Leveraging BIM Tools to Coordinate and Design a Navy Pier Extension

The use of building information modeling/management (BIM) is an emerging tool within the ports and marine community. Leveraging BIM tools to reduce field effort during design and reduce risk is paramount in this age of efficient, high-performance construction. This paper discusses the collaboration techniques used to locate, coordinate, and communicate the design of the pier extension for the U.S. Navy. The pier extension connected to an existing facility and required seismic separation between the two structures and utilities. Traditionally, as-built drawings, coupled with exhaustive site reconnaissance, is used to establish and verify the existing structure. To eliminate this unnecessary effort, laser scan technology was employed to create a digital replica of the existing facility allowing designers to perform virtually unlimited site reconnaissance. Laser scans and the subsequent 3-D model eliminated the need to perform additional site visits and increased coordination productivity in a virtual software environment across multiple engineering disciplines.