BIM for Small Projects? Case Studies
When we read about BIM, it’s usually about large firms doing large projects: SOM, HOK, skyscrapers in Australia, airports in Japan, etc. We don’t often hear about small cabins in Minnesota or restaurants in Maryland done by tiny firms. As one of the panelists for the AIA-TAP webinar on BIM for small projects, I am excited to share insights on how BIM works in residential architecture from my 4 1/2 years as the BIM manager at SALA Architects in Minnesota. And I’m here to tell you that BIM is right for any size project with any size budget. Of course it’s not easy making BIM work. And if you haven’t had some failures with BIM, then you probably aren’t trying hard enough. So I’ll also be sharing what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what I’m looking to try next.
To sign up for this free AIA-sponsored webinar, click here (This webinar is over; the link will take you to the archived version on AIA.org): AIA BIM for Small Projects II Webinar
Thanks,
Jared Banks, AIA
Shoegnome, LLC
To see the first webinar, go here: BIM for Small Projects I: Case Studies in Innovative BIM Use by Small Firms
To read more on Jared’s blog, go here: Jared’s BIM Blog
Thomas, well said. The ability of a small firm to produce like a firm much bigger than itself is awesome. I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently. I like the term ‘force multiplier’.
I work in a small/medium size danish architecture office, doing small, medium and large scale projects. Buildings and masterplans.
We’ve been using BIM (Archicad) on some projects since 2006, and our experience is, that it’s often easier to get an advantage using BIM on small projects, with only one, two or thee people handeling everything.
Especially small projects with only one architect managing the whole model from early sketches to final construction drawings, can be done much faster with BIM than 2D CAD. One person can actually master a pretty big project alone using BIM, because of all the automation done by software.
An we have to remember, that by using BIM we also get a precise 3D-model, that would have taken extra time and expertice to build from 2D CAD drawings.
Big firms can put a lot of money behind an executive decission to start using BIM on all projects, but small firms can turn from CAD to BIM much faster than bigger firms, and in that way have an advantage.
I would say, that small firms working on small projects have more to gain from BIM, than bigger firms working on bigger projects.