Tuesday 31 March 2020

Dangerologists

Dangerologists

These are dangerous times, not just for the real dangers for health and the economy but also because of the numerous dangerologists that have been coming out of the woodwork and reminding the public that they had foreseen the disaster in this book, that interview, this blog or than vlog. Sometimes they merit a nod for their predictions but mostly they deserve to be dismissed without further discussion.

Predicting possible disasters and pointing out potential dangers is easy. Everything we do is precarious, from walking on the pavement to flying to another continent, from staying with what we have to radically changing lives and environments. The ant that escapes the soles of our feet knows all about the precarity of life. We know it, too, when we manage to listen to our bodies and their anxieties at the edge of a cliff or in uncomfortable temperatures. The smallest irregularity, the tiniest miscalculation may be enough to bring on disastrous results.

The only thing dangerologists can do for us is open our eyes to systematic errors of judgement, help us identify behavioural and cultural blind spots beyond the basic precarity of life. Walking on stairs is inherently dangerous but should we just be extra careful when doing so or do we need to improve stair design? Is our usual hygiene insufficient for preventing viral infections, is the high density of people in many places inherently dangerous, is the high mobility of our times to blame for the rapid worldwide spread of disease? Much of that seems so bleeding obvious that I don't care to listen any longer.

Friday 27 March 2020

Why one shouldn't believe in BIM maturity levels

Why one shouldn't believe in BIM maturity levels

One of the holy cows of BIM theory is the notion of maturity levels. Inspired by them, I suggest that there are also car driving maturity levels:
  1.  Sitting in the driver's seat in a stationary car with the engine turned off, not touching anything 
  2.  Sitting in the driver's seat in a stationary car and operating the windshield wipers
  3.  Driving a car in a straight line only 
  4.  Driving a car safely under any circumstances 
  5.  Driving a car in a way beneficial to society and the economy 
Ludicrous? Well, no less than some of the BIM maturity levels that are currently been taken for granted. 

On a more serious note, I'm not sure what to make of these levels. The appeal of levels and categorization in general is understandable. The problem with categories is that they should be meaningful, that they should make the world easier to describe in a truthful and reliable manner - not develop arbitrary, possibly distorting filters for reality. 

Do BIM maturity levels represent stages in the development of BIM skills and knowledge, similarly to the capability maturity model, where maturity refers to the degree of formalization and optimization in the processes of an organization, from ad hoc or even chaotic to repeatable and efficient? 

I don't think that the adoption of BIM is a similar progression. One doesn't have to start from 2D CAD before moving on to nD BIM. The setup of the BIM maturity levels actually reveals the limitations of the mainstream approach to BIM deployment, including fixations on analogue practices like the production of 2D drawings and the gathering of information around these drawings, which are actually harmful to understanding BIM, as they sidetrack learners to outdated means and workflows. 

BIM maturity levels make too much of the difference between 2D and 3D representations, as if 2D building drawings do not convey 3D information or as if one could make 2D models in BIM. That some of the views of a model are 2D projections should not matter, in the same way that it does not matter that other views are tables. I won't go any further into dimensions in BIM; that chapter has been closed for me with a recent paper in Automation in Construction (Dimensionality in BIM: Why BIM cannot have more than four dimensions? doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103153).

What I miss is other indications of maturity and progress, such as the correct use of symbols, properties, parameters etc, the completeness and consistency of models and other syntactic, semantic and pragmatic measures. Surely these are the most significant for the successful use of BIM. The only positive aspect of BIM maturity levels is that they emphasize the significance of a shared, central model - and then spoil it by suggesting that one can do BIM without one. 



Thursday 26 March 2020

Social distancing and design

Social distancing and design

We are constantly reminded to keep others at a distance of 1.5 or 2 metres. Most people try to do so, some ignore the advice to the irritation of the rest and others behave as if everybody is a threat, even at a great distance. Beyond personal reactions, the overall effect is spectacular: in contrast to other times, public space is heavily underused, with lots of space for everyone. It's a joy to be out and about with such low densities of people and vehicles.
I wonder what will remain after the scare is over. Will we revert to the old habits and tolerances, squeezing into every bit of space available to go as fast as possible to our destination? It seems probable that we will forget. I remember cycling through the Dutch countryside during a previous epidemic and coming close to or under flocks of birds. Wondering if they were infected, I gave them a wide berth, trying to hold my breath as long as possible. I no longer do so.
Even more important than user behaviour is the design and management of the environment. We naturally try to keep an appropriate distance at all times, as Edward T. Hall and others have observed. Unfortunately, the affordances of many environments force us to come closer than desired to others. Sometimes a distance of a few centimetres from a stranger is all we achieve in a bus, train or metro, as well as in a air terminal, cinema theatre or classroom. When the pandemic is over and current measures are relaxed, we might be forced to accept the same congested situations once again. Will we react with the indignation such poorly designed and managed environments deserve? Will we demand safe and comfortable distances at all times? How will authorities and designers react? In many respects, such a pandemic is a wake-up call: to invest not only in adequate care when something goes wrong but also in designing environments that can prevent the worst. We deserve public transportation and public space that are generous, comfortable and safe. They come at a cost but that cost seems a wise investment.