A Quarter Century of Work to Revolutionize Architecture, Engineering and Construction Enterprise Information Systems

Abstract

More than two decades ago, object-oriented representation of AEC (architecture engineering and construction) projects started to offer the promise of seamless communication of semantic data models between computer-based systems used from the design stage to the operation of the facilities. BIM (building information modelling) emerged and appeared as a means to store all relevant data generated during the life-cycle of the facilities. But this upstream view of the built environment, arising from the design and construction stages, extended to the downstream operations where building and industrial facilities appeared more and more as huge dynamic data producers and concentrators while being operated. This created new challenges leading to what is referred to as ISCs (intelligent and smart constructions). The current state of the art is that final constructions still contain various and increasingly versatile control and service systems, which are hardly standardised, and not interconnected among themselves. Monitoring, maintenance and services are done by specialised companies, each responsible of different systems, which are relying on customised software and techniques to meet specific user needs and are based on monolithic applications that require manual configuration for specific uses, maintenance and support. We demonstrate in this paper that the early promises of integration across the actors and along the life-time of facilities have gone a long way but will only be delivered through enhanced standardisation of computerized models, representations, services and operations still not yet fully accomplished 25 years after work started.Key words: Architecture engineering and construction, building information models, semantic interoperability, intelligent and smart built environment, information systems and sensors for new services.