Kimon Onuma keeps whipping up BIMStorms, his Web-based planning charrettes that can involve hundreds of building team members. The next BIMStorm will be live at the AECST Conference in Washington, D.C., from Dec. 8-11. Onuma, who uses the Onuma Planning System software to en-able the charrettes, plans to have a theater on the AECST show floor. There will be live interactions with teams involved in earlier BIMStorms—a word coined in 2007. For all of 2009, Onuma Inc., Pasadena, Calif., is planning an ongoing “low-carbon collaboration” BIMStorm. Photo: Onuma, Inc. Related Links: Building Team Views Technological Tools as Best Chance For
Startup advice to designers about to launch into building information modeling: “Jump in with both feet; halfway measures do not work best. Use BIM on an actual project with a technology-savvy team that won’t be intimidated by the software. Training works best if it is used it right away, so apply it as you go. Set up training sessions that use the actual project for work samples. Get outside help from a knowledgeable and effective trainer, perhaps found through your software vendor. Once started, stick with it. There will be some frustrations at first, but you’ll work through them. Set
Constructors, some of whom have been using building information models to help them build faster, better and for less money for several years, are still grappling with many of the same BIM challenges facing designers: software immaturity, hardware costs, training, reworking of traditional relationships and habits, and especially interoperability. Though contractors don’t have the same concerns about intellectual property, they have other issues. One big one is field acceptance of, and reliance on, BIM-enabled construction. Builders report resistance from their superintendents down the supply chain to tradespeople. Related Links: Building Team Views Technological Tools as Best Chance For Change Virtual
