Building design with a multi-discipline CAD system using object-oriented environment

The aim of our paper is to present a multi-discipline CAD system named CONCEPTOR which allows the user to work during the various stages of the building engineering design. Most of the actions are dedicated to the building performances assessment for various technical domains with an extension of tools towards: economical estimating, quality analysis, checking of the solutions according to the regulations, the standards and the constraints established by the designer, coherence of the various works and solutions. During the design process we try to manage the consequences of a modification on the results of the previous calculations made by the user. In order to carry out these actions we have chosen to use an object-oriented approach which made the management of the dynamic evolution of data easier. We propose to develop: a definition of the objectives of the CAD system according to the needs of the designer; a definition of data structuration taking the various representations of the same object into account; an example of evaluation tools for the thermal component; techniques for data generation according to the needs of technical modules; the way we manage the multi-discipline design and the additional aspects (quality, coherence ...)