Development space database for automated building design review systems

This paper presents the design and implementation of space database for developing automated building design review systems. We have developed a set of four software modules for reviewing different aspects of a specific building type - US Courthouses. IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) provides the common building model schema from which these analyses are carried out. Space objects, like other BIM-building objects, can carry their information-rich space objects and space use semantics internally to the model; we have used instead external space database to an easily supported information base. We describe the problem of space database, how space objects can be automatically organized and classified within BIM systems based on their space database, and our reflection on best practices learned from application development. All the research and development features noted in this paper are implemented in a software plug-in module that constitutes a subset of other pre-processing operations and design review systems. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.