By Mike Bordenaro

It has been an honor being involved with BIMStorm since its inception in 2006 . . . or 2007, depending on when you start the clock.

There have been many highlights. There have been times when we knew we were making a historic mark by introducing new processes or new connections between organizations or data sets. We have provided real benefits to organizations and people through the very realistic, fictional approaches to complex problems. BIMStorms have won awards, gained media recognition and have even earned an editorial board endorsement.

But I think the highest honor a BIMStorm has gained was the almost tearful thanks of a hospital executive who participated this week in “BIMStorm at a Distance: PPE Demand Infrastructure Management.” This expert participated in our activity to bring attention to the ways PPE can be effectively allocated throughout a hospital system or the entire country.

​She concluded her contributions by saying, “And so I'll just say to this panel on behalf of the people that are inside hospital buildings, thank you so much for even having this conversation.”

That is why we do what we do . . . to help people with very important missions that often have life-or-death consequences. And the consequences have never been more obvious than today, during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

What was said a long time ago about BIMStorms being an effective demonstration of remote, web-based business success . . . about BIMStorms helping achieve seemingly impossible missions in a seemingly impossible short amount time . . . about BIMStorms helping reduce the carbon footprint of humanity . . . are still true today.

And in this time of great need, it is being proven that remote web business is viable for many . . . that we can come together across borders and collaborate in ways we never have before . . . and that we can improve the environment by traveling less for planning and design business. The tenets of BIMStorm are being used around the world to address dire need.

With BIMStorm at a Distance, it is heart-warming to be seen as contributing to the support of health care workers repeatedly coming face-to-face with death, even if it is just through a demonstration of what is possible to support them.

More than a decade seems like a long time to have people come around to your way of thinking. But if you look at history, big changes come slowly until they come all at once. This is that all-at-once moment.

People may be scared of the changes required of the planning, design and building information management processes that are now demanded on a global level. But more than a decade of widely recognized BIMStorms have proven what is demanded is possible.

And therefore, the demands don’t need to be seen as “change”. They are improvements that will allow us to rebound from the devastation of COVID-19 and emerge as a more collaborative, more effective, more efficient and more environmentally sustainable global community.

Thank you for your interest and support over these many years. Please stay connected and let us know how we can help real people the with real problems that will face us as a global community for many months and many years to come.

The ongoing web-workshop BIMStorm at a Distance will feature Grant Thornton Public Sector’s approach to predicting, managing and optimizing Personal Protection Equipment. Factors that are considered include: 

• common management practices of PPE
• virus spread projections
• impacts on existing hospital
• accounting for production, logistics, storage and delivery

Webinar attendees will understand how resource allocation factors are used to optimize PPE management based upon Grant Thornton Public Sector and ONUMA, Inc. approaches to visualizing mission requirements. The webinar will use optimization and geospatial tools, including ESRI, OGC, Tableau, Google Earth and open standards for Building Information Models from the National Institute of Building Sciences.
 
Grant Thornton Public Sector and ONUMA, Inc. are members of the Asset Leadership Network and ONUMA, Inc. supports and is a member of the National Institute of Building Sciences.
 
Insights from ALN Senior Fellow Art Kurland have been guiding the ongoing BIMStorm at a Distance. Kurland is Director of Capital and Asset Management for the University Health System a partner of the University of Texas Health System at San Antonio. 
 
Also contributing insights will be Roger Grant from the National Institute of Building Sciences, Charlie Lindahl, Texas A&M Health, Senior System Analyst/Campus Operations and other guests.

BIMStorm Workshop #2 landed temporary healthcare facilities at the Robert B. Green Campus - University Health System in San Antonio and then moved them to the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, DC.

CURA is an open-source design for emergency COVID-19 hospitals.
It uses repurposed shipping containers to create plug-in Intensive-Care Units (ICU) with biocontainment through negative pressure.

This was an early participation by BIMStorm to connect BIM, GIS, Sensors, and other data with many participants using Open Geospatial Consortium Open Web Services. One of the first demonstrations of connecting BIM and GIS in real-time.

The first webinar has been announced along with the Asset Leadership Network and National Institute of Building Sciences.

April 14, 2020  11-11:30 AM Pacific

Open source design by an architectural firm in Manila.

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