Understanding the polarized perspectives in BIM enabled projects

Successful implementation and use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) require consideration of people issues. Two polarised views of BIM are shown from the literature based on technology-centred or human-centred perspectives each of which acknowledges the other but subsumes this into their view. Indeed it is the way that each adopts the other that is problematic. This paper demonstrates that acknowledging these differences and working with them better addresses the management of the implementation of BIM. Empirical findings, from in-depth interviews in a multi-disciplinary engineering company, show that individuals use BIM but are confused by its role depending on their job and perspective. Given this, collaboration and development are held back by the un-expressed differences. It is argued that recognising these differences and using them in a balanced way is essential for the successful adoption of BIM

Collaboration in BIM Enabled Design Projects: Effects of Interoperable Information Technologies

There is a growing awareness that the problematic nature of collaboration in construction design projects is further complicated by the use of interoperable information technologies (IT) in Building Information Modelling (BIM) enabled projects. Consequently, there is a need to better understand the ways interoperable IT get involved in inter-disciplinary relations and affect mutual engagement of different design members. Findings from the study of a BIM enabled design project are analysed using the concept of interdependencies in the interactions between practitioners and their organisations. The paper draws a distinction between “model interdependencies” and “design interdependencies” concerned with the IT and the design task respectively. This distinction helps to deal with the complex nature of practice by expressing the different needs people have in their task interactions using technology in organisations. It is concluded that the conflicts between model and design interdependencies cause segregation into separate model development and design development at the organisational level. Project organisations should be aware of this and take necessary social and technological precautions to achieve better design collaboration

BIM and conceptual design sustainability analysis: An information categorization framework

Sustainability in construction has attracted considerable attention from scholars as well as from regulatory bodies. However, early design stage sustainability analysis remains problematic because of the conflicting factors affecting sustainability, the limited and fragmented project data in hand and deficiencies of existing sustainability analysis software for quick evaluation of conceptual design alternatives. Building Information Modelling's (BIM) information management and integration capabilities present opportunities to support early design sustainability analysis. In this paper, early findings of an on-going BIM based early design sustainability analysis application development project are presented. Through literature review and in-depth interviews with a sustainability professional, an information categorization framework for quick evaluation of different conceptual design alternatives from a sustainability point of view is developed. The framework guides further stages of the application development project and also supports BIM Execution Planning for projects where holistic early design sustainability analysis is intended

Redefining Design in Construction

Several theoretical framings have been proposed regarding the nature and process of designing but these mainly see design as a creative activity. However, designing in construction is a collective undertaking that involves not only 'creating' discipline-specific parts of the design but also 'organising' them to ensure consistency and coherence. Nevertheless, organising design in construction is under-theorised, and there are no clear explanations of what constitutes design collaboration and how it is different from designing. These gaps imply not only a shortcoming for managing design in construction, but also a difficulty for developing technology that effectively supports it. Therefore, this paper adopts a practice-focused approach to explore the interdisciplinary design interactions in a project from an organisational point of view. This develops further insight into the natures and processes of designing and design collaboration in construction, thus informing the management of design. When seen from a practice-based perspective, multidisciplinary design development becomes an ongoing process of reestablishing 'a shared sense of purposefulness' that enables both autonomy of, and consistency between, different design disciplines. This provides an explanation of the interdependency between specialist knowledge and interdisciplinary interactions. Thus, the paper develops definitions of design and design collaboration in construction that are centred on 'organisation' rather than 'creativity'. Implications for technology development and management are outlined

Shared sense of purposefulness”: a new concept to understand the practice of coordinating design in construction

Construction management literature sees the collective task of coordinating design as being about the “‘integration’” of “fragmented” discipline-specific design tasks/outputs, thus overlooking the important role of social interactions. This is not only conceptually problematic but also presents a practical management problem. As a response, a practice-based approach, which relies on a “becoming” ontology, is adopted for a practical explanation of design coordination for more effective design management. The adopted methodology suggests that design develops as a result of unfolding (path-dependent) individual actions and interdisciplinary interactions. Based on this, the concept of a “shared sense of purposefulness” is proposed to refer to the temporary and precarious organizational state of a design team in which each of the interacting team members has achieved a state of purposefulness to resume individual action. Hence, design coordination in construction is redefined as continuously re-establishing and maintaining “a shared sense of purposefulness”. The concept’s usefulness for understanding the practice of design coordination is demonstrated using data collected from a project in the UK. The discussion enables fresh insights into the everyday operation of design coordination. It is concluded that the proposed conception paves a way forward both for the research and practice in construction design management

Leveraging collaboration through the use of building information models

Building information models are a major new means of design information communication and therefore they are of primary importance for successful design collaboration. However, in addition to communicating the design information, models are used in many different situations for different purposes by different stakeholders at different stages in construction projects. The developing model is a result of the different situations encountered in its production through the interaction of stakeholders. Consequently, it is important to evaluate different uses of models by different stakeholders collectively in order to understand the implications of these differences on models and therefore on design collaboration. The paper investigates this through two educational building projects and establishes the origins of these differences to identify how particular situations affect the developing model. Findings suggest that a successful collective use of models requires structure and planning but these plans need to be adapted to the situations in order to enable collaboration