The design analysis integration (DAI) initiative

The Design Analysis Integration (DAI)-Initiative aims to steer towards new solutions for design analysis integration. These solutions should be able to overcome the limitations of current interoperability approaches that assume the existence of generic and static interfaces in a ‘perfect world’ in which all information is structured and all mappings between design and analysis representations are computable. This paper reports on the first phase of the development, a first-generation prototype in ‘workbench’ style for managing a process driven design analysis dialogue. The workbench is meant to enable a more robust use of existing building models such as IFC for the mapping to simulation tools. The paper presents the underlying theories, prototype development, and findings from the DAI-Initiative and concludes with a discussion of future work, targeting extension and benchmarking of the current prototype.