Ronald De Meyer

Interoperability for the design and construction industry through semantic web technology

The domain of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) has experienced significant improvements with the advent of building information modelling (BIM) applications, which allow AEC specialists to model all information concerning a building design into one three-dimensional building model. Much of these improvements are however generated by the mere availability of such an environment, whereas many more improvements were expected by achieving an appropriate interoperability of information. We are investigating why such an interoperability is not reached fully and consider the semantic web as an alternative approach to reach the targeted interoperability. In this paper, an AEC description framework based on semantic web technology is presented and compared to the BIM approach, after which we indicate how it might solve the issue of interoperability more appropriately. Our evaluation of this investigation indicates the semantic web approach as a valid alternative approach, although considerably more research is needed to show it capable of providing the targeted interoperability of information in the AEC domain.

Three-dimensional information exchange over the semantic web for the domain of architecture, engineering, and construction

Abstract Three-dimensional (3-D) geometry can be described in many ways, with both a varying syntax and a varying semantics. As a result, several very diverse schemas and file formats can be deployed to describe geometry, depending on the application domain in question. In a multidisciplinary domain such as the domain of architecture, engineering, and construction, this range of specialized schemas makes file format conversions inevitable. The approach adopted by current conversion tools, however, often results in a loss of information, most often due to a “mistranslation” between different syntaxes and/or semantics, leading to errors and limitations in the design conception stage and to inefficiency due to the required remodeling efforts. An approach based on semantic web technology may reduce the loss of information significantly, leading to an improved processing of 3-D information and hence to an improved design practice in the architecture, engineering, and construction domain. This paper documents our investigation of the nature of this 3-D information conversion problem and how it may be encompassed using semantic web technology. In an exploratory double test case, we show how the specific deployment of semantic rule languages and an appropriate inference engine are to be adopted to improve this 3-D information exchange. It shows how semantic web technology allows the coexistence of diverse descriptions of the same 3-D information, interlinked through explicit conversion rules. Although only a simple example is used to document the process, and a more in-depth investigation is needed, the initial results indicate the suggested approach to be a useful alternative approach to obtain an improved 3-D information exchange.

Integrating building information modelling and semantic web technologies for the management of built heritage information

The historical built environment is acknowledged as a valuable but complex material and cultural resource that needs to be preserved. Digital technologies give the opportunity to improve and expand the comprehension of the complex artefacts present in this built environment. Building information modelling (BIM) and semantic web technologies are two technologies that are often used for the documentation of the built environment and of cultural heritage resources. With our research, we investigate to what extent those technologies can be integrated and which advantages this combination can produce for the analysis and interpretation of our built environment. In this paper, we present the application of BIM software and semantic web technologies to a case study: the Book Tower in Ghent, Belgium. The Book Tower is one of the most important early 20th century buildings in the city of Ghent. Through the paper we will show how BIM and semantic web technologies were integrated, which advantages this combination can produce and which future developments could be considered. The recorded information can be essential to plan and manage a recovery plan and/or a maintenance program taking into consideration also aspects linked to cultural diversity and environmental sustainability.

Toward a visual approach in the exploration of shape grammars

Abstract The concept of shape grammars has often been proposed to improve or support creative design processes. Shape grammar implementations have the potential to both automate parts of the design process and allow exploration of design alternatives. In many of the existing implementations, the main focus is either on capturing the rationale of a particular existing grammar or on allowing designers to develop a new grammar. However, little attention is typically given to the actual representation of the design space that can be explored in the interface of the implementation. With such representation, a shape grammar implementation could properly support designers who are still in the process of designing and may not yet have a clear shape grammar in mind. In this article, an approach and a proof-of-concept software system is proposed for a shape grammar implementation that provides a visual and interactive way to support design space exploration in a creative design process. We describe the method by which this software system can be used and focus on how designers can interact with the exploration process. In particular, we point out how the proposed approach realizes several important amplification strategies to support design space exploration.

Design Thinking Support: Information Systems Versus Reasoning

Numerous attempts have been made to conceive and implement appropriate information systems to support architectural designers in their creative design thinking processes. These information systems aim at providing support in very diverse ways: enabling designers to make diverse kinds of visual representations of a design, enabling them to make complex calculations and simulations which take into account numerous relevant parameters in the design context, providing them with loads of information and knowledge from all over the world, and so forth. Notwithstanding the continued efforts to develop these information systems, they still fail to provide essential support in the core creative activities of architectural designers. In order to understand why an appropriately effective support from information systems is so hard to realize, we started to look into the nature of design thinking and on how reasoning processes are at play in this design thinking. This investigation suggests that creative designing rests on a cyclic combination of abductive, deductive and inductive reasoning processes. Because traditional information systems typically target only one of these reasoning processes at a time, this could explain the limited applicability and usefulness of these systems. As research in information technology is increasingly targeting the combination of these reasoning modes, improvements may be within reach for design thinking support by information systems.

A graph-theoretic implementation of the Rabo-de-Bacalhau transformation grammar

Abstract Shape grammars are rule-based formalisms for the specification of shape languages. Most of the existing shape grammars are developed on paper and have not been implemented computationally thus far. Nevertheless, the computer implementation of shape grammar is an important research question, not only to automate design analysis and generation, but also to extend the impact of shape grammars toward design practice and computer-aided design tools. In this paper, we investigate the implementation of shape grammars on a computer system, using a graph-theoretic representation. In particular, we describe and evaluate the implementation of the existing Rabo-de-Bacalhau transformation grammar. A practical step-by-step approach is presented, together with a discussion of important findings noticed during the implementation and evaluation. The proposed approach is shown to be both feasible and valuable in several aspects: we show how the attempt to implement a grammar on a computer system leads to a deeper understanding of that grammar, and might result in the further development of the grammar; we show how the proposed approach is embedded within a commercial computer-aided design environment to make the shape grammar formalism more accessible to students and practitioners, thereby increasing the impact of grammars on design practice; and the proposed step-by-step implementation approach has shown to be feasible for the implementation of the Rabo-de-Bacalhau transformation grammar, but can also be generalized using different ontologies for the implementation.

Conversation and Critique Within the Architectural Design Process: A Linkograph Analysis

Conversation and critique are central to architectural design practice as they function as tools for probing and further improving design ideas. We study the kind of design activities that take place in such conversation and critique within the architectural design process. We use linkographs to characterise the design process taking place during conversation. More precisely, we study conversations between design teachers and design students. In this article, an example design process is considered that takes place via a traditional face-to-face meeting. Using the resulting linkograph, we are able to assess the kind of design activity taking place during such sessions of conversation and critique.

Geometric service life modelling and discounting, a practical method for parametrised life cycle assessment

PurposeTo evaluate the long-term advantage of reusing building elements, including reduced material consumption and waste production, life cycle assessments are purposeful. To translate these assessments in relevant design advices, it is necessary to model accurately the service life of the considered elements and acknowledge the related uncertainties. Practical methods to do this are nevertheless lacking. In reaction, this paper proposes a new assessment method: geometric service life modelling and discounting.MethodsThe developed method is extensively parametric. Its formulas express an element’s service life in terms of a limited number of variables. This facilitates the evaluation of large series of elements as well as the automation of uncertainty analyses. Further, the method tackles different modelling complexities such as the interaction between replacements and refurbishments. Taking into account these complexities aligns the assessments with realistic service lives. For the presentation of the developed method, a focus on life cycle costing is chosen.Results and discussionIn this paper, the outcomes of the newly developed method are compared to those of an existing calculation method and benchmarked with the manual modelling and assessment of 390 simplified building elements. This comparison is based on three indicators characterising the methods’ accuracy: the number of interventions, their individual impact and their resulting net present value. For each indicator, geometric discounting led to a considerable increase of accuracy compared to the existing method.ConclusionsFrom this comparison, it is concluded that geometric service life modelling and discounting offers not only a well-defined procedure for parametrised life cycle assessment studies, this method is also more accurate than the existing one. Moreover, the uncertainty analyses it facilitates illustrate how detailed assessment outcomes and relevant design advices about the effectiveness of element reuse can be obtained. Nevertheless, further research about the method’s practical implementation is required.

Semantics-Based Design

In today’s architecture, engineering and construction industry, there has been a vast evolution in the usage of information and communication technology (ICT) for the description and management of construction and/or architectural design projects. During the past years this led to the elaboration of the building information modelling (BIM) technique, which makes it possible to describe building information directly linked to the corresponding elements of the building. One of the major advantages in this BIM approach is the possibility to use this building information for calculation, simulation and analysis in related, more dedicated ICT applications (i.e. energy performance simulation, cost calculation, construction planning, etc.). This influence of ICT is mainly concentrated in the final construction-related design phase and prevails less in the first, preliminary design phase. However, a lot of advantages could be emerging when ICT techniques would be used in the first design stage as well. Therefore, this article proposes the development of an approach similar to BIM, namely an architectural information modelling (AIM) approach, which describes more theoretical, historical and designrelated building knowledge instead of the explicit and components-based descriptions inside BIM. This will result in a new, conceptual, integrated framework for architectural information modelling. In this framework, it will be possible to start and elaborate an architectural design project in a preliminary design phase, using conceptual and more abstract terms (e.g. taxonomy, typology, theory, etc.) to build up a central architectural information model. Several possible advantages of this AIM approach for application in architectural design practice and in building documentation for virtual heritage application will be elaborated during further research.

Shape Grammars for Architectural Design: The Need for Reframing

Although many shape grammars and corresponding implementations have been proposed, shape grammars are not widely adopted by architectural designers. In this paper, we therefore look for the barriers of implementing and using shape grammars for architectural design. We do this by outlining several implementation strategies of shape grammars, we briefly point to our own graph-based design grammar system, and we analyse the resulting overview using theories on how designers think and act upon incoming information. Based on this analysis, we develop and suggest how design grammars might best be implemented and used for architectural design relying on the information technologies available at this particular moment of time.