Component‐Based BIM: A Comprehensive, Detailed, Single‐Model Strategy

The component-based paradigm argues that the digital environment offers the opportunity to electronically design and construct an entire building at the molecular level of individual elements of construction. The emergence of new building information modeling (BIM) tools coupled with exponential advancements in computing capacity over the past decade makes implementation of this paradigm possible. The wickedness of designing and constructing a complicated building in contemporary society grows exponentially as more knowledge of building physics and behavior is explicated. The result has been a dramatic departure from Christopher Alexander's "craft" model of design to the contemporary design and building environment where it is impossible for one individual to possess all the knowledge and skill required to design and construct a building. While the component-based paradigm offers several clear benefits, the limitations and unanswered questions are equally numerous.