July of 2019.
The mother of BIM, Georgia Tech, was something very different from my previous experience at Cal Poly.
Georgia seems like what they would call a "modern city" two decades ago. It has the scent of history. Also, the home of "Gone with the Wind".
Introduction- Syllabus and Life in Georgia
“BIM” and “Shape Machine” covers two spectrones of architecture:
Construction (BIM) and Design (Shape Machine).
Back at home, BIM is described as an advanced technology which helps construction process smoother; it is also known for its controversy whether it is overrated.
Therefore, I came to this workshop within great curiosity of what BIM really is about, and challenging thoughts awaited to be answered."
EXCHANGING INFO :
Duration : 2019/07/01~31
Student ID, always gains weight at the States.
Covering July of 2019, the GIT Summer Program brought us to the mother school of BIM: Georgia Tech. We spend every morning from eight to twelve taking classes from two Ph.D. students respectively from Building Construction and Architecture Dept. The curriculum was divided into two:
First, the “BIM course” from Monday to Wednesday taught by Yuqing.
Covering up “Why do we need BIM?”, “What is BIM?” along with a lab for Revit, Naviswork, and dynamo. (Note: every student in Georgia Tech has to know python)
Secondly, the “Shape Machine” from Thursday to Friday taught by Kurt.
Introducing a “real visual computing system” plug-in for Rhino (The most used software system for designers in the US.) within the purpose to make computers a more “intuitive tool” for Designers.
During the other half of the day, most of us had a taste of what it is like to live an “American life”. Meaning: very time-consuming to do almost everything (since we don’t have a car), having to cook our own meals every day, and higher commodity prices. Despite such differences, we find ourselves encountering an education so different from Taiwan. Hence cherish the chance to learn more about the applicant of computer and design firsthand, in Georgia.
What I've Learned
BIM and Shape Machine
BIM
If you can't find information inside BIM, you can't find benefits inside it.
B.I.M, Building Information Modeling.
The first and the most important thing I’ve learned in the class was that BIM is about modeling through “information”.
BIM is a tool designed in parametric thinking, which in my interpretation, you could see it as the BIG DATA of Architecture.
The essence behind BIG DATA is that there is valuable information behind every activity online; likewise in architecture, there is the information behind every building, it’s just that people do not know how to make use of them. In the past we do not have a system to organize a large amount of information, people overlook them since it could be too time-consuming to achieve. However, there is no doubt that within BIM, circulation flow check, safety analysis, energy analysis, and cost assessment could be done in greater efficiency and clarity. Behind efficiency is not only a more profitable business but also an environment-sustainable industry.
The second thing that benefits from BIM is the unification of drawings.
Different parties (contractors, developers, and architects) have their own drawing requirements. Given people unnecessary information causes confusion, confusion then takes time to communicate, and time is money within useless drawings redone time after time. On the other hand, everything has to follow up on the government’s requirements. So far there are 2D drawing specifications but not 3D ones (Except Singapore). In terms of efficiency and accuracy, we can see 2D drawings as an exploded 3D object and document them by parts. If only the government accepts 3D models, in the future we can have a more accurate picture of the project.
Perhaps the most debatable issue in the class was to which extend is BIM capable of. Where I find the concern of not only BIM changing student’s way of thinking as they do design, but the great improvement the industry will have to make in order to catch up with this technology itself: to be able to keep up with the advanced tools BIM provides, contractors, firms, developers and the government will have to come up with updated regulations, and people who understand how to operate such tool.
While making information more translucent definitely helps integration, here are a few things we still have to keep in mind:
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How much information should be exposed?
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If we don't try earning money through bargaining that price, what should we do?
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What could be done if the government doesn't permit?
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How do u make use of the DATA?
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It is in violation of how three parties make money?
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Company private information leaks at risk.
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Full digital trace on software: who built it? How much time spent?
Digital models that can’t be built
In architecture, different models serve different purposes.
Back then, one of the most important reasons to build an architectural model was to simulate its construction possibilities.
(A famous example: The Sagrada Familia.)
Nowadays, construction and architecture design seem apart from each other more than ever.
Before BIM, architecture software such as AutoCAD, Rhino, and Grasshopper does not provide drawing regulations. Contractors often receive drawings that fail to communicate; a physical scale model plays a crucial role in filling the gap of such miscommunication.
What happens when drawing and building models no longer correspond to in-life construction? While 3D printing models became more and more popular among students, it seems that we architecture students nowadays are more likely to forget the real purpose of building models.
Despite being an efficient tool for integration, BIM has its flaws when it comes to design. In Studio, students complain that Revit limited their creativity due to its parametric system. You design the building through puzzling “elements” (doors, windows, walls). Relatively, such circumstances are what people encounter in the practical field: design is restrained by what the industry (or the software in this case) provides.
When we compare Revit to AutoCAD or Rhino, the benefit of graphic software is that: a line on the drawing is “undefined”; it is human that is capable of recognizing/defining what the “line” represents. An advantage of that, it allows designers to have a different perspective of drawings, which then leads towards creativity. From that, it brings us to the discussion to Shape Machine.
Shape Machine
If you can see it, you can find it.
“Imagine now when you type command+F, instead of finding texts, you can now find ‘Shapes’.”
Said Kurt our instructor during the first class.
B.I.M, Building Information Modeling.
The first and the most important thing I’ve learned in the class was that BIM is about modeling through “information”.
BIM is a tool designed in parametric thinking, which in my interpretation, you could see it as the BIG DATA of Architecture.
The essence behind BIG DATA is that there is valuable information behind every activity online; likewise in architecture, there is the information behind every building, it’s just that people do not know how to make use of them. In the past we do not have a system to organize a large amount of information, people overlook them since it could be too time-consuming to achieve. However, there is no doubt that within BIM, circulation flow check, safety analysis, energy analysis, and cost assessment could be done in greater efficiency and clarity. Behind efficiency is not only a more profitable business but also an environment-sustainable industry.
A True Computer for Designers
Shape Machine is a plug-in designed for Rhino, a product by Georgia Tech. It is a “real visual computing system”, meaning it is trying to make computers break the limits of the way graphics are drawn in the first place, recognizing what a human “can see” instead of what the computer has drawn. To be more specific, Kurt had us look at the diagram above. Let’s say this shape is formed by two squares in Rhino. How many triangles can you see? Four. How many triangles can be “selected” directly by Rhino? None. The only shape that can be directly selected now is the two squares. Therefore in the database of our computer, triangles do not exist. The triangles were recognized by human eyes but not by the computer can now be found with the help of shape machine. This is done by math. Finding a shape is a breakthrough step. Once you can find a shape, we can now “change” it. Through math we can also list out all the combinations of how many shapes one can create under certain rules: How many categories of shapes can you create through three lines? Or discover certain rules that kept generating the shape (or in some
cases floor plans.) In Architecture school, it's about finding your design intention and figure whether that design intends matter to that building or not.
It is a true computer for Designers.
Above all, why do we need machines and how much man work could be replaced?
We use machines during the times we can't assure workers/men are always performing consistent quality under time pressure. For example, 3D printed premade objects. Now, not only we have machines that produce products, but also machines that help generate ideas (Shape Machine). Does it really matter who is doing the work, when we learned how the man did it?
Can we define a man in work by calculating all his abilities?
It's like acting, a great actor picks up a certain person's mannerism and reaction, does the actor then becomes that person? If so, how do we define identity then?
One can now multitask with the help of a machine and perform just as well as ten men. From now on,
the real question we should be asking ourselves is: Which one is more affordable? Man or Machine?