In this BC Housing Edutalk, expert Adrienne Young explains how the Vienna House team is using building information modelling (BIM) to foster close collaboration between all the project’s partners, suppliers, and trades. Listen to audio file here:
About This Interview
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a method that uses digital tools and 3D modeling to help project teams design, build, and manage buildings together in a shared virtual environment. Though BIM is standard practice in many countries, it is not yet widely used in Canada. Vienna House is the first BC Housing project to embrace the approach.
BIM allows project team members—including the owner, architect, construction contractor, and, eventually its operator—to share data about all a building’s systems and components, from parkade to roof.
In this BC Housing Edutalk, Adrienne Young explains:
- How the Vienna House team has used BIM to proactively spot and eliminate “clashes.” For example, an area where a steel beam would have interfered with pipes and ducts.
- How the project contractor applied QR codes to structural components, allowing workers to access schematics and specifications as needed.
- The institutional challenges that are holding back BIM from wider adoption in Canada’s construction and development sector.
At the Mic
Listen in as Young explains how BIM helped open lines of communication, saving time and money across the project’s entire life cycle.
As Director of Design Technology at PUBLIC Architecture, Adrienne Young plays a key role in advancing digital design integration and technical standards, with a particular focus on social housing. Adrienne holds a Master of Architecture from the University of British Columbia and has a deep understanding of how the built environment shapes social interaction and human behaviour.
Related Resources
BC Housing Builder Insight Bulletin: Digital Project Delivery and BIM
This BC Housing Builder Insight Bulletin takes a deep dive into how data-driven project delivery enabled cross-team collaboration on Vienna House. This includes allowing teams to identify and resolve construction issues and opportunities. It explains how BIM benefits concept design, project delivery, and facility management. (April 2024)
BC Housing’s Building Knowledge: Introduction to Building Information Modeling
BC Housing’s Building Knowledge series hosts workshops, research and publications on the key challenges in building and operating affordable, sustainable housing. SummitBIM, the BIM consultant on Vienna House, produced this online seminar to explain BIM from the perspective of the owner, design consultants, contractor, and facility management teams. (October 2024)
