BIM and Integrated Design: Strategies for Architectural Practice

For a long time in my office, BIM was something out there that wasn’t acted upon. We sat on nineteen seats of Revit for nearly two years, stored away in a closet unused – shelfware. Waiting for the right opportunity. Becoming obsolete. Doing no one any good. Taking up valuable storage space. Not earning its keep. And with each month unused, the software weighed on us: waiting for the right time, the right project, the right client, the right phase, the right people to put on the project, the right people to train…

Sound familiar?

Moving away from CAD to BIM (Building Information Modeling) software takes courage. It takes great leaps of faith that BIM will actually help your firm be more efficient. More accurate. More profitable.

If you are one of the many architects ready to take the leap to BIM adoption, but are not quite sure how or when to do it, Randy Deutsch, AIA, LEED AP has written a book for you.

Despite its technical sounding title, BIM and Integrated Design: Strategies for Architectural Practice is much more about people and your firm’s culture than it is about the software. He leaves the business implications, technical requirements, tips and tricks to other authors and discusses, in great depth, how BIM will directly affect your firm… in both good and, possibly, bad ways.

The book is loaded case studies and conversations with leaders in the profession. As an Entrepreneur Architect constantly experimenting with the idea of taking back control and responsibility of the complete design and construction process, the sections dedicated to how BIM and Integrated Design may usher in the return of the Master Builder were especially interesting to me.

Whether you are fully BIM-friendly or waiting for your expensive shelfware to load itself, BIM and Integrated Design: Strategies for Architectural Practice should be added to your reading list.