Building Information Modeling - 31

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Opportunity Knocks with BIM BIM pr ovides g reater oppor tunity, even in uncertain economic times. With the r ecent passage of the feder al economic stimulus package, funding w ill soon become available for a wide range of infrastructure projects and go vernmental initiatives that w ill r equire s ome le vel of sustainability and incr eased environmental r esponsibility, mandating alt ernative design considerations that will make projects increasingly complex. BIM solutions will help minimiz e the impact of additional r equirements, streamline th e design/build pr ocess, and r educe c ostly delays. BIM can help pr ovide opportunities, even in uncertain economic times, to those who are willing to take the lead and embrace innovation. Microdesk makes BIM work. As a leading BIM c onsultant t o the AECO i ndustry w ith a t eam o f over 6 5 technical e xperts back ed b y ad vanced design, analysis and data management technology from Autodesk, ESRI, Google, Adobe, Oracle and M icrosoft, Microdesk can help mak e BIM w ork for y our fir m, regardless of your current level of experience. If you don’t have in-house capabilities yet, you can gain immediate BIM functionality by using our people and expertise to respond to RFPs, build models and conduct analysis. If you’re r eady t o in vest in adding BIM capabilities t o y our e xisting design practice, we provide expert consulting on the process, tools and the skills necessary to be successful from standards creation to implementation,training and post implementation support. If your firm has already incorporated BIM capabilities, we can help you maximize your ROI and take you to the ne xt level with value eng ineering, green analysis, and 4D , 5D, and 6D analysis pr ocesses using applications including P rimavera, Microsoft P roject, Timberline and WinEST. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a r emarkably po werful t ool when e mployed t hroughout t he b uilding pr oject cy cle - fr om planning and design to construction to facility operation and management. Properly employed, BIM enables the efficient and integrated use of data over the course of an entir e pr oject - enabling ar chitects, engineers, contractors, property owners, and facilities managers t o seamlessly exchange information and files, improving communication, minimizing errors, and controlling costs. As a r esult, an incr easing n umber of clients ar e r equiring the use of BIM t o achieve better project results in a shor ter time and at a lo wer c ost. To fully r ealize the benefits of BIM - for the client as w ell as the desig ner and builder - it m ust be employed fr om the v ery beg inning. Architectural fir ms that utiliz e Virtual Design to conceptualize their projects and create highly accurate 3D models open up the oppor tunity t o pr ovide additional services through the sophisticated analysis of those models. BIM software enables architects and engineers to explore design options and g reen alt ernatives, evaluate their affect on every phase of the project, predict their perfor mance, validate them, and inc orporate them int o plans which can then be circulated among all the project team members, significantly reducing the r isk of data t ransfer and file c onversion er rors that can cause dela ys and unnecessary work change orders. As a bui lding pr oject mo ves fr om the design phase to engineering and construction, more opportunities open up for the civil eng ineering, MEP, and construction firms using BIM. Companies that ha ve embraced BIM are positioning themselves to win more business b y making it easier for both property owners and architects to award contracts t o fir ms who can seamlessly integrate themselves into the building process. The ability to accept and hand off design and eng ineering files through every phase of the project using coordinated BIM models ar e not just more efficient, they’re mor e c ompetitive. Once a project r eaches the c onstruction phase, building c ontractors utilizing BIM ar e already ahead of the game by being able to accept files, plans, and data that have originated, been r eviewed, and modified b y the designers and engineers earlier in the project, minimizing the chance for errors and miscommunication. In short, BIM provides a wide range of opportunities to save money, increase revenue, and impr ove business for everyone involved. For architects and designers, BIM software solutions enables them t o quickly weigh design options using accurate, comprehensive 3D modeling w ithout making costly commitments that could cause delays and cost overruns. For general contractors, BIM solutions enable them t o be more c ompetitive and fle xible dur ing the bidding process and then deli ver the pr oject on sc hedule, at or per haps even below budget. The property owner benefits from increased efficiencies throughout the planning, design, construction, and oper ation phases. The abilit y to have v irtually e very design and performance aspect of the project predicted, analyzed, and verified results in a hig her quality property that c osts less to operate and yields greater profitability. Microdesk pr ovides business pr ocess, information technology, and software consulting to the architectural, engineering, construction, and facility operations industries. Microdesk is part of the Autodesk and ESRI Developer Networks and is a leading Autodesk partner. BIM 31
Building Information Modeling

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Building Information Modeling
