Improving of the building process through out open integration of CAD systems

Abstract

Computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided engineering (CAE) are an essential tool in the building design process. Although offering powerful mathematical models and sophisticated graphical capabilities to the designer they are not actually improving the design process model itself and the diffusion of expertise through the industry. They are a reflection of the fragmentation of many building design disciplines and their specialization. It is necessary to create an integration envoirement developed around an open and expandable database able to handle the building conceptual objects and its data structures and organization. The Instituto Eduardo Torroja is presently developing a research project in this direction, whose objetives are presented in this paper.