How unplug & disconnect is relevant to Success in BIM… & life

We know this to be true.

It’s easy to get lost in the detail and complexities of where we are and what we’re busy with at any given time. We all need to do more and get more from less. We can even get anxious and overwhelmed.

Getting away from “it all”, going off the grid, simplifying everything, is critical though not always that easy for most people, right.

Our lives & work are so entangled, it’s difficult some times to disconnect from our routine, especially if our work is so fulfilling most of the time.

Yes most of the time, because “every sport has it’s injuries”. We all know the toll of stress of constantly facing challenges, the difficulty of building meaningful networks & relationships based on integrity & trust, solving problems, things not going as planned, dealing with the constant of change, all this while trying to meet deadlines & targets, continue learning, innovating & growing, the list goes on…

But we owe it to ourselves (and those close to us) and long to just unplug and escape from our “noisy” known path with everything & everyone demanding our attention & consuming our energy, so that we can stay focused & fulfilled.

So how IS! unplug & disconnect relevant to Success in BIM… & life?

It’s when we obey that call on our souls to reconnect with our true selves that we find that calm, can breath again and get realigned with our original purpose (why we do what we do). When we manage to do this long & regularly enough, we’ll get to that place where perspective is that perfect ingredient that help us get new insight on how we started, where we are & what we need to do next to get back to WHY we are doing what we do in the 1st place.

Riding my 🏍️ Honda Transalp XL650V on the Swartberg, Karoo back roads, does exactly that for me every time, without fault. 

What is that one thing that immediately makes you smile and brings you into flow?

I recently did a short morning bike trip for that very reason, to unwind, recharge and reconnect with my natural flow. By experience I know, doing this unlocks my creativity, improves my ability to focus & concentrate and regularly brings me an “avalanche” of new ideas or even solutions to sticky issues.

I stopped and explored this Karoo farmhouse ruins set above the gravel road on my route, overlooking the valley and the majestic Swartberg mountains. Initially I was interested in just being in that place, listen to the silence of this long time evacuated structure and drinking some water to keep hydrated.

Driving away, it hit me… 😃

Looking at the materials and construction methods used, this farmhouse had to be built several decades ago, at least. The ruins traveled with me for a while, reflecting on how this house was built by a pioneering family brought here starting a new season in life. I imagined what the house looked like in it’s hay days with the plastered quoin detailing around the openings and the time traditional thatched roof. The layout of the house is quit interesting and not so traditional (someone was creative here 😉). It was clear they used what was available to them in the area. The uneven sized mud bricks and gravely plaster was clearly made from soil, straw & clay from right where it stands. Oh… and it’s actually amazing that the structure is still largely in tact, except where the collapse makes sense of the bricks over the round & crooked wooden pole lintels. The technology they had at the time was nothing nearly as advanced as we have today, and yet it have stood the test of time so much better than so many modern structures I’ve seen over the past 30 years, that are mere fractions of the age of this farmhouse.

👀 Then I started seeing the “BIM” in the ruins. 🤩

The thing is, it is no secret, we fusionBIM-Scirrus firmly believe in BIM.

All our projects are delivered through BIM, one way or the other. Here is why…

BIM: done right, 

• gets Everybody on a project on the “Same Page”.
• is an integrated way to design, construct & operate built assets.
• delivers real savings to ALL aspects & stakeholders.
• uses the best technology for the job on each project & phase.
• adds value to the full building lifecycle, “from cradle to cradle”.
• is proven to deliver better buildings, full stop.

The farmhouse ruins actually reminded me of some particular principles we like to apply to each of our BIM projects (just like how & with what this farmhouse was built originally):

• KEEP IT SIMPLE: We implement only the right “amount of BIM” that the project demands & requires. The BIM we do has to make sense and actually enable value to the client / property owner and to the project team. It has to work for everyone as far as possible.
• USE WHAT IS BEST and/or AVAILABLE: We start with the end and then work backward when we plan any project or piece of work. We don’t always need to use every available “new technology” or implement overly complicated processes to the project, just for the sake of a case study for our project portfolio. It is important that we critically assess the available resources, team skill & BIM readiness / maturity in context of the key objectives of the client and the project. This way we do more and get more from less for the whole team.

To us BIM, Digital Twin, Smart Buildings / Cities, done right means: “the right Data, in the right “Format / Definition”, at the right Time, by the right People, for the right Reason” (creatively adapted from the fundamental “Plannerly philosophy“)

This way we believe that we have the best chance of delivering relevant & measurable value to our clients for their projects big / small.

If you are a Property Owner / Developer, or an AECO Professional wanting to improve the value from your projects (residential / commercial / institutional / industrial), feel free to contact Hendrik or Francois.

In addition to Architectural Design, Visualization & Property Compliance, we help Property Owners and their entire Architectural Design, Construction, Management & Marketing teams, to work smarter and save money with our Digital Tools and Scan2BIM ecosystems.