2.3 Applications of BIM

BIM output can be utilized in a variety of ways to provide stakeholders with a greater understand of how a building is to be used, designed, and constructed. The various applications in which BIM shall be utilized for all LACCD BIM projects shall be as follows:

2.3.1 Pre-Design and Programming

For each campus, The District shall develop Programming Requirements which shall define space and adjacency requirements to be adhered for individual projects. These requirements shall be based upon the campus Education Master Plan and Facility Master Plan, and shall reference the Owner’s Basis of Design and Sustainable Design Guideline Documents. As-Built Records of Existing Facilities, and, BIM /GIS mapping of campus shall be included in this documentation and provided to project teams for their use during the RFP phase. Where possible, all programming and as built data provided by the campus shall be in a format that is fully translatable to an IFC Compliant BIM Authoring Tool and shall be expected to be incorporated by the Design Build Teams in to their design processes for reference and verification purposes.

2.3.2 RFP Competition (Design-Build Projects only)

As a major component of the RFP competition phase of each project, all competing project teams shall participate in a BIM Charette where teams will be asked to incorporate District provided As-Built Information, Programming Requirements, and Sustainable Design Guidelines, in to a conceptual design model. Final competition submittals shall be executed in an IFC Compliant BIM Authoring tool with deliverables as defined by the District prior to the competition phase. Examples of these deleiverables may include massing studies, design visualization renderings, 3D models, and preliminary building performance and cost estimating analysis.

·         Programming shall become the basis of massing diagrams in BIM, and shall be validated by an approved format pre-determined by the District.

·         As-Built Documentation shall be referenced and modeled using BIM and GIS oriented mapping to establish proper orientation and location for the building

2.3.3 Site Conditions - Existing Conditions and New Construction

For new construction and renovation projects, the modeling of the project site and the existing structures, shall be included in the BIM requirements. Depending upon the project site, a model of the site may be obtained from the LACCD Vault or commissioned by an external consultant using an approved IFC Compliant, 3D Site and Utility Modeling BIM tool.

For all projects, the modeling of existing buildings shall be performed based upon District provided as-built information, with field verification or electronic measurements conducted by Project team to validate the level of accuracy.

For all existing conditions to be directly impacted, altered, or to be demolished by a proposed renovation, Project Designers shall model those conditions to the appropriate level of detail that will clearly demonstrate the design intent to building stakeholders, other Project Team Members, and construction trades directly involved with executing this change.

Proposed site conditions shall reference campus benchmarks, and reference existing surveys and GIS mapping systems for accuracy. New site and utility conditions shall be modeled in 3D, and shall coordinate system and spatial models three dimensionally. Where other systems are directly impacted by landscape features (i.e. vegetation, irrigation), those elements shall be modeled with correct size and clearance requirements in BIM.

2.3.4 Architectural Model - Spatial and Material Design Models

The Architectural Spatial model evolves during the design process, and the information modeled in BIM shall be further refined as a project progresses toward construction. In the early phases of design, an Architectural BIM Model may be as simple as a massing model validating program requirements, basic geometries, and building orientation to climate and site conditions.

As the design progresses, design options shall develop and need to be clearly documented and delineated in the BIM model. Likewise, as materials and components are selected, generic assemblies shall be assigned material properties, sizes, track LEED values, and other specific component information to clearly define various building features such as walls, floors, roofs, doors and windows. Program space requirements shall be modeled in the spatial model and validated using schedules and other validation tools designated by the District for the specific project.

2.3.5 System Models - Structural and MEPF design

With current technology, building systems are best organized as separate BIM models linked to a common campus benchmark for efficient and accurate coordination purposes. Similar to the spatial models, the level of detail in these models shall evolve as design progresses such that these systems are accurately modeled, and include sufficient performance, clearance, and LEED requirements as part of the BIM.

2.3.6 Cost estimation (Design-Bid-Build Projects Only)

Cost estimation shall be generated from the Project BIM at project milestones designated by the contract. At the completion of Construction Documentation Phase, the Design Team shall provide to potential bidders a copy of the fully assembled and coordinated BIM in a non-editable format. (i.e. Navisworks nwd, dwf, 3d pdf).

2.3.7 4D Scheduling and Sequencing

The construction planning process mandates the sequencing of activities in space and time and accounting for constraints such as procurement lead time/logistics, resources, spatial constraints, and weather among others.

Traditional scheduling methods do not address the spatial aspect to the construction activities nor are they directly linked to a design or building model. Traditional bar charts or Critical Path Method Network Diagram can be difficult to understand or interpret. Having the ability to watch the elements of a design come together onscreen gives the design and construction team improved accuracy in construction sequencing.

The primary elements LACCD requires for 4D simulation and sequencing shall be as follows:

The optimal process in 4D scheduling is to import schedule activity data from a scheduling application such as Primavera P3/P6 into a dedicated 4D scheduling application and “link” the activity data to the associated object in a 3D model. The result is a 4D model which provides a value advantage to the Project Team for better visualization and coordination of the construction sequence for respective trades. Prior to the start of construction, Design-Builder (General Contractor in Design-Bid-Build Projects) shall link BIM to the approved construction schedule.

2.3.8 5D Estimation

LACCD will not require BIM based 5D Estimation at this time. We will address this requirement in later versions of this Standard as technology progresses.

2.3.9 Energy Consumption Simulation and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis

In order to achieve net zero energy goals for its campuses, all new construction shall need to be designed in a way that energy and material use can be greatly reduced and then measured and verified by a building’s users and facilities management teams once it is occupied. As such, energy simulation and life-cycle cost calculations shall be based upon information extracted directly from BIM technology and validated by energy modeling, whole building commissioning requirements and LEED Certification.

Exporting to gbXML - Project teams shall utilize energy modeling and sustainable design software that extracts BIM data to gbXML format for analysis. Reference section 2.2. for approved BIM Authoring Tools.

2.3.10 Design Visualization

Design Visualization tools refer to animations, fly-throughs, static 3D renderings, 4D, and 3D Physical Models exported directly from a BIM Authoring Tool. Design teams shall participate in providing the quality design visualizations that illustrate building spaces, their use and organization, to assist stakeholders in making decisions throughout the project duration. During Construction, visualization models may be developed by the Contractor to help simulate and sequence construction of a room before it is built.

It should be noted that even though the BIMs contain most of the source information needed for visualization, they may require further refinement in specific animation and visualization software to accomplish intended results.