A COMPONENT BASED ASSESMENT AND INTEGRATION OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELIBG (BIM) TO ENHANCE BUILDING DESIGN PROCESS

Abstract

The AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry is one of the most fundamental sectors for the economic growth of a country. It is also a very intricate sector that requires the collaboration and interoperability of the parties involved in it. Fragmented and backward practices of design and construction of buildings have been hampering the growth and development of the AEC sector in developing countries. The main objective of this research was to present and introduce the possible advantages and techniques of using Building Information Modeling (BIM) for the enhancement of design and construction practices. In order to attain the objective a double tier research was conducted: including a questionnaire survey and a detailed case study analysis. The questionnaire survey was conducted to find out the level of BIM adoption in Arbaminch AEC sector and to show the nature of the conventional design and construction practices. All legally recognized design and construction firms in the town were included in the survey. Among the design and construction firms included in the survey, only 2 design firms implement BIM partially for their design process. Most of the application of the BIM technologies were limited to the architectural design and visualization aspects of the building design. The second part of the research was the detailed case study conducted to give insight into BIM functions and advantages. The case study was carried out in 6 different stages. At the first stage 3D BIM-BASED model of a G+4 mixed use building was created using Graphisoft Archicad25int. The model comprised the architectural design, the structural layout and the MEP design of the building. Clash detection between the various components of the design was conducted in the second stage of the case study. The detected clashes were clustered into different categories at the third stage. At the fourth stage clash resolving analysis was conducted. Quantity take-off and cost analysis were performed at the fifth and sixth stages of the case study respectively. In the process a total of 157 clashes were detected the most being between structural and MEP design (85 clashes). From the case study findings it the contractor might have faced a rectification work worth 158,318 birr.