abstractBIM

Ideally, information would flow freely between the architect’s design and the engineer’s technical solutions in the construction industry – both trades optimizing iteratively. Building Information Modeling (BIM) takes a big step in this direction. Still, the old struggle between creativity and technical thinking remains. Most of the time, the architect’s BIM Models are not suitable as input for the engineer’s building performance simulation (BPS) or building energy model (BEM). Therefore, engineers still build their simulation models manually in their simulation software. That’s time-consuming, a waste of resources, and prevents iterative optimizations. In light of the enormous impact of buildings on global warming – and our quality of life – these inefficient processes hinder the design of sustainable, cost-effective, and comfortable buildings.

Carving a niche in the world of BIM is abstractBIM. The Swiss IT company automatically translates architectural BIMs to bridge designs and building performance simulations (BPS). abstractBIM operates in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry assisting architects, HVAC engineers and building physicists to design and simulate dynamic models of sustainable and high-performance buildings in an easy, synced and consistent manner. “We are the only solution on the market that harmonizes BIM data fully and automatically,” says Simon Dilhas, CEO and Co-Founder of abstractBIM.

Previously a project manager for construction projects, Dilhas received Building Information Models from architects for project cost calculation and noticed the quality issues with the data consistency of the models.

Driven to offer better service with the provision to automatically create cost calculations, Dilhas developed a prototype for a BIM solution that links creative architectural models and cost simulations.With further tweaks and enhancements to the prototype, abstractBIM was born.

The idea evolved and abstractBIM currently serves the simulation needs of HVAC and building simulation engineers. The company’s SaaS simulation solution can be accessed from web browsers, where the engineers can log in to upload the architectural models on an easily navigable interface and select file output formats like IFC or gbXML. With the mere press of a button, the new output file is generated within three minutes in a format most suitable for the engineers’ simulation tools. This deceptively simple process makes the entire complex task of generating simulation ready BIMs a cakewalk for the AEC industry and it is done in a cost-effective manner. “We want the simulation engineer to simulate without having to deal with complicated BIM software,” remarks Dilhas.

In a bid to uncomplicate the simulation process, BIENERGY GmbH, a renowned designer of energy-efficient buildings, sought abstractBIM’s solution to import architectural BIM into their simulation tool. The successful implementation of this solution is reflected in the words of Mario Lichy, Executive Partner at BIENERGY, “It is the first time that I have been able to incorporate a complex IFC model into IDA ICE without any problems. I am thrilled and can recommend abstractBIM unreservedly.”

Moving on to create more such successes, abstractBIM is gearing up to launch the next version of its solution in the following weeks. Furthermore, the company is focused on the ambitious goal to not just offer model harmonizing on the input files for transferring to the simulation tools, but also to bring the relevant simulation results back to the design tools, thereby bridging the gap between BIM and BPS on both ends. “The next step is to close the modelling loop so that the simulation results can be sent back to the tools of the architect, the HVAC engineer and so on, so that no information gets lost and no manual work is necessary,” informs Dilhas.

Already present in 10 countries across Europe, the company aims to further internationalise its operations in many more countries spanning the globe by this year. As a “born global company”, abstractBIM is all set to serve wider markets with different BIM simulation tools.