Knowledge-based system approach to integrated design of multistorey office buildings at the preliminary stage

The work described in this thesis represents a significant original contribution in identifying, acquiring, synthesising and organising design knowledge related to tall buildings. Due to the non-formalised nature of preliminary design, no computer-based tools could be developed using common procedural programming methods. Preliminary design stage also has the maximum ability to positively impact the final cost of the building project. In the absence of computer-based tools and also due to resource and time constraints, the current preliminary design tasks are mostly restricted to exploring one or two design alternatives often proceeding with a less than efficient solution. Therefore a computer-based design tool that could be used by designers at the initial stages of a project to explore many design alternatives on a comparative basis could potentially lead to better and more economical designs than those produced without such a design tool. Preliminary design needs the consideration of all relevant parameters affecting the product designed. For multistorey buildings the architectural and structural design considerations are closely tied together and in this work an integration of the two is demonstrated. Architectural planning considerations for office buildings and feasible structural solutions are incorporated in a knowledge-base. A model for the design system is developed that incorporates the gathered design knowledge in declarative form which is then used to selectively generate and evaluate integrated building design solutions. Thus part of this work is the implementation of a knowledge-based system, Tall-D, using a development tool. Then, a methodology is devised for the testing of Tall-D under practical conditions. External industry experts are invited to furnish completed project designs and evaluate the corresponding designs performed by Tall-D by answering a comprehensive questionnaire. The result is a very favourable endorsement of the many facets of the current work as well as that of Tall-D system performance and features. The overall thrust of this work has been to research the area of preliminary design with a view to originating computer-based tools for this phase in engineering.