83 Building Information Modeling and Professional Practice Dennis R. Shelden Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Chapter 6 ABSTRACT The practice of architecture is changing rapidly due to an influx of new technical, procedural, and orga- nizational innovations in the building delivery process. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a key technical component of this evolution in practice, encompassing newly available modeling, fabrication, and communications technologies. BIM represents a key enabler of other innovations, by creating value and incentives for rethinking aspects of conventional practice, from contractual roles and responsibili- ties to the format and content of project information. INTRODUCTION In this chapter we consider the general trends of computational applications to design from the specific vantage of practice ­ the methods, ac- tivities, and conventions beyond the designer or engineer's office and outward to the collaborative enterprise of realizing built projects. These are the core considerations of Building Information Modeling (BIM) ­ a set of advances, founded on technological developments but broadly point- ing to new ways of working. BIM is specifically concerned with the activities of documenting and communicating aspects of the design throughout the processes of project execution. These include the development of building permit and contract DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-180-1.ch006 documents, engineering solutions, instructions for fabrication and placement of components in the field, and a host of other activities. BIM is about tools, but more significantly about how building projects are developed and the role of information in these activities. Rather than consider the topic from the emergence of specific tools sets, it is perhaps more appropriate to consider the topic from the vantage of activities ­ how new tools enable new ways of working, what tools must be developed to allow alternative means of production, and how production and technology are likely to evolve given advances in both. The term Building Information Modeling itself covers a broad territory of inter related advances and as such is somewhat is ambiguous, referring to both the tools themselves as well as the overall processes, and new techniques in conjunction with Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.