Congratulations to the first South Africa BIM Competition 2018 winners!
“The designs on display and that were presented made it a difficult decision for the competition judges.”
BIM Academy Global
The Institute is grateful to those who submitted work, and for the commitment in producing “real” BIM models. The winning models will be used in the ASAQS BIM Competition to follow in July 2018. Out of the 48 registered entries, 6 winners were chosen on how they applied design and BIM principles.
Results by competition
Designing to healthier living for retired seniors
First Prize
Janine Strachan- DSA architects
Second Prize
Akesh Jugmohan – AJ Arch Design
Third Prize
Gordon Thekiso – Draughtsmen @ Aurecon
Living next door to the ordinary
First Prize
Rupert Auerbach – Crafts of Architecture
Second Prize
Gerd Bolt – Bolts Studio Architects
Third Prize
James Page – James Page Architects
Feedback from entrees
Janine Strachan – BIM Manager DSA
I entered the Autodesk BIM Architecture Competition 2018 to learn, to test my BIM skills and knowledge, and to have fun. The competition brief was well structured and thought provoking. Following the brief from a design point of view as well as from a BIM Implementation point of view was extremely beneficial to me as a BIM Manager. I discovered new ways of setting up a BIM model and entering information and data into my model to make it more accessible for other consultants. By implementing BIM standards, it became easier for me to use the software, understand my design and input information into my families and components. I think the BIM competition is a great way to promote BIM in South Africa and encourages more everyday Revit users to push the boundaries of BIM and the software to achieve more efficient designs. I look forward to the next BIM challenge.
Rupert Auerbach Professional Architect + BIM manager COA
The BIM Institute competition was based around the conversion of an existing house into a net zero energy B+B.
The intent was to demonstrate the amount of value that could be added to a South African house and to weigh up whether the various consultant fees are worth the effort.
The quality of living, environment, climatic conditions and design response, embodied energy as well as renewable energy to produce a net zero energy building were important considerations.
The use of Building Information modelling (BIM) eliminates a lot of duplicated work between consultants particularly quantity surveyors in this case as well as improving accuracy and efficiency regarding all technical aspects of a project.
The 3d model resulting from the BIM competition has many other benefits such as:
- Communication of design intent to clients, contractors and consultants. I used ArchiCAD’s BimX which is the perfect tool to explore 3d ArchiCAD models and documentation accessible to everyone for free.
- I explored ArchiCAD’s advanced energy modelling tool which is very accurate and fast and can be passed on to consultants for tweaking and analysis
- IFC files can be used for structural analysis, costing of the project and coordination where Mechanical, electrical and plumbing elements are modelled to avoid problems on site. Here I was asked to convert the ASAQS classification system into an importable file for ArchiCAD
- I used the Bim object add-on to download fully specified real products available in South Africa straight into the file. A client can walk through the bimx model and look at these objects as well viewing info and hyperlinks to the product website etc.
- ArchiCAD’s Cine Render was used to create a rendered fly through
The above took less than 100 hours of work due to ArchiCAD’s smooth workflows and the resulting model will be used in a quantity surveying competition which will hopefully underline the economic advantages to this approach. Many countries have already made BIM mandatory and the BIM Institute has the challenge of leading the way for South Africans.
James Page – James Page Architects
Having set myself a very short deadline, competing in the competition was a great opportunity for me to very quickly commit to a concept and flesh out a creative idea without second guessing myself or labouring too hard on the particulars. To me, one of the most powerful features of BIM software, and ArchiCAD especially, is the ability to predefine highly detailed architectural elements, which perform just like real world building materials, and combine them to build a true-to-life conceptual digital model. With the ability to embed all of the necessary data in the model itself, an idea can move very quickly from a simple sketch to tender and built reality.
Gordon Thekiso -Aurecon (structural engineering draughts person)
The competition motivated me and inspired me to use Revit full time. It gave me impression of becoming one of the 3D Revit specialists. It made me to become more interested on 3D modelling designs.
The BIM Institute is issuing the two first South African BIM competitions for architects, designers and students for proposals on the design of healthier living. The competitions are designed to seek innovative architects in South Africa to work closer with client developers that are wanting to explore BIM capabilities on their projects. This is the first competition of the series where we focus our attention on residential dwellings with emphasis on exploring people’s capacity to live healthier through the use of new and improved design technologies.
