James Haliburton, Prarie View A&M University

Building Information Modeling is more than a piece of software; it is a process of information creation, evaluation, exchange, and management centered on people. This workshop will focus on defining Information Modeling and how it can be applied to Architecture and design. It will also illustrate the BIM design process, showing the effectiveness and short comings of both the process and the software. Through a shortened process of creating a building within Autodesk Revit software the moderator will illustrate the role of the designer in the BIM process and focus on the power of information. The creation process will be open ended and involve attendee participation. In this format attendees will be able to ask questions and direct the development of an information model. Attendees of this work shop will take away a functional and applicable definition of BIM gained through an example of the creation of a BIM. Attendees will also learn what to expect from a BIM enabled project and how to deal with BIM in a design studio setting.

        Rodney Hill, Texas A&M University

This session addresses rekindling imagination as a critical precursor to creativity, innovation, design, and entrepreneurship within the Architecture K–Grey life-long learning education pipeline. This is a critical imperative (1) to creatively envision the future, and (2) to create the knowledge to make these visions a reality through design, innovation, and entrepreneurship in every sector and dimension of society. As education becomes more standardized, generations of learners are being precluded from exposure to creative, holistic, transdisciplinary, and global thinking, all critical in the creation of future vision states, particularly for anyone entering, within, and beyond the formal architecture education pipeline. Currently, imagination is stifled from most public K-12 education programs across the Nation by omission and direct action; universities do not fare any better. For example, divergent thinking in the classroom has become an unwelcome daydreaming pastime, perceived as keeping students from focusing on the more important task of learning facts. Consequently, we need to plan, design, and implement courses that encourage future theories study, and promote projects in which students are rewarded for envisioning the future and creating new knowledge.