BIMstorm™ | Build Boston 14 May 2008 Part 2 - Live

• BIMstorm™ returned to Boston for another round.
• Part of the AIA TAP - Technology in Architectural Practice Conference being held alongside the AIA National Convention in Boston.
• Real time charrette during the 90 minute plenary session, on May 14, 2008
• 130 BIMs were created during the 90 minutes.
• Audience members submitted BIMs from their iPhones, Laptops and on paper forms, which were then entered into Onuma.
• Remote participants also submitted their projects.
• This was a first of a kind massive creation of BIMs in real time from the audience.

Step 1 - An Audience of 400 submitted 130 BIMs in 90 Minutes.

• As the audience arrived for the presentation instructions were handed out on how to create BIMs using iPhones and laptops. For those that did not have an iPhone or laptop, a form was provided to write in the basic parameters of a building. Each person could choose a type of building, name it, define the gross square footage and the number of floors. These forms were then handed to the front of the room, where the presenters entered the data into Onuma.

iPhones, Excel, Laptops, Paper and Pencil, were used to create BIMs.

The Onuma Model Server supported these BIMs at varying levels of detail.

• As the entries from step 1 were then picked up in real time by the Onuma team in Pasadena and the Miralles team in Pasadena.

Onuma generated Google Earth Files.

• This building was automatically generated from an Excel file defining the program requirements. The upper floors of the tower are for a hotel. The lower floors only show the core of the tower and have yet to be populated with office space. The most fascinating thing about this process is that design iterations can be explored by changing the order and configuration of the Excel file, which then automatically creates this BIM by importing it to Onuma. No design work or rearranging of spaces has happened yet at this point in the process.

IFC files generated BIMs to be opened in Revit, Archicad and VectorWorks.

• The same tower that was generated above from the Excel file is then exported through IFC and imported to Revit or other BIM applications. This is a 100% automatically generated BIM in Revit, with proper floor to floor heights, space, space names and other attributes. It is up to the designer now to resolve it in Revit. The 3D view here is what an Excel programming document for a tower looks like. Note the grey rectangles are the floor plates, and the spaces can be seen floating beyond the floors.

Boston will never be the same.

BIM is for the People.

BIM for the People is the theme of this BIMStorm

• BIM is democratic. Understanding how the power of many can have dramatic results.
• BIM needs to be accessible by all to make the process valuable.
• If you know how to use Excel, you can create a BIM in Boston.
• If you have an iPhone, you can create a BIM in Boston.

BIMStorm centered on top of the Boston City Hall

• buildingSMART alliance
• The ONLY way we are going to reduce our carbon footprint is to use open standards based processes to enable true real time collaboration and decision making.
• The complexities of the industry and need to measure, calibrate, design and construct our environment, require building in a smart way.
• Stop building dumb.