The new kindergarten wing at Mimosa Park Elementary was designed, drawn, detailed, and fully modeled in Autodesk Revit, the Building Information Modeling (BIM) program that HMS uses for nearly all projects done since about 2008. As a result, we had a wealth of information available to us during the design phase, including the ability to create very accurate renderings before anything was remotely built on-site. As a result, we were able to fix and adjust many potential issues before they became expensive issues on-site.
Due to the proven benefits of our methodology, we intend on learning from and re-using these techniques in the future. So, here is a short comparison between the original renderings and the final product. Most are extremely accurate, except for the glossiness of the floor tile and the colors of the doors and cabinets, changed at the owner's request during the submittal phase of construction. Take a look and see what else is different.
Typical Classroom towards the exterior. Rendering is at the top. Beyond the previously mentioned floor tile and casework changes, and the owner-ordered furniture, only a few electrical elements are missing.
The same Typical Classroom, towards the hallway. Rendering again at top. Past the previously mentioned elements, the main difference is that the final photographs came out notably brighter.
Cafeteria, towards main hallway. The cafeteria's design and coloring was actually extensively modified as a result of the renderings, experimenting heavily with different options of adding bright colors to a previously pure white room, to add some visual interest for the kindergartners.
View down main hallway towards west side. Besides the floor, it is almost exactly right, except from a slight variation in the color of light, due to a owner-requested glass color change during construction.
Music Room, towards the west. Other than the floor, cabinets, and owner-selected furniture, there isn't much difference.
Art Room, towards the east. The furniture in the room was later cleaned up and organized.
Resource Center, towards the south.
Resource Center Storage, towards the south. Rendering at top.
Conference room and Workroom, towards south. The operable partition did not end up needing a floor track, and the selected carpet was different than the renderings, which only affected a few rooms. Furniture was later added to these rooms.
In general, rendering this project so extensively has helped show the owner the end product long beforehand, so any changes can be addressed in plenty of time, and any misunderstandings are reduced. We are continually refining our rendering and designing processes, but even at this time (Using Revit 2011 through 2014, and both local and cloud-based renderings) these deliverables show the final spaces fairly accurately.
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