BIM basics

What BIM is and is not

Not a 3D visual

A good render is not BIM. The visual may be a by-product of the model, but it is not the point.

Not one piece of software

Several tools exist, and the method is not tied to one.

It is information management

Building elements carry not only geometry but data: material, type, performance, installation data. That data can be searched, totalled and checked.

Why it is useful in practice

Everyone works from one source

Fewer version clashes, less of the “which is the latest” question.

Clashes are visible in advance

A service pipe meeting the structure comes out in the model, not on site. Clash detection.

Quantities come from the model

Not counted separately: they can be extracted from the model, so they are consistent with the drawings.

The information persists

It remains usable after handover: operation, alteration, demolition.

What counts particularly in LGS technology

Here the model is not only a document but a manufacturing input: the machine program is produced directly from the frame model. The machine does not get a drawing.

That means the accuracy of the model is directly the accuracy of the member made. Model-based working here is not a convenience but a condition of the technology.

What it does not solve

• Bad decisions — an accurate model can still be a bad design.
• A lack of coordination — software does not talk to the disciplines for you.
• Liability — somebody still signs the drawings.

Getting started in practice

Not everything at once. The most common steps that work:

1. a structural model for manufacture,
2. comparing the architectural and structural models,
3. bringing the services into clash detection,
4. data — materials, performances — in the model,
5. handover to operations.

The point

BIM is about information, not geometry. Drawing in 3D is not yet working in BIM — and for whoever manages data as well, the model becomes the memory of the project.