The article brings together the subjects of briefing and Building Information Modelling. It considers the brief as information source for Building Information Modelling and Building Information Modelling as an environment for automating briefrelated analysis and guidance. The approach is characterized by feedforward and feedback, incorporation of constraints from the brief in Building Information Modelling, connection of briefing goals to performance analysis and correlation of requirements in the brief to Building Information Modelling object properties and relations. To test the approach, 10 briefs are parsed into goals, constraints and requirements, which are then considered for integration in Building Information Modelling. As the majority of these items can become part of a model and subject to automated analyses, integration of briefing in Building Information Modelling is proposed as a viable option that can improve design and briefing performance but also signals significant changes to briefing.
KeywordsBriefing, Building Information Modelling, integration, continuity, feedforward, feedback, analysis
Design and informationBuilding Information Modelling (BIM) promises integration of information and information processing for the whole of Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) by combining geometric and non-geometric information in coherent and comprehensive models that accommodate all aspects and actors. By doing so, it unites all AECO processes on the basis of their interaction with the model. This ambition is combined with a willingness to cover all stages in the lifecycle of a building and support transitions between stages. However, in most publications and real-life projects, BIM appears to commence in the design stage (often in late design) and proceed to construction. These two stages are critical but hardly cover all activities and interests of AECO. The use stage, where the bulk of these occurs, has only recently emerged as an application area for BIM. [1][2][3][4] This restriction in the lifecycle is not due to inherent limitations of BIM but arguably follows an established bias: that design information is primarily produced by design actions, in particular those pertaining to the form of a building (including structure). In BIM, this suggests that a geometric model