Platformization and Big Tech in the Construction Industry: The Political Techno-Economy of Building Information Modeling

• In Event: Markets as data - III - Standards and Market Infrastructures

Abstract

Big Tech’s proliferation is reaching architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). While AEC has been reluctant about adopting digital technologies, digitalization is fueling the expectations of increased productivity and efficiency, integrated forms of data processing, and automated construction. Building Information Modeling (BIM) plays a central role in these expectations. BIM designates the digital convergence of a 3D building model, a database including information on geometry, components, costs, and an interface for multidisciplinary collaboration. The global BIM market, concerning software, standards, and data integration, is dominated by the leading software company Autodesk and its BIM product Revit. Autodesk has secured a hegemonic position through digital networks, subscription models, and governmental support. Big Tech in the face of Autodesk and Revit defines digital formats, interfaces, and standards for building models and the possible datafication and assetization of their contents. We argue that BIM’s political and techno-economic configuration as a Big Tech project underpins a near-monopolistic platform structure creating new constraints and implications for AEC’s future and the built environment. The paper examines the digitalization of the AEC markets with Big Tech’s impact on it from the perspectives of digital platform capitalism (Srnicek 2017; Staab, 2020), technoscientific capitalism (Birch, 2020), and assetization studies (Birch and Muniesa, 2020), focusing on the co-production and intersection of technical, political, and economic drivers. We draw on interviews with AEC professionals along with a document analysis on the digital transformation of architecture and construction.

Authors

• Kathrin Braun, University of Stuttgart

• Cordula Kropp, University of Stuttgart

• Yana Boeva, University of Stuttgart