The Integrated Design And Control Of Bulldings

CAD manufacturers are providing an increasing amount of integrated building design software. These integrated CAD systems have few, if any, facilities to assess building performance. The building design profession is increasing its use of performance assessment tools for traditional and refurbishment design and not just technologically advanced design. Performance assessment tools will continue to grow in importance as building technology moves towards providing Intelligent Buildings. This paper will describe a current project aimed at providing a suite of computer-based tools which constitute an Integrated Building Design System capable of integrating the building design processes. This software system is called BIDS and is based upon dynamic simulation software for assessing building performance integrated with other software tools such as CAD systems. BIDS offers the construction industry a whole life-cycle solution to building design and operation. BIDS achieves this by: being used throughout the design process by the architect and other design team members operating on a single model of the building; upon completion, the design information contained within the BIDS system will be used to help commission the building; the use of the BIDS system continues through the building's life forming the basis of an intelligent control system for the building.