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2011
Conference Paper
Titel
The virtual building simulator
Titel Supplements
A post-parametric spatial planning environment
Abstract
At the beginning of the 21st century the German and European construction industry is facing vast challenges. In future, rapid technological developments and continuously increasing requirements to buildings and architecture will cause significant changes in all areas of the value chain in the construction sector. This development will also include changes in design and construction processes that will affect a building's entire life cycle. The growing use of digital systems allows the creation of new approaches to manage processes of unprecedented complexity. From this, new forms of co-operation emerge among the parties involved, enhanced by e.g. improved communication, interfaces in the value chain, and any logistic processes associated. Other sectors have already sketched the future, introducing new options also for the construction industry by innovation transfer. First promising results of this approach can be discerned e.g. with Building Information Modelling (BIM) on the basis of 3D building models within the frame of various research projects and first pilot realizations in practical construction. The described research of Fraunhofer IAO and AEDAS|R&D examines the potential of post-parametric computational design together with immersive methods like Virtual Reality. The industrial approach of frontloading identifies the early design stage as crucial for all subsequent processes and the overall sustainability of future building projects. There VR together with innovative planning simulation methods allow to manage building models as complex systems for long-term planning reliability from construction to building operation. The resulting Virtual Building Simulator represents a prototype of a design platform where the designer-user can mesh via VR in the interactive spatial formation process. The process synthesizes parametric constraints with design intent and algorithmic behavioural logics.
Author(s)