The Sydney Opera House is a major landmark and a proud part of Australian arts and culture. It’s also a symbol of innovative and beautiful architecture recognized worldwide. The site is a major tourist attraction, with over 8 million visitors per year.
As an important Australian landmark, it’s important to keep this building up and running. That means passing on information about its maintenance to the next generation looking after it. While Building Information Modeling (BIM) is well-known for its function in design and construction, it can also be used to greatly improve facilities management. Read on to find out how this landmark uses BIM!
The Sydney Opera House’s Journey So Far with BIM
The Sydney Opera House began using 3D modeling as part of their venue improvement plan in 2007. This plan gave the building a new access tunnel and an underground loading dock. As a venue that always has something going on inside, whether that’s rehearsals, shows, auditions or tours, it’s essential for the building to stay in shape. BIM, as opposed to simple 3D modelling, provides more data that can be used to pinpoint maintenance issues.
In technical design programs, students learn how much information can be included using BIM and how this data can be used. For example, if the locations of accidents are mapped, key improvements can be made where they are needed the most. UK company BIM Academy helped create the BIM for the Sydney Opera House, doing interviews with staff and gathering information on what the building needed. Linking multiple data sets into one visual medium lets everyone running the facilities access info from a single source, which helps facilitate leaner operations.
Why Information Sharing Can Be Improved When You Learn BIM
BIM is both a philosophy and a process. The philosophy of BIM involves providing access to information that can connect teams, departments and even generations. Before BIM, much of the information pertaining to the upkeep of the Sydney Opera House was stored in the minds of people who worked there. With no digital record, as those people moved on and a new generation began taking care of the structure, they’d either have to relearn all of that information or else never be privy to it.
When you learn BIM, you’ll see how it helps map both physical and functional characteristics into one user interface, just as is done now in the Sydney Opera House. With BIM, information about the Opera House is stored in one digital model so it can be accessed across generations.
Role of Skills from Building Information Modeling Courses in Maintenance
As a building that is open and working around the clock, the Sydney Opera House is in need of regular maintenance, not only for upkeep but also to preserve it as a heritage site for years to come. The University of Sydney has an ongoing preservation project with the Opera House to ensure that the original engineering will last. Building materials, bindings and sealants must be monitored for this to work, and BIM gathers data on these elements over time.
With the ability to see how a building evolves over time, facilities management can better judge how to preserve and maintain the structure. Digital storage prevents information from being lost when the builder is no longer on site. Building information modeling courses applied to the role of maintenance have the potential for rapid, current data retrieval. For example, a worker could enter a room in the Opera House, swipe a code and instantly view important information about that room, like temperature, operation manuals, and maintenance history, on their tablet. It’s just one example of how BIM helps create a brighter future for even the most historic landmarks.
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