BIM methodology was born in the United States in the 1970s, although it was not fully implemented until the 1990s. It was only from 1997, with the first IFC version (Issued for Construction, a type of drawing that the client or his representative gives to the contractor), that the US industry realised the importance of the use of BIM technology in architecture and construction.
Consequently, the United States should perhaps be the most advanced country in the adoption of BIM methodology in the architecture and construction sector. However, this is not the case. One of the main reasons for this situation is the lack of regulatory homogeneity among its states.
For example, the State of Wisconsin has required BIM technology since 2010 for all public architectural projects with a budget of $5 million or more, and for new general construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more. Another state, California, generated $12 million in savings on a sustainable building construction project in the Los Angeles Community College District.
It is to be expected that, thanks to its obvious advantages, the BIM methodology will take hold in the United States with federal regulation. It is currently estimated that 72% of architecture and construction firms in the United States already use at least one of the BIM techniques.
By Eduardo Hernandez Garcia, Senior Structural Modeller at Logic Architecture Dept.
