Construction Science Fiction: 2051
The BioDome961 project was to be an artificial ecosystem to grow plant species that no longer thrive naturally. Global warming had caused havoc in the past ten years, starting a chain reaction of extremely high temperatures and acute freshwater shortages. The world was looking at BioDome961’s highly specialized team of experts with hope for the future. In an effort to develop a prototype that could show the way to overcome ecological disasters, the United Nations Environmental Restoration Agency (UN-ERA), together with John Nelson Bioengineering Labs and LaPlante Integrated Projects, had formed a conglomerate to finance, plan, design, construct, operate, and repurpose BioDome961. Unfortunately, a traditional Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method had to be used because the legislation for the more advanced auto-collaborative eco-delivery was still in the works.
Bio-mimicry fundamentals inspired the design of the dome. BioDome961 is a flexible, living structure that transforms and adapts to the rate of growth of the plants inside. The foundation mimics the roots of a tree, which will eventually morph as the structure grows taller. Advanced xBIM will auto-calculate the rate of growth of the foundations. Sensors embedded in the soil, plants, and structure, will constantly relay information to the xBIM, which will parametrically calculate the changes and instruct the foundations on how to morph.
Maya had been consulting on the project a month. There had been no glaring issues. However, over the past few days, the xBIM had begun to make slight self-adjustments, which seemed normal—at first. The xBIM was programmed to read the parameters from the sensors embedded in the plants and soil—but there were no plants on site yet. “What is going on?”
Upon entering the job trailer, she was greeted by a virtual project dashboard: “Construction Status; 35.4%; Date of Completion; Dec 5, 2051; Earned Value: $927,415,001; xBIM adjustment rate: rapid.”
Worried, she messaged the project manager. Bob’s text reply was not encouraging: “Been trying to figure it out since 5:00 AM … xBIM is going bonkers.”
Deciding it was time to get her hands dirty, she put on her cooling construction suit and stepped into one of the hovering pods to check out the problem herself. The issue area was in Quad15 Zone816. Once at the location, she activated the ARIV in her nD contact lenses to read the parameters. Checking the material properties, she suspected that the rate of growth should have been triggered by changes in the soil conditions. She pulled up the xBIM on her iDevice790. Foundation design specifications seemed to have been followed correctly. “What is it then?” She messaged the geotechnical robotgineer. The robot’s instant reply: “Autocalculations are correct; must be something wrong with xBIM.” Similar responses were received from the material testing robot, structural botgineer, and the predictive analytics system. “This is ridiculous,” she thought. “I need to query xBIM.”
Fifty years ago, in the early 2000s, when a delivery system called Integrated Project Delivery or IPD first became popular, some project teams were physically co-located in what was called a Big Room to facilitate decision-making. However, with advancements in communication technology, the big-room concept was outdated and decisions were based on the xBIM automated system all the way from the conceptual phase through facility repurposing.
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