REVIEW OF WINDOW AND DOOR TYPE DETECTION APPROACHES

The use of as-built Building Information Models (BIM) has become increasingly commonplace. This process of creating a BIM model from point cloud data, also referred to as Scan-to-BIM, is a mostly manual task. Due to the large amount of manual work, the entire Scan-to-BIM process is time-consuming and error prone. Current research focuses on the automation of the Scan-to-BIM pipeline by applying state-of-the-art techniques on its consecutive steps including the data acquisition, data processing, data interpretation and modelling. By automating the matching and modelling of window and door objects, a considerable amount of time can be saved in the Scan-to-BIM process. This is so because each window and door instance needs to be examined by the modeller and must be adapted to the actual on-site situation. Large object libraries containing predefined window and door objects exists but the matching to the best-fit predefined object remains time consuming. The aim of this research is to examine the possibilities to speed up the modelling of window and door objects. First, a literature review discussing existing methods for window and door detection and matching is presented. Second, the acquired data is examined to explore the capabilities of capturing window and door information for different remote sensing devices. Followed by tests of some commonplace features in the use for window and door occurrence matching and clustering

ifcOWL-DfMA a new ontology for the offsite construction domain

Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is a fragmented in-dustry dealing with heterogeneous data formats coming from different domains. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most important efforts to manage information collaboratively within the AEC industry. The Industry Foun-dation Classes (IFC) can be used as a data format to achieve data exchange be-tween diverse software applications in a BIM process. The advantage of using Semantic Web Technologies to overcome these challenges has been recognised by the AEC community and the ifcOWL ontology, which transforms the IFC schema to a Web Ontology Language (OWL) representation, is now a de facto standard. Even though the ifcOWL ontology is very extensive, there is a lack of detailed knowledge representation in terms of process and sub-processes explain-ing Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) for offsite construction, and also a lack of knowledge on how product and productivity measurement such as production costs and durations are incurred, which is essential for evaluation of alternative DfMA design options. In this article we present a new ontology named ifcOWL-DfMA as a new domain specific module for ifcOWL with the aim of representing offsite construction domain terminology and relationships in a machine-interpretable format. This ontology will play the role of a core vocab-ulary for the DfMA design management and can be used in many scenarios such as life cycle cost estimation. To demonstrate the usage of ifcOWL-DfMA ontol-ogy a production line of wall panels is presented. We evaluate our approach by querying the wall panel production model about information such as activity se-quence, cost estimation per activity and also the direct material cost. This ulti-mately enable users to evaluate the overall product from the system

A semi-automated approach to model architectural elements in Scan-to-BIM processes

In the last years, the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) domain has exponentially increased the use of BIM and HBIM models for several applications, such as planning renovation and restoration, building maintenance, cost managing, or structural/energetic retrofit design. However, obtaining detailed as-built BIM models is a demanding and time-consuming process. Especially in historical contexts, many different and complex architectural elements need to be carefully and manually modelled. Meshes or surfaces and NURBS or polylines, derived from 3D reality-based data, are recently used as a reference for the HBIM accurate modelling. This work proposes a comprehensive and novel semi-automated approach to reconstruct architectural elements through the Visual Programming Language (VPL) Dynamo software and a Boundary-Representation method (B-rep), starting from 3D surveying data and point clouds classification. A wide package of scripts provides solutions for modelling complex shapes and transferring the obtained 3D models into BIM Authoring tools for a complete reconstruction phase. The presented procedure, useful for different BIM or HBIM applications, proved to reduce the modelling time significantly

A SEMI-AUTOMATED APPROACH TO MODEL ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS IN SCAN-TO-BIM PROCESSES

In the last years, the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) domain has exponentially increased the use of BIM and HBIM models for several applications, such as planning renovation and restoration, building maintenance, cost managing, or structural/energetic retrofit design. However, obtaining detailed as-built BIM models is a demanding and time-consuming process. Especially in historical contexts, many different and complex architectural elements need to be carefully and manually modelled. Meshes or surfaces and NURBS or polylines, derived from 3D reality-based data, are recently used as a reference for the HBIM accurate modelling. This work proposes a comprehensive and novel semi-automated approach to reconstruct architectural elements through the Visual Programming Language (VPL) Dynamo software and a Boundary-Representation method (B-rep), starting from 3D surveying data and point clouds classification. A wide package of scripts provides solutions for modelling complex shapes and transferring the obtained 3D models into BIM Authoring tools for a complete reconstruction phase. The presented procedure, useful for different BIM or HBIM applications, proved to reduce the modelling time significantly

Conversational artificial intelligence in the AEC industry: A review of present status, challenges and opportunities

The idea of developing a system that can converse and understand human languages has been around since the 1200 s. With the advancement in artificial intelligence (AI), Conversational AI came of age in 2010 with the launch of Apple’s Siri. Conversational AI systems leveraged Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand and converse with humans via speech and text. These systems have been deployed in sectors such as aviation, tourism, and healthcare. However, the application of Conversational AI in the architecture engineering and construction (AEC) industry is lagging, and little is known about the state of research on Conversational AI. Thus, this study presents a systematic review of Conversational AI in the AEC industry to provide insights into the current development and conducted a Focus Group Discussion to highlight challenges and validate areas of opportunities. The findings reveal that Conversational AI applications hold immense benefits for the AEC industry, but it is currently underexplored. The major challenges for the under exploration were highlighted and discusses for intervention. Lastly, opportunities and future research directions of Conversational AI are projected and validated which would improve the productivity and efficiency of the industry. This study presents the status quo of a fast-emerging research area and serves as the first attempt in the AEC field. Its findings would provide insights into the new field which be of benefit to researchers and stakeholders in the AEC industry

Conversational artificial intelligence in the AEC industry: A review of present status, challenges and opportunities

The idea of developing a system that can converse and understand human languages has been around since the 1200 s. With the advancement in artificial intelligence (AI), Conversational AI came of age in 2010 with the launch of Apple’s Siri. Conversational AI systems leveraged Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand and converse with humans via speech and text. These systems have been deployed in sectors such as aviation, tourism, and healthcare. However, the application of Conversational AI in the architecture engineering and construction (AEC) industry is lagging, and little is known about the state of research on Conversational AI. Thus, this study presents a systematic review of Conversational AI in the AEC industry to provide insights into the current development and conducted a Focus Group Discussion to highlight challenges and validate areas of opportunities. The findings reveal that Conversational AI applications hold immense benefits for the AEC industry, but it is currently underexplored. The major challenges for the under exploration were highlighted and discusses for intervention. Lastly, opportunities and future research directions of Conversational AI are projected and validated which would improve the productivity and efficiency of the industry. This study presents the status quo of a fast-emerging research area and serves as the first attempt in the AEC field. Its findings would provide insights into the new field which be of benefit to researchers and stakeholders in the AEC industry

Integration of BIM in Building Sustainability Assessment methods

Tese de doutoramento em Sustentabilidade do Ambiente ConstruídoThe Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is highly responsible for several environmental impacts and worldwide authorities and societies are increasingly looking for more sustainable buildings. Given the ambitious targets of climate neutrality and decarbonisation, there is an urgent need to develop specific strategies to act in the building sector, as it has been recognised as a key industry to reverse environmental impacts. Among the existing tools, Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) methods stand out as a pathway to evaluate and promote the integration of sustainability principles in buildings. However, such methods often require multi-disciplinary information about the building and significant resources such as time, money, and human labour. Consequently, and in the absence of mandatory legislation, BSA is usually neglected or applied in project later stages just to provide a sustainable evaluation of the building. With the deployment of Building Information Modelling (BIM), the opportunity for BSA to adopt and benefit from BIM functionalities arises. Currently, BIM has not been used comprehensively in the evaluation process of BSA but the potential for process automation and simplification are well known. To effectively integrate BSA into BIM environment, this research aims to develop a BIM integration framework for the Portuguese residential BSA method SBToolPT-H. Moreover, such framework will be materialized by the creation of an enduser BIM-based application – SBToolBIM – which will act as a decision support tool regarding building sustainability for the project's early stages. SBToolBIM will automate and accelerate the assessment of SBToolPTH by reflecting its criteria through computable rules. Results show the attractiveness of SBToolBIM, as well as the possibility to have real-time feedback about the building sustainability level in early project stages, allowing for the introduction and comparison of different sustainability measures with few resources. SBToolBIM has established a novel and common approach which can be used as a systematic framework to apply BIM in other BSA schemes, representing a pathway to reduce the building sector impacts and provide valuable contributes to reach worldwide climate neutrality and decarbonisation targets.A indústria da Arquitetura, Engenharia e Construção (AEC) é responsável por diversos impactes ambientais, levando as autoridades e sociedades mundiais à procura por edifícios mais sustentáveis. Perante os ambiciosos objetivos da neutralidade climática e descarbonização, surge a necessidade de desenvolver estratégias específicas para o setor dos edifícios, dado ser uma indústria chave para a reversão dos referidos impactes. Entre as ferramentas existentes, destacam-se os métodos da avaliação da sustentabilidade de edifícios (BSA, do inglês Building Sustainability Assessment) como forma de avaliar e promover a integração de medidas sustentáveis. No entanto, a sua utilização requer informações multidisciplinares do edifício, bem como recursos significativos, tais como tempo, custos e mão de obra. Consequentemente e na ausência de legislação obrigatória, os BSA são geralmente negligenciados ou aplicados em fases finais de projeto, apenas para identificar o nível de sustentabilidade do edifício. Com a implementação do Building Information Modeling (BIM), surge a oportunidade dos BSA adotarem e beneficiarem das suas funcionalidades. Atualmente, o BIM ainda não é integralmente utilizado no processo de avaliação dos BSA, mas as suas potencialidades para automação e simplificação do processo já foram reconhecidas. De modo a integrar os BSA em ambiente BIM, este trabalho visa desenvolver uma estrutura de integração BIM para o método BSA residencial português SBToolPT-H. A estrutura será materializada através da criação de uma aplicação BIM – SBToolBIM – que irá atuar como uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão em fases iniciais de projeto. O SBToolBIM irá automatizar e acelerar os processos de avaliação da sustentabilidade através do SBToolPT-H, refletindo os seus critérios através de regras computacionais. Os resultados demonstram a utilidade do SBToolBIM, bem como a possibilidade de fornecer feedback em tempo real sobre o nível de sustentabilidade do edifício nas fases iniciais de projeto, permitindo a introdução e a comparação de diferentes medidas de sustentabilidade, utilizando poucos recursos. O SBToolBIM estabelece uma nova abordagem sistemática para aplicação do BIM noutros métodos BSA, representando um caminho para a redução dos impactes do setor e dando valiosas contribuições para alcançar as metas de neutralidade climática e descarbonização.SBToolBIM research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), grant number SFRH/BD/145735/2019

BIM based Energy management: piattaforme CMMS e standard IFC

In questo lavoro di tesi viene trattato il tema dell’interoperabilità nell’ambito della gestione energetica degli edifici, nella fase post-costruzione. Inizialmente, viene spiegato chi è l’Energy Manager e qual è il suo compito all’interno di un’organizzazione, facendo anche una panoramica della normativa che ruota attorno alla sua figura. Viene spiegato cos’è il BIM (Building Information Model) e come può essere utilizzato nello svolgimento della pratica dell’energy management, oltre a come può essere integrato all’interno delle piattaforme CAFM (Computer Aided Facility Management) e CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System). Come terzo punto si è mostrata la situazione attuale nel mercato energetico, facendo delle considerazioni su come è mutata nel corso degli anni e per quali ragioni economiche e geo-politiche. Infine, è stato fatto un inquadramento generale su come è organizzata la gestione energetica degli edifici all’interno dell’Università di Padova, qual è l’ufficio competente che si occupa di questa disciplina e quali sono le mansioni che devono portare a compimento gli Energy Manager che fanno parte di questa organizzazione. Uno dei problemi principali individuato durante la fase di gestione energetica delle strutture, è quella della reperibilità dei dati che servono nella fase di Operation e Management (O&M): per questo motivo la ricerca di lavoro, si pone come obbiettivo quello di individuare una metodologia per archiviare documenti e informazioni da parte di tutti gli utenti che partecipano al ciclo di vita dell’opera. Per fare ciò, è stato individuato un formato file interoperabile con tutti i maggiori software di progettazione e di gestione dati, che si identifica nel formato IFC (Industry Foundation Classes), in modo che i vari professionisti possano leggere con i propri strumenti i documenti prodotti dagli altri utenti, creando un quadro informativo completo dei vari edifici sui cui si opera. In seguito all’analisi di letteratura svolta è emerso che lo standard IFC non viene sfruttato nelle sue piene potenzialità, ma viene utilizzato quasi esclusivamente come formato file, in grado di importare i modelli BIM all’interno dei software di simulazione energetica. Mentre, sono stati individuati pochissimi articoli in cui gli autori lo utilizzano come database di archiviazione di dati, utili nello svolgimento della disciplina del facility management. Dopo aver redatto una lista con i documenti e le informazioni, che l’energy manager deve gestire, è stata fatta una prima classificazione in Excel delle classi IFC verso le quali può essere indirizzato il dato; poi la referenziazione dei dati è stata messa in pratica all’interno del modello BIM, tramite l’utilizzo di Archicad e completata dalla scrittura di codici su Python, tramite le librerie di IfcOpenshell. La sfida di questa ricerca è di verificare se la piattaforma Geoweb è interoperabile con il datamodel IFC, per quanto concerne l’archiviazione dei dati utilizzati nello svolgimento della disciplina dell’energy management. Infine, sono stati commentati i risultati ottenuti evidenziando le criticità del processo sviluppato e discutendo quali potrebbero essere i possibili sviluppi futuri che la ricerca si potrebbe porre.In this thesis work, the topic of interoperability in the energy management of buildings is dealt with, in the post-construction phase. Initially, it is explained who the Energy Manager is and what his role is within an organization, also giving an overview of the legislation that revolves around him. It explains what the BIM (Building Information Model) is and how it can be used in carrying out the practice of energy management, as well as how it can be integrated within the CAFM (Computer Aided Facility Management) and CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management) platforms. System). The third point was the current situation in the energy market, making considerations on how it has changed over the years and for what economic and geo-political reasons. Finally, a general overview was made of how the energy management of buildings is organized within the University of Padua, which is the competent office that deals with this discipline, and which are the tasks that the Energy Managers who are part of this organization must carry out. One of the main problems identified during the energy management phase of the structures is that of the availability of the data needed in the Operation and Management (O&M) phase: for this reason, the job search aims to identify a methodology for archive documents and information from all users who participate in the life cycle of the work. To do this, an interoperable file format has been identified with all the major design and data management software, which is identified in the IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) format, so that the various professionals can read the documents produced with their own tools by other users, creating a complete information picture of the various buildings on which the work is carried out. Following the literature analysis carried out, it emerged that the IFC standard is not exploited to its full potential, but is used almost exclusively as a file format, capable of importing BIM models into energy simulation software. In the meanwhile, very few articles have been identified in which the authors use it as a data storage database, useful in carrying out the discipline of facility management. After having drawn up a list with documents and information, which the energy manager must manage, an initial classification in Excel of the IFC classes to which the data can be addressed was made; then the data referencing was put into practice within the BIM model, using Archicad and completed by writing codes on Python, using the IfcOpenshell libraries. The challenge of this research is to verify whether the Geoweb platform is interoperable with the IFC datamodel, as regards the storage of data used in carrying out the energy management discipline. Finally, the results obtained were commented on, highlighting the criticalities of the process developed and discussing what could be the possible future developments that the research could pose