Component-oriented decomposition for multidisciplinary design optimization in building design

The potential of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) is not sufficiently exploited in current building design practice. I argue that this Held of engineering requires a special setup of the optimization model that considers the uniqueness of buildings, and allows the designer to interact with the optimization in order to assess qualities of aesthetics, expression, and building function. For this reason. the approach applies a performance optimization based on resource consumption extended by preference criteria. Furthermore, building design-specific components serve for the decomposition and an interactive way of working. The component scheme follows the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) as a common Building Information Model (BIM) standard in order to allow a seamless integration into an interactive CAD working process in the future. A representative case study dealing with a frame-based hall design serves to illustrate these considerations. An N-Square diagram or Design Structure Matrix (DSM) represents the system of components with the disciplinary dependencies and workflow of the analysis. The application of a Multiobjective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) leads to demonstrable results. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.