Forum

One of the great features of bimstore 4.0 is the discussion forum. Debates about some subjects have been going on for years. With the bimstore forum these discussions can now be captured in one place.

To get the ball rolling im keen to start a discussion around the use of generic and proprietary, manufactirer specific, content.
As a founder of bimstore I am obviously an advocate of manufactirer content. As an architect I want the accurate geometry so I can coordinate the component and I want the right data associated with its performance.

The counter argument is that you dont need specific contnet at the early stages of design. I would agree but i also believe we should get the right information in there as soon as possible.
At the simplest level, at the early stages of deign development we are increasingly creating high quality renders and VR from the design model in real time. We therefore need accurate information. For example, we recently presented an interior office scheme to a client at an early stage. As some of the contnet was generic and was not what we planned to select the client spent most of her time focussed on furnitire we had used as a place holder. Had we been able to use the accurate model for the particular chair we would have been able to clearly show our design intent..

At a more technical level; following Grenfell, as an architect I want to be responsible for specification myself. I want to decide the performance of a product based on all variables not only cost and availability. I also want these decisions to be transparent and recorded. With a generic component the designer is leaving the final decision to others who may not be aware of all design issues.

There are many other reasons why I believe proprietary information for manufactirers is essential but this should get us started...