ICADS; An intelligent computer-aided design environment

This paper describes the design and implementation of a prototype working model of an intelligent computer-aided design system (ICADS). It is the objective of the ICADS project to demonstrate the feasibility of a computer-aided design partnership in which the user orchestrates the evolution of a design solution with the intelligent assistance of the computer. The vehicle for this demonstration is a prototype CAD system shell serving as an intelligent interface between the building designer and a variable assortment of project-related data bases and knowledge bases. Specifically, ICADS Working Model Version 1 is composed of an existing, commercially available computer-aided drawing system; a geometry interpreter capable of extracting architecturally meaningful geometric objects (e.g., spaces, walls, windows) from point/line data schemes; a relational data base incorporating prototypical building type information, site/neighborhood descriptions, and sundry reference data; and an Expert Design Advisor consisting of four intelligent design tools, or domain experts, which automatically monitor the evolving design solution, and a blackboard control system responsible for coordinating the activities of the domain experts, resolving conflicts, and controlling the overall operation of the system. The Expert Design Advisor has been implemented in a production rule environment utilizing a frame-based representation structure. Its advising capabilities aremore » currently restricted to the domains of structural support, thermal environment, daylighting, and acoustics.« less