IFC and data exchange
What IFC is
Section titled “What IFC is”An open, standard file format for exchanging building models. It matters because it is not tied to one piece of software: it can be written from any BIM tool and read into any other.
It is the instrument of independence from licences: the model stays usable even if the other party works in a different system.
What it is good for
Section titled “What it is good for”Coordination
Section titled “Coordination”Comparing the disciplines’ models, clash detection.
Review
Section titled “Review”The client, the design checker or the authority can look at the model without using the designer’s software.
Archiving
Section titled “Archiving”In the long run it is the format most likely to still be readable in years’ time — unlike native files tied to software versions.
Handover
Section titled “Handover”It can be the basis of the model handed to operations.
What it is not good for
Section titled “What it is not good for”Editing
Section titled “Editing”A model transferred by IFC is generally “flat”: the parametric relationships and the editing logic do not come across. What arrives as IFC can be viewed and checked, not designed on.
Complete data transfer
Section titled “Complete data transfer”Not every property transfers automatically. What matters has to be agreed and checked.
Replacing the conversation
Section titled “Replacing the conversation”Sending a file is not coordination. Coordination between disciplines.
The practical rules
Section titled “The practical rules”- Agree the export settings — what transfers, in what structure.
- Check the output — look at the IFC, do not just send it.
- Record the version and the date — which state it contains.
- Do not edit on the imported model.
The LGS angle
Section titled “The LGS angle”A frame is a very detailed model: thousands of members. It can be transferred in IFC, but produce a separate coordination model as well, showing the walls and floors in simplified form. That keeps coordination from slowing to a crawl. Levels of development.
The point
Section titled “The point”IFC is the common language: it does not carry everything, but what it does carry, everyone understands. That is what stops the model getting stuck inside one piece of software.