| Summary Requirements |
The CAD for Principals Council is convinced that the AEC industry is ready to move beyond computers as pencils toward a new process of intelligent, collaborative electronic simulation of the proposed building in all its critical aspects: space allocation, architectural expression, building systems, building materials, products and assemblies, and construction costs. To be useful and usable, this information must be more than a list of attributes attached to lines and circles, but truly functional information that encodes and enforces design intent and constraints assigned in the model. What is required is a parametric building model, capable of automatically propagating the effects of a change throughout the model and providing valuable feedback on the implications of that change on the space, the building systems, the products selected, and the construction cost. In addition to parametric building modeling, CAD systems must provide facile tools for instantly presenting this information in the multiple representations necessary for communication, collaboration and commerce. These range from renderings and animations to color-coded blocking and stacking diagrams to traditional plan, section and elevation drawings to schedules and quantity take-offs. These representations must not be dissociated from the model as static reports, but must maintain their parametric associations so that a change in one representation immediately updates all others. |