Future developments of ICT in the building sector

Developments in information and communication technology have an impact throughout the entire life cycle of a building, not only from the process and technical point of view but also from the creative design point of view. As a result of developments of advanced modelling software for architectural design, the gap between what the architect can envision and what the building technician or product architect can materialise is enlarging. Future developments in information and communication technology may help to narrow this gap. Internet technology will provide a closer link between the participants in the building process, their activities, knowledge, and information. Support software for the building designer will become object-oriented and tools will be integrated and be able to communicate with each other. Soft computing techniques such as artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithms will make contributions to the problem solving aspects of the design process. This paper provides an overview of these and other future developments of information and communication technology within the building sector.