On June 22nd, manufacturers and professionals of the construction world were welcomed by Polantis at the “Club BIM Prescrire” to attend a presentation conducted by Corina Mansuy – HEQ Architect (High Environmental Quality Architect) and BIM Manager at DGLa.
The project Qwartz
When Corina arrived at DGLa 11 years ago, she told us how she rapidly how rapidly she noticed that DGLa did not systematically use 3D.
Her first project at DGLa was about a submission of an application for a building permit for Qwartz shopping center. It was developed in 2D on Autocad, as most of the projects at that time. She added: «The projects were sent to the clients and to the engineering agencies by mail with complementary files to print them which made exchanges more complex and slowed them down. Then, files were sent (at least) in PDF format, but when I had the occasion, I started using Revit and invited my colleagues to do so.”
Qwartz was finally inaugurated 3 years ago. For its future extension, DGLa will have the mission of BIM management.
Qwartz project – VILLENEUVE LA GARENNE – 2009
Slow and steady BIM wins the race!
Corina presented different projects on which she could work and highlighted the evolution of BIM method’s use at DGLa.
DGLa rapidly understood the importance of BIM and its role as a facilitator and enabler of exchanges. The agency progressively integrated BIM method to its working method to gain more efficiency and to better improve its communication.
Corina explains: “Two projects with similar characteristics were compared: one was developed on Autocad and the other on Revit. With Revit, one could end with similar results with a better coherence of documents, while diminishing by 50% the time needed for the project and with less people affected to the project.
Working with BIM method: a traineeship
Through the different BIM projects they worked on, DGLa teams had the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Corina brought out that for instance, there are still a lot of work with the work site stages and that it is not always that simple to bring digital models as a monitoring and exchanges medium on the work site.
To her, before reaching efficiency, one needs to learn how to master modeling and its database, how to better communicate as well as how to coordinate widely the exchanges with the different actors of the project. Collaborative work is efficient if the tools used are appropriate.
She said: “The first project in BIM ordered in 2014 by one of our project management support (and inaugurated this year), was the second extension of the shopping center BAB2. It served as a crash test for the following ones. We could start from the digital model from the first extension, adopt a new organization scheme and move toward BIM level 2, which actually became our current standard”.
- Her advice: You shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes and you shouldn’t hesitate to start using BIM.
BAB2- ANGLET – 2014
Corina then talked about the roof covering of a pedestrian street. A smaller project indeed but modeled by two of her colleagues with adaptive structures created from parametric volumes.
She explains to our guests that for this undergoing project, you need to remember that parametric modeling is also part of BIM. “It consists of filling the digital model with information from its components and to obtain database and a nomenclature coherent with the model.
It enables architects to anticipate the environmental, technic and economic constraints as well as better construct what they are modeling.
Roof covering of a pedestrian street – AULNOYE AYMERIE – 2014
Corina explained: “On Revit, we often create detailed digital models and heavy files. It becomes more complicated when you export them in IFC format. Sometimes, it multiplies by two or three the size of the files and harms their interoperability.
In order to tackle this issue, Corina gives possible solutions to provide digital models for the CMMS (computer-assisted maintenance management system). To her, you can fill all the information in a 3D file with a link toward the URL address of the component’s product card or toward a more detailed version of the 3D model. A second option, when it is possible of course, would be to integrate the drawing of the details in 2D within the family category which would be visible only with the high level of details.
“If the families created for different BIM software follow the 3 levels of details of geometrical complexity (the data do not depend on that), it will help us.
Corina explains: “Once that the BIM is implemented, we are trying to be more efficient”. For instance, having created our own tools, detail banks, with 2D details components (adaptive and/or pre-informed) is time-saving which is substantial. She also added: “this year, DGLa created an intern collaborative platform which will allow a better communication with the different collaborators and stakeholders (the project management support, the engineering agencies and consultants, etc.). The aim is to provide digital implementation files, to submit BIM building permits and to produce more virtual reality simulations. But project management support is still afraid of that.”
What about the implementation of BIM level 3?
“The level 2? Yes! But with the level 3, it is more complicated » she explains. At this moment of the presentation, our guests talked about the different issues at stakes when it comes to BIM level 3 implementation: intellectual property, responsibility, regulations…
The main result of this debate was the desire that we will see improvement with regard to this issue so that everyone could beneficiate from all the advantages of the BIM level 3. Corina insisted on the fact that different organizations were working on this subject to provide a better framework (Mediaconstruct, the MAF, etc.). It is to be monitored very closely!
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