The BIM Awards, Part 2, and a Counter Viewpoint on BIM in Education

After taking a brief break for the summer, AECbytes returns this month with two new Tips and Tricks articles: Carlos Ramos, Partner at Oppenheim Architecture and Design shows how the new capabilites in ArchiCAD 10 can be used to model the exterior steel structure of a building without the use of the TrussMaker add-on application; and Jonathan Pickup, principal of ArchonCAD Limited, describes how to set up a template file in VectorWorks.

Last month, I published Part 1 of the article on the second annual BIM Awards that were presented at the AIA TAP conference in June. It described the award winning projects in three of the six submission categories: Creating Stellar Architecture Using BIM (awarded to M. A. Mortenson Company for the Denver Art Museum Expansion project); Design/Delivery Process Innovation Using BIM (awarded to GHAFARI Associates for the Flint Global V6 Engine Plant Expansion project), and Inspirational Pilot Projects Demonstrating New Ways Forward (awarded to Kirksey for the Satterfield & Pontikes Corporate Headquarters project). This month's AECbytes "Building the Future" article presents Part 2 of this series, discussing the award winning projects in the remaining three categories of this year's BIM Awards: Analysis or Simulation; Jury's Choice; and Academic Program or Curriculum.

And rounding off the offerings for this month is a Viewpoint article by Paul Seletsky, Digital Design Director of SOM's New York Office, who counters some of the points made by Prof. Renee Cheng in her Viewpoint article published last month, questioning the role of BIM in architectural education. Prof. Cheng had mentioned that her essay was intended to serve as the beginning of a dialogue among academics and between academics and professionals—a discourse vitally important to the future of the profession. That dialogue has now progressed further with Seletsky's response, and should hopefully spark a useful debate on how BIM should be incorporated into architectural education.

Thank you!

Lachmi Khemlani

Editorials > August 2006