Building information modeling tools are great, but if you can't run efficient, productive coordination meetings, the Building Team will never realize the benefits of true BIM coordination. Here are some helpful tips for making the most of BIM coordination meetings based on my experience working on BIM/VDC-driven projects:
1. Practice and prepare. Yes, practice for a meeting. The more you do it the more productive your meetings can be. It takes some skill to be able to navigate the model and have the correct models loaded and visibility settings. Spending 15 minutes before loading models and opening views for the areas of focus will save you a lot of waiting and down time during the meeting.
2. Assign a "designated driver.” This person needs to be familiar with the model and savvy with the software platform. Models can be quite cumbersome, and it can slow down the meeting when a group of people have to watch someone poorly navigating the model. That will quickly kill your productivity.
SEE JARED KRIEGER AT THE 2013 AIA NATIONAL CONVENTION
Jared Krieger, Project Architect in Gensler’s Washington, D.C., office, will speak on “Maximizing BIM: How to Successfully Execute a Fully Integrated BIM Project,” at the AIA National Convention in Denver on Friday, June 21, 6:00-7:00 p.m. More information: http://convention.aia.org.
3. Use your team’s time wisely. You don’t always have to have the full team in the room at the same time. Consider splitting the meeting into structured trades. For example, meet with the structural engineer for the first portion of the meeting to review structural specific coordination. Then have some overlap time with MEP and structural for common coordination. Finish the meeting with MEP-specific coordination.
4. Use meeting notes to stay focused. Open action items and homework from the previous meeting should be the basis for discussion in your current meeting. Use this structure to keep yourself on track, and resolve open coordination issues before moving on to new items.
5. Talk about this process early in the project. For most people, using a collaboratively focused process leveraging technology will be a new process. It may sound like a large time commitment, but if done correctly it will save you time in the long run. Educate the team early on and set/manage expectations.
Jared Krieger, AIA, LEED AP, is a Project Architect and BIM/VDC expert based in Gensler's Washington, D.C., office. He can be reached at jared_krieger@gensler.com.
Related Stories
| Nov 3, 2010
Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating
Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.
| Nov 2, 2010
11 Tips for Breathing New Life into Old Office Spaces
A slowdown in new construction has firms focusing on office reconstruction and interior renovations. Three experts from Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors offer 11 tips for office renovation success. Tip #1: Check the landscaping.
| Nov 2, 2010
Cypress Siding Helps Nature Center Look its Part
The Trinity River Audubon Center, which sits within a 6,000-acre forest just outside Dallas, utilizes sustainable materials that help the $12.5 million nature center fit its wooded setting and put it on a path to earning LEED Gold.
| Nov 2, 2010
A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold
Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.
| Nov 2, 2010
Wind Power, Windy City-style
Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.
| Nov 2, 2010
Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury
Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 2, 2010
Historic changes to commercial building energy codes drive energy efficiency, emissions reductions
Revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) represent the largest single-step efficiency increase in the history of the national, model energy. The changes mean that new and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that follow the 2012 IECC will use 30% less energy than those built to current standards.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
John Pearce: First thing I tell designers: Do your homework!
John Pearce, FAIA, University Architect at Duke University, Durham, N.C., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the school’s construction plans and sustainability efforts, how to land work at Duke, and why he’s proceeding with caution when it comes to BIM.