With strong national support and promotion, the demand for BIM Technology in China has surged. The pursuit of BIM has reached new heights, and related BIM standards are gradually being studied and implemented on a smaller scale. For instance, Shanghai has introduced the Shanghai Building Information Modeling Technology Application Guidelines, Beijing has established the Civil Building Information Modeling Design Standards, and Shenzhen has developed the Implementation Outline for BIM Application in Government Public Works by its Municipal Construction and Engineering Bureau. These examples illustrate the typical BIM-related standards currently emerging. Today, I will discuss BIM and its standards in more detail.
In the AEC/FM (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management) industry, a building project involves numerous specialized roles at every stage — from planning, architectural design, engineering analysis, valuation, and contracting, to construction, operation, and maintenance. The coordination among these various professions is highly complex, requiring extensive exchange and transmission of information across different disciplines. Therefore, ensuring the completeness and effective sharing of information at every stage is a critical challenge.
With the advancement of computer-aided design (CAD) methods and the widespread use of computer-aided drafting and design systems (CADD), traditional paper-based data such as architectural drawings, engineering plans, and calculation sheets are gradually being replaced by digital archives. However, each software vendor uses different data formats, which often causes errors and omissions during information exchange. This inconsistency forces data to be recreated and rechecked repeatedly, hindering effective information sharing. Besides wasting time and manpower, this also complicates management significantly.
To address these challenges, the concept of Building Information Modeling (BIM) was introduced. BIM aims to store all the information related to a building throughout its entire lifecycle within a unified information model. This allows software applications used at different stages of the lifecycle to share and exchange data directly from this single model. For seamless information exchange between various software, a standard for building information exchange is necessary. This standard must comprehensively describe the information required at each stage of the building lifecycle and be supported by all relevant software.
Many BIM systems leverage object-oriented principles to handle building data. For example, traditional CADD systems like AutoCAD, MicroStation, and QuickCad represent building components using geometric elements such as points, lines, and arcs. In contrast, architectural BIM software such as Revit, ArchiCAD, Bentley Architecture, and Dassault treat building components as parametric objects, offering greater flexibility and accuracy in design.
Building Information Model refers to the complete collection of all generated and related information throughout a building’s lifecycle. Building Information Modeling, on the other hand, is the process of creating and managing these information models. During this process, special attention must be paid to ensuring interoperability and reusability of the model data.
Regarding the development of information exchange standards, several organizations have contributed significantly:
- The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data), a standard for industrial product information exchange.
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) introduced CIS/2 (CIMsteel Integration Standards Release 2), focusing on steel structure information exchange.
- The International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) proposed IFC (Industry Foundation Classes), which has become a widely accepted public information exchange standard within the AEC/FM sector.
In summary, BIM standards play a crucial role in facilitating the exchange of BIM information and essentially serve as the foundation for BIM itself. This is why international BIM standards have historically taken precedence over those developed in China, which partly explains the relatively slower pace of BIM adoption in the country. However, with continued collaboration between central and local governments, China’s BIM standards are expected to better align with national conditions, driving more evidence-based and effective BIM development.
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