Teaching BIM from a Sustainable Design Perspective

Abstract: Building Information Modeling has recently gained significant attention both in academia and practice. BIM presents immense opportunities for increased efficiencies, coordination and quality of architectural design. 

One of the reasons that BIM offers a more comprehensive design approach is the fact that all aspect of the building are considered during the modeling phase. Rather than drawing the building using lines and circles actual object are used to model the building, which results in a more comprehensive underlying database model of the entire edifice being designed. The approach obviously has tremendous benefits in terms of coordination and systems integration, as well as, project control and management during the design and construction phases. Nevertheless BIM offers its own unique challenges vis-à-vis its introduction to students of architecture. 

The students in Architecture programs are usually introduced to BIM in two ways, either through a specialized course in CAD or via a shadow introduction in design studios and related courses. 

Careful positioning of the course within the architecture curriculum is crucial in order to gain maximum benefit in the synthesis of other course content. The reason being that students of architecture in earlier years of the design curriculum may not yet have developed the ability to synthesize and coordinate multiple systems required for complete BIM. This is an important consideration the design and pedagogy of introducing BIM to Architecture students.  

This paper argues for a new approach in teaching BIM for Architecture students. Instead of designing a course specifically for BIM/CAAD we present a paradigm whereas BIM can be presented within a larger more rigorous context. The experience of teaching BIM within a sustainable design framework is presented in this paper. 

Issues relating to the design of basic residential buildings were integrated into the course presenting BIM. A simplified set of design rules and guidelines under banner of sustainability were taught to the students in pre-defined doses and sequence throughout the course. The careful placement of these concepts permitted for BIM to be introduced in a more interesting and comprehensive manner than in the traditional CAD-course setting. 

Samples of student work are presented and critiqued in order to come up with recommendations and guidelines for incorporating BIM into a comprehensive and comprehensible course. The pedagogical advantages of and disadvantages of the approach are discussed within the paper, as well as, a detailed description of the course content and structure. Results from and outcome-based assessment of the objectives of the course are also illuminated which provided suggestions for future offerings of the course. 
