Unit 7 – Extending BIM Beyond Design Extending the Use of the
BIM Models Beyond Design The use of BIM models to support all
aspects of working with the information that describes our
buildings—from project inception through the entire building
lifecycle—is expanding and evolving daily. As Marshall McLuhan
observed in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man,
published in 1964, “the medium is the message,” and BIM models
(and the changes they enable) are a medium that is rapidly
expanding and redefining what “design” and “construction” means.
As we start by coping with, then learn to use, begin to embrace,
and eventually come to depend upon new technologies, we follow a
natural progression: - First, replicating what we’ve done with
previous technologies. For example, with the introduction of
computers, we started with computer-aided drafting—focusing on
the efficiency advantages and recreating our paper-based design
systems. - As we become comfortable and familiar with a
technology, we start to explore its b