The Advent of the New Architectural Profession through BIM

The profession of architecture mainly involves the construction of building information; this is achieved within the knowledge paradigm of our society. Therefore, a shift in the knowledge paradigm can lead to the advent of new architectural professions; the Renaissance and the current era are periods of such shifts. However, during the process of such a shift, it is difficult to notice the essential nature of the change, such as the emergence of a new architectural profession utilizing building information modeling (BIM). This study is unique in that it uses the correlation of building information with knowledge to uncover the essential nature of the architectural profession. Furthermore, Nonaka’s knowledge creation process (SECI) model is used to reveal the knowledge paradigm of our society. The analysis results show that knowledge creation in society has increased explosively since it has become possible—through the printing revolution of the Renaissance period—to share knowledge that previously remained at the experience level. Accordingly, this has led to the advent of an architectural profession involving today’s intellectuals, who can construct and express building information by using conceptualized knowledge rather than experience. Nowadays, machines have emerged as new agents of knowledge processing through the digital revolution, innovatively strengthening connections between information silos. As a result, a new architectural profession has emerged, focused on improving the performance of buildings by using simulations with machine-readable building information as well as with one’s own knowledge. Further, this new architectural profession, by harnessing the newly developed hybrid intelligence of machines and humans, is expected to overcome the former limits of the profession.

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