BIM Game – Crafter
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is to become the planning standard for construction projects and an integral part of university education. The BIM Game, a digital simulation game, makes the planning methodology tangible. The simulation game was developed by the BIM2USE initiative of the Innovative University of Applied Sciences Jade-Oldenburg! (IHJO) in cooperation with the Department of Architecture at the Jade University of Applied Sciences. It was organised by the Oldenburg Chamber of Crafts and the Bau+Mehr project of the Cloppenburg District Chamber of Crafts. Participation in the event was free of charge and was aimed primarily at craftsmen and women from regional companies.
With the business game "CRAFTER", which was specially tailored to the needs of the skilled crafts sector, participants from various skilled crafts companies were able to acquire knowledge in dealing with the key technologies of BIM under almost real conditions within two days. For this purpose, a building model was developed on which the various trades could work collaboratively. Tasks had to be solved on the model, errors in the model analysed and documented, and construction processes coordinated. In detail, the trades learned the correct handling of the model by means of an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Viewer, the targeted communication on the model by means of a current conference tool as well as the legally important documentation with the BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) in order to be able to participate in the BIM process in the future.
In competitive groups, the participants worked across trades and solved tasks in a given time. They formed working groups, distributed responsibilities and took on different roles in the planning process. The collaboration took place directly on the 3D model, decentralised, simply from the office or from home. The work took place in direct competition with the other teams and was controlled by regular client meetings. The clock was ticking: intermediate submissions and knowledge of partial results from other groups increased the pressure on the players. The results had to be delivered precisely and, above all, on time. This was ensured by a work portal that controlled the game, structured the process steps and queried the respective performances. Conference rooms were available for discussions and meetings, so that after two days the participants had become acquainted with various digital skills. The playful competitive atmosphere motivated the participants and took away their fear of using new techniques.
The BIM Game format was already successfully tested with architecture students in the first simulation game "PING PONG". With the "Jade Work" event, the BIM Game was run a second time and opened up to civil engineering students and external participants. CRAFTER", the third edition of the BIM Game, was this time aimed specifically at the executing trades. It trained digital communication on the model in order to demonstrate to the trades the power of digital planning and communication tools and thus create the conditions for the trades' integration into the digital BIM workflow.
The workshop was designed and led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gregor Grunwald (Department of Architecture and Christian Heins (IHJO). Kay Lutz Pakula (HWK) and Andreas Dalinghaus (Kreishandwerkerschaft Cloppenburg) took over the organisation of the training event.