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Summary: Knowledge Representation for Integrating
Design Tools
ROBERT AMOR, LINDSAY GROVES and MIKE DONN
Department of Computer Science, School of Architecture
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand
Abstract This paper examines the need to provide a common interface to expert
systems, simulation tools and CAD systems for architectural design. We observe that a
large amount of information is duplicated in describing buildings to several different
tools. We describe a frame based representation for building designs, and an
interfacing mechanism to move information between various tools. We also examine
the use of a sophisticated graphics front end to the system, and the ability to learn from
runs that are performed by the different tools.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the architecture field there exist numerous CAD systems, simulation
programs and, more recently, expert systems to aid in the design and
evaluation of buildings. These tools include programs to check the loads on
beams and walls, simulation of the thermal properties of a building over a
period of time and expert systems to check that a building or structure
conforms to existing building codes (AutoCAD, VersaCAD, DOE,
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