AEC Collaborative Information Systems: From Requirements to Architecture

A collaborative information system must fit the market, organization, culture, and norms of the group it support. In the Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) industry, a computer-based framework for collaboration needs to consider issues such as its application suitability in various project organizations, and the ability to operate under partial knowledge. This paper briefly presents the philosophy behind and the basis for a conceptual design of a human-computer architecture to facilitate design, management and coordination in AEC projects. Section 2 presents the framework and the need for parametric representation and constraint-based reasoning as a unifying methodology. The principles behind a system architecture are then described in Section 3 with a brief description of components and user interaction. The implementation environment and testing of a prototype system are finally presented in Section 4.