The BIM model has a new lease on life

As BIM technology is gaining momentum, at the end of the design process, more and more facilities will have very detailed 3D models full of information. Usually, the end of the project is simultaneously the end of the BIM model. And it doesn’t have to be that way.

Withthe help of available web technologies, BIM model can get a new life through a new role. In this way, the value of the invested labor in modeling grows. The possibilities for object management, object presentations, presentations of data obtained from sensors or connecting the object with additional databases are increasing.

The shopping mall Bazzar Novi Sad - the first digital twin in Serbia

This was our first digital twin based on Autodesk Forge technology. It arose during the time of restrictions imposed by Covid, from the need to present buildings to potential customers. Customers can see units that are for rent, to allow them to virtually walk through the objects, download important information, and measure the dimensions that are interesting to them. For that purpose, we used an existing 3D BIM model made in Autodesk Revit.

The company that manages the facility has an insight into which apartments users watch the most and which floors are the most popular.

We also introduced the facility management module, which allows users to apply for maintenance of any element in the apartment—from the repair of electrical appliances to the request for painting or replacing the window glass.

Internet of things

The IoT is one more way to give the BIM model a new role. With the help of the existing BIM model, it’s much easier to visualize data and enable interaction with parts of the objects.

Each air conditioner can be turned on or off remotely based on data from the office attendance recorder. When all employees leave the workplace, all air conditioners in the building are turned off. This saves resources and extends the life of the device because employees frequently forget to turn off air conditioners when leaving the workplace in the summer.

Material catalog on the web and BIM 360 model https://iotpionirska.herokuapp.com/ https://digitalni-blizanci.teamcad.rs/

Combining these technologies and features offered by Revit, we have created a Web catalog of Xella products. It has information on materials and types of walls, from which users can download the Revit template, that contains all these materials and walls and thus directly models them using Xella products.

BIM Real Estate

The digital twin was a huge inspiration. We had an idea to expand the possibilities and create an application that will facilitate renting and – BIM Real Estate application is born. When a user visits the site, he has an opportunity to view all available apartments (the display changes dynamically depending on the status of the apartment). He can also check the room dimensions or measure parts of the apartment that are important to him. Again, the basis is the Revit BIM model created during the design process.

In the picture, you can see the TeamCAD branch office in Novi Sad, where we connected sensors for temperature and humidity, and the information is displayed in real time. Besides the information displayed in gauges, the rooms also change colors in relation to the current values.

Plus, it is possible to manipulate the device. We can adjust the operations of the air conditioners, check their status, or how much water we have in the water cooler.

If a user is modeling an object in Revit and uses Autodesk Construction Cloud for collaboration, the existing model can be used in combination with our additional application integrated into BIM 360. If a wall is selected, a prospective buyer can see what kind of material the wall is made of.

These are just some of the examples of giving new life to BIM models. The possibilities are endless.

For this solution, Autodesk published a success story at https://forge.autodesk.com/ customer-stories/teamcad https://bimrealestate.herokuapp.com/