Semantic techniques for discovering architectural patterns in building information models

Abstract

Architectural patterns, a concept devised by the Viennese architect Christopher Alexander, have inspired the world of patterns, especially in software engineering. Two objectives have been addressed in this work: to realise a semantic representation of Alexander's patterns by developing an OWL ontology, and to devise a rule-based system for discovering the patterns into a concrete building model, represented in IFC format, one of the pillars of the BIM - an approach now widely spread in the architectural and civil engineering design world. This paper shows how semantic and logical inference rules have been applied to discover Alexander's pattern on a generic IFC model of a building.