BIM Model

I’ve heard it many times that it is redundant to say BIM Model, because the last letter of BIM is model, but when we really look at what the acronym of BIM, these three little letters stand for Building Information Modeling. Notice that the last word is not Model but Modeling.  As my son’s 4th grade teacher would say by adding ing to the end of the word you make the word an action word.  If Modeling is an action word then BIM cannot be an object, and if it is not an object, than Building Information Modeling is a process. If BIM is a process what is it a process of?

I believe that Building Information Modeling is the process of gathering, generating, collecting, and recording information about a building into a data base. The dream of BIM would have that database be a single database that can not only be used through the design phase of a building but throughout  the entire life cycle of the building that can be used to inform the maintenance and later designs of the building. This database of the building information is the BIM model.

Many people feel that Revit is BIM because it models 3d information about a building. Revit is not BIM it is the tool to record and generate information about a building. Revit allows us to record more than 3d information about a building, but if that information is not recorded Revit is just a CAD(Computer Aided Design) 3d tool. As I stated in my 2008 blog post Is Revit BIM, Just because you use Revit does not mean you are using the BIM process in your work flow.
Read more