The following article is sourced from BIM Self-Study; author: BIM Self-Study.
In recent years, with the vigorous promotion of "Internet Plus" and smart city development, BIM, as a key supporting technology for smart cities, has met brand-new opportunities and challenges. Under the theme "AI+BIM: A New Engine for Digital and Intelligent Development", the research examined the combination of artificial intelligence with the BIM industry, the integrated application of AI (artificial intelligence) and BIM (building information modeling) in transportation and travel services, and the future development direction and application path of the BIM industry.
You may be curious about what the specific applications of combining AI with BIM are. Next, I will describe three aspects of their combined application:
AI-Assisted Building Layout Planning
The seamless connection between early-stage project programming and building functions, and the optimal solution of building space planning, have long been two fundamental issues of key concern in architectural academia, yet neither has been well resolved.
Designers urgently need an online product:
In addition, in current architectural design (including generative design), design mostly relies on desktop parametric software (such as Revit) and secondary development based on it. The building's future actual users and owners can hardly take part in the design decision-making process, so optimal design decisions are rarely truly optimal. As for architectural programming documents, most people prepare them with Excel on a PC.
For building space planning, Autodesk's generative design framework Refinery is currently the only available tool. Excel data sources are relatively closed, and it is not easy to obtain the latest programming data resources from the internet. Moreover, Refinery is developed on Dynamo, the open-source software for Revit; because Dynamo is not easy to use, Refinery is also difficult to popularize.
As big data and AI technologies mature, academia and industry in construction have begun trying to solve these pain points through deep learning and reinforcement learning. In BIM design, project owners and architects urgently need an online product that can generate architectural programming documents in a browser and output an optimized layout of building space. This requires integrating the latest machine learning techniques into new BIM design tools to achieve AI-assisted selection of building schemes.
AI-Assisted M&E Design
With the trend toward intelligent buildings, rational pipeline layout has become far more difficult for M&E systems with complex structures and operations, especially in complex projects with high M&E requirements such as hospitals.
So how should this be solved?
In three-discipline clash detection among architecture, structure and M&E within a BIM model, M&E is the main subject of clash detection and of the subsequent modifications, making later rework rather heavy. Using AI technology in BIM M&E design software to automatically generate pipeline configurations would solve this problem.
For example, based on a BIM M&E model and using generative design concepts, machine learning methods can quickly generate all possible options while ensuring that the routing of M&E pipeline systems does not conflict with the building structure; after multiple iterations, the final effective design scheme is distilled.
At the same time, based on design energy consumption and comfort indicators, the actual parameters of a large number of devices, and the spatial zoning of the BIM model, machine learning can automatically analyze possible equipment selections. In fact, by introducing machine learning, new BIM design tools will accumulate M&E designers' professional experience and extensive equipment parameter information in the M&E AI model, thereby providing a new technical means for M&E design to break out of its current predicament.
AI Applications in Preliminary and Construction Drawing Design
In the preliminary design and construction drawing stages, new BIM design tools integrating AI technology must solve several difficult problems that traditional BIM design tools cannot:
First, component design carries rich business information and can be inherited across stages;
Second, it greatly reduces the tedium of BIM model drawing, verification and review;
Third, built-in local codes and standard atlases keep designs from crossing the "red line" while making them more reasonable;
Fourth, it unleashes designers' creativity, enabling them to complete designs better and faster.
The progression from tool-based drafting software to intelligent design and then to artificial-intelligence-assisted design is a step-by-step development with steadily increasing effectiveness. Intelligent design in the construction field is already applied in many scenarios; its core difference from artificial intelligence is that the former relies on built-in rules while the latter learns patterns. After decades of vigorous development, China's infrastructure construction has accumulated a vast body of drawings and data. Deep learning of this massive data through algorithms will provide rich big-data support for new BIM design tools.
Here are a few typical application points:
➤ Fire evacuation exit design: deep learning of codes, local standards and different building types and layouts, followed by comprehensive processing of information such as the number, distance, width and location of exits, automatically produces a layout scheme;
➤ Prefabrication scheme design for prefabricated buildings: deep learning of prefabrication schemes under different regional standards, such as the optimized selection and design of precast components and joints, and the integration of design, tendering, procurement and construction for commercialized components; intelligent drawing review: learning the conformity of large volumes of codes, atlases and standards with models and drawings, so as to firmly control design compliance and rationality;
➤ AI drawing generation: through deep learning and algorithms that consider discipline-specific constraints, individuality and aesthetics, it enables drawing creation, drawing decomposition, graphic layout and even intelligent annotation of generated drawings, greatly reducing designers' drafting workload.
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Zhuwei Architectural Technology is a new-type technical services company specializing in integrated design optimization, BIM consulting and prefabricated construction design consulting. Our team brings together senior engineers from leading design institutes, former executives of real-estate companies, BIM engineers and prefabrication engineers, delivering integrated design optimization, refined drawing review, BIM consulting with MEP detailing, and prefabricated design services.
Design optimization consulting: Positioned as an extension and complement to the design management of real-estate developers, we focus on consulting and optimization for civil buildings. Across the whole process — or at key stages required by the client — we control the economy, rationality and safety of the design, eliminating unnecessary cost while measurably improving drawing quality, achieving "lower cost, higher efficiency".
BIM consulting: Through digital construction technology we help designers reduce errors and improve quality in the design phase, help contractors save cost and plan high-quality MEP installation in the construction phase, and extend BIM models into facility management for the operation phase — in collaboration with mainstream software vendors.
Prefabricated design consulting: Whole-process design on BIM platforms, using Revit and Tekla for PC detailing. Component geometry and reinforcement are linked parametrically — what you see is what you get. We deliver Industry 4.0-ready drawings with cut-length data for every rebar, and IoT-enabled support for production, storage, transport and installation of PC components.
Our expert team comes from leading design institutes, with deep technical grounding and extensive experience in dual-track design and optimization; its technical capability and control are industry-leading.
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