Overview: Ohio State University Medical Center has undertaken a project to convert fifty-five medical center buildings from AutoCAD drawings into BIM models. This initiative aims to enhance the quality and speed of decision-making related to the use, renovation, and maintenance of these facilities.
— This article was translated by the translation team. Please cite the source when reprinting.
BIM: Not Just for New Buildings
By Barbara Horwitz-Bennett
While BIM technology is increasingly used in new construction projects, very few existing buildings currently benefit from its application.
However, this trend is beginning to change. Notably, Ohio State University Medical Center in the United States has fully implemented BIM for fifty-five existing buildings by converting their AutoCAD drawings into detailed BIM models.
With a goal set for the end of summer, the medical center is steadily advancing towards improving decision-making quality and speed, especially concerning facility use, renovation, maintenance, and energy efficiency. The center has already started to reap benefits from these newly converted models.
“We started using BIM models much sooner than expected,” said Qiao, manager of the Facilities Information and Technology Services Department. “For example, during our emergency room renovation, we created high-quality renderings and walkthrough videos to present different design options to our leadership.”
Another example involves deciding where to place a new donation sign. Since the building’s exterior model was already available, the BIM team could easily showcase several placement options for the logo. Our staff were amazed at how we could move the logo around to visualize how it would look in different spaces,” Joe explained.
Using the converted BIM model, Ohio State University Medical Center created multiple options to choose the best location for the new donation sign.
The Development of the BIM Concept
The idea of converting CAD drawings into BIM models began in 2008, when Joe looked into how the medical center managed building plans and explored available technologies. After obtaining Autodesk software at a discount, he started considering BIM technology for the project.
In 2010, Joe met Brian, the BIM Director at a Columbus architectural firm, and together they began developing relevant plans. Joe also consulted with Western Michigan University, which was undertaking a similar, though smaller, conversion project.
With funding secured and formal procedures established, the project officially launched in the spring of 2011. Five students learned Revit software and began converting AutoCAD drawings into BIM models, covering approximately 570,000 square feet across fifty buildings.
Beyond the original drawing content, the conversion team added additional details into the Revit models, including exterior walls, roofs, window locations, heights and volumes, ceilings and floors, as well as GIS location data.
These new BIM models opened up exciting possibilities. For example, by using an energy consumption model, the medical center can more effectively plan renovations to achieve LEED Silver certification within a limited budget.
“The energy analysis aspect of this project is very exciting and one of its most important components,” Brian said.
For operations and maintenance, the medical center is using BIM models to establish maintenance plans for decorative materials like carpets and tiles. The team also employs laser scanning to model mechanical equipment, integrating these into the overall BIM model. This allows engineers to fully understand the mechanical rooms’ layouts, simplifying future system expansions.
“The closer we get to the project, the more we discover other valuable uses of BIM. Now that we have all the data, we ask ourselves: what else can BIM help us with? For instance, how can it assist visitors with spatial navigation within the medical center?” Joe said. Every year, about 180,000 visitors come to the medical center, and 34% need assistance finding their way. Qiao hopes that eventually his team can use the Revit model to solve this problem.
The image shows the initial conversion of AutoCAD drawings into a BIM model for the Davis College of Heart and Lung Research.
Unlocking BIM’s Potential
Joe sees enormous potential for BIM applications in building operations and maintenance. Once the entire medical center is fully converted to BIM, he believes this approach could be extended to all 750 buildings across Ohio State University.
Brian also believes that due to the long lifecycle and frequent spatial changes typical of higher education and medical facilities, these buildings are ideal candidates for BIM transformation.
Original English source:
http://www.bdcnetwork.com/bim-not-just-new-buildings
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