A Knowledge-Based System for Automated Architectural Code-Checking

Recent efforts to develop a knowledge-based expert system capable of reviewing an architectural design for conformance with the Life Safety Code (LSC) of the National Fire Protection Association are described. These efforts include the specification of a frame-based representation of floor-plans and the development of a rule-based representation of LSC requirements. The representation was developed to operate on top of a geometrical database contained in a CADD system, within which the expert system will be embedded. That part of the LSC relating to egress requirements and fire protection in hospitals was selected as the particular domain for this prototype. The work reported has implications for the representation of architectural information in the context of computer-aided design, as well as for the representation of legally mandated code requirements