Storytelling with 4D BIM

Certainly, most in the construction industry have heard about BIM (building information modeling) and its 3D, 4D, 5D, and 6D components. All of this is set to evolve with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence), as Fortune Business Insights suggests the global AI in construction market will grow from $4.86 billion in 2025 to $6.02 billion in 2026, and to $35.53 billion by 2034, which is a 24.8% growth rate. Keep in mind, as the technology continues to evolve, the heart of BIM is in the processes surrounding it and in the storytelling that comes with the model.

This is precisely the conversation I recently had with Morgan Hays, senior director of product management for construction at Bentley Systems. “Ultimately what you’re doing by putting the model and the schedule together is you’re telling this powerful story about what’s happening,” he says.

A Model Tells a Story

By creating a 4D model, project teams can expose things that haven’t yet been caught. Consider this example Hays shares: “I’ve seen our customers use 4D planning to significantly reduce staging time by as much as 66%,” he says. “It’s been remarkable. This customer wouldn’t have seen that staging time reduction if they hadn’t been able to watch the project unfold. They’re also able to identify through this time-lapse approach when materials and resources need to be brought to site.”

Hays also shares an example of a customer building a large train station project. The challenge here is there is only one road in and out of the site. The order they bring the materials to the site is critical because otherwise they end up with delays. However, with a time-lapse 4D model, the customer can easily determine the delivery order for materials, reducing costs.

Again, the model is all about storytelling and building a visual sequence of events. In another instance, a large airport customer indicated the reason they do 4D planning is to update the owner, since Gantt charts can be confusing. With a model, project teams can tell a detailed story to a non-technical audience. Now that is one powerful story.

Marriage between Schedule and Model

Let’s also keep in mind that the technology continues to evolve—and the next evolution will be driven by the integration of reality capture and the model through AI-based technologies.

“Everybody in our industry knows that the schedule and the model are changing constantly during execution,” says Hays. “The process of keeping the 4D model up-to-date is a significant one. Where we really need to go is to make that process dramatically easier.”

Consider this: In the United States, the average general contractor uses six reality‑capture technologies, reflecting a significant investment in point‑cloud tools. Right now, those point clouds are being generated by a drone flying around the site, and that information is often siloed. What needs to happen next is to bring this information and integrate it with the 4D model, so it is readily accessible for 4D-based planning.

This is where AI enters the conversation. Bentley Systems is bringing out the next generation of SYNCHRO this year, which was announced at the Year in Infrastructure event last fall.

“This is an exciting AI-powered reimagining of how 4D models are built using the latest technology,” he says.

Hays adds that another key focus is democratizing 4D, which means taking the 4D model creation from a small number of users and making it more accessible to a much larger group of users within a company.

“The biggest thing that folks should take away is that 4D is being democratized,” says Hays. “It’s going to be available to everyone within the enterprise. It doesn’t require specialized skills, and it is the most powerful storytelling mechanism that you have, whether to internal stakeholders or external stakeholders.”

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