Architectural Information Modelling in Construction History

The past few years show a significant increase in the usage of three-dimensional modelling and semantic description techniques for architectural research purposes. Where this increase has already shaped today’s design and construction industry, research in architectural and construction history can still improve its work methods and results through these techniques. Therefore, we propose a new conceptual approach for Architectural Information Modelling (AIM), which aims at describing historical information in construction and architecture directly related to design information and design practice. This paper will give an introduction into existing 3D modelling techniques and semantic description techniques, continuing with how these techniques are applied in the AIM approach. This investigation of 3D modelling and semantic technology shows promising results. However, in order to integrate these techniques into an AIM framework, more work is needed. Future work in this research project will therefore explore in further detail the semantic description scheme proposed below and the implementation of a proof-of-concept

IFC-based calculation of the Flemish Energy Performance Standard

This paper illustrates our findings concerning space based design methodologies and interoperability issues for today's Building Information Modeling (BIM) environments. A method is elaborated which enables building designers to perform an automated energy use analysis, based oil an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) model derived from a commercial BIM environment, in this case Autodesk Revit 9.1. A prototype application was built, which evaluates the building model as well as vendor-neutral exchange mechanisms, in accordance with the Flemish Energy Performance Regulation (EPR) standard. Several issues regarding the need for space-based building models are identified and algorithms are developed to overcome possible shortcomings

Ontwikkeling van een Google SketchUp-plugin als ontwerpinstrument voor een energiezuinige architectuur

Sinds 1 januari 2006 is in Vlaanderen de energieprestatieregelgeving van kracht. Vlaamse architecten, ontwerpers en ingenieurs worstelen met deze nieuwe wetgeving en zijn nog steeds op zoek naar een instrument waarmee ze reeds van in de beginfase van het onwerp het peil van energieprestatie kunnen bepalen. Deze paper behandelt het onderzoek naar en de ontwikkeling van een Google SketchUp-plugin, dat kadert in de masterscriptie van Tine Jonckheere. Er werd onderzocht wat de specifieke noden zijn van de architecten in Vlaanderen en welke oplossingen er reeds voorhanden zijn. Vervolgens werd een prototype van de SketchUp-plugin ontwikkeld en getoetst aan de eisen en noden van de architect

Assessment of post-fire changes in land surface temperature and surface albedo, and their relation with fire-burn severity using multitemporal MODIS imagery

This study evaluates the effects of the large 2007 Peloponnese (Greece) wildfires on changes in broadband surface albedo (a), daytime land surface temperature (LSTd) and night-time LST (LSTn) using a 2-year post-fire time series of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite data. In addition, it assesses the potential of remotely sensed a and LST as indicators for fire-burn severity. Immediately after the fire event, mean a dropped up to 0.039 (standard deviation = 0.012) (P < 0.001), mean LSTd increased up to 8.4 (3.0) K (P < 0.001), and mean LSTn decreased up to -1.2 (1.5) K (P < 0.001) for high-severity plots (P < 0.001). After this initial alteration, fire-induced changes become clearly smaller and seasonality starts governing the a and LST time series. Compared with the fire-induced changes in a and LST, the post-fire NDVI drop was more persistent in time. This temporal constraint restricts the utility of remotely sensed a and LST as indicators for fire-burn severity. For the times when changes in a and LST were significant, the magnitude of changes was related to fire-burn severity, revealing the importance of vegetation as a regulator of land surface energy fluxes

Reconversion of a building to a new functional program using graph matching

Building, demolishing, and rebuilding new structures, instead of renovating vacant buildings for adaptive reuse, generates a significant amount of waste. Quickly assessing if and how a building can house a new function can be time-consuming. We developed a method that automates this process using a graph-based strategy in which both the building and the functional program are represented by attributed graphs. Specifically, the new method performs a node matching strategy based on the properties of the nodes and the topological structure of the graphs by which each empty room is filled with an activity of the new function