3D Modeling and Real-Time Coordination
Posted by Holly Allison on Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 08:12 AM
The Vico Services Team has worked on some pretty amazing projects all over the world - the race track in Abu Dhabi, the California Academy of Sciences with its rolling green roof, the Doha airport, and Yankee Stadium, just to name a few.
Now that we’ve completed over 350 of these projects, we’ve compiled a comprehensive compendium of 5D BIM protocols and best practices. But how do we still provide Owners with value for their BIM dollar? Sometimes it really is as easy as listening to the Owner.
One example came from our work with McCarthy Building Companies on the St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, CA - a four-story cancer care and imaging center. The Owner gave us one requirement: no change orders on the project. That is a remarkably tall order, especially considering that health care staff always wants the latest model of medical equipment. But to the Owner’s point, making changes to casework and behind-the-wall MEP is very costly.
As Todd Foos from McCarthy Building Companies explained, "In-wall coordination for a hospital room is extremely complicated. There is a localized inundation of twenty services to supply a 4-foot bed. There are no excuses - you have to get it right."
The majority of the work centered around the use of virtual mock-ups (highly detailed 3D models) to help translate the elevation drawings for the doctors and nurses. By being able to see the nurses stations and the operating rooms in 3D, the "end-users" could visualize how they wanted the layout to work. This included the complex lighting booms from Stryker over the operating tables and the convenient placement of the paper towel holders. With every item placed correctly in the room, the casework could be finalized and all electrical, plumbing, and exhausts run correctly behind the wall. And instead of signing off on an elevation drawing that they didn’t understand, the nurses and doctors could sign the print out from the model and be confident that their choices and decisions would result in better patient care.
While this sounds like a no-brainer, think of how many examples you’ve seen where the room doesn’t match the needs of the occupant. With this in mind, the Vico Services Team even modeled each doctor’s office with the individual physician. Who knew that some physicians prefer to stand on the right of the patient, while others prefer to stand on the left? This small detail determined the placement of the monitor which influenced the placement of the CPU, which in turn determined the outlet placement.
Perhaps the best example came from a mammography nurse who asked if there was some way she could maintain eye contact with her patient as she went behind the lead-backed drywall wall to flip the switch for the x-ray. McCarthy was able to accommodate the request with special medical-grade glass and we quickly modeled a viewing window above the control panel.
These examples illustrate a standard of care that extends past the Owner to your mother, your sister, and your wife. The doctors and nurses were able to sign off on the print outs of the modeled rooms, not the confusing elevation drawings and the Owner got what he wanted - no costly change orders.
Exceed your Owner’s expectations with BIM Consulting and Professional Services from Vico.
What are some examples from your own firm's work where you've exceeded your Owner's expectations? How can we best introduce the flexibility and robust information from the BIM to help Owners get exactly the building they want?