From Big Data to Smart Data: Digital planning of buildings

Buildings often cost more and take longer to build than expected. The reason: contractors fail to coordinate their assignments and errors are recognized at a late stage. But a solution is now available. It’s called Building Information Modeling – a technology that optimizes planning and construction through transparent data flows. Siemens Building Technologies’ new headquarters in Zug, Switzerland is a case in point.

Cranes rotate, cement mixers churn, and welding beams sizzle as they split the early morning haze. Large building sites may look like perfectly choreographed workplaces. But the results often tell another story. Technicians screw sprinkler systems into ceilings without considering that underlying ventilation ducts have yet to be installed. Power cables are inserted in walls without leaving openings for outlets. And flooring is poured without leaving sufficient clearance for doors to swing. While the list goes on and on, the results are always the same: delays, added costs, reduced quality, and irritated customers. What’s the underlying problem? An instant replay would reveal it all: lack of a comprehensive model that promotes coordination between key players.

Born in a BIM

Old-fashioned buildings are born in two-dimensional blueprints that are static and tend to trigger misunderstandings. Such models are incapable of depicting processes over time. In an effort to remedy this problem, the construction industry is turning to the virtual world, and more specifically to Building Information Modeling (BIM), a digital method for the planning, construction, and operation of buildings. The heart of BIM is a virtual model that contains all of a project’s data, in other words, a digital twin of a planned building.

A case in point is Siemens Building Technologies’ (BT) new planned headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, which will be built over the next two years. “Three-D building models are not new,” explains BIM expert Petra Michaely from Siemens Real Estate (SRE). “The premiere class of BIM, however, involves linking a building’s 3D model to data such as costs, deadlines, and technical specifications – data that is normally scattered among the many parties involved in a project. And that is precisely what we are doing in Zug.” With this approach, BIM means much more than a 3D representation of a building – it can encompass new dimensions, including schedules, costs, and lifecycle information.

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