Urbim

Samir Kayali is a prominent figure in the world of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. With a career spanning over three decades, Kayali has been recognized with multiple accolades for his work in developing, designing, and building projects on a global scale. During one particular project undertaking, Kayali stumbled upon a need for an evolutionary measure within the industry: to extend the lifespan of older BIM models. This realization sparked Kayali’s ingenuity and led him to develop and launch a cutting-edge BIM integration system capable of revitalizing blueprints prepared by previous architects and facility management providers.

Thus, Kayali co-founded URBIM along with Maria Pascual, revolutionizing the BIM landscape with their forward-thinking approach.

For Samir Kayali and his team at URBIM, the biggest challenge was finding a way to improve the quality of BIM models while also educating clients on the best practices for designing a model to upload into their innovative BIM integration system. Despite this challenge, Kayali remained undeterred in his quest to create a system that would make BIM technology more accessible and user-friendly. And so, URBIM was born - a simple yet powerful system that can universally accept any model, regardless of its quality or origin. This groundbreaking technology allows users to view old building parameters and add more information during expansion or renovation projects.

“What we wanted to achieve with URBIM is a system to upload any BIM model, and start working from there, and give the previous architectural design a longer life and use associated with the building or city area that is represented,” elaborates Samir Kayali, URBIM President and C95 Creative Founder.

Built on a triage of pillars, URBIM is a SaaS platform that enables users the capacity to scale both in terms of detail and size of a BIM model. This type of operability allows clients looking to digitally extend or renovate a building to upload an old model, enter new data, and pass the latest pieces of information to project stakeholders without compromising the integrity of an existing drawing.

Another factor is high-level integration with multiple data platforms, such as CRMs and ERPs, to absorb information that is critical to a builder. Through the coming years, as technology evolves and users begin to adopt more sophisticated systems and methods of working, this type of connectivity layer will act as a gateway to view building information in a new light.

The final piece of the URBIM platform is its ease of access for users.

Fully cloud-based, users can log in to the system via a browser and easily extract information from a BIM model. For clients to further enhance the safety of their intellectual property, a feature to create different levels of users is currently on the development table.

“Based on the mix of data from connected databases, a user can filter, study and predict the possibilities to expand or renovate a building and use the advanced insights to develop an efficient action plan for a project,” says Kayali.

URBIM mainly comes with three inbuilt modules—facility management, inventory management, and auditing—for users to visualize data and make insightful decisions. Using the facility management module, clients can record and manage a model’s different elements and check for materials’ wear and tear and maintenance work from a time perspective. Tracking FM incidents also permits central management of all issues according to roles. By exporting the derived data onto a product sheet, builders can assign responsibilities to all people involved without losing the traceability of an adverse event or information provided by an intervening agent.

Users may collect more information about their stock using the inventory module, and they can utilize the data to closely check how various elements are managed and stored within a BIM model. From monitoring installations to furniture assembly and simple maintenance services such as cleaning windows or redoing a carpet, users can save a lot of time and money by clearing the clutter and having a single source to categorize and categorize relative information. In a city setting, public administrators can register old and new elements to administer control depending on set building renovation or expansion requirements.
The auditing module allows users to check the quality of a BIM model and the relation across multiple models uploaded by other stakeholders. From a digital twin development angle, users can check the veracity of the data and assign pending actions for different elements based on collective inventory statistics. Users can set standardized rules and filters specific to a project and export a report to connect with land survey and construction regulations. Regarding platform implementation, URBIM sets up private hubs for clients to work with the platform before they can understand the need for a digital twin and its multiple applications in a building project.

“After initiation, we engage with the client to provide them with a license to use URBIM with their models and help them to pursue a path toward BIM excellence,” states Kayali.

One of the biggest victories at URBIM was the commission to create a BIM model of the city of Ayacucho, Peru. Covering over 200 hectares of land, the company could use three different methods of cloud point scanning, and upload the data to URBIM to accumulate the largest digital representation of a BIM model. The success of categorizing all the data and ability to maintain the geo position of every element is also well-documented for future reference by other users. Final study reports of URBIM’s capability have also been presented at international shows, including the Hexagon (HxGN) International Conference and Autodesk University.

A top ten BIMfluencer in Spanish-speaking countries, word of URBIM has quickly spread across nations, and the BIM model integration software will be used to create a digital twin of the renovated port of Malaga, Spain. In doing so, URBIM will work with the client to manage the port and develop a version of its eponymous platform that is industry specific for ports and marinas. In Addition, the company will enter other sectors such as build-to-rent or multifamily projects and tourism mapping of digital intelligent destinations.
Over the next twelve months, URBIM will add more functionality to its platform to cover a few specific areas in the BIM technology space. The first is incorporating an AR/VR solution to URBIM; the latest module will allow a user to view an element added to a building recently and catalogue the data into a BIM model without drawing the article manually. To further speed up the process and reduce project cost, the company will develop a solution to automatically absorb cloud points that can directly connect to URBIM. The final step is to build a connection between live databases to scan live elements and data into the platform, and visualize, for example, real time simulations of traffic and mobility from IoT devices and sensors.

URBIM heading into the future, aims to release the core functionalities to use its BIM integration platform across all BIM-related verticals. The company is moving to develop a straightforward way to connect, visualize and create BIM data and is gearing up to build an ultimate and futuristic tool for asset managers, public administrators, contractors, and other stakeholders to perform their roles efficiently.