Warehouse concept as design strategy

BIM models are often produced and used in the Danish
construction industry based on clients’ specifications and demands. In
Denmark the state has developed rules for government, public,
municipal, and regional builders (Transport-, Bygnings- og
Boligministeriet, 2013). Publically funded projects with monetary
values over a given threshold are required to use Building information
modelling (BIM), however many of the industry’s clients see the value
in adopting the same measures; and it is increasingly common that
inexperienced clients request 3D models so that they can see their
construction project before the final decision to build. Clients and
building designers (AEC) are experiencing benefits by using BIM in
areas such as Quality Assurance, in such a way that they can identify
and rectify mistakes during the design phases and using appropriate
information management reuse the information from the BIM models
in other forms, such as simulation etc. and once the project becomes
operational. However, there has been lack of focus on value that can be
created by using BIM during the design and construction phase. In this
paper the following problem will be investigated: How will a design
strategy as a concept look like and what benefits, a more structured
work method, can complement the use of BIM throughout design and
construction processes? Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) is a
new way of digitally working with projects, supported by BIM. VDC
is a new way of thinking and approaching a project, how to manage
18 A. FINDSEN AND M.T. ANDERSEN
information and how to organize people and their working methods so
the vision and goal for the project is reached. All projects are different
and can be seen as making a prototype that will be the final product.
However, no matter how hard you try the projects always have their
own distinctive situated character. Everyone who works with projects
and participates in the processes needs to have the ability to collect
digital construction knowledge and information during the project life
cycle and be able to improve the work method constantly. This calls
for a more methodical perspective and information structure during the
execution of a project, if we make the same mistakes in every project it
is therefore important to have some transferable framework that all
participants can act and work within. VDC is about how the participants
work together across disciplines, how they communicate, plan and
make decisions, and it is about creating interdisciplinary insights. One
of the biggest questions to be considered when planning and working
with the VDC/BIM process should be – “What should we use the
DIGITAL objects and information for?” and “What do the different
participants need to deliver at certain points to drive the process?” At
the University of Applied Science, Lillebaelt (EAL), the education of
Architectural technology and construction management works with
students in 4th semester (half-year semesters) where they focus on
designing and planning a construction project. The BIM process is done
continually by focusing on organization and execution of the digital
delivery of the construction project starting up the BIM-Model and end
the course with optimized planning in location-based scheduling and
created budgets for the project using the structured information from
the models. EAL uses Autodesk Revit and Vico Office for this type of
design work. This type of design method has been applied to a variety
of projects, both theoretical/practical study experiments and real-life
projects, which both have created valuable insight and knowledge about
the complexity in the interdisciplinary and ongoing BIM process as well
as knowledge and information delivery between the actors involved in
the project