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Software packages form an integral part of the practices of most building design professionals today. Studies in the UK show that CAD is used in 81% of architectural practices. However, these packages fali short of ideal when it comes to data exchange.
The objective of the COMBINE project is to demonstrate a solution to this problem based on the developrnent of an Integrated Building Design System (IBDS). This solution revolves around two principies, namely (a) the developrnent of a centralised. building data model and (b) the integration. of existing software applications with this data model to form the IBDS. At the conclusion of the project, this paper discusses the authors' work on the integration of three conunercial packages, DOE-2DX, AutoCAD and VENT, into the IBDS.