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I don't think anyone is telling architects what software to use nor to I believe that CAD software is a requirement for designing good buildings. But CAD and BIM do provide us Architects with extraordinarily powerful tools to help us.

In Germany, where I live, BIM has been widely adopted for many years now, mainly because it is such a useful and effective tool rather than because architects have been "told to do so". Of course BIM is not just Autodesk and Revit (powerful as these tools are) Over here Nemetschek Allplan, Graphisoft Archicad, and Autodesk Architecture are already widely used and bring very real benefits to the design process.

The whole point of BIM is that you are not drawing the building, but rather you are modeling it. The result is a fully co-ordinated database from which all the project documentation is automatically derived. Delete a door or window and ALL views are automatically updated. GA's, Sections, Elevations, Schedules etc.

Of course everything with an upside also has it's downside. The learning curve for BIM (my experience is with Revit) is rather steeper than Autodesk and others would have us all believe. There is also the intial financial outlay to consider although I shudder to think how many fruitless hours are wasted by Architects banging their heads against the limitations of Autocad LT (a false economy if ever there was one).

For me the main limitation of Revit is that the implementation of construction detailing into the software is rather "clunky" at the moment. But this is quite easily overcome by drafting construction details using 2D CAD and reserving Revit for GA's Elevations, Sections, and Schedules and Revit provides tools to facilitate this. Revit, Autocad, and 3DS Max already integrate rather well and I am sure will continue to improve.

There is certainly quite some way to go before BIM becomes the perfect design tool but it already provides an VERY powerful and effective toolset for those who are prepared to invest the time and effort. Certainly most architects over here in Germany would not wish to return to 2D CAD drafting

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