Computerization of building standards

The number, scope and degree of detail of building regulations and standards has ingreased greatly over the last 20 years. Thus, designers today encounter difficulties in coping with this mass of information and its frequent updates. The authorities enforcing building regulations are also facing difficulties, due to the problems in cheeking designs created with the aid of a diverse selection of software. It seems that information technology may provide useful tools towards solving these problems. For example, special software tools can be used for writing regulations and standards which contain less contradictions and which are easier lo understand and implement. Furthermore, software can be developed to help designers cheek that the designs they have created either manually or using CAD-systems are in accordance with the regulations. The publication is concerned with both the theoretical foundations and the software tools for computerizing building regulations. Previous researeh, especially from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, is also brielly reviewed. The second part of the presentation deseribes a number of prototype systems developed at the Technical Research Centre of Finland. These include an expert system for fire regulations running in a question and answer mode and an augmented expert system which contains descriptive pictures illustrating the implementation of regulations. Next an example of integration of an energy calculation program with a CAD-system is described. Finally, current work related to the use of optical video dises as storage and presentation media for computer-controlled regulations data is briefly presented. As a conclusion, some propositions are given concerning research and development work in the computer aided creation and use of building standards.