Abstract
This paper describes how a building information modelling (BIM)-based approach for building circulation enables us to change the process of building design in terms of its computational representation and processes, focusing on the conceptual modelling and representation of circulation within buildings. BIM has been designed for use by several BIM authoring tools, in particular with the widely known interoperable industry foundation classes (IFCs), which follow an object-oriented data modelling methodology. Advances in BIM authoring tools, using space objects and their relations defined in an IFC's schema, have made it possible to model, visualize and analyse circulation within buildings prior to their construction. Agent-based circulation has long been an interdisciplinary topic of research across several areas, including design computing, computer science, architectural morphology, human behaviour and environmental psychology. Such conventional approaches to building circulation are centred on navigational knowledge about built environments, and represent specific circulation paths and regulations. This paper, however, places emphasis on the use of ‘space objects’ in BIM-enabled design processes rather than on circulation agents, the latter of which are not defined in the IFCs' schemas. By introducing and reviewing some associated research and projects, this paper also surveys how such a circulation representation is applicable to the analysis of building circulation-related rules.
Highlights
Building information modelling (BIM) has impacted broadly on the architecture, engineering, construction and facility management (AEC-FM) industries and their associated work processes
This paper describes building circulation and elements within the scheme of industry foundation classes (IFCs) in the perspective of building objects; some entities that are not defined in IFC - such as pedestrians - have been ignored or substituted with space objects
Circulation rules can employ any definition of spatial connectivity, but we handle them as a base point of the conceptual modelling for the use of circulation representation
Summary
Building information modelling (BIM) has impacted broadly on the architecture, engineering, construction and facility management (AEC-FM) industries and their associated work processes. The relation between spaces is defined in the BIM model, and the adjacency data between spaces defined in the model is automatically generated This dataset is the main source of information required to compute circulation within buildings. This paper describes building circulation and elements within the scheme of IFC in the perspective of building objects; some entities that are not defined in IFC - such as pedestrians - have been ignored or substituted with space objects This intrinsic limitation has contributed to the surveying of several former research and development projects partially conducted by the authors [2, 3, 5, 6, and 7], and to building the software-independent and generic approaches to the conceptual modelling and representation of building circulation. This paper has a potential impact on modelling such generalized concepts in order to develop further applications
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