BIM IMPLEMENTATION CASE IN A MASONRY AND DRYWALL DESIGN FIRM

BIM IMPLEMENTATION CASE IN A MASONRY AND DRYWALL DESIGN FIRM 1 Ari Monteiro Dharma Sistemas, Brazil Rodolfo Bayerlein Leonardi & Bayerlein Arquitetos Associados, Brazil 1 INTRODUCTION This paper reports a BIM implementation experience in a masonry and drywall design firm located at Caieiras city, São Paulo, Brazil. This company is managed by two owners and it has a design team of six designers graduated or studying Civil Engineering or Architecture. For this implementation were adopted the following BIM tools: Autodesk Revit®, BCFier Revit Add-In [1], Autodesk Design Review® [2] and Bizagi Process Modeler [3]. Autodesk Revit® was used to produce the masonry and drywall BIM model and the design documentation. An add-in to work with BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) files calls BCFier® was installed in Revit®. This extension allows the users to review your BIM models. Autodesk Design Review® was introduced as an alternative way to review and sharing the BIM model with the contractor and the design partners that have not Autodesk Revit®. Bizagi Process Modeler was used to document the BIM processes implemented for this case. This implementation process took place between February and June 2016 and was conducted with the guidance of a consulting firm specializing in CAD/BIM systems implementation [4] and subdivided into the following main activities: (a) BIM standards development; (b) Experimental design development; (c) Design team training; (d) BIM implementation documentation. The specific BIM implementation goals were: (a) Elaboration of masonry and drywall BIM model with LoD 400; (b) Automatic and precise take-off materials; (c) Production of design documentation with no inconsistencies and errors; (d) Visualization facilitated of design issues involving the masonry and drywall design and another design disciplines. 2 BIM IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES In the activity "BIM standards development" were produced BIM components necessary to develop the masonry and drywall design, such as ceramic and concrete block units, mooring grids, concrete precast parts, mullions, gypsum boards, symbols, typical details, etc. a project template file with all the graphical representation settings used in masonry and drywall design was also developed (Figure 1). All BIM components were developed by consulting with the support of design firm and some materials manufacturers. The centralization of this activity in BIM consulting firm with the support of design firm and some materials manufacturers was very important, since learning the development of BIM components and design templates is not trivial to beginners in BIM. The experience of consulting in BIM tools and processes used in the production of masonry and drywall designs helped boost this initial part of the implementation process. Figure 1 – Masonry and drywall components. 1 MONTEIRO, A. BAYERLEIN. R. BIM Implementation Case in a Masonry and Drywall Design Firm. In: 4th BIM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, 2016, São Paulo & Lisboa. Proceedings... São Paulo: BIMMI, 2016. About the "Experimental design development" activity (Figure 2), this served to validate the standards and processes developed by BIM consulting and thus solve all problems within a controlled environment before multiplying the knowledge generated for the rest of the design team. Figure 2 – BIM experimental design results. The "Design team training" activity was accomplished using an elaborate training program according to the firm needs and consistent to the standards developed into the BIM implementation. At the training was possible to discuss several aspects of the new work processes and presented BIM tools. This discussion was very important to promote the exchange of experiences between designers and BIM consulting. It also allowed a broader view of BIM and not just the features of BIM tools covered in the training. In the "BIM implementation documentation" activity, a design guide with the new workflow was elaborated to be adopted on next jobs using BIM. In addition to the design guide were documented the solutions for all software technical problems encountered during the implementation on the basis of technical support maintained by BIM consulting. This technical support database in conjunction with the design guide was the way used to store all the knowledge generated in the implementation process. The idea is to use this documentation for training of new designers or access this knowledge at any time by the firm's designers. 3 BIM IMPLEMENTATION BENEFITS Some benefits obtained with the implementation of BIM were: • Easy detection of design problems: the 3D visualization helped the detection of design problems involving the design disciplines; • Increased productivity and precision in a material take-off activity: before BIM this activity was done manually and always contained some inaccuracies in the data. Besides that, when design changes were needed the quantification must to be revised; • Design documentation review facilitated: since the focus is on the modeling, the documentation is only a consequence. With the modification of the BIM model to update the design documentation has become easier and faster. Before it was necessary to check each design document to maintain consistency. 4 RESEARCH RESULTS During the implementation process was verified, as well as Monteiro [5] states in his research, that BIM tools currently on the market do not yet have all the features needed to develop masonry and drywall designs efficiently. Many activities on masonry and drywall design take longer to run in BIM than 2D. Some tasks, such as masonry modulation and drywall assemblies are executed manually in the BIM tool. For this reason, these tasks consuming more time (Figure 3, p.3). There are not features in Revit® to do these kinds of tasks efficiently. Against these results the design firm intends to continue the investing on BIM technology aiming the following issues: • Since the components were produced by BIM consultant to streamline the implementation process, now designers should acquire this knowledge to produce new components or to maintain the existing components; • The Autodesk Revit® allows the customization by programming languages like C# using an API (Application Programming Interface) or a visual programming tool like Dynamo®, both available by Autodesk to extend its software products. The idea is to use these resources to automate design tasks that take more time when executed manually. Figure 3 - Time consumption in project activities on experimental BIM design. 5 CONCLUSIONS In summary, the main aspects that were crucial to the success of this BIM implementation and that can be considered a differential in relation to other jobs of this category were: (a) Centralizing the development of BIM standard BIM consulting firm support project company and materials suppliers; (b) Experience of consulting in research and development in BIM and particularly in the processes involved in developing masonry and drywall designs; (c) Design team training only after the validation of standards and new BIM processes at development of the experimental design and (d) A young design team with open mind to learn and adopt new work processes demanded by BIM. During the implementation process was verified that the BIM tool used is not fully prepared to develop masonry and drywall design efficiently. Elaboration of BIM models with LoD 400 can be very difficult if the BIM tool does not have features to automate some tasks (e.g.: masonry modulation and drywall assemblies). 6 REFERENCES [1] BCFIER. BCFier Revit Add-in. Available at (http://bcfier.com/#about). 04/12/2016. [2] AUTODESK. Autodesk Design Review. Available at (http://www.autodesk.com/products/design-review/overview). 04/12/2016. [3] BIZAGI. Bizagi Process Modeler. Available at (http://www.bizagi.com/pt/produtos/bpm-suite/modeler). 04/12/2016. [4] DHARMA. Dharma Sistemas Website. Available at (http://dharmasistemas.wix.com/home). 04/12/2016. [5] MONTEIRO, A. Projeto para produção de vedações verticais em alvenaria em uma ferramenta CAD-BIM. Dissertação de Mestrado. Escola Politécnica, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2011. 111 p.