Architecture Engineering Construction Research Articles

Bridging theory and practice: Stakeholder insights on circular economy in the building life cycle

The world strives for sustainable development to minimize environmental impact and resource consumption, where circular economy (CE) is emerging as a promising approach to address environmental, economic and social challenges associated with the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry. This study focuses on the implementation of circular economy principles in the End-of-Life (EoL) phase of existing buildings, aiming to identify gaps between theory and practice, specifically for reuse and recycle processes in AEC. The focal point are business models, processes and the regulatory framework in Austria. The research methodology employs semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders involved in activities within the EoL value chain, including architects, contractors, material suppliers, waste management organizations, demolition companies and regulatory authorities. Based on a literature review which addresses seminal issues for the implementation of CE in the building life cycle, this study compares findings from 12 interviews and the results from literature research, identifying gaps between theory and practice, with recommendations for a path forward.

Guidelines for data collection on energy performance of higher-education buildings in Egypt: a case study

ABSTRACT Reliable energy analysis of buildings relies heavily on high-quality data leading to proper indicators. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of data quality in analyzing energy usage in residential and non-residential buildings in order to transform declarations to actions, optimise energy efficiency policies and monitor progress and failures in countries. Collected data must adhere to national and international standards for energy performance in buildings. This study aims to provide practical guidelines for effectively collecting and preparing data suitable for evaluating energy performance in Egyptian higher-education (HE) buildings. The guidelines are developed based on a comprehensive case study, considering data availability in typical educational facilities. Architectural and civil engineering drawings, construction specifications, and occupancy details are accessible. However, actual monthly electrical and natural gas consumption data for individual buildings are lacking. To address this, the study proposes the creation of detailed datasheets for each building, encompassing all energy sources and their electrical and power specifications, such as equipment, machinery, and HVAC systems. These datasheets were utilized to calculate energy consumption and energy usage indicators (EUI). The findings demonstrate that the datasheets enable adequate assessment of energy usage in various spaces within educational buildings, including staff rooms, lecture halls, and laboratories. This facilitates the identification of areas in need of targeted energy efficiency improvements. Notably, the study reveals that electricity consumption in the Faculty of Engineering building is significantly influenced by PCs, laboratories, lighting, and air conditioning.

Detecting Information Bottlenecks in Architecture Engineering Construction Projects for Integrative Project Management

Detecting Information Bottlenecks in Architecture Engineering Construction Projects for Integrative Project Management

Data-Driven Multi-Scale Study of Historic Urban Environments by Accessing Earth Observation and Non-Destructive Testing Information via an HBIM-Supported Platform

ABSTRACT Digital analytical tools combined with 3D documentation are used incrementally in building rehabilitation in the conservation state analysis process. In the last decade, due to the current advancements in the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry, the application of BIM methods in heritage building conservation started becoming more attractive for specialists and practitioners. In light of the latest concepts in data management at city level, as a result of the discussion about smart city representations, the use of a shared digital environment that caters to technical studies related to conservation analysis, building provenance, structural changes, and urban context transformations can lead to reduced time, improved quality, and lowered cost of city management for all domain experts and city stakeholders. This paper explores the benefits of multi-scale and discipline digitization for the restoration of heritage buildings, highlighting the potential impact of innovative data integration, methods, and workflows on architectural renovation and energy upgrades. Specifically, it focuses on the integration of conservation information for heritage buildings and large-scale environmental analysis data for historic clusters in modern cities.

Zastosowanie aplikacji i silników renderujących w projektowaniu architektonicznym – stan aktualny

Computer methods in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) industry are constantly evolving, mainly towards BIM, and the design process itself within an investment project focuses mainly on documentation. Visualisation or animation are optional elements, mostly done for sales purposes. Photorealism and the quality of created visualisations influence the impressions of the recipient, and the emotions evoked can determine a purchase or investment. As a rule, designers pay great attention to the visualisations they create, but they are not always aware of the solutions available on the market in this respect. In recent decades, rendering engines based on so-called real-time rendering have developed rapidly. The aim of the study was to provide a deep review of existing 3D modelling and visualisation solutions in terms of their popularity, applicability and advantages and limitations. The focus is on applications working with BIM software, which is widely used in the AEC industry. The paper attempts to compare the applications, lists their advantages, disadvantages, benefits and limitations in their use. The conclusions, sometimes subjective, can be useful for the whole community of architects and engineers, related to space design. The results of the review indicate the increasing popularity of 'real-time' solutions, which are displacing 'offline' solutions.

An Exploratory Investigation of Implementation of Building Information Modeling in Nepalese Architecture–Engineering–Construction Industry

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has gained a lot of traction in Nepal lately due to many AEC firms’ desire to improve their productivity. This research explores the current state and potential of Building Information Modeling in the Nepalese context. The main objective of this research was to gain a holistic view of the digital design and construction approach in the AEC sectors and identify the current state of practice, future trends and opportunities, and challenges for the wider adoption of BIM in the AEC sector. A systematic survey was conducted among various AEC stakeholders; based on their responses, the status of BIM maturity is presented in this paper. We found that the lack of standards and guidelines slows stakeholders’ efforts to unify BIM implementation in projects. However, the survey results show that AEC stakeholders are eager to learn, explore, and implement BIM in their workflows of design and construction practices. The wider implementation of BIM can improve the productivity of design and construction in developing countries such as Nepal. The contributions of this research are methodological and practical. It is demonstrated in this study that qualitative and quantitative data can be integrated in different ways to allow for different avenues of analysis. The logistic regression model deployed in this study identifies the determinants of BIM use and the intensity of their effects on the future use of BIM in the Nepalese AEC industry. The findings of this study can help to formulate BIM standards and training materials that are specific to the Nepalese AEC industry.

Solar shelter: Exploring architectural design input for industrially-crafted shading devices

European Cities are strongly affected by the Urban Heat Island effect and Climate change impacts in recent and future summer periods. As such, the integration of passive cooling strategies is of increasing importance for the overall AEC (Architecture-Engineering-Construction) domain. Amongst other strategies, one of the most prominent strategies is the timely deployment of shading devices. While the shading device constructions connected to the inside, interstitial position or exterior of transparent building envelope components is thus an important part of the building, little change can be observed in the principal design and technology of such shading elements. Moreover, target conflicts between shading device deployment and architectural appearance can be observed in European Cities. For instance, the ensemble protection of the Vienna City morphology was - for a long time - considered to be more important than potent shading devices.The present contribution presents the approach of an effort toward highly-esthetical, functional shading devices that provide - despite their architectural-design approach - a high degree of shading performance. Together with the window-building industry, four different shading device designs have been designed, developed and virtually tested. The design process was guided by critical reviews by domain experts and performance simulation efforts. We present the genesis of the four designs and their performance implications as a proof of concept that effective shading systems can be understood as part of the esthetics of a building and practical passive cooling device at the same time.

Determination of the significance of project delivery attributes (PDAs) on sustainable projects in Turkey

PurposeMany parameters influence the success of sustainable projects (SPs) in the architecture–engineering–construction. One of these important parameters is the project delivery attributes (PDA), which are influenced by the project delivery system (PDS) while affecting the selection of it. This study aims to evaluate the significance of PDAs in influencing both the performance and success of SPs in Turkey, where the interest in SPs is high.Design/methodology/approachThe impact of PDAs was determined by applying the two-round Delphi method with a semistructured interview involving the main stakeholders of a construction project, like owners, designers, contractors and consultants who played active roles in SPs, as well as academics to theoretically evaluate the issue. The significance of PDAs was assessed using the relative importance index, and the results were validated using the interrater agreement analysis.FindingsThe study identified key PDAs impacting SPs as owner character, commitment and motivation; simulation and energy modelling; and timing of stakeholders/early involvement.Originality/valueThe investigation of the significance of the PDAs is a lesser-studied context. Therefore, a research framework that enables an effective set of methods for solving the sectoral problems of PDAs that have impacts on SPs has been proposed. The framework is expected to open new opportunities for the generation and regulation of the PDSs for SPs. The findings will provide valuable insights to project stakeholders, particularly owners, local authorities and policymakers to assess which PDAs have a greater impact on sustainability performance when setting PDSs in SPs in other developing countries.

Modelling AI in Architectural Education

This work displays an outlook on major questions concerning the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Architectural education. Gradually, part of the domain knowledge and hard skills become either irrelevant or insufficient by the time the students graduate. This paper suggests that integrating AI in the architectural design curriculum is beneficial for raising designers’ awareness of all areas of architectural design, in the form of input, process, and output. The study views consecutive learning experiences in a continuum and explores the potentials of integrating AI applications and techniques in architectural education, and how architectural design practice may benefit from it. Consequently, it provides insights into how architectural design education may transform itself considering the future impact of AI on the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry.

Reflections on the Main Points of Landscape Architecture Engineering Design and Construction Methods

There are many problems in the construction of landscape architecture projects, such as the destruction of soil components, the difficulty of construction, and the inadequate implementation of environmental protection. The design of landscape architecture should ensure its practicality, harmony and reliability, integration and connection. In order to improve the construction efficiency of the landscape architecture project, the construction personnel can grasp the key technologies from the aspects of construction drawing design, fixed-point setting out, vegetation protection, soil treatment, later maintenance and drainage, construction technology improvement and later management, so as to lay a foundation for improving the rationality of the design and construction of the landscape architecture project.

DIGITAL TWIN 3D PLATFORM FOR COLLABORATIVE REPRESENTATION AND EDITING OF IFC DOCUMENTS APPLIED TO THE BIM METHODOLOGY

Abstract. Currently , the Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) sector lacks tools for digitization, being forced to resort to proprietary software and closed file formats with complex and highly expensive licensing models. Thus, new opportunities arise for the creation of tools, resources and knowledge that promote the renewal and impetus of the entire sector. Most of the sector’s R&D activities are not only directed to the development of digital tools, but also to develop and provide the methodological bases of standardization, organization, and management of information necessary for the implementation of the BIM and Digital Twin methodology in Portugal, applied to the construction and asset management of buildings and infrastructures. In the present work, the described solution is a cross-platform web application that has all base requirements of a standard BIM platform, plus georeferencing of IFC documents using orthophoto maps and free access to base cartography available globally. All components of the solution were developed using open source technologies and universal free access. The contributions of this work will also serve to improve the set of tools and solutions available to the community. The developed platform will be available openly to all companies that want to engage in the BIM community and ought to actively participate in and foster the development, improvement, and promotion of this platform within the AEC sector.

Research on Fine Standard Management in Architectural Engineering Design and Construction

Research on Fine Standard Management in Architectural Engineering Design and Construction

Barriers and strategies for building information modelling implementation: a comparative study between New Zealand and China

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a sharing platform that can present a parametric 3 D model with various project information in the form of a digital display. In recent years, BIM adoption has become increasing globally as the Architectural, Engineering, Construction (AEC) industry has recognised its benefits. Meanwhile, many challenges of BIM adoption in different countries have been well documented. To address the gap in literature, this study examines the differences and similarities of BIM adoption between New Zealand and China. A questionnaire was conducted across the two countries to investigate the barriers and strategies for the implementation of BIM. Data from 146 respondents was collected in New Zealand and China. The result shows that there is a difference in the perception of Knowledge Barrier, Technology Barrier, Internal Strategy and External Strategy (Legal/Technology viewpoint) between New Zealand professionals and Chinese professionals. The differences identified offer important implications for government agencies to promote BIM implementation and for BIM service providers to better target the end-users.

Developing a conceptual framework for the application of digital twin technologies to revamp building operation and maintenance processes

Globally, the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry has seen a rise in the adoption of digital twin (DT) technologies due to their potential to enhance collaboration and information communication throughout the project lifecycle from the design to operation and maintenance (O&M) phase. However, empirical evidence on such adoption is fragmented, particularly for facility management (FM) activities during the O&M phase. Considering this gap, an illustrative case study approach is performed to analyze and compare the traditional practices of FM with DT-driven FM during the O&M phase using four geospatially representative cases. The findings show that DT technologies enable efficient and responsive planning and control of FM activities by providing real-time status of the building assets. However, barriers such as the misalignment of the data integration and data standards hamper their future implementation. To address this, a bottom-up conceptual framework is proposed to facilitate a wider implementation of DT technologies and support FM during the O&M phase of buildings. As such, this paper’s contribution is twofold: (1) it provides an aggregate landscape of DT application to manage facilities during the O&M phase, and (2) it develops an evidence-induced conceptual framework for stakeholders who are grappling with their FM decision-making processes.

INCORPORATING A DISASTER-RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN CONCEPT, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO CURRICULA

ABSTRACT With the increasing demands for resilient developments, Architecture/Engineering/ Construction (AEC) education shall be at the forefront of preparing future workforces with advanced knowledge about sustainable and resilient designs. Safe-to-Fail is a resilient urban design concept that anticipates failures during infrastructure systems planning, thus reducing the impact of natural disasters. This study aims to: (1) identify the factors influencing AEC students’ perceptions towards learning Safe-to-Fail; and (2) investigate students’ pedagogical preferences to incorporate Safe-to-Fail concepts in AEC curricula. To achieve this, the study implemented an intervention module including a comprehensive Safe-to-Fail lecture followed by an interactive discussion session and a survey to capture students’ experiences, expectations, and perceptions. The findings indicated that AEC students preferred to learn the Safe-to-Fail concept as a portion of an elective course and that the choice of learning such emerging concepts is significantly correlated to the student’s age, duration spent in the program, and prior knowledge of Safe-to-Fail. This study advocates incorporating Safe-to-Fail in AEC curricula, which provides an edge for future careers and contributes to developing resilient built environments.

INCORPORATING A DISASTER-RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN CONCEPT, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO CURRICULA

ABSTRACT With the increasing demands for resilient developments, Architecture/Engineering/ Construction (AEC) education shall be at the forefront of preparing future workforces with advanced knowledge about sustainable and resilient designs. Safe-to-Fail is a resilient urban design concept that anticipates failures during infrastructure systems planning, thus reducing the impact of natural disasters. This study aims to: (1) identify the factors influencing AEC students’ perceptions towards learning Safe-to-Fail; and (2) investigate students’ pedagogical preferences to incorporate Safe-to-Fail concepts in AEC curricula. To achieve this, the study implemented an intervention module including a comprehensive Safe-to-Fail lecture followed by an interactive discussion session and a survey to capture students’ experiences, expectations, and perceptions. The findings indicated that AEC students preferred to learn the Safe-to-Fail concept as a portion of an elective course and that the choice of learning such emerging concepts is significantly correlated to the student’s age, duration spent in the program, and prior knowledge of Safe-to-Fail. This study advocates incorporating Safe-to-Fail in AEC curricula, which provides an edge for future careers and contributes to developing resilient built environments.

Applicability of a digitalization model based on augmented reality for building construction education in architecture

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a digitalization model (DM) for building construction courses in architectural education as a response to the recent emerging technologies in the era of digital transformations. This DM is developed and applied through augmented reality (AR) technologies to boost perception, understandings and ability to solve building construction details.Design/methodology/approachBased on a thorough review of recent technologies like AR, virtual reality (VR), building information modelling (BIM) and their applications in architectural education, the methodology involves the generation of a model, its application and evaluation. The model is based on the integration of BIM and AR which is applied into a third year “Building Construction Project” course. Each student has designed a residential building and accordingly prepared the construction drawings by adapting the DM. An online survey –based on Technology Acceptance Model – is conducted to evaluate the DM by quantitative data analysis from SPSS and Excel.FindingsThe key findings of the study include the following items: determination of the proper digital tools, the definition of the steps and workflow based on the building project phases to develop construction drawings and define precise details effectively. By the help of this, the DM is generated and applied. According to the survey and results, the DM which involves BIM-based AR is considered as beneficial, highly motivating and providing better perception on construction details.Originality/valueImplication of AR/VR technologies is frequently seen in design studios, whereas building construction courses state its traditional approach. However, there is a huge potential in the digitalization of building construction education by increasing the perception of students together with the increased level of communication. The study aims to close the gap of digitalization by proposing a DM, which brings a systematic approach considering each phase of building construction project as conceptual, schematic, design development and construction documents by using BIM integrated AR. Moreover, the novel model specifically brings a new approach by generation of QR codes for construction details to embed videos or simulations into the two-dimensional drawing sheets. Furthermore, the DM proposes a new approach to satisfy emerging needs and requirements of the Architecture Engineering Construction industry.

Engineering ethics of BIM and big data application in civil engineering

As the second biggest economic entity, China is conducting the largest fundamental construction in the world. Architectural engineering is an important part of fundamental construction and China is witnessing its biggest construction industry in the world. With continuous scientific and technological development, China has stepped in the big data era, which produces higher requirements for architectural and civil engineering industry. Digital engineering construction technology, such as BIM technology, effectively improved design, construction, operation and maintenance of BIM technology, effectively improved the design, construction, operation and maintenance technology and quality of large construction projects. For the time being, China is encouraging engineering application and promotion of BIM technique in engineering construction industry. Fast scale enlargement and technical innovation not only produce new opportunities for change of construction industry, but also put forth strict requirements for engineering ethics in architectural and civil engineering construction.

Technical feasibility analysis on applying ultra-wide band technology in construction progress monitoring

The Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry has increasing demand for a more efficient and effective construction progress monitoring approach, to replace the time-consuming, error-prone and labor-intensive manual approach. Indoor positioning technology has been considered a suitable choice to meet this demand by its adaptability to the harsh and dynamic environment of the construction site. With the continuous progress of construction, the site environment is also constantly changing, Real Time Location System (RTLS) based on indoor positioning technology has a promising potential by its cost-effective advantages under this situation. In this research, Ultra-wide band (UWB) technology was adopted to develop a construction progress monitoring approach due to its stronger anti-interference ability, shorter delay and higher positioning accuracy among indoor positioning technologies. To investigate the technical feasibility of applying UWB to collect raw location data of core workforce, equipment and materials involved in different construction activities, construction activities were divided into three categories based on the characteristics of UWB technology. On and off-construction site tests were conducted to evaluate the technical feasibility in five criteria. The results of all tests proved the proposed approach has certain implementation value and under the premise of appropriate design and setting of infrastructures.

RIOMS: An intelligent system for operation and maintenance of urban roads using spatio-temporal data in smart cities

With the construction of smart cities entering a new phase, it is necessary to broaden the requirements of traditional roads to provide efficient operation and maintenance (O&M) services. Existing road infrastructure systems fail to meet intelligent functional O&M requirements since they do not incorporate a unified method to organize and integrate road life-cycle spatio-temporal data. Capitalizing on the developments in AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction) and IS fields, this paper proposes a solution (ICT Artifact) for achieving urban road intelligent O&M following the Design Science Research (DSR) framework. The main contributions of this paper are: (1) proposed method for organizing, collecting and fusing spatio-temporal data of the road’s entire life cycle, based on extended COBie standard to facilitate the linking and interoperability of multi-source heterogeneous data; (2) new Road Operation and Maintenance Functional Requirements (ROMFR) from the perspective of smart cities, which provide a complete definition of road intelligent O&M functional requirements; and (3) based on ROMFR and a new generation of information technologies, the design and implementation of a system named RIOMS (Road intelligent operation and maintenance system) that supports the intelligent functional requirements. The proposed solution has been applied to Yanggao Road (Pudong New Area, Shanghai) as a case study to demonstrate its feasibility and validity. Specifically, the proposed ICT artifact has been utilized in handling typical scenarios of road O&M and its effectiveness has been assessed through survey questionnaire and smart city assessment system.