Graphisoft Australia has again supported the 5D Building Information Modeling (BIM) Immersion and Competition organised by the University of Melbourne, the National University of Singapore’s School of Design and Environment and the University of Los Andes, Columbia. 24 students from across the three Universities took part in the event which was held at Melbourne University’s faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning from 7th December to 11th December, 2015.
In addition to strengthening research collaboration between the Universities, the competition aimed to increase the participants understanding of 4D and 5D BIM concepts and scenarios by teaching students the digital concepts and processes of BIM as well as how they can be applied in practice. The initiative incorporated teaching and learning and the hands-on use of BIM tools including Archicad, Solibri, CostX and Synchro. The focus was on BIM-based scheduling and simulations, quantity take-off and estimating.
The event comprised 3 days of intensive BIM education and training, and 2 days of competition. Students were provided with a series of pre-learning videos on BIM by Graphisoft Australia, Exactal, and Synchro, and then took part in a number of training sessions which included a combination of seminars and hands-on use of BIM tools to explore 4D and 5D BIM concepts in a studio environment. Archicad was the chosen software platform medium focusing on BIM quantity take-off and estimating/cost management.
Students worked in teams of 4 for the competition and were required to prepare a 20-minute presentation describing their 5D workflows and output as well as presented a 4D Schedule and Simulation video. Students highlighted the challenges and benefits of model-based processes in construction cost estimation and scheduling as well as the role of model coordination. They were also judged on their suggestions regarding the possible changes in cost management and scheduling practices that could result from the uptake of digital technology and the barriers to BIM adoption.
The winning teams received cash prizes, a 1 year free membership to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and a Trophy.