Configurable nD-visualization for complex Building Information Models

With the ongoing development of building information modelling (BIM) towards a comprehensive coverage of all construction project information in a semantically explicit way, visual representations became decoupled from the building information models. While traditional construction drawings implicitly contained the visual representation besides the information, nowadays they are generated on the fly, hard-coded in software applications dedicated to other tasks such as analysis, simulation, structural design or communication. Due to the abstract nature of information models and the increasing amount of digital information captured during construction projects, visual representations are essential for humans in order to access the information, to understand it, and to engage with it. At the same time digital media open up the new field of interactive visualizations. The full potential of BIM can only be unlocked with customized task-specific visualizations, with engineers and architects actively involved in the design and development process of these visualizations. The visualizations must be reusable and reliably reproducible during communication processes. Further, to support creative problem solving, it must be possible to modify and refine them. This thesis aims at reconnecting building information models and their visual representations: on a theoretic level, on the level of methods and in terms of tool support. First, the research seeks to improve the knowledge about visualization generation in conjunction with current BIM developments such as the multimodel. The approach is based on the reference model of the visualization pipeline and addresses structural as well as quantitative aspects of the visualization generation. Second, based on the theoretic foundation, a method is derived to construct visual representations from given visualization specifications. To this end, the idea of a domain-specific language (DSL) is employed. Finally, a software prototype proofs the concept. Using the visualization framework, visual representations can be generated from a specific building information model and a specific visualization description.Mit der fortschreitenden Entwicklung des Building Information Modelling (BIM) hin zu einer umfassenden Erfassung aller Bauprojektinformationen in einer semantisch expliziten Weise werden Visualisierungen von den Gebäudeinformationen entkoppelt. Während traditionelle Architektur- und Bauzeichnungen die visuellen Reprä̈sentationen implizit als Träger der Informationen enthalten, werden sie heute on-the-fly generiert. Die Details ihrer Generierung sind festgeschrieben in Softwareanwendungen, welche eigentlich für andere Aufgaben wie Analyse, Simulation, Entwurf oder Kommunikation ausgelegt sind. Angesichts der abstrakten Natur von Informationsmodellen und der steigenden Menge digitaler Informationen, die im Verlauf von Bauprojekten erfasst werden, sind visuelle Repräsentationen essentiell, um sich die Information erschließen, sie verstehen, durchdringen und mit ihnen arbeiten zu können. Gleichzeitig entwickelt sich durch die digitalen Medien eine neues Feld der interaktiven Visualisierungen. Das volle Potential von BIM kann nur mit angepassten aufgabenspezifischen Visualisierungen erschlossen werden, bei denen Ingenieur*innen und Architekt*innen aktiv in den Entwurf und die Entwicklung dieser Visualisierungen einbezogen werden. Die Visualisierungen müssen wiederverwendbar sein und in Kommunikationsprozessen zuverlässig reproduziert werden können. Außerdem muss es möglich sein, Visualisierungen zu modifizieren und neu zu definieren, um das kreative Problemlösen zu unterstützen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zielt darauf ab, Gebäudemodelle und ihre visuellen Repräsentationen wieder zu verbinden: auf der theoretischen Ebene, auf der Ebene der Methoden und hinsichtlich der unterstützenden Werkzeuge. Auf der theoretischen Ebene trägt die Arbeit zunächst dazu bei, das Wissen um die Erstellung von Visualisierungen im Kontext von Bauprojekten zu erweitern. Der verfolgte Ansatz basiert auf dem Referenzmodell der Visualisierungspipeline und geht dabei sowohl auf strukturelle als auch auf quantitative Aspekte des Visualisierungsprozesses ein. Zweitens wird eine Methode entwickelt, die visuelle Repräsentationen auf Basis gegebener Visualisierungsspezifikationen generieren kann. Schließlich belegt ein Softwareprototyp die Realisierbarkeit des Konzepts. Mit dem entwickelten Framework können visuelle Repräsentationen aus jeweils einem spezifischen Gebäudemodell und einer spezifischen Visualisierungsbeschreibung generiert werden

2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy

This document is an update (new photos used) of the PDF version of the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy that will be available to download on the OCT Public Website. The updated 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy, or "technology dictionary", uses a technology discipline based approach that realigns like-technologies independent of their application within the NASA mission portfolio. This tool is meant to serve as a common technology discipline-based communication tool across the agency and with its partners in other government agencies, academia, industry, and across the world

BIM implementation in architectural practices : towards advanced collaborative approaches based on digital technologies

We are at a stage where Building Information Modelling (BIM) has reached a maturity level to be widely adopted by the professionals and organizations within the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. An industry which is highly fragmented and not advanced in terms of digitalization, making an effective collaboration hard to achieve. The advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have brought about the promise of improving collaborative procedure in a wide range of industries. The widespread adoption of BIM has paved the way for the introduction of ICT within the AEC sector. The reported benefits of BIM imply on its potential for contributing to a successful inter-disciplinary collaboration. This calls for attention from architects who shall consider how BIM allows the architectural practices to operate in truly novel ways to achieve new building efficiencies and organizations. This research was designed to investigate the crucial factors for an effective collaboration based on advanced ICT and enabled by BIM with respect to architectural practices. An effective inter-disciplinary collaboration allows architects as the authors of the projects to oversee the development and delivery of the projects more consistently with their design intends. The concerns about the move towards adopting BIM by architectural firms were reviewed and its influential factors and barriers were discussed. As we read about it, BIM is indicated by different terms to describe its essence: ‘’BIM methodology’’, ‘’BIM technology’’, ‘’BIM process’’, ‘’BIM systems’’ and etc. However, none of these terms can include all aspects of BIM. The term ‘’ecosystem’’ was adopted to describe the nature of BIM and the reason for which is described in this work. To further constitute the BIM ecosystem, its dimensions of People, Products and Processes were presented in detail with respect to collaborative procedures. It included the delineation of a number of BIM policies and protocols, tools and technologies, roles and skills which are all related to and suitable for architectural practices in their interdisciplinary collaboration. Through three case studies, the research questions and hypothesis were put into investigation. Based on the idea of change management and the socio-technical nature of BIM collaboration, a qualitative research approach was adopted. Various techniques were used to gather information to be analyzed through a coding process of the qualitative data. The codes were interpreted as the factors influencing collaboration and were grouped to form the crucial concepts contributing to effective BIM-enabled collaborative procedures. It was revealed that the “joint decision making” factor is the most crucial one in this respect followed by “collaboration involvement” and “interoperability”. These findings were based on the frequency of the codes related to these factors in the data analysis. The crucial concepts in BIM-enabled collaboration were revealed to be “collaboration conditions” followed by “software capacity” and “human resources organization”. The findings confirm the research hypotheses that BIM implementation asks architects to assume a leadership role in collaborative procedures and that it allows for the integration of ICT into the technological pipeline of architectural practices. However, the validity of the two hypotheses is subject to certain conditions that are discussed in this work. The research finds the area of BIM education a place of great interest for future research work as the factor of “training” has a great influence on the overall success of BIM-enabled collaboration. Furthermore, it was revealed that the crucial factor of “interoperability” needs more attention from both industry and academic sectors. The impacts of BIM implementation on existing and emerging roles within the industry is another area of great interest for future works and research.Estamos en una etapa en la que Building Information Modeling (BIM) ha alcanzado un nivel de madurez que será ampliamente adoptado por el Profesionales y organizaciones dentro de la industria de Arquitectura, Ingeniería y Construcción (AIC). Una industria que es altamente fragmentado y no avanzado en términos de digitalización, lo que hace que una colaboración efectiva sea difícil de lograr. Los avances en las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) han traído la promesa de mejorar la colaboración Procedimiento en una amplia gama de industrias. La adopción generalizada de BIM ha allanado el camino para la introducción de las TIC en el sector de la AIC. Los beneficios reportados de BIM implican en su potencial para contribuir a un éxito interdisciplinario colaboración. Esto requiere la atención de arquitectos que deben considerar cómo BIM permite que las prácticas arquitectónicas operen en formas verdaderamente novedosas para lograr nuevas eficiencias de construcción y organizaciones. Esta investigación fue diseñada para investigar los factores cruciales para una colaboración efectiva basada en TIC avanzadas y habilitado por BIM con respecto a las prácticas arquitectónicas. Una colaboración interdisciplinaria efectiva permite a los arquitectos como autores de los proyectos para supervisar el desarrollo y la entrega de los proyectos de manera más coherente con sus propósitos de diseño. Se revisaron las preocupaciones sobre el movimiento hacia la adopción de BIM por parte de las empresas de arquitectura y sus factores influyentes y Se discutieron las barreras. A medida que leemos sobre esto, BIM se indica mediante diferentes términos para describir su esencia: "metodología BIM", "Tecnología BIM", "Proceso BIM", "Sistemas BIM" y etc. Sin embargo, ninguno de estos términos puede incluir todos los aspectos de BIM. El término "ecosistema" se adoptó para describir la naturaleza de BIM y la razón por la cual se describe en este trabajo. A más constituyen el ecosistema BIM, sus dimensiones de Personas, Productos y Procesos se presentaron en detalle con respecto a procedimientos colaborativos. Incluía la delineación de una serie de políticas y protocolos BIM, herramientas y tecnologías, roles y habilidades que están relacionadas y son adecuadas para las prácticas arquitectónicas en su colaboración interdisciplinaria. A través de tres estudios de caso, las preguntas de investigación y la hipótesis se pusieron en investigación. Basado en la idea de cambio. La gestión y la naturaleza sociotécnica de la colaboración BIM, se adoptó un enfoque de investigación cualitativa. Varios se utilizaron técnicas para recopilar información para analizarla a través de un proceso de codificación de los datos cualitativos. Los codigos fueron interpretados como los factores que influyen en la colaboración y se agruparon para formar los conceptos cruciales que contribuyen a la eficacia procedimientos colaborativos habilitados por BIM. Se reveló que el factor de "toma de decisiones conjunta" es el más crucial en este sespeto seguido de "participación colaborativa" e "interoperabilidad". Estos hallazgos se basaron en la frecuencia de códigos relacionados con estos factores en el análisis de datos. Los conceptos cruciales en la colaboración habilitada por BIM se revelaron como "Condiciones de colaboración" seguidas de "capacidad de software" y "organización de recursos humanos". Los hallazgos confirman la investigar las hipótesis de que la implementación BIM les pide a los arquitectos que asuman un papel de liderazgo en los procedimientos de colaboración y que permite la integración de las TIC en la línea tecnológica de las prácticas arquitectónicas. La investigación considera que el área de educación BIM es un lugar de gran interés para futuros trabajos de investigación, ya que el factor de "capacitación" tiene un gran influencia en el éxito generalPostprint (published version

Proceedings of the 9th Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD) international conference 2021 (ASCAAD 2021): architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges.

The ASCAAD 2021 conference theme is Architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges. The theme addresses the gradual shift in computational design from prototypical morphogenetic-centered associations in the architectural discourse. This imminent shift of focus is increasingly stirring a debate in the architectural community and is provoking a much needed critical questioning of the role of computation in architecture as a sole embodiment and enactment of technical dimensions, into one that rather deliberately pursues and embraces the humanities as an ultimate aspiration

Ordonnancement de projets internationaux avec contraintes de matériel et de ressources

RÉSUMÉ L’évolution des processus d’affaires, rendue nécessaire par une globalisation des marchés toujours plus importante, a encouragé les firmes internationales à se tourner vers le fonctionnement par projet, qui s’est peu à peu généralisé. Mais la gestion de projets demeure une discipline complexe, impliquant de nombreux acteurs, sous-traitants et parties prenantes, et nécessitant le transport, l’approvisionnement et la livraison d’équipement et de matériel. Dans ce contexte, des délais d’approvisionnement et des contraintes de capacité de stockage peuvent amener des retards dans l’avancement des projets et des dépassements de budget. En effet, en dépit des tous les efforts accomplis en recherche pour développer des outils efficaces, la prise en compte des contraintes de livraison et d’approvisionnement lors de la phase de planification de projets demeure pour l’essentiel gérée manuellement par le gestionnaire de projets, selon son intuition et son expérience. Ainsi, les méthodes et algorithmes développés ne sont utilisés en pratique que pour la gestion dite « traditionnelle » de projet, ne considérant qu’un unique projet de faible portée, sans contraintes logistiques. Reconnaissant cette nouvelle réalité et les besoins qui en découlent, ce mémoire envisage une approche de résolution plus intégrée où l’on considère le problème de planification de projets avec des contraintes liées au stockage et à la livraison de matériel. Pour cela, un générateur aléatoire de contraintes logistiques a été développé, permettant de définir les données du problème relatives aux contraintes logistiques, tout en jouant sur leur poids relatif. La résolution du problème ainsi formulé est effectuée par le biais d’un algorithme génétique optimisé afin de déterminer un échéancier de projet réalisable. L’algorithme, par des opérations de sélection, croisement et mutation sur une population de solutions admissibles, améliore globalement la qualité de celle-ci au fil des itérations et converge peu à peu vers un optimum.---------- ABSTRACT With globalization of markets, new business models have emerged and international companies started using project management technics. However, the management of international projects remains complex as it involves several sub-contractors and requires the transportation of lots of construction equipment and materials. In that context, long material delivery times and storage capacity constraints may lead to project delays and budget overruns. Indeed, in spite of all research efforts accomplished to develop strong project management tools, project plans taking into account space and equipment availability for the execution of tasks are mostly manually developed on the basis of planner’s intuition and experience. Unfortunately, this task is nearly infeasible to perform in the case of large projects, due to the combinational nature of the resource allocation problem. Methods and algorithms are only used for project management in a “traditional” way, with a single small project and without any logistic constraint. The proposed model addresses this issue by formulating this problem as a scheduling problem with limited resources - resources can be either employees or storage areas - and by defining material delivery constraints. To that purpose, a random logistic constraints generator was developed, in order to create the problem data and to choose its relative weight. The resolution of the formulated problem is performed by a genetic algorithm, which determines a feasible project plan. This algorithm applies many operators on a population of solutions, such as selection crossover and mutation, to improve the population global quality and make the solutions converge towards a local optimum

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study into the impact of BIM on the Social Dynamics of the AEC professional in the workplace.

A review of the literature published surrounding new digital design and construction technologies and associated processes described within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) community as Building Information Modelling (BIM) or Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) reveals a gap in the theoretical understanding of the impact these technologies are having on professionals who work in this industry. The central aim of this research is to discover if there has been a shift in social dynamics as a result of the adoption of BIM in the workplace and, if there has been, to discuss the meaning of this for the industry and the community who educate these professionals. This study is important as it seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of BIM from the perspective of those AEC professionals affected. The study of human beings is referred to as Anthropology. It is a social science and is characterised as the study of human societies, cultures, and development often affected by social or technical intervention. BIM is an example of a technological intervention that has been introduced into the complex design and construction industry. This multidisciplinary industry has relied on representation in the form of paper-based communication documents for 500 years. However, with the introduction of new technologies, the AEC industry is experiencing a digital transformation, characterised by a move from representation to simulation. The author has conducted a study examining the lived experience of AEC professionals who have come into contact with the subject phenomenon in their workplace. The workplace is the locus for this research. It is defined as the place where the AEC professionals conduct their day to day business. The subjects of this research study are a purposeful selection of industry professionals who have experienced the phenomenon and have told the Author their stories. These lived experiences have been analysed and interpreted using a suitable methodology to address the research question; in this case, Hermeneutic Phenomenology. The data analysis has identified four themes: Identity, Empowerment, Disarrangement and Collaborative Practice. The emergence of these themes and the discussion around them will add new knowledge into the subject area. The study concludes by discussing the implications of this research for the design and construction industry and educational institutions