Critique: "Report on Integrated Practice - 1"

I go to schools that are still drawing plans and sections, and I have no idea what to talk about.  Because once you start getting used to [BIM] tools, it's like flying a jet plane and then going back and flying a prop.  Even though you're doing it for some nostalgic reason it would be impossible to get used to flying from Los Angelos to New York in ten hours.  Once you get used to working three-dimensionally, there's no going back.  It represents a new totality.

- Thom Mayne, Report on Integrated Practice, 1

In the ever changing field of architecture, Mayne asserts firms must adapt quickly in order to survive.  However, giving-up many of the traditional methods of design is no easy feat.  In many ways, drawing in 2-Dimensional abstractions is ingrained into our culture of design.  I have been struggling the past few days, attempting to design in Revit for the first time.  My difficulties stemmed from an intuitive reflex to apply my previous techniques of the design process in the new software.  

Typically when tackling a project, I would sketch by hand the majority of the elements throughout the design process as the fastest means for my understanding.  Once the design was substantially "locked-in," I would begin producing the final models in computer software.  This is  not how BIM methods are intended to be used.  As I begin to let-go of my old preconceptions and tendencies, the BIM modeling process is becoming increasingly useful as a design tool, rather than a means of documentation.