How the toilet handicapped the BIM...

If you were an English teacher and walked past a “handicap toilet” at your work daily, would it make you cringe?

You may think I misspelled this, I did not.

Even with my limited English knowledge I know that ‘handicap’ as is, stands for a noun or a verb, for it to be an adjective it needs to become ‘handicapped’.

Putting aside the inappropriateness of the terminology for a facility that serves people with some disability, it continues to amuse me to also find the grammatically correct (but misleading nevertheless) alternative of ‘disabled toilet’ sign on doors.

I have my own ‘handicap toilet’ that I hold secret grudges against.

One? Millions.

All those WCs, real and imagined that over the years turned their architects off documenting in 3D.

I’ve seen time and time both architects and their caddies (drafties) opt out of creating full, integrated, digital models of their designs because the WC fittings they chose had no accurate digital representations available.

Or when they did, thanks to product suppliers, they often turned into self-exploding bombs killing the host files with their size and structure.

Toilets do have a lot to answer for when it comes to why BIM is where it is.

I suggest it become mandatory for all bathroom fitting suppliers to provide light, easy to use, intelligent digital representations of their products.

(The first paragraph is courtesy of the school that two of our children currently attend.)