Akos Pfemeter of GRAPHISOFT Talks to Architosh about Open BIM

Continued from page 3

Open BIM: Group Goals

AFR: I want to switch gears a bit. Why did you not ask more people to be involved in this Open BIM announcement. Did you approach Autodesk and Bentley?

AP: It has a rather simple reason: we did not want to overload the creation and launch of this program with too many stakeholders who would have potentially slowed down the coordination and agreement about the details of the program too much.

AFR: Right, the committee gets so large that you can never reach consensus, et cetera. That makes sense.

AP: It turns out that everyone has good ideas about everything. If there is a new suggestion then you need to go around to everyone and ask what everyone thinks. So the core group–as I mentioned–began with just GRAPHISOFT, Tekla and of course buildingSMART.

AFR: How will Autodesk become a part of this? They are a very key player in BIM.

AP: They are part of buildingSMART and are already talking about opening up interdisciplinary coordination. I am convinced Autodesk will realize the benefits of the Open BIM approach and will join the Open BIM program as well.

AFR: Tell me about the OPEN BIM logo.

AP: We are aiming to have it endorsed and used in the industry much like the LEED logo. It demonstrates true commitment to the Open BIM approach. (see image 04)

04 - The new OPEN BIM logo by the Open BIM group. The logo is aimed at be utilized much like the LEED logo is used to show a commitment to sustainability. The OPEN BIM logo will show a commitment to the adoption to an open industry standard approach to BIM workflows.

AFR: What events or initiatives will this group be putting on in the near future to promote Open BIM and the recent announcements?

AP: There has been a global Open BIM webinar where GRAPHISOFT, Tekla and DDS (Data Design System) showed Open BIM in real practice through an interesting project case study from Norway. The webinar recording can be watched after registration (editor’s note: go here). There was a conference in March in Beijing, China, as well where we talked about Open BIM. In May we are planning a major industry event with buildingSMART where Open BIM will be the main theme for the famous Build Live London competition. Various members of the Open BIM program will be present or hosting these and other events.

AFR: Thanks for talking to us about the Open BIM announcements.

AP: You are very welcome.

Additional Notes

The Open BIM approach and program is open to a wide array of AEC industry participants and readers who are interested in learning more can start by visiting the buildingSMART website’s main page and this Open BIM section on their organization’s website here (http://buildingsmart.com/openbim).

The full list of partners behind the Open BIM program can be seen here.