Specifications for computer-aided conceptual building design (original) (raw)
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INTEGRATED COMPUTER-BASED APPROACH TO SUPPORT CONCEPTUAL BUILDING DESIGN
2000
Much of the construction industry in the world today, certainly in North America, is still characterized by fragmentation. Even though computer support for construction is available in a multitude of ways, effective integration across actors, over the entire life cycle and covering all components that compose building projects is still in its infancy. At the present time, commercial integrated solutions are more prevalent at the detailed design stage in the form of "design suites" of applications for drafting, structures, HVAC, estimating etc. The authors have developed, over many years, a number of integrated building design prototypes at the preliminary stage by means of novel computing techniques derived from AI and product/process modelling. The purpose of this presentation is to push the exploration further upstream at the conceptual design stage, when decisions involving only few individuals have the greatest impact on the life-cycle performance of the building delivery process. On the basis of an extensive literature review, analysis of current design environments and protocol analysis of designers actually engaged in such work, we will identify key concepts and activities that are essential at the conceptual design stage, with the view to propose and implement a computer-based prototype capable of providing effective support.
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Automation in Construction, 2001
. The emerging technology in building product design using knowledge-based engineering KBE , is currently exciting practitioners in the building construction industry. This paper investigates the use of KBE techniques and assesses the contribution this approach can make to the traditional design process. To do this, the investigation has developed an integrated set of design tools based on a common data format, for integrating 3D electronic prototypes with building services information for use in building design. This approach has been developed on the basis of an open framework and has been applied to the design of an airport terminal building and its plant room. Within the framework, the design process and the Ž information needed, are divided into modules and represented in the form of 3D digital mock-up models or electronic . prototypes . Within the integrated system, an interface has been developed to facilitate the sharing of information with a thermal analysis software application, which contributes to the design process. In this paper, the methodology is discussed and its working system is illustrated and evaluated. q
Considerations regarding decision support tools for conceptual building design
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The A/E/C (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) industry is very traditional. In contrast to other industries (e.g. car or ship industry) no prototypes are trialled and tested before manufacturing. Each building is unique, thereby excluding large scale production. Over the past thirty years, computers have become ubiquitous even in the AEC industry. Yet in building design we are still exchanging data and making design decisions as a century ago, with paper drawings and reports. Although building design support tools are used for design confirmation at the end of the design process, important decisions are already made in the conceptual design stage. This paper elaborates the above in more detail and reports findings of two research activities as indicated below. Firstly, this paper summarizes the results of interviews with world leading building services professionals. These results indicate current practice and more importantly wishes for the future. Secondly, the current state of the research on evolutionary and adaptive computational support techniques for conceptual design search and optimization is discussed. The paper finishes with indicating trends for future work.
SEED-Config: a tool for conceptual structural design in a collaborative building design environment
Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 2000
SEED-Con®g is a design environment intended to assist structural designers in collaboratively exploring and extending the design buildings. Its purpose is to help designers in rapidly synthesizing alternative structural design solutions at the conceptual level to the point where the structural concept is supportive of the overall design and possible con¯icts are explored and resolved. The SEED-Con®g prototype consists of four subsystems. The Design Information Repository is built upon an information model that exploits the hierarchical nature of building descriptions to represent design information. It can save an overall design or parts of a design to a case library, thus supporting case-based reasoning. The Design Knowledge Manager allows for the browsing, editing, selecting and applying of technology nodes which encapsulate structural design knowledge. The Classi®cation Reference Manager allows for the de®nition, management, inference and querying of classi®cations which are used to classify and index design solutions as they are generated. The Geometric Modeler reasons about topology and geometry. q (H. Rivard). drafting and computation were expert systems. Expert systems allow designers to draw on heuristic knowledge acquired from textbooks, standards, and engineering experience. Examples of expert systems in structural design are HI-RISE [6], Tall-D [7], DOLMEN [8], and an expert system for the selection of structural systems for large spans . Other, more comprehensive research systems are DICE, IBDE, and ACL. The Distributed and Integrated environment for Computer-aided Engineering (DICE) project is a distributed design system intended to aid in multi-disciplinary collaborative design and production; it addresses issues of capturing the intent of design decisions, negotiating design changes, and integrating several knowledge modules . The Integrated Building Design Environment (IBDE) project addressed integration and communication issues arising from the interdisciplinary nature of building design by vertically integrating several building design and planning tasks supported by different expert systems . The Agent Communication Language (ACL) project addressed communication issues in a distributed, collaborative design environment consisting of independently developed design agents which were geographically dispersed .
At present, during the early design stage of a building, different options are assessed using simple tools (tables, graphs and software) that contain a large number of assumptions the very nature of which can bias choice or possibly lead to an inappropriate solution. It can be argued that the only way to provide a rational assessment of options is to use calculation methods that represent in detail the physical processes involved; this usually involves the use of dynamic thermal models. Furthermore if this tool is also used during detailed design it would introduce a consistency that is normally absent from the analytical design process. Many designers are of the opinion that, because not all details are known, then such tools are not suitable for application at early stages in the design. This view can be challenged because, even at the concept stage, a great deal is known about a building.
High-level specification of a software environment to support the early phases in building design
1992
This report develops a high-level functional specification for a software environment to support the early phases in building design (SEED). Particular emphasis is placed on support for the design of recurring building types. The environment is divided into modules, each of which addresses a specific design task. All modules consist of the same generic components. They are supported by a common database and interfaces with a common style. Among the data in the database are solution prototypes or cases that facilitate work with recurring building types. The first system prototype will comprise three modules supporting the following tasks: architectural programming, schematic layout design, and schematic configuration design.
Development of a prototype building design management tool
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This paper describes techniques that are being developed to model the process of detailed building design and from this, to determine design sequences and produce design programmes. The basis of the methodology is that it will enable design activities to be programmed and monitored based on the production of information rather than the completion of design deliverables such as drawings and specifications.