Role of BIM in Public Projects
BIM and 3D modelling are essential in today’s architecture field. The way BIM is integrated varies not just by firm, but even by individual project. The size of the building, structure of the project team, or even government mandates can dictate how a firm utilizes their BIM capabilities. Belgian firm Osar Architects has offices in Antwerp and Ghent, employing 40 people and working primarily in the healthcare sector. Their experience and expertise in the field has taken the shape of hospitals, psychiatric facilities, educational buildings, and collective senior housing, but their focus has always been the same: well-being for the buildings’ inhabitants. Due to the nature of the work, many of their projects come via public contracts; increasingly, this means Big BIM is literally a mandate. Currently in their office, Osar is testing the best way to integrate BIM cohesively into their workflow, reports Enrique Aucha Gómez, who has been with the firm for nearly eight years. He describes the Big BIM government mandate as increasingly common on public projects and predicts it will be the way of the future. Competition requirements for these types of projects now commonly require advanced BIM expertise as a must-have, where in the past it was simply an added bonus. The ability to design in 2D, 3D, and produce final renderings from the same program and presenting a variety of iterations graphically early-on in the design phase is important for public work, to bring the various partners on board and onto the same page at the beginning of a project. The sensitivity that health spaces require necessitates careful thought and planning by the design team. Osar needed a BIM software that would work with, rather than against, them through that process, yet still the exact workflow varies project to project. For example, with a 5,000 square-meter psychiatric hospital project, Osar modeled and rendered the entire building in 3D in Vectorworks For the psychiatric hospital project, the 3D model was used as a sort of living as-built document, with a consultant incorporating any changes as construction progressed without the need for Osar to rework their drawing set. Source: Archdaily - vectorworks
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