Model Sharing and Data Exchange 5
The Architect has been publishing two kinds of models onto the project bank/server:
official models and unofficial models. When there was a need for cost estimation every
two or three months, the Architect did a formal model checking with Solibre, completed
the cleanup of the model, and made sure the model was accurate enough for quantity
takeoff. Afterwards the Architect published the official model. Every week or two, the
Architect published an unofficial model or a working model to demonstrate the design
progress.
The Architect also passed the model on to the Construction Manager (CM) for quantity
takeoff and cost estimating during the design phase. The Architect also double-checked
the quantities derived from their model and compared that with the CM’s list of quantities.
The Architect also shared the model with the Structural Engineer, the HVAC Engineer,
the electrical engineer, and the Acoustics Design Engineer. They used the architectural
model as the reference for their own design. The Architect also shared the model with the
city planners who were piloting the use of BIM for design review and building permitting.
The way to share the model on this project was still in the fashion of information push
rather than information pull. That is to say, the Architect simply delivered the whole
model to the Structural Engineer and it was the Structural Engineer’s call to decide which
wall or slab from the architectural model he/she would like to incorporate into the
structural model. Every week varied parties on the project convene and discuss all the
BIM-related issues on the product modeling meeting.