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AECbytes "Building the Future" Article (Aug 30, 2012)

A Case Study of BIM Implementation in India


On a visit to Bangalore (also known as Bengaluru) in India this summer, I happened to meet the founders of an architectural firm that
stood out among the crowd by virtue of their progressive outlook and relatively advanced implementation of BIM, in a country where
most architects were still using AutoCAD and construction was still very much paper-based. In general, I found that things have not
evolved much in India from an AEC perspective since I last wrote about in 2004. For all the talk of becoming an economic powerhouse
and the construction boom, there's still very little evidence of the application of advanced technology, at least in the buil ding and
construction industry. In part, this is because labor is still much cheaper in India than in many of the developed countries, therefore
many of the labor and time saving uses of technology don't really apply. This is why when I heard about the BIM implementation at
INFORM Architects, my ears perked up and I thought it would make for a great case study in AECbytes, despite the fact that the firm
is relatively small and unknown outside India. It could be interesting for readers from all over the world to learn about both the
opportunities and challenges of BIM implementation in a rapidly developing country like India.
About the Firm
InFORM Architects is a 40 person architectural firm that was established in 1997 by two principals, both of whom have B.Arch. degrees
from India and M.Arch degrees from the US. In addition, one of them worked as project architect at Peter Eisenmans firm in New York
in the late 1990s. Also, several of the firms architects have studied and/or worked in the U.S and Europe.. Many of the firms
progressive ideas on design and technology can undoubtedly be attributed to this international exposure. Since its inception, InFORM
Architects has worked on over 250 projects of varied building types, including housing towers, institutional campuses, office buildings,
affordable housing, industrial buildings, museums, hospitals, etc., located in Bangalore and other leading cities in India such as
Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bombay (also known as Mumbai). Its work is critically acclaimed and has won several national design awards
as well as design competitions. A gallery of its design work is shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. A snapshot of the different kinds of projects done by InFORM Architects. (Courtesy: InFORM Architects).
Getting Started with BIM
InFORM Architects has been deeply entrenched in digital technologies since it was started, with its staff working extensively on
computers and using CAD software for 3D modeling as well as 2D drawings. The firm was introduced to Revit a few years after Autodesk
acquired the application and started pitching BIM to its customers all over the world. It bought its first Revit licenses in mid-2006. The
rationale for the initial plan to move from CAD to BIM was the nature of the firms projects, many of which were singular in design
and difficult to describe in basic drawings, requiring a lot of data to be generated in the form of detailed geometry descriptions for the
structural consultant as well as for the contractor for execution on site. While it was initially felt that BIM would not be very responsive
to the needs of such custom design, it was eventually the same need for precision and elaborate geometry description that pushed
the firm towards implementing BIM. The firms architects figured out that once they had built a 3D model in Revit, it would be endlessly
helpful in sectioning, viewing and resolving geometry, resolving junctions and so on. The firm hired a few junior architects who knew
Revit and started work on one project.
The reason for settling on Revit as the firms de facto BIM application was that its comfort level with AutoCAD was very high, and Revit
seemed to be the natural extension of it since it was also an Autodesk product. Also, most of the incoming architects that were being
interviewed had a background in Revit and not in any other BIM application, which reinforced the firms decision to go with Revit,
despite the fact that it did not really evaluate other BIM applications before making its choice.

The transition from AutoCAD to Revit did face resistance initiallythere was skepticism regarding the ability to deliver smoothly, to
address complex design issues, timelines, and the desired quality of output. Also, the lack of time to update Revit skills while working
on projects was a major challenge. To make the transition easier, InFORM Architects employed a dedicated BIM consultant who was
also an architectshe went about systematically organizing the work flow and, at the same time, helped in the modeling and creation
of construction documents for the first model project. Successful implementation of this encouraged the adoption of BIM on other
projects. Training sessions to bridge the learning gaps, as well as in-house presentations show-casing the designs done with BIM,
helped in motivating entire teams to shift to Revit.
Ongoing BIM Process and Implementation
Currently, 55-60% of the projects at InFORM Architects are done using Revit. This includes all the new projects; older ones that are
already under construction continue to be on CAD .The firm is committed to expanding this number to over 85% of its projects, so
that the majority of its work is done in Revit. The dedicated BIM consultant the firm had hired has transitioned to being an in-house
Revit Mentor who is focused full time on Revit implementation (and that of other design tools)at the office. This mentor conducts
regular Revit classes for beginning users during the orientation period for new entrants to the firm as well as classes for more advanced
users. This training program has contributed a great deal to the firms smooth transition from CAD to BIM and successful
implementation of Revit, as most of the incoming architects had very limited or no skills in Revit when they came in. The firm has
recently instituted its own BIM Awards at the firm to encourage greater involvement and improved quality of output. Focus areas
include drawing aesthetics, visualization, computation of BOQ (bill of quantities), communication of intent to consultants and clients,
etc. Submissions for the first cycle of the awards have just been received. Some examples of the projects done by the firm using Revit
are shown in Figures 2 and 3.

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Figure 2. Examples of projects done using Revit at InFORM Architects. (Courtesy: InFORM Architects).
InFORM Architects currently has 17 seats of Revit, of which 6 are stand-alone copies of Revit Architect and 11 are seats of Autodesk
Building Design Suite, which includes Revit bundled with several other applications, including AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, and
3dsMax Design, that are used to varying degrees, and AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Structural Detailing, Autodesk Showcase, and
SketchBook Designer, that are used to a lesser degree. The firm makes some use of Revit Structure, and would like to make use of
Revit MEP to integrate some basic services into its models. Of course, this is in large part dependent on working with consultants who
are also working with 3D models and BIM, which has been a challenge so far. Some of the non-Autodesk applications used by the firm
include SketchUp, Adobe CS5 Design Suite, and Documan, an application for document management.
Revit is deployed across the entire spectrum of work at InFORM Architectsfrom schematic design to tender (including BOQ) to the
construction documentation stage. For every project, the firm has developed a unique structured path for delivery, which is based on
the project focus: challenges, scale, type, delivery schedule, and the deliverables. Also, the skill-set available is continuously assessed
and work is put in towards filling in the gaps. At the same time, the firm ensures that every project has a challenge thrown at it in
terms of deliveryfor example, it could be 100% delivery of approval drawings direct from Revit, or it could be BOQ from Revit for
over 75-80% of the schedule items, and so on. The BIM mentor/consultant is the pivot around which the delivery of all projects is
organized, involved in all aspects from planning to monitoring, and ensuring that the challenges are met and new goals are reached
with every project. Simultaneously, the firm is also building the templates and content library for the office, which will be used by
every individual working on BIM. Additionally, it is developing the standards that can be used to configure a model to get different
outputs for different purposespresentations, statutory approvals, consultant drawings, bill of quantities, visualizations, construction
drawings, etc.

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Figure 3. Additional examples of Revit projects at InFORM Architects. (Courtesy: InFORM Architects).
One of the biggest challenges currently facing the firm is how to get the large Revit models to be optimal and workable in size. To save
time on e-mailing, uploading, copying, and working, the larger model (typically around 175-200 ) is broken down into several smaller
models (say about 40 MB each) which are worked on by different people. Worksets and links are the primary teamwork tools used. A
new individual joining the project team is given a briefing on how the model is broken down and the files/folders of the indi vidual
models. Since the firm uses a document management softwareDocuman, that was mentioned earlier the files are centrally saved
on the server. How the model is broken down is usually planned at the start of the project and modified at a later stage in the project,
if needed. Need-based training is given to the teams using Revit on a regular basis to help them through the process.
InFORM Architects has achieved several benefits through its use of Revit. The entire design for a project can be more easily visualized
through multiple 3D viewsfor example, 50-60 views are taken to develop the design just for a residence. Efficiency has been greatly
improved and repetitive tasks like multiple sectioning take much less time and are more accurate (see Figure 4). An important aspect
also for the firm is the increased accuracy and speed of BOQ computation. Designs with complex geometries have especially benefitted
from improved integrity of information flows and workflows in general.

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Figure 4. Once created, the Revit model of a project yields multiple section views that are very important to the InFORM team.
(Courtesy: InFORM Architects).
Another key challenge that the firm faces, now that it is internally up to speed on Revit, is the expansion of the model to fully include
structural and MEP elements. It has succeeded in this only for one project, and this is in which the client themselves employed a
separate vendor to translate the structure and MEP drawings onto the Revit platform. Otherwise, the majority of the consultants do
not use BIM, and InFORM Architects is forced to share AutoCAD extracts of the Revit models with them. This has its own set of
challenges, since certain steps have to be followed to ensure the quality transfer of information from the model to an AutoCAD file.
And needless to say, dumbing down the model into drawings means that the consultants do not get the full benefit of the wealth of
data contained in the model. When the consultants designs are received back, usually in CAD format, their data is built back into the
Revit model so that it can be checked for interferences. Thus, InFORM Architects is forced to do some additional work, outside of the
architectural domain, to stretch the benefits of using Revit, and it is likely that this will continue until BIM is adopted by many more
architects, engineers, and contractors in India than it is today.
Conclusions
While the BIM implementation at InFORM Architects may seem relatively basic compared to the more advanced work being done by
leading firms in the US, UK, and other countries, it is way ahead of the average state of the art of AEC technology in India, which is, by
and large, still heavily CAD-based. I was very impressed with the firms progressive outlook on BIM despite the difficulties of
implementing Revit in relative isolation, and being forced to collaborate with engineers, contractors, and other consultants the old-
fashioned CAD way. Also noteworthy was the firms strategy to hire a dedicated Revit expert early on to oversee its work and provide
in-house training to bring everyone up to speed. This is something that remains a challenge even for many firms in countries where
BIM is prevalent. The internal BIM awards that the firm is just starting on should be very helpful to motivate the staff to do even better
with Revit.
The biggest impediment to widespread BIM adoption in a country like India is the price of the application, which is astronomically high
by India's standards. In addition to the initial investment, the high annual subscription cost of the software is a further deterrent to
BIM adoption and updation to newer versions, thus making it more difficult to stay current with the technology. It is to the credit of
InFORM Architects that the firm has continued to expand its usage of Revit despite the prohibitive costs. I hope that BIM vendors can
make their solutions more affordable to AEC professionals in countries like India. Only then can the building industry in these countries
see widespread adoption of BIM. The world is shrinking every day thanks to globalization, and we cannot realize the full benefit of
BIM unless it becomes the de facto standard all over the world.
About the Author
Lachmi Khemlani is founder and editor of AECbytes. She has a Ph.D. in Architecture from UC Berkeley, specializing in intelligent building
modeling, and consults and writes on AEC technology. She can be reached at lachmi@aecbytes.com.

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