WEB-ENABLED MODEL-BASED CAD FOR THE ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Computer-aided design (CAD) applications have been widely used in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry to aid architectural design, to visualize the physical appearance of a building, and to specify design details for building construction and operations. As web technology continues to grow rapidly and the Internet becomes ubiquitously accessible, the ability to interact with online information and to integrate web applications and services within CAD applications has significant values. A web-enabled CAD application could facilitate architectural design, enhance the communication between architects and other stakeholders, and create new business opportunities. As building information modeling emerges, the technology has the potential to provide new ways of designing and managing constructed facilities. In a building information model, each component has its properties, information, and semantics. The building information such as product data and supplier information can be used for decision-making, design analysis, and project management. This paper discusses a model-based framework that leverages the Internet to extend the functionalities of a CAD system. A prototype system that built upon two widely used CAD software, namely Autodesk Architectural Desktop (ADT) and Google Sketchup, is developed to illustrate the potential of a web-enabled model-based CAD environment. For demonstration, two example scenarios from architectural design and project management are presented. The first scenario illustrates the usage of CAD applications to perform configuration design by directly interacting with online information, and to dynamically evaluate design alternatives according to energy and carbon emission simulation and analysis results, using the Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) software. The second scenario shows the use of component information and the connection to web services in a CAD environment for a "pull-based" material delivery process