Communication of Design Intent in BIM-Enabled Architectural Practice

The shared BIM model is assumed to encompass all required parameters and attributes about a design product or process for AEC practitioners. However, socio-cognitive day-to-day interactions that occur in the workplace reveal discrepancies between what is exchanged as design information upon sharing the model and what is exchanged as goals, needs and possibly conflicting intentions and interests upon working collectively on a common ill-structured problem. This book presents findings of an ethnographic study that explores affordances and limitations in BIM-enabled practice regarding the communication of design intent among design teams in the context of an architectural project. Using persona descriptions and grounded theory coding, a thick description is provided that takes into account the dynamic interactions among teams, including interdisciplinary, intradisciplinary and non-disciplinary interaction. Richer descriptions are proposed to existing surveys and market reports that address the use and benefits of BIM in the AEC industry, including topics such as the internal business value of BIM, top ways to improve value of BIM, and the impact of project factors on BIM value.