A revolution in how computers are used to model buildings is taking place,
and at the heart of this revolution has been a debate about what three
letter acronym to use that best describes the technology driving the
revolution forward. The default term is currently BIM (Building Information
Modeling), although there have been many other attempts, and recently a
proposal was made to call it PEN (Parametric ENabled) . The search for a
three letter word is clearly tied to the legacy of CAD (which stands for
Computer Assisted Drafting or Design) even though the essence of this new
technology makes a decisive break with the CAD paradigm. That CAD can have
such a grip on the thought process is evidence of a conservative tendency in
the AE profession that manifests itself even at the high-tech fringe. The
BIM apologists have begun to see and imagine new opportunities and
methodologies as a result of emerging technology, but have fallen short when
trying to come up with a catch-all acronym that rolls easily off the tongue
and embodies a new spirit.
References to bygone tools have no place in the realm of next generation
design tools. The world has moved on, the information age, the
post-industrial society, is here and now, and continues to expand. The
machine age, having run its course, is coming to and end. Likewise, the age
of mechanical drafting and tireless abstract revisions is primed for
extinction. The computer has been freed from the mundane task of
representing lines in a banal coordinate space. No longer can the computer
be thought of as a device that simply mimics the conventions of hand
drafting. The floor plan is ceasing to be an end in itself, and instead
becoming a mere by-product of a hyper-coordinated design process. The great
modernist Le Corbusier stated that the plan is the generator of form. In
the post-industrial era, it is form that generates the plan, and the
section, and the elevation, and the perspective, and the schedule.on and on,
all in real time. The list of possible deliverables and consequences of
using the computer to truly model buildings is nothing short of mind
blowing.
Today, we have new ways of creating architectural representations, and the
information built into these representations exceeds the implied meaning of
lines projected onto a 2D surface. Every object can be imbibed with and
described by parameters that inter-relate with other objects and their
parameters. The information, stored in centralized database that can manage
and negotiate changes, allows the creation of "live" models that are always
in sync, and represented as explicit graphical and textual controls. This
technology enables the age-old process of building physical models to be
intimately tied to all other means of representing a building. Now, 2D, 3D
and 4D co-exist in single design environment and are all linked together.
These tools are the tools that can, and will 'do it all', tools that enable
total collaboration across disciplines. Tools that provide total syncopation
of a single database of parametrically related, intelligent components that
can be analyzed, modified, and published--on the fly. A tool that can do
that much--allow for creating truly virtual models of a system--is more than
Building Information Modeling, it is HYPERMODELING. Model are referred to
as HYPERMODELS, not BIMs. The Hypermodel is a way of interfacing with
information, not modeling it. Who wants to model information? No, we want
to Model, and have information become a dynamic expression of modeling.
Also, the hypermodel is not reserved for mere "buildings"-it can be
atomized. Is a window a building? No, but one can imagine entire companies
that do nothing but crank out Hypermodel content. Hypercomponents that work
in the context of a building, but are not themselves buildings. A
photorealistic rendering, or walkthrough, is not really building information
modeling-but clearly that is a critical piece of this new paradigm. Think
of visualizations as an aspect of hypermodeling; or better, as an
opportunity that hypermodeling provides.
The chains of the three letter acronym now broken, we can imagine a new
paradigm taking hold. We can imagine a new generation of HYPERMODEL
designers emerging, while simultaneously, 'CAD technician' becomes an
obsolete pursuit. We can imagine a whole new definition of labor divisions,
of highly collaborative design-build firms, of new types of hybrid AE
companies coming into being. We can imagine using the HYPERMODEL to
redefine how projects are bid upon, how they are won, how they are
implemented, how they are administrated, how they are evaluated. Ask
yourself this, do you want to be known a BIMMER or a HYPERMODELER? Will
your firm gain leverage by promoting the use of BIM tools, or HYPERMODELS?
To embrace Hypermodeling is to finally take the step into the current of the
Information Revolution: to take advantage of it, rather than shy away from
it. In doing so, we open the door to new processes, new business models,
new methods, and ultimately, a New Architecture.
