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Canada and computer representations of design standards and
building codes
Vanier, D. J.
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https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=fd3f777b-afba-40c4-8f6b-72b8e98a3541 https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=fd3f777b-afba-40c4-8f6b-72b8e98a3541CANADA AND COMPUTER REPRESENTATIONS OF DESIGN
STANDARDS AND BUILDING CODES
D
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VanierlABSTRACT: Building codes are an essential part of the construction industry; they define how to construct safe, durable and reliable structure'S. Information technologies provide new opportunities for accessing build-ing codes and for simplifybuild-ing their usc. Canada has a long history in the research of information technologies and building codes. This paper describes the completed, continuing, and future research projects as well as commercial products related 10 the computer representation of design standards and building codes in the Canadian context. Examples of the activities include enabling technologies such as compact disks, hypertext models, expert systems, minicode generation, classification systems, and CAD interfaces.
Keywords: Building codes, building standards, automation, regulations, standards processing.
INTRODUCTION
Canada has a long history in the research of computer representations of design standards and building codes. This paper describes the completed, continuing, and future research projects as well as commercial products related to standards proces-sing in the Canadian context.
A "building code", by definition in this paper, is a document that is mandated by law. The development of most building codes is the responsibility of the national gov-ernment of each country; therefore there tends to be a national; collective thought on the development of building codes. Building standards, by definition in this paper, are voluntary; however, Ihey too can be mandated by law in specific regions or for specific applications.
Unique Canadian Position
The National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) "is essentially a set of minimum provisions for the safety of buildings with reference to public health, fire protection and structural sufficiency" (NBCC, 1990). The NBCC is a model code and most pro-vinces in Canada adopt the NBCC in its original form; four propro-vinces make alterations to suit their provincial requirements. However,. the provincial codes are the legal documents in those four provinces with the NBCC as the legal document in the other provinces and two territories. All these construction codes in Canada, in turn, are enforced by Ihe municipalities. The divided responsibility and authority lies at Ihe root of some of the difficulties in producing electronic codes in Canada.
There are additional major obstacles to the development of usable electronic codes in Canada: (1) Ihe NBCC is a bilingual documents, and as such must be maintained in the two official languages, and (2) the NBCC is completely updated every five years, with revisions and corrections provided every year.
lOana J. Vnnicr, Scnior Rcscarch Officer. Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada, Otlawll, Canada K IA OR6, vanicr@irc.lan.nrc.ca
The International Journal of Constructi011 Information Technology, 1995, Vol 3, No 1, Page 1-12.
Note: Discussion open untill January 1995. The manuscript of the paper was submitted for review and possible pub-lication on 28 February 1995.©The University of Salford 1995.
viii
The Netherlands:The approach taken by Marcel de Waard, formerly of University of Delft and TNO, requires an information model of a residential building, a model of building regulations, and links between the two. De Waard's methodology was to investigate the regulations of the huilding code and to abstract the nouns in these reg-ulations. HisｐｨＮｄｾ thesis presents exhaustive studies of model graphs for residential construction and the Dutch huilding regulations.
United Kingdom: "Expertext" is a term used for the combination of expert systems and hypertext by Andrew Casson and David Stone respectively of the University of Edinburgh and The Scottish Office. They describe expertext as an attempt to combine the best properties of expert systems and hypertext and to provide systems having semantically rich nodes of hypertext as well as detailed, computahle links to expert sys-tems. Research is on-going in this field which should have a significant impact in the domain of the computer representations of design standards and building codes.
All the authors who have contributed to this special edition of the !JCIT provide an overview of activities in their respective countries. As can be easily seen there is a con-siderable depth and breadth to this knowledge domain.Itis hoped that this summary will be useful to the readership ofthe journal, that research in the computer represen-tations of design standards and building codes will continue into the future, and the construction industry realize the significance of this activity and will be able to benefit from the work.
Dana J. Vanier
Institute for Research in Construction
National Research Council Canada
Vanier@irc.lan.nrc.ca "
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----..,...---'In addition, thcse obstaclcs do not only apply to thc NBCC, but also to thc othcr Cana-dian codcs produced by the Institute for Research in Construction (IRC), namely the fire, plumbing, housing, and farm building codes. There are no provincial equivalents for these four publications, With all this in mind, developing software to meet all user
requirements for all Canadian and provincial codes is a large task. Recent Surveys
IRC has polled its building code users regarding the electronic products on three separate occasions (Revay, 1989; James, 1989; CD-ROM, 1993), All three surveys
indicated a need and demand for electronic products, including specific tools such as checklists, expert systems, and automatic plans checking.
The most recent IRC survey was completed in March, 1993 (CD-ROM, 1993), A sample group of 450 NBCC users was equally divided among architects, engineers and building code officials, and provided equal representation from all regions of Canada, The following figures from this survey indicate the sample group's level of IT assimila-tion: (1) 58% of respondents have their own PCs on their desk: although 60% of those who do not have computer access believe they will have a computer within 2 years, (2) 87% use MS-DOSTM, (3) 71% are self-classified as "not a novice", and (4) although 39% have seen CD-ROM documents, only 17% of the respondents have access to CO-RaM players, Browsing and navigating functionality in electronic codes rate high as desired features, 89% and 73% respectively, Keyword searcHing is requested by 69% of the sample group, and approximately 50% of the sample group want to be able to move building code information to other documents such as reports and letters,
Sequence of Project Descriptions
This introduction and the details from the surveys on building code usage and IT
dis-ｾｲｩ｢ｵｴｩｯｮ set the scene for the description of the standards processing activities in 2anada. The uniqueness of the Canadian situation described earlier has created a :anadian response to thedevelopment of electronic building codes. For example, the ·esearch and development activities are much like the distributed nature of the
Cana-lian codes -- a large percentage of the central activities take place at IRC with isolated levelopmen! taking place across Canada,
The activities identified in this paper are divided into the three classes of completed,
ontinuing and future work; they arefurther subdividedinto research and commercial ctivities. Details of the research work is available through conventional distribution hannels, and therefore only brief descriptions of these activities will be provided. :ommerciaI activities are briefly described whenever possible, and are presented long with points of reference to obtain information on the software packages.
Completed activity means that the research has concluded or the commercial pac-ages are no longer supported. Continuing activity means that researchers are still !volved in the project or the commercial products continue to be supported. Future ork includes those ideas conceived in the laboratory that may be commercially sup-Jrted in the future or ideas that have received preliminary investigation and merit lture examination.
COMPLETED CANADIAN ACTIVITIES Research
Hypertext
The most extensive work in Canada regarding electronic codes has been in the field of hypertext models of the "ocument. Typically, these implementations employ fast access to linked documents, interactive glossaries for definitions, and high resolution graphics (See Figure I). In general, hypertext models can be used to represent building codes and standards and the models have all the functionality required to replace the paper documents (Vanier, 1989; Vanier, 1993; Vanieretal, 1993).
NBC Guide 'B5:Part 3 SUBSECTION 3.1.1. SCOPE
3.1.1.1. The",ope ofthl3Pan sllall be ss describedIn!llllliliim
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protection 'llall confonn 10tlJarequiIemenlSｊｮｾ ｉＮｾＮｾＮ｡Ｎ SUBSECTION 3.1.2. CLASSIFICATION OF BUILDINGS...
Figure1:Hypertext building code. MiniCode Generation
More recent activities atlRC have concentrated on the development of MiniCode Generation and Classification Systems. The MiniCode project (Vanier, 1993; Vanier, 1995) identifies the provisions of a building code that apply to a generic type of build-ing. The MiniCode System accomplishes this by first eliminating those articles that are outside the bounds of the type of building describe.
The MiniCode System consists of three discrete components: the NBCC Classifier, a MiniCode Generator (MCG) and the MiniCode Viewer. The NBCC Classifier is a knowledge based system that assists the user in classifying the type of building accord-ing to approximately 20 classification trees and 70 buildaccord-ing attributes. The Classifier serves both as a NBCC tutorial for novice NBCC users and as a front-end for the clas-sification selection for more experienced users. TheMeG identifies the provisions of the sparse building code that apply to the user's classification selection. The MCG accomplishes this by eliminating those provisions that lie outside the bounds of the type of building selected. Creating the minicode takes less than 2 seconds on a stan-dard IBM pCI'M 486, even though there are approximately 4000 provisions and 90 clas-sification attributes. The resulting minicode consists of a list of the NBCC provisions and the respective NBCC headings. The MiniCode Viewer, the last component of the system, provides a Microsoft Windows HelpTM interface to the full-text of the NBCC. The Microsoft Windows Help™browser includes hypertext cross-references, history trails an] interactive NBCC definitions.
N BCC Classification System
IRC's Classification System for the NBCC attempts to identify and analyze the syn-tax and the structure of building parts and building attributes, as used in building codes
(Vanier, 1994).The logical model or "schema" of this structure reflects both the
con-tents and the intent of the relevant codes and is developed in a manner consistent with
the use of the document. The Classification System explicitly identifies Concepts, Relations, Hierarchies, Properties of Concepts and Property Values related to the NBCC. The NBCC Classification System includes a methodology to identify key con-cepts inｴｾ･ building code as well as procedures to extract the concepts, their properties and the relations contained in the document. It is envisioned as a more detailed method for classifying building attributes and components to a finer detail than the MiniCode.
NBee
Fire Protection Expert SystemThis is a prototype expert system that mimics a design assistant for the fire protec-tion analysis of NBCC provisions dealing with large buildings, specifically with the size and occupancy requirements for fire safety (Olynick and Frye,1989;Frye et aI, 1992). The objectivein the development of this expert system was to improve the productiv-ityof a code expertbyproviding a useful assistant and to provide the expert assistance necessary to improve the performance of the novice.
Conceptual Graph Models
Researchers at lRC (Cornick et a11990; 1993; Cornick and Thomas, 1993)have investigated intelligent CAD systems and tlleir integration with building codes. The researchers identify many problems with representation of data and the encoding of building code information. They propose an object-oriented model ofNBCC building components in what they call a building reference model, citing that "the incorpora-tion of building regulaincorpora-tions into design systems is facilitated by the use of a common representation" (Cornick et aI, 1993). Conceptual graphs are proposed to represent the objects, their relationships and their hierarchies. Their conclusions are that "link· ing the geometric objects as a CAD system to the objects of a building reference model would embody the objects with technical and administrative knowledge req4ired for
ntelligent design" (Cornick et aI, 1993). .
":omputerized Bui/ding Plan Examination
Directly related to building code applications is the research study on computerized )[Iilding plan examination by EB Economics (Heikkila and Blewett, 1992). It is Lrgued inthereportthatexpert systemscould reduce "humanerror" inthe exarnina-ion of building plans. The reasons for these errors include high turnover of building
llan examiners, increased workloads in high growth regions, and the complexity of
,uilding codes.
A case stndy is presented, comparing trained building plan examiners performing
le examination manually and with an expert system containing 150 rules. The expert
vstem
contains regnlations dealing with city by-laws, zoning rulings and the local uilding code (Vancouver is the only Canadian city with its own building code). TheｾｳｵＱｴｳ are very encouraging. They indicate that it was five times faster for a trained uilding plan examiner to use the expert system than to do the manual operations for milar construction projects. Architects and engineers rated the computerized plan lecking system as "excellent" to "very good" in most categories such as potential,
;efulness, speed, accuracy and consistency. The potential applications of expert
systems that rank high for the sample group include building plan pre-screening,
train-iog systems, simulation, and electronic plan verification. One respondent's written
comment provides a good summary of the potential of such systems: "[theJgreatest advantage will be to eliminate the subjective interpretation ... designers and plan chec-kers would analyze situations consistently and apply the bylaws similarly" .
. Construction Resources
This CD-ROM (Worling et aI1992), is a prototype developed by the IRC. Construc-tion Resourcesincludes the NBCCard along with the electronic implementations of the
Canadian fire and farm building codes. Construction Resources' uniqueness is the full integration of a wide selection of technical documents, in addition to the Canadian
model codes, combined with a simple, yet powerful, user interface. Client! Server Architecture
The concept of a client/server architecture for design standards has been proposed (Williams, 1993) using the Internet and WWW. Williams visualizes a complete brows-ing environment for design standards based on the Internet. Designers, in their clientl server environment, would have complete access to all design standards. Thus allow-ing the buildallow-ing code user to transparently move to referenced work across the Inter-net. This client!server architecture could also be used for a large portion of
construc-tion informaconstruc-tion. Project informaconstruc-tion, reference material and data about project
resources could be readily accessible to anyone with a computer, an Internet address and the appropriate software.
Commercial Products
A number of commercial products relating to either the NBCC or the provincial
codes have come and gone in the recent recession. These software applications were
either based on database or hypertext models of the respective building codes, and did not differ significantly from other Canadian applications of the era. The surviving commercial prodncts are described in the following section.
CONTINUING ACTIVITIES Research
Two Canadian university projects are exploring the use of expert systems and the
NBCC. CAD Interface
One project at the University of Manitoba (Hill, 1993) is addressing the Barrier-Free Accessibility (aka, handicapped access) provisions of the NBCC and has developed a method to use CAD to interface to the building code. Although the research is still preliminary, it could offer the opportnnity for designer to directly
access building code provisions through a CAD system.
HADES
The other project is taking place at Concordia University's Centre for Building Studies. In their HADES model (Fazio etal, 1988; Gowri, 1992), hypertext and expert system are used to allow the user to browse through the full text of the code docu-ments. This project is still in the working phase.
Energy Code
The Energy Codes being developed at IRC are model codes to be implemented by the provinces. Key tables containing prescribed levels of thermal characteristics for walls, roofs, basements and fenestration will be left blank in the main text of the code. These tables are filled by the provincial authorities implementing the codes. The com-plementary programs being developed allow provincial authorities to make their own appropriate economic assumptions, and use applicable local energy costs to develop the prescribed envelope characteristics.Ifsuccessfully adopted by the provinces, this code may be the first Canadian code to feature complementary software. Currently, prototypes of these computer models are under development. A contact for this activ-ity is Dan Sander, IRC, Building M-24, Montreal Road, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, KIA OR6, Sander@irc.lan.nrc.ca, (613) 993-0817. CD-ROM Based Code
A one-stop shopping concept for building codes, building standards and related documents has been developed by IRC using the SGML-encoded documents in a hypertext environment. This product, to be available in 1995, also permits users to conduct full-text searches of all documents on the CD-ROM, including tables and
equ-ations. However, the users are only able to access the contents of the documents for
which they have already purchased access: all documents on the CD-ROM are encrypted, and accessto the documents can be purchased singly. The user can call a toll-free number to purchase access to any document when they need it, thuseliminat-ing the time delays of receivthuseliminat-ing documents by mail. Other features include ini'eractive side-by-side tables of contents and full-text, dynamic cross-references, indexed searching and interactive NBCC definitions. A contact for this activity is Jamie Worl-ing, IRC, Building M-24, Montreal Road, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, KIA OR6, Worling@irc.lan.nrc.ca, (613) 993-3773.
5GMLModei
Much of the information used by the construction industry is based upon textual and
ｾｲ｡ｰｨｩ｣｡ｬ sources, The ability to access and exchange this information has become an mportant factor in the efficiency of the industry. Although this was first apparent in he manufacturing sector, itis now becoming increasingly important to all industrial ectors. One of the major international standards for the interchange of text-based nformation is the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). SGML is a netalanguage for describing the internal structure of document types and for tagging he structural elements of documents. SGML has also been adopted by many of the vorld's largest publishers and by many governments around the world, including both he U.S. Government and the European Parliament. Related to building standards; RC has recently converted all of its building code documents into SGML. The
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I ,1 !;Canadian Standards Association is also converting many of its construction related documents to SGML.
A number of the projects currently underway at IRC involve either adding addi-tional information (Thomas and Worling, 1992; Thomas, 1994), such as classification
information for specific clauses of documents, or interlinking various sections of the
document with hypertext capabilities. For example, using this functionality provided by SGML, IRC in conjunclion with its provincial counterparts would be able to include the provincial codes along with the national code documents in a single
docu-ment structure.
Code Document Management System (CDMS)
The increasing complexity of the building code development process within IRC, as well as the supply of electronic information to software developers and other building code regulatory agencies, has initiated research into tools to support building code writing and editing activities. The main tool is a Code Document Management System that supports the building code writers throughout the complete building code development cycle, a five year cycle for the NBCC. The system makes use of the SGML encoding described above, as well as an experimental authoring environment and an amanuensis. Thus permitting the code writer to parse the contents of a building code provision after editing to ensure appropriate markup of the text and integrity of
internal and external references. The project manager for these two last activities is
Dr. Russell Thomas, IRC, Building M-24, Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario, KIA OR6, Thomas@irc.lan.nrc.ca, (613) 993-0817.
CommercialProducts Visual Edge Software
Although largely a United States initiative, a Montreal firm was instrumental in the development of this expert system for the American Institute for Steel Construction, Inc. (AISe) (Cronembold, 1990). This product is described in full in the USA con-tribution to this special edition of the Journal.
Building Plans Examination System
Alberta Labour Building Standards Branch, in conjunction Synerlogic, Inc. of Edmonton, has developed Building Plans Examination System, a database
informa-tion storage and retrieval computer program to assist plan examinainforma-tion for Alberta
municipalities. It consists of three modules: the Plan Registration Segment is an
administrative segment to accept and monitor new plans; the Plan Examination Seg·
ment provides a checklist for Parts 3 and 9; and the Alberta Building Code Database Segment accesses the 1985 code and the Standata Bulletins (Director's Rulings, Direc-tor's Interpretations, and Information Bulletins).
The ABC Database can be searched on single or multiple keywords (3500 keywords) or by provision number. Information from all three modules can be exported to applications such as a word processor and project reports can be generated outlining code violations. The system runs on runtime database shell on a 640 Kilobyte IBMTM Personal Computers and requires approximately 12 Megabytes of storage space. Future plans include "minicode" versions and the development of the
'electronic 1990 code. Additional information can be obtained from Milan Vosahlo of the Alberta Labour Building Standards Branch, Program number705, 10808-99 Ave., Edmonton, Alberta, T5K OG5, Tel: (403) 427-8265.
E-Code
Canadian Standards Association's E-Code CD-ROM contains Parts 1 and 2 of the Electrical Code of Canada E-Code stores over 14,000 pages of the Canadian Electrical Code, including all the text, graphics and tables. CSA also makes the Canadian Electri-cal Codeavailable in diskette format. E-Code contains many ofthe typical features of full-text databases described in the previous subsection; additional features include electronic bookmarks, quarterly updates, and network versions. E-Code is available from the Canadian Standards Association, 178 Rexdale Blvd., Rexdale, Ontario, M9W lR3, Tel: (416) 747-2466.
Innovative Technologies Incorporated
ITl of Ottawa has been developing electronic versions of the both the NBCC and the Ontario Building Code for the past 10 years. Their IDEAs program (Interactive Design for Engineers and Architects) provides the opportunity to browse over large
selections of construction information, including a number of construction codes and standards, in the same software environment. Information can be obtained from Les
Woolscy, ITl,2544-BSheffield Road, Ottawa, KlB 3V7, TtlI: (613) 741-0050. Ontario Building Code
CD-CODEis the compact disk version of the Ontario Building Code developed by the Ontario Ministry of Housing (Arlani, 1992). CD-CODE has been available since 1989: indeed, CD-CODE was the first Canadian compact disk building code and is now in its second edition. The software product includes not only the full version of the aBC but also a wide selection of other related documents. '.
FUTURE ACTIVITIES Research
Designer's MiniCode
A logical extension to the MiniCode Generator described above is a Designer's MiniCode System. This potential future product could include a number of
enhance-ments to the MiniCode Generator including additional classification trees and
build-ng attributes. In the Designer's MiniCode System it is intended to permit the user to
view associated information from other code writing bodies or regulatory agencies.
rhis version would also allow the user to perform 'What if?' analysis of various design
)ptions, For example, two MiniCodcs can be generated and compared for similarities
md differences. Validation for all classification tree decisions by the user will also be Jossible in the Designer's MiniCode System. In this way the system could ensure that
he users input is valid for the class of building that they have already specified. 8
Development of an active-Based Code
Plans are currently being establishedtodevelop an objective-based framework for our building code documents. This is seen as a first stage towards developing support
for a performance-oriented option in our code documents, and as part of a broader drive towards establishing a clearer and effective code framework. Information
technologies and classification systems will play an important role in the development of these model codes. The project manager for this activity is Dr. Russell Thomas, IRC, Building M-24, Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario, KIA OR6, Thomas@ irc.lan.nrc.ca (613) 993-0817.
Electronic Networks
The impact of the electronic superhighway on the building codes and standards com-munities is likely to significantly change the way their documents will be developed and used (Williams, 1993). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European and American Regional bodies have begun the process of imple-menting systems for the development, production and delivery of codes and standards in electronic format (Thomas, 1994). In addition, the US Government has awarded $2 million to ANSI for the first two years of a project for establishing a prototype system to support US industry. Protocols for the exchange of project-related information are also under development and should be available in the next few years.
Internet
Building codes and standards can be easily accessed using Internet services such as the World Wide Web (W3). Using this type of Internet service, building codes and standards, and for that matter any technical information including graphics and tables, can be readily available to anyone with Internet access. In addition, the concept of
just-in-time publication is possible; the most recent versions of documents are readily
available to the service subscribers (Turk and Vanier, 1995). But these time-saving and money-saving services are only possible if building code writing bodies are
produc-ing, and marketproduc-ing, their documents in suitable electronic formats. This approach is described in more detail in the Slovene contribution of this special edition of the Journal.
CONCLUSIONS
This paper provides a summary of activities in the area of the computer
representa-tions of design standards and building codes in Canada. The domain has been investi-gated in Canada for over 10 years, but the total results include some research papers, a number of prototype expert systems and a few commercial hypertcxt editions of
var-ialls construction regulations. In fact, the penetration figures for electronic codes in Canada are well below one percent; fewer than 1000 building practitioners have･ｬ･｣ｾ
tronic access to any building code. This figure is shockingly low for a type of document
that is the most heavily referenced technical source of information in construction.
However, it is obviously too early to dismiss this enabling technology at this time.
The construction sector is finally embracing information technologies in Canada; most companies and individuals have immediate access to powerful personal
computers (CD-ROM, 1993), There is also considerable interest in technologies such '" CD- ROM and the I,Hernet; and information providers such as IRC, Canadian
Stan-dards Association and provincial code writing authorities have products to meet these
demands. It js the author's personal view that these products will satisIy the short-term
demand for electronic products, but userswillbe demanding more powerful tools to assist them in their work. This demand is already surfacing with an overwhelming
interest' and curiosity in the next generation of building code software: namely for｣ｯｮｾ
cepts such as the MiniCode Generator and stand-alone expert systems.
Unfortunately in the domain of electronic building codes, each country is a technol-ogy island and cannot directly benefit from developments in other countries. Technologies such as CAD, word processing, and spreadsheets are easily moved
across borders: the same is not true with electronic building codes. As a result,
coun-tries like Canada have to develop their own user support tools and/or observe what is happening elsewhere and initiate their own variations. As the reader has noticed, a large portion of the research in this area in Canada has focused on hypertext applica-tions and text browsers. In fact, this is a cost effective, relatively-fast implementation method for developing computer representations of design standards and building reg-ulations; it is an implementation technology that is strongly recommended to countries that are interested in producing electronic editions of their hardcopy publications.
REFERENCES
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Arlani, Ali, 1992, Development of the Code Documents and the Use and Develop-ment of Electronic Codes, Proceedings Joint CIB Workshops on Computers and Infor-mation in Construction,Montreal, PQ, 12-15 May, pp 12-23.
CD-ROM, 1993, Institute for Research in Construction, CD-ROM Market Study: Characteristics of the Market for Methods of High Density Electronic Storage and Delivery of Code and Standards Information, by Opinion Search, Inc., National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 27 p. .,_
Cornick, Steven M., Deborah A. Leishman, and J. Russell Thomas, 1990, Incorporat-ing BuildIncorporat-ing Regulations in Design Systems: An Object-Oriented Approach, ASHRAE Transactions 1990,96(2), 8 p,
Cornick, Steven M., Deborah A. Leishman, and J. Russell Thomas, 1993, Integrating Building Codes into Design Systems, Building Systems Automation-Integration
Pro-ceedings,University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
Cornick, Steven M., and J. Russell Thomas, 1993, HyperCode, MiniCode Aud
ExperCode: Evolution of a Code Users Environment, Paper presented atManage·
ment of Information Technology for Construction,eds. Krishan S. Mathur, Martin P, Betts, and Kwok Wai Tham, Singapore, Aug.
Cronembold, Jose R., 1990, A General Modelfor Representing Design Specifications, Visual Edge Software Ltd, 3870 Cote Vertu, St. Laurent, PQ, H4R IV4, 20 p. Fazio, Paul, Claude Bedard, and Krishnan Gowri, 1988, Knowledge-Based System Development Tools for Processing Design Specification, Microcomputers in Civil r;;ngineering,3(4), pp. 333-344.
Frye, Michael J., D.M. Olynick, and R.B. Pinkney, 1992, Development of an Expert System for the Fire Protection Requirements of the National Building Code of Canada, Proceedings Joint CIB Workshops on Computers and Information in Con-struction,Montreal, PQ, 12-15 May, pp. 215-226.
Gowri, Krishnan, 1992, Building Codes and Performance Standards as Knowledge-Bases for Design, Proceedings Joint CIB Workshops on Computers and Information in Construction,Montreal, PQ, 12-15 May, pp. 235-24.
Heikkila, Eric J., and Edwin J. Blewett, 1992, Using Expert Systems to Check Com-pliance with Municipal Building Codes, Journal of the American Planning Associa-tion,58(1), pp. 72-80.
Hill, Shauna M., 1993, The Use of Smart Graphics for the Redevelopment of Histor-ical Structures,Master's Thesis,University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.
James, Kay, 1989, National Building Code - Use of Information, Internal Report, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa,
Ontario.
NBCC, 1990, Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes, National Building Code of Canada,10th ed., National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. Olynick D.M., and Michael J. Frye, 1989, A Prototype Expert System for the Fire Protection Requirements ofthe National Building Code, Municipal Code Administra-tion- Building Safety - and the Computer,Winnipeg, Manitoba, 24-28 Sep., pp. 320-332.
Revay, 1989, Revay and Associates, Ottawa, Ontario, Report on the Site-Testing of Computerized Building Code Prototypes, Contract 988-44307D for the Institute for Research in Construction, Ottawa, Ontario.
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'.
COMPUTER REPRESENTATIONS OF DESIGN STANDARDS
AND BUILDING CODES: U.S. PERSPECTIVE
S
J
Fenves,J
H Garrett, H Kiliccote, K H Law, and K A Reed2ABSTRACT: Standards representation and processing in the United States has had a long and interesting history of development. The work in the past has focussed primarily on representing a standard, evaluating the intrinsic properties of that represented standard, and evaluating designs for conformance to that stan-dard. To date, for a variety of reasons, standards writing organizations and computer-aided design software vendors have nOl adopted much of the results of this research. The failure of the approach so far in the U.S. can be traced to two distinct areas. One major cluster of causes is methodological: the initial concepts were not backed upby usable, persistent computer tools; and the initial application and model were not represen-tative. The second cluster of causes of failure is professional, and has a lot to do with the dynamics of interac-tion of individuals and organizainterac-tions.
Future research must address the inadequacies of the current representations and create models that are able to represent all, or almost all, of the different types of provisions in any given standard; investigate and deliver a much richer set of processing functionalities, such us more support for use of design standards in
ear-lierｰｨ｡ｾ･ｳ of design; support the treatment of multiple, heterogeneous standards available from distributed
sources; and determine what type of support is needed to go from the textual versions of design standards to the formal models that can support sophisticated computation.
Keywords: Design standards,ｲ･ｰｲ･ｳ･ｮｴ｡ｴｩｯｮｾ processing, access, authoring. INTRODUCTION
The introduction of computers into design practice has produced a marked dichotomy. Building design practice, and structural engineering practice in particular, is a prime example of this dichotomy. On the one hand, structural analysis programs quickly moved from specialized techniques, such as moment distribution, toｩｮ｣ｲ･｡ｳｾ ingly general matrix and finite element methods. On the other hand, structural design and detailing programs have continued to be highly specialized, with each user organi-zation or software vendor implementing its own interpretation of the governing design standard provisions into application programs. This "hard-codiog" of design standards into design programs is a major barrier to the general acceptance and evolution of
｣ｯｭｰｵｴ･ｲｾ｡ｩ､･､ engineering, as it does not provide designers having to makeｰｲｯｦ･ｳｾ
sional judgements the ability to view and understand the represeotations of the desigo standard on which the computations are based. Furthermore, any change in the design standard requires changes io all such programs. Therefore, researchers have been attempting to develop representations of design staodards aod procedures for comput-ing with these representations.
While the ioitial research was motivated by the perceived need to develop represen-tations on the basis of which computational tools may be dveloped and dynamically
2Steven J. Fenves, Sun Company University Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University.
James H. Garrett, Jr., Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University.
Han Kiliccote, Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University.
Kineho H. Law, Assodntc Profcssor. Department of Civil Engincering, Stanford University,
Kent A. [ked, I.eader. COlllputer Integrated Construction Group, Building and Fire Research I.ahoratory, National Institute llf Standards al1(I'I'eehmllogy.
The International Journal of Construction Inl"<Jrmatioll Technology, 1995, Vol 3, No I, Page 13-34.
Note: Discussion open until I January 1995. The manuscript of the paper was submitted for review and possihle pun-lication on28 February 1995.©The University of Salford 1995.
