What has the experience been like for the various architecture firms that have already implemented BIM? What were their successes and failures? How did they train their staff, and what were the implementation costs? What are the benefits of this methodology? Is BIM a necessity or an opportunity?
These were some of the questions raised at the conference “BIM Implementation in Architectural Firms,” which took place on Tuesday, September 3, 2019, in the auditorium of the Pocitos Campus of Universidad ORT Uruguay.
Participants included Fernando Pereira, architect, founding partner of Sitio Arquitectura and current president of the Uruguayan Society of Architects; Gustavo Vera Ocampo, architect, founding partner of the firm Boga-Vera Ocampo; Architect Sergio Barreto, founder and current director of the MV arquitectos firm; and Architect Sebastián Sanabria, founding partner of Estudio ESE and vice president of the Uruguayan Chamber of Architecture and Engineering Services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlRhqQl1Hoo
“One of the great things about BIM is its ability to handle an impressive amount of data in real time to inform decision-making,” said architect Fernando Montaño, a professor at the School of Architecture at Universidad ORT Uruguay. Together with architect Andrea Rivello, a member of BIM Forum Uruguay, they served as moderators for the conference.
According to Fernando Pereira, after participating in several consulting sessions focused on international projects, his firm realized that it was necessary—and almost imperative—to gain a deeper understanding of how BIM works.
Pereira emphasized that working with this tool requires planning: determining what it will be used for and what the purpose of the model is. However, in his view, its potential is “enormous”: “Sooner or later, we’re going to have to make that paradigm shift, just as we did when we moved from the drawing board to CAD. It’s just a matter of time.”
For his part, Gustavo Vera Ocampo said that his firm has always explored various technological tools and analyzed the benefits they could offer from a project perspective. A couple of years ago, they decided to form a BIM team.
However, he pointed out that BIM is used as “just another tool.” “It’s not a matter of debating whether or not to use BIM. There’s a very specific aspect of progress and technology that helps improve the implementation of a project’s processes,” he added.
One day, someone told Sergio Barreto, “The key is to train the boss, because if he doesn’t know what a tool can do, he won’t know what to ask for.” Those words stuck with him, so he decided to get trained in BIM so he could then “share that knowledge with his colleagues.”
Thanks to BIM, he noted that they had moved from “the art of drawing to the ability to calculate” and, in particular, to having large volumes of information at their disposal. “I have more time to think, to discuss, to fine-tune details with the engineers, and to pour my heart into the architecture,” he said.
For Sebastián Sanabria, using BIM was “a bridge and a pathway to entering and competing in top-tier markets”: “What led me to work with other markets was realizing the significance this methodology would come to have and, above all, the need for high productivity and efficiency in order to meet the demanding deadlines those markets required.”
Sanabria emphasized that BIM is a methodology that requires changes to company structures as well as careful planning. “It’s a change in the way we build; it’s about building before we actually build,” he concluded.
