Rethinking BIM Adoption Through the Lens of Blockchain Technology
| 
Abstract
Building Information Modeling (BIM) was introduced as a revolutionary solution for enabling the Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (AEC) industry to virtually design, collaborate, and manage projects throughout the building lifecycle. From its first emergence as a concept until now, a wide range of publications within the context of AEC industry explored advantages of using BIM for pre-construction, construction, and operational and maintenance (O&M) stages. However, according to the latest statistics (2019), only half of the US companies on average apply some features of BIM in their projects. Although many studies have explored barriers hampering the full adoption of BIM in the AEC industry, the majority of barriers have not been addressed yet. As a result, many promised applications of BIM in the AEC industry have remained to be utilized by AEC companies. On the other side, the AEC industry is embracing data at an unprecedented rate, faster than any other industries. This is also along with the insatiable appetite of researchers to introduce new technologies to the AEC industry, such as Blockchain. There are many drivers for integrating BIM and Blockchain technology, which leads to more reliable, traceable, and legalizable technology. In such a situation, rethinking BIM adoption is felt necessary to demonstrate its current and future prospects. After discussing the current state of BIM adoption in the AEC, this presentation traces the probable evolution of Blockchain-based technologies from decentralized BIM to Metaverse. First, it will be discussed that how decentralized-BIM can leverage nD capabilities of existing BIMs. Afterward, the role of Decentralized Applications in automation of current manual or semi-automated tasks will be explored. Despite potential advantages of decentralized-based ideas in the AEC, we believe that the industry needs a realistic picture of these ideas rather than conceptual potentials of ideas. With this in mind, through a critical analysis, we analyze whether existing ideas are truly decentralized and whether they are able to meet all their claims. Therefore, fundamental bottlenecks on the way of shifting from a static centralized industry to a decentralized dynamic industry is discussed. Finally, our exploration of the interface between BIM-centered industry and future decentralized industry provides researchers and practitioners with a deeper understanding of benefits and gaps.
