Breaking precedent from its 10-year model-contract-update cycle to keep up with fast-changing practices regarding "e-building," the American Institute of Architects released revised standard digital-data and building-information-modeling documents for use by all members of a project team. Designers attending the 2013 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver, on June 20 to 22, acknowledged that the AIA documents and the new guide released with them represent progress. But they still expressed concerns about sharing BIMs with contractors.
“We all know this is the future, and [developing standard BIM documents] is tough to tackle,” said an architect attending a session introducing the documents. “But until we reach a point where we can seal a model, we are expanding our risk and creating potential conflict and liability issues relating to the instruments of service.”