Michael Cervantes, an architect whose development of building information modeling (BIM) standards for firms participating in the Los Angeles Community College District's (LACCD) $6-billion sustainable building program was touted by owners and designers nationwide for their ease of use and practicality, died suddenly on May 16 in Long Beach, Calif., of an unknown cause, according to information provided by district colleagues.

Cervantes, 38, had been the district's BIM manager since 2009.

The district's BIM approach "has been used as the basis of BIM standard development for vertical designs by many universities, community colleges and government agencies," says Magdalen Hron, who worked with Cervantes at LACCD.

Cervantes

"His effort and accomplishments in bringing BIM to its fruition will be a big challenge for us to fill," she adds.

Cervantes "was known for raising the bar" in use of BIM in the AEC sector, adds Shobhit Baadkar, a principal of Titan AEC, a Los Angeles technology consulting services firm.

LACCD's Sustainable Building Program, which will modernize its nine campuses, is one of the nation's largest green construction efforts.

Most of its funding is from bond measures approved by voters in 2001, 2003 and 2008.

Cervantes previously served as BIM technical lead at TGC Construction Management and digital design manager at Steinberg Architects.