As architects, we’re immersed in every aspect of home design. We naturally think and visualize in terms of space and depth and light and everything that impacts exquisite custom design. But we also understand that our clients don’t always visualize their home in the same ways we do. That’s why we love building information modeling (BIM). BIM is one of many tools that enhance how architects and clients communicate and collaborate in the creation of a dream home.

Today, we thought we’d share how BIM helps shape your Pacific Northwest dream home.

1: Experience Your Space

While we continue to rely on drawings and other 2D schematics in our design process, BIM literally adds another dimension to our work. By turning a 2D concept of your home into a 3D rendering, you can visualize and understand how each space in your new home interacts with every other. Lines on a floor plan suddenly become tangible kitchens, bedrooms, and media rooms that interact to form a complete home.

2: Dive into the Details

BIM lets us consider every detail of your home’s architecture. It’s a treasure trove of information. Everything we discuss with our clients can be factored into the model. Windows, carpet, faucets, cupboards, and door handles all become objects in the 3D BIM rendering, and we can glean everything from warranty dates to exact counts for orders. It also helps us calculate the home’s energy efficiency and how sunlight at different times of day will stream through windows.

3: Reduce Costs

Those specific details that we enter in transforms the way we plan for construction and collaborate with contractors. BIM technology helps us detect potential obstacles–beams and plumbing intersecting, for instance–and avoid them before they become costly problems.

The technology also allows us to communicate your clients’ full vision to our contractors, so they can respond with more accurate estimates and more relevant advice. In both cases, the result is the same: more accurate timelines and cost calculations.

4: Look to the Future

Thanks to virtual reality software, we look forward to walking clients through their dream homes before ever breaking ground. BIM will allow our clients to experience how each room flows into the next and how flat lines on a floor plan rise to become walls and doorways in their favorite spaces. It’s immersive and seemingly futuristic, and it’s just around the corner.

 

Building information modeling is one more tool for communication with our Seattle area clients and for collaboration in the art of architecture.