An integrated information model for the building process

One major problem that inhibits the development of an integrated information model for the building process is the lack of the structure of information during the building process that meets all participants' requirements.;This dissertation investigates the sharing of information among intensification tasks in the building process using the application of information modeling techniques with the support of a relational database management system. It develops a Conceptual Building Model (CBM) as core information for interdisciplinary tasks in the building process. The model consists of a project, a building, and a site model. The structure of the building is based on the concept of building system and building system components. The semantic description of the building model is: "A building has one or more building systems; building systems are classified into spatial, enclosure, service, and structural systems." A conceptual model to database schema mapping process is defined to ensure that the implementation of the model is feasible. A meta-model is defined and implemented to capture the definitions and the corresponding database schema of each object in the conceptual building model. The use of the CBM in supporting different tasks in various phases of the building process is illustrated.;The study suggests that the structure and classification of the CBM are key elements that enable the integration of information for different tasks in various phases of the building process. They allow independent models of task-specific information to link to the CBM without modifying the existing structure. The implementations of syntax for data manipulations and the low level database operations are eliminated by representing the model with data objects native to the structure of the Database Management System (DBMS), The meta-model frees the model from the data dictionary by capturing the semantics and the mapping information between the model and the supporting DBMS. The semantics of the model provides meaning and a road map to access the information. It allows a user to formulate the data access in terms of information rather than in term of database procedures.