Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.
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Beyond the curve BIM in healthcare moves from design phase to the field By Kurt Neubek t has been said that Baby Boomers, when viewed on a graph of U.S. population by age, create a noticeable lump in the curve that, over time, moves across the graph "like a pig in a python." Today, a similar phenomenon is occurring with Building Information Modeling in healthcare design and construction. While architecture and engineering firms have invested heavily in BIM over the last five or more years, the investment is now shifting to the construction site. In the mid- to late-2000s, architecture and engineering firms embraced and invested in using BIM in their offices, creating a hump in the learning curve. The change from 2-D drawing-dominated computeraided drafting to 3-D parametric modeling with BIM required a significant investment in hardware, software, training and development of systems I over a number of years. But now that hump in the curve has moved beyond the design phase and it is entering the construction phase. Some may argue that contractors, too, have been using BIM nearly as long as architects and engineers. To a degree that is true — contractors and major subcontractors have been using BIM during preconstruction, overlapping construction documents and shop drawings. But today, the hump in the curve is moving inexorably into construction and toward facility management, and many contractors have embraced BIM during the construction phase. BIM in the field today: the early adopters Perhaps the most common use of BIM by contractors is pre-construction modeling for 3-D coordination and clash detection. Whether working with the architects' and 22 Medical Construction & Design | January/February 2013 engineers' models or creating their own models from drawings, the advantages of BIM for these tasks are widely recognized. Many contractors also use the model to help identify early prefab opportunities. According to Richard Sasser, regional manager with Austin Commercial, healthcare facilities have many opportunities for prefabbing due to complex repetitive spaces. In an inpatient room, for example, the bathroom and the headwall are prime opportunities for prefabbing. Digital plans at fingertips Increasingly, contractors are turning to digital, rather than paper, contract documents. By providing field kiosks with large-screen monitors and getting tablet computers in the hands of the superintendents, some projects have gone nearly paperless. For large projects, the savings in printing costs may more than Many contractors are using BIM to identify prefabrication opportunities. For this inpatient room, Austin Commercial identified the bathroom and the headwall as prime opportunities. Top: Texas Children's Hospital West Campus, designed by Page Southerland Page. The architecture/engineering firm was an early adopter of BIM. BIM software allows viewers to interact with the model to create custom views, such as this one highlighting the structural frame. www.mcdmag.com