Integration Challenges

Fortunately, the three individual systems integrated in this assignment had complementary functions, as a result, there were no major issues combining the systems.

• Ontology

The ontology on Protégé only required a few adjustments and extensions of classes to use the Office Building as the principal information model and the Suspended Drywall Ceiling and BAS system as its additional interfaces, as already cited in the previous session.

• Dynamo

The integration of the three systems into one common Dynamo model (CombinedParametricModel-Dynamo) was the most challenging part of this work, both in terms of adapting pure Dynamo-based parametric scripts into Revit-based parametric 3D models – which was the case for the office building and suspended drywall ceiling system, and compromising on the definition of similar elements in a single way – which was the case for the windows and lighting systems.

To convert the two pure Dynamo-based parametric scripts (office building and suspended drywall ceiling) into a Revit-based parametric 3D model, which was the former approach used in the third system (BAS), certain nodes had to be replaced and new ones had to be added in Dynamo. Among those, there were the surface creation nodes that had to be replaced to Revit wall, roof and floor creation nodes, and the Revit families for lighting and windows that had to be added.

To agree on the definition of similar elements, few adaptations and compromising were also required. For instance, the lighting definition in the ceiling model was majorly focused on the luminaries spacing and positioning within the framework channels and on the lighting level per luminaire, while in the BAS model the lighting setup was primarily focused on estimating the number of light fixtures needed to provide the desired lighting level per room. Balancing and combining the two approaches, the final modelling for the lighting was performed by optimizing the amount of luminaire based on their positioning on the ceiling and on the desired lighting level per room. Other overlapping elements that had been compromised in the combined model were the shape and dimensions of the building and the characteristics of the windows, which favored the individual models with higher number of parameters.

Extension of knowledge

With the overall integrated system consisting of a single main system and several sub systems, extension of knowledge from individual systems were required in order to link the systems in a strategic manner. These include:

• Integrating the suspended ceiling to an already designed building

The parametric suspended ceiling had to be enhanced and further parametrized such that the interface between the building components were also considered into the model.

• Calculation of artificial luminaires quantity

A trade off had to be made in order to comply with required lux levels as well as minimize channel framework wastage by analysis of two scenarios of lighting spacing. This included determination of further possibilities of efficient light fittings spacing in addition to the methods followed in individual models.

• Determination of number of windows per facade

Parametric analysis of number of windows and daylighting simulation enabled determination of the optimal number of windows per facade to enable an optimized use of daylighting throughout the building.

• Revit application

The workflow between Dynamo and Revit enabled further visualization of the model. In order to integrate the individual models, several functionalities and the interoperability of these applications had to be further explored. Several other possibilities of improvement of the model and scope for several simulation analysis like artificial lighting simulation and HVAC simulation are more efficient through such BIM interoperability and this improves the flexibility of the model to be developed further.