MEP functions. Many others have established offices that act as outsourcing points for architects from the US or Europe. Some builders building commercial buildings (thanks to compliance requirements with ECBC) and a few conscientious architects go in for energy simulation. What about the rest? This is as far as modeling is concerned. What about sustainable management of project or the bit that can be avoided through careful pre-planning? How can right and green decisions be made before buildings come up even? How can contractors see what architects have in mind and intervene at crucial junctures much before hand instead of fire-fighting at the last hour? How can all stakeholders stay on the same plane without losing time and effort? How can project management be made smoother with lesser hiccups and towards zero emissions and surprises? Are architects willing to make the change happen? Are they willing to handhold the process of shifting from CAD to BIM and then to ECOBIM? Would they educate and empower contractors too towards such systems? Would creators of such information modeling packages make costs more manageable of at least have a healthier ROI? Questions that run in mind these days. I cannot bear to see construction wastage, design mistakes that end up in crores of rupees of waste, orders that have to be tolerated because it got 'ordered' and use of extra appliances in the place of simpler bio-climatic design features...I wish Indian architects take charge and make the difference more effectively instead of in bits, here and there.

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Warm Regards,
Radha Eswar.
Picture Courtesy: Alameda County Library

Photo credits: Angelo, www.flickr.com

I chatted up architects to know their perspectives on managing their enterprise. By serendipity one architect discovered that BIM software helped her to remove conflicts at the design stage itself. But few ventured into looking into aspects of simulation, scheduling, estimation and coordination using such software. Their contention seems to be that they were on a race against time with having to finish projects on one hand and keeping clients appeased with drawings at regular intervals on the other. Taking time to key in a design in its entirety seemed appealing but how did it match with the kind of clients they dealt with who hurry a project through, they wonder. Architects who start with good intentions of using BIM, most often stop with using it for 3D viewing and never bother to key in details of materials and specifications. It seems simple to hand it over to the trusted civil engineer who would provide all schedules and specs in a few days.

Architects in India feel a little lost too as they find standards don't measure up to what is possible with newer products in the market. It is up to individual architects to find newer areas to grow as collaboration is not something that is prevalent within this tribe either. Associations have not brought to fore what can be achieved with using BIM practices in building design.

A couple of architects who have had exposure to new trends through the net and who have had international exposure to work are bringing in these concepts to their work in India. But very few clients know that they can demand that their buildings need to be energy efficient. Few now ask for green buildings but most associate it to cheaper buildings.

For the small-time architect there is also the fear of educating staff on new trends in software as they do not wish to lose them to bigger companies. This would mean that they end up doing things themselves and there is no time for that. Hiring experienced staff would mean more money to be earned which again goes back to lack of time. Such architects prefer to outsource any number of contracts provided it makes financial sense at the end. So most prefer to go the well-trodden path unless someone is willing to make changes for them. They agree that it would be great to have usable details of local flavour from which they could attach instances into their design. But there are no such indigenous libraries in India for Indian architects.