It's not that no one knows. More like there's no decision yet as LAM has given directive for us to change from the 5 year B.Arch (part 1 n 2 combined) into the BSc.Arch (3year part 1) + M.Arxh (2year part 2). As this is a currently running part time programme with a lot of existing students, we need to finish all the students off before changing the programme.

And since part time students are working adults, we cant force major change as it will disrupt their life too mucj. It is our obligation to serve the current students first.

But it'll be sorted out soon.

Requirement is STPM or diploma. SPM is insufficient.

There is another topic about architecture under jobs/career section. U can try there.

sure. just pop the questions and i'm sure people will answer.

depends what u wanna use it for: 2D autocad or 3D with renderings? if it's only 2D, then literally any laptop built in the last 5 years can handle anything u throw at it.

for 3D, then u need to find the best processor (preferably i7 family) with a lot of RAM (preferably 16GB).

so far, UM is the latest to join UTM and UiTM to offer masters for part 2. i know UKM have the whole curriculum in hand, but i have no idea why they havent executed it yet. UPM, USM and UIAM all i heard is cakap2 with nothing concrete yet.

USIM is unlikely to start one soon because LAM will require them to sort the part 1 first (they havent produced their first graduates yet!). so it'll be a while.

that's all i know for now.

for revit, the latest i7 with 16GB RAM (or more) on a 64-bit OS is a must. on top of that, a strong graphics card (any that u can run the latest games) will do. it would be great if u can replace the HDD with SSD, coz this will boost the speed up to 40-50%, a very noticeable difference. expect to spend around RM4-5k for a laptop, or around RM3.5k on PC of a similar setup.

if we're talking about BIM, then yes, malaysia is definitely going the BIM way. it's a bit slower as we're doing it from the bottom up as compared to singapore, who adopted a top-down method. meaning their government forced everyone to adopt BIM, so the industry had to follow. here, a small group of people are pushing big companies to adopt BIM. it is slowly catching on, but the momentum is gaining.

in light of that, schools like UTM have been equipping their graduates with BIM capabilities (mainly authoring), which made them highly sought after as the big players prefer them rather than to retrain the existing staffs who usually are reluctant to adapt.

no idea. we are so far away from implementing it at large scale. at the moment, only the big players use BIM. but even so, the other consultants, particularly QS and engineering have yet to embrace it. so currently it's being driven primarily by developers, and young architects (who learned BIM in school).

BIM in its own right is a digital method to manage information regarding building. when we talk about building information, it literally means any and every information tradeable in the industry. in architecture, it usually involves building design and visualization, normally referred to in BIM as BIM authoring (creating the model).

BIM basically recognizes that everything has properties, meaning and contextual relationship to each other. in the old days, i would draw two horizontal lines on paper and call it a WALL. but the same two lines read horizontally can also be called FLOOR. BIM recognizes whatever u do in the software and assigns real-world properties to it. for example, if i were to draw a wall made of bricks, the software recognizes that it has to have dimensions (height vs length vs width), mass, colour and so on. as it is affected by gravity, the software will also recognize that it has to be supported by a floor or a beam, which has to be made of something stronger (like concrete or steel) to support its weight. and with all that, the software also recognizes the cost related to build such a thing and the time typically consumed to construct it.

so as u can see, in the old days, information produced by the architect might not be the same as understood by other consultants (engineers, quantity surveyors etc) or authorities (bomba, planners etc). it is time consuming to synchronize everything, especially if it involves change or correction. for example, the architect might specify a concrete roof supported by 4 columns. but after calculations are done by the engineers, they see u need 6 columns instead. so the architect goes back to the dwg board to reproduce a 6 column support system. this alone can take 2-3 weeks.

with BIM, everything is handled digitally. in fact, before the dwg is submitted to the engineers, the software can tell u that u need 6 columns rather than 4. it can tell u long before the QS looked at the dwgs that the building will cost RM20mil. in fact, it could tell u it'll cost RM19,899.53 to the very brick.

BIM saves time. i've been using autodesk revit (a BIM authoring software) to run my own design show. typically it used to take me plus another technician 2 weeks to sort out a bungalow design. now i can do it in 3 days ALONE. that's how efficient it is.

well, it'll make profession more efficient, but unlikely to make it obsolete. it has been established that human mind become stagnant when it comes to mundane, regular and repetitive actions. this can be dangerous as engineers looking at the same thing over and over again might overlook certain important aspect. this task can now be given to software which regulate repetitive tasks.

however, software can only regulate based on written rules or scripts. it cannot act outside it. this is where human engineers come in. once the software highlights a problem, humans solve it. humans decide. humans take responsibility.

the one profession immediately affected by BIM is draughtmen. but the rest are still safe, assuming they too adopt BIM.

some of the principals i spoke to have begun retraining their draftmen to be technical assistants. at the moment, they see that BIM operators as technicians. not many see BIM as a tool for architects themselves, where they dont need to have it intermediated by a technician or assistant. usually they say "aaah aku dah tua laa". and they're like... my juniors.

dunno about myanmar, but at the moment, philippino schools are producing 100% BIM capable graduates. their industry is still far from BIM, more like malaysia, but the graduates are ready for it. so they've begun exporting their architecture graduates abroad, particularly to singapore.

arsitek dan pembinaan adalah bidang yg sinonim antara satu sama lain. boleh aja.

sure. but there are many bim software out there, each has its own library and community. thing is, unlike sketchup, bim is directly related to local practice. meaning, u would want local product libraries with prices in RM and u can contact the manufacturers directly. we still lack those, as the msian bim community is still small. but we do borrow lots from sgpore...

so far in malaysia, it's the most dominant one. but revit is almost exclusive to PC users. there are many companies out there that are non-PC based.

but simply put, u learn one, it's not hard to learn the other.

non-PC as in other platforms apart from windows like macOS (archicad, although archicad is available on both platforms) or linux.

this page below lists a bunch of BIM software available in the market.

http://www.cad-addict.com/2010/03/list-of-...-providers.html

and yes, designs from revit can be exported to autocad LT (2D line drawings) or autocad (3D model) or most 3D modelling software out there.

Autodesk's strategy of giving free student license for 3 years is brilliant. Students will definitely use revit and cad in schools (original mah). So when they graduate and join firms who've yet to adopt BIM, they'll surely embrace autodesk's, as they have somebody who's familiar to it.

i believe for most architects today, sketchup is the way of life. we introduce them very early during education, usually around 2nd semester of 1st year or 1st semester of 2nd year.

yup. i've been saying this for many years now. at the moment there are government loan support for companies to buy original software, but not specific to revit or any BIM software.

for startups, can apply government grant. for free.

we do, on a case-by-case basis.

yes, i would say so. but i have no idea about the procedures.

MQA APEL could be used to apply to any courses in any university (based on equivalency values). that's the intent when they introduce the progamme. however, it's very new, and i've yet to encounter one who applies to UTM.

different year of study demands different things. of course, u could buy the spec that u would use for 3rd year during ur 1st year, but by the time u get to 3rd year, new hardware would have been available/affordable, and new software written for those new hardware.

at 1st year, u dont really use computers for architecture apart from microsoft office stuffs. at most, u'll be doing some 2D graphic editing. meaning any lame spec would have sufficed. here, i often recommend students to just buy 2nd hand laptop, especially from the seniors.

at 2nd year, u'll begin using autocad and sketchup extensively. any midrange laptop should be able to handle it.

at 3rd year, u'll start doing extensive model making. here, u should push for CPU and RAM as high as u can afford. as for graphics card, any mid-end gaming card is enough.

it's only when u get to 4th and 5th year do u really need powerful computers.