Digitally integrated practices: a new paradigm in the teaching of digital media in architecture

Abstract

With the advent of the 21st century, the 25-year-old promise of multi-parametric modeling has re-emerged reincarnated as Building Information Modeling (BIM). Promoted by a trend toward Integrated Practices (IP), BIM can provide instrumentation for the design, representation, documentation of the projects, and the exchange of information among designers and other stakeholders. A growing number of disciplines in the design and construction industry are embracing the use of BIM and consequently the academia is addressing related training needs. This paper presents the accumulative experience of the authors over the last decade at Texas A&M University regarding digital media integration and our current plans for addressing future demands and opportunities. As a matter of introduction, the paper makes reference to early implementations of multi-parametric modeling in electronic design studios, early use of the Internet for the implementation of collaborative virtual design studios, and their evolution towards virtual multidisciplinary studios and fabrication studios that make use of BIM software. At the core, the paper explains how BIM can be a pedagogical tool for multidisciplinary integration and curricular articulation. The paper makes evident that BIM is more than a phenomena happening in the profession and something the academia must simply provide training for. The paper ends by drawing conclusions that outline how we can produce the design briefings of projects especially directed toward offering multidisciplinary learning opportunities in studios instrumented by means of BIM software.

Key words: building information modeling, multiparametric modeling, integrated practices, digital media education.