Just to chime in on RP and current apps. In 1997 we have produce entire Lafayette Square in St. Louis as an RP kit of parts for an architectural charette using Stereo lithography as at that time the only viable process from the resolution point of view. Models were created in Form Z and AutoCAD R14, and what become evident immediately is the problem of relative scaling and cost of material. In order to use a BIM model without an additional tweaking (a lot of tweaking) one should try to create a SLA or FDM model that is composed of several components so that there is enough thickness (meat) in physical model to support itself.
For example, when creating a curtain wall with SLA or FDM at 1/8 scale, which is quite a large scale for an architectural model, if a large structure is in question, 1” glazing needs to be printed as 0.01” thick layer of material and considering that the horizontal layer resolution on a very good quality SLA machine (read as expensive) is 0.005”, most often the entire building envelope ends up looking as fabric ruined by moths. With FDM the problem is even more pronounced, to the extend that exterior walls integrity might get compromised. From that perspective, a multi segmented large model where parts get assembled, or a solid model are the best options for the direct BIM model translation.
The bigger problem is finding a client that is willing to pay for it, but that would be another topic.
