For architects and their consultants, computers are here to stay, but is their full potential being put to use? While the performance of certain programs for CAD, quantity and cost calculation, and visualizations have been refined and perfected, the challenge is to unite these individual components in one data model so that the participants in the planning process always have access to the current information relevant to the project. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is addressing this challenge: it brings together the data pertaining to architectural design, interior fittings, structural engineering, building services, quantity calculation, and building costs. In practice, however, in many cases this unrestricted exchange of information breaks down due to, for example, incompatible software and data formats. Consequently, leading software producers are increasingly equipping their software with interfaces and elaborating upon compatible “building blocks” – though to date primarily within their own product palette. Because DXF and DWG formats are not suited to BIM, buildingSmart, an international society, has developed the Industry Foundation Class (IFC). These data standards are currently most widely used in Norway. (Rasso Steinmann)