Mourshed, M (2006) Interoperability-based optimisation of architectural design. PhD thesis, Loughborough University, UK.
Abstract
As a major contributor to the planetary greenhouse effect, construction industry needs to adopt sustainability at the core of its activities - to reverse or slow down the impacts of climate change. Increased collaboration among stakeholders along with analysis/performance based decision making is the way forward for enhanced sustainability. Emphasis is placed on the process of shared creation through multi-disciplinary collaboration, enabled by the implementation of IT (Information Technology) that acts as a platform to augment our ability to communicate. Developments in the Construction IT have been product oriented and aimed at solving particular domain problems usually with a narrow focus - further reducing the accessibility and interoperability of information over the lifecycle stages. Advances in the semantics based interoperable data standards, such as IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) offer significant advantage in removing such barriers to successful vertical and horizontal integration of software tools and process. The use of building simulation in architectural design requires specialist knowledge and a rich set of information about the proposed building which are not available to the design team at early stages. Standards based mapping of information for input processing of the simulation engines can act as an alternative to simplified tools supporting the exploratory nature of design. Detailed based input processing also restricts the use of simulation to occasional validation of solutions - even during detailed design stages. For a directed exploration of the solution space, numerical optimisation methods can be applied to enhance simulation assisted design. Successful application of optimisation methods pivots on the ability of the analysis and decision making components of the software to communicate with each other without the loss of data semantics. To realise this potential, a process-oriented integrated framework based on the interoperability of information and software tools have been developed and implemented in this thesis. For horizontal integration of domain specific tools through intra-software messaging, ardML - an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) based schema has been developed which attempts to connect non-interoperable software tools. Multi-disciplinary environmental design of buildings has been chosen as the domain of discourse. The framework currently employs industry standard zonal building simulation as an analysis tool and gradient-based mathematical optimisation methods for informed decision making. Interoperability among tools, processes and information has been achieved through the implementation of IFC based data model. The modular nature of the object-oriented framework allows incorporation of existing and future tools. The applicability of the framework has been investigated in the early stages of architectural design, in particular the selection of form and orientation - considering the environmental aspects. The implementation of the framework at an ambiguous and exploratory stage of design reinforces its applicability in a wider industry context.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | architectural design; climate change; collaboration; decision making; environmental design; information technology; integration; multi-disciplinary; stakeholders |
| Index terms: | industry foundation classes, lifecycle, building simulation, implementation, construction industry, interoperability, accessibility, platform, semantics, greenhouse effect, environmental design, collaboration, integration, mapping, data model, exploration, decision-making, design stage, validation, climate change, architectural design, performance-based, information technology, Construction IT, design team |
| Subjects: | systems and processes, information systems, industry analysis, decision analysis, organizational analysis, digital design, professional development, inclusive design, spatial and geospatial analysis, performance measurement, management, design practice, project delivery, analytical methods, contractual arrangements, professional practice, data science, modelling and simulation, sustainability and energy, environmental resource management, computing systems, climate science, computational design |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Research Practice, Information Management, Quality Management, Procurement, Sustainability, Risk Management, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here