Context over content: ICPD, a conceptual schema for the building technology domain

Computational systems in the field of building technology are, at present, mainly employed as electronic catalogs for the retrieval of technological information (content providers). However, the massive amount of information associated with building design demands explicit knowledge about the way various information pieces relate one to another in order to be able to achieve an intelligent use of those resources through the design process. This gives rise to a strong need for computational systems that help not only to retrieve information (design content) but also to explain the relationships between the elements of technological information (design context). The research presented in this paper has developed a conceptual model for the representation of knowledge in building technology based on specific context related to the field. The model employed an associative formalism reflecting the logical connections between pertinent information units used in the technological design process. The model is termed ICPD which stands for: Issue, Concept, Pattern and Detail. This model is to be employed in implementing a computational system to support design in building technology. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.