12Management and CommunicationManagement and Communicationof Distributed Conceptual Design of Distributed Conceptual Design

KnowledgeKnowledgein the Building and Construction in the Building and Construction

IndustryIndustry

Management and CommunicationManagement and Communicationof Distributed Conceptual Design of Distributed Conceptual Design

KnowledgeKnowledgein the Building and Construction in the Building and Construction

IndustryIndustryDr.ir. Jos van LeeuwenDr.ir. Jos van LeeuwenEindhoven University of TechnologyEindhoven University of Technology

Department of Building and ArchitectureDepartment of Building and ArchitectureDesign Systems GroupDesign Systems Group

12Topics in this presentationTopics in this presentation

• Distributed Conceptual Design Knowledge

• Design Support: requirements

• Knowledge modelling& dissemination

• Feature-Based Modelling• XML: concept and

potentials• Artificial Intelligence• Feature Management

System• Feature Type recognition

12Design KnowledgeDesign KnowledgeDesign KnowledgeDesign Knowledge

Jos Harnischmacher

?design

problemidentificatio

nanalysis !

design solution

creativityuniqueness

iterative processes

Design conceptsthe notion of how a type of solution can be designed

12Distributed Conceptual Design Distributed Conceptual Design KnowledgeKnowledgeDistributed Conceptual Design Distributed Conceptual Design KnowledgeKnowledgeDistributed• Multi-designer projects (collaborative design)• Sharing design knowledge (outside project-

scope)

Conceptual• Early design stages• Concerning the design rationale

Niels Olivier

12Design Support: requirementsDesign Support: requirements

• Find information• Acquire information• Store information• Retrieve

information• Adapt information• Correct information

• Structure information

• Restructure information

• Define information• Refine information

Dynamic Dynamic processprocess

12Design Support: requirementsDesign Support: requirements

Allowing architects to formalise their own design concepts, to use their own typologies when modelling a design.

12Knowledge modellingKnowledge modelling

• Designer specific• Conceptual level of design information:

not only ‘what is designed’,but also ‘how is designed’

• Technique: Object orientationboth description and behaviour are involvedinstance level and typological level

12Knowledge disseminationKnowledge dissemination

• Collaborative design• Sharing of design knowledge• AI approaches for knowledge re-use,

e.g., case-based design• Evaluation, adaptation• Knowledge management

12Role of InternetRole of Internet

• Increasing importance for collaboration

• Becoming the main / first source of information

• Free, world-wide, accessible, ‘standard’, …

12Topics in this presentationTopics in this presentation

Distributed Conceptual Design Knowledge

Design Support: requirements

Knowledge modelling& dissemination

• Feature-Based Modelling• XML: concept and

potentials• Artificial Intelligence• Feature Management

System• Feature Type recognition

12VR-DIS – Design Information SystemVR-DIS – Design Information SystemSome of the objectives• VR interface for design activities• Support for design in early stages• Support for collaborative design• Dynamic way of dealing with information:

extensibility and flexibility of bothdesign models and conceptual design models

12

InternetTechnology

for Management & Communication

of Knowledge

Integration of 3 research disciplinesIntegration of 3 research disciplines

Information Modelling(Feature-Based Modelling)

for DefiningDesign Knowledge &Describing Designs

Artificial Intelligence(Case-based reasoning)

for KnowledgeDissemination

12Feature-Based ModellingFeature-Based Modelling

• Features are instantiations ofFeature Types (formalised design concepts)

• Feature Types can be defined to represent simple data, or complex structures of other Feature Types

• Feature models contain Features that may possess non-typical characteristics(i.e. ad-hoc properties and relationships)

types

instances

InformationModelling

12

Example: a type ‘Roof’ with characteristics such as ‘slope’, ‘material’, ‘thermal insulation’, etc.

Feature-Based ModellingFeature-Based Modelling

types

instances

InformationModelling

Feature-Based ModellingFeature-Based Modelling

InformationModelling

12Feature-Based Modelling FrameworkFeature-Based Modelling Framework

• Extensibility:designer can define typologies

• Flexibility:referential structures,ad hoc modelling(e.g., associative reasoning)

Meta-Layerclasses of Feature Types andclasses of Feature Instances

defines format of

Feature Typesformalised design concepts

Feature Instancescomposition of a design model

instantiated into

InformationModelling

12Feature Management SystemFeature Management System

Feature Management Moduleprevious implementation was based on Object Oriented DB

VR UserInterface

User

Feature data

GeometryEngine

Feature Management Core

OODB – SDK

othermodules

Feature Management

Module

InformationModelling

12XML: eXtensible Markup Language XML: eXtensible Markup Language • Concept

– Structured documents– Document structure can be defined by

user– Internet facilities for linking and re-using

documents– Standardised document management

InternetTechnology

12XML: eXtensible Markup Language XML: eXtensible Markup Language • Potentials

– Standard for document storage / management / exchange

– Standard interface for databases– Replacement for HTML

InternetTechnology

12XML: eXtensible Markup Language XML: eXtensible Markup Language Example

<building name=“Main Building”><floor level=“4”>

<room number=“01” purpose=“studio”/></floor><function name=“studio”>

<size activity=“design”>6</size><size activity=“lecture”>20</size><facility>multimedia presentation</facility >

</function></building>

InternetTechnology

12XML-Schema: defining XML doc. structuresXML-Schema: defining XML doc. structures

<xsd:complexType name="Space">

<xsd:complexContent>

<xsd:extension base="ftrbase:FtrType">

<xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="area"type="ftrbase:Role"minOccurs="0"ftrbase:roletype="spec"

ftrbase:ftrtyperef="Area"/>

</xsd:sequence>

</xsd:extension>

</xsd:complexContent>

</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="Room"><xsd:complexContent>

<xsd:extension base="Space"><xsd:sequence>

<xsd:element name="enclosedBy"type="ftrbase:Role"minOccurs="0"maxOccurs="unbounded"ftrbase:roletype="assoc"ftrbase:ftrtyperef="Wall"/>

</xsd:sequence></xsd:extension>

</xsd:complexContent></xsd:complexType>

<Area name="Area1" value="29.7"/>

<Room name="Office1">

<area ref="Area1"/>

<enclosedBy ref="WallB" index="1"/>

<enclosedBy ref="WallC" index="2"/>

<numberOfWorkplaces ref=”NoDesksInOffice1”/>

</spatial:Room>

InternetTechnology

12Implementation issuesImplementation issues

• Microsoft’s .NET environment• Offers cross-platform capabilities• Allows easy re-utilisation of code

e.g., for standalone applications or forweb-based applications

• Extensive XML facilities

InternetTechnology

12Artificial IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence• AI in this project is used to enable

Knowledge Dissemination:– Indexing a design case in order to generate a

database of design concepts(design problems and solutions)

– Find similar cases for a given design case– Search for existing solutions to a design problem– Restructure information to facilitate the above– Adaptation of found design solution to existing

situation(adjusting the set of variables)

– Application of design solution to current problem(filling in the variables)

ArtificialIntelligence

12Artificial IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence• Technologies required

– Matching information structuresboth at the typological and instantiated level:

Finding similar types, finding new types,recognising new types, …

– Application of heuristics for non-exact matchingHow to fill in the gaps or skip the irrelevant

– Conversion of information structuresResolve linguistic, cultural, stylistic differences

– Adaptation techniques for both the conceptual level and the instantiation procedure

How to evaluate the variables of the design concept and how to apply them to the existing situation

ArtificialIntelligence

12Feature Management SystemFeature Management System

• Based on XML technology

• Makes resources from Internet available

• Enables sharing through Internet

• Standard communication format for design data and design knowledge

VR UserInterface

User

Feature data

Type BModules

Feature Management Core

DOM / XML / XML-Schema

Type AModules

Feature Management Schema

Feature ManagementModule

InternetTechnology

InformationModelling

ArtificialIntelligence

12Feature Type RecognitionFeature Type Recognition

• Recognising the emergence of new concepts

• Recognising and verifying known typologies

• Finding similarities between typologies for, e.g., exchange purposes

12Topics in this presentationTopics in this presentation

Distributed Conceptual Design Knowledge

Design Support: requirements

Knowledge modelling& dissemination

Feature-Based ModellingXML: concept and

potentialsArtificial IntelligenceFeature Management

System Feature Type recognition

12Feature Type RecognitionFeature Type Recognition

• Support for consistency in the design task

• Support for Case retrieval• Matching functional specs with

technical solutions• Support for exchange of design data• Support for design evaluation

• Support for consistency in the design task

12Recognising the emergence of new conceptsRecognising the emergence of new concepts

Instanceswith ad-hoc

modelled properties and

relationships

types

12Recognising the emergence of new conceptsRecognising the emergence of new concepts

Involves:• Examining the existing model, trying to

find recurring patterns of interrelated concepts

• Checking if such patterns match with existing typologies (e.g. aggregations),if not:

• Proposing the definition of new Feature Types to represent the newborn design concepts

12Recognising and verifying known typologiesRecognising and verifying known typologies

illustration 1

12Recognising and verifying known typologiesRecognising and verifying known typologies

illustration 2

12Recognising and verifying known typologiesRecognising and verifying known typologies

Involves:• Searching for instances of known major

types(so-called root types)

• If found: attempt to match the context inthe model with the context in the typology

• If not found: attempt to infer instances of known types by examining the model and applying heuristics

12To conclude…To conclude…• Feature-Based Modelling

enables designers to follow a dynamic design approach while benefiting from the capabilities of computer support

• XML technologyconfirms that the dynamic approach of design information modelling is a feasible and enhanced approach with great potentials

• Case-Based Reasoning technologiesare currently being investigated and will be incorporated in the FBM information management environment

12DiscussionDiscussionDiscussionDiscussion

• Modelling approach• Artificial Intelligence methods and

techniques• Application and testing environment• Organisational implementation issues

12

Thank you very muchfor your time and attention

Thank you very muchfor your time and attention

More information and this presentationcan be found at these websites:

www.ds.arch.tue.nl/josjos.civil.ist.utl.pt