Affordances of BIM during the Architectural Design Process

Building Information Modelling (BIM) represents a move away from traditional practices and the formation of digital models to enable optimized decision making throughout planning, design, construction and operation stages of a facility's life. Usage of BIM is increasing, and seemingly has the capacity to transform every aspect of the construction industry, therefore making it essential for architectural practices to adapt and embrace this new way of working. Delivering projects through BIM within the UK construction industry is reaching a state of necessity. With the UK Government's mandate for BIM implementation coupled with developments in the BIM area, industry practitioners are becoming increasingly under pressure to adopt BIM. BIM technology can potentially change the process and product of architecture. According to Gaver (1991), new technologies primarily concentrate on the current articulated needs and tasks of the users and have the tendency to overlook the innovation potential of the new technologies at the same time. Understanding affordances that BIM can bring to the process of architectural design is a significant factor in the verdict of successful BIM implementation. This preliminary research aims to identify functional affordances of BIM and explore how they influence the architectural design process. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with BIM coordinators, architectural technologists and designers working on BIM projects to understand their perception of affordances that BIM can bring to the process of architectural design. We found that most actors/designers realize the potential of functional affordances of many BIM applications, however only a few utilize this capacity to enhance the design process. The literature and the results obtained through the interviews both revealed a potential additional affordance category which relates to the design stages and the use of BIM.