The Heterogeneity of BIM Objects in Different Construction Contexts

Abstract

Building information modelling (BIM) objects are the primary “building blocks” that form a building information model to store, organize, and visualize project information. “One size does not fit all”; BIM objects, along with their associated information, vary significantly from one construction context to another. In parallel with the deepening of BIM globalization is the increasing emphasis of “BIM localization,” whereby designers desire a context-specific BIM object library that is in accord with the local building specifications and construction needs. Prevailing practice is to manually make the BIM objects and organize them in a library. This practice, however, could be inefficient, tedious and error-prone, particularly when the task is to deal with millions of objects in real-life projects. This study aims to investigate the heterogeneity of BIM objects, namely the variations of BIM objects in different construction contexts. This is the first and foremost step to design the context-specific BIM libraries using automatic or semi-automatic approaches. It first selects the critical parameters that distinguish a general BIM object. Taking these parameters as comparison criteria, the study further summarized the variations of BIM objects in different construction contexts. The study outcomes could enable efficient BIM design and promote BIM implementation in real-life projects. It can also contribute to the existing knowledge of BIM objects and offer significant implications to soft-landing BIM-based building project delivery.