6.3 Suspended Ceiling Design Process - Bilkent University

engineers’ responsibility is to provide expert advice to verify related
aspects of architect’s design.
In real life projects, it is not so rare that another participant (client,
stakeholders, etc.) interferes with the decision processes of design
professionals. Such interferences are not included in the model, since they
are often biased and unstructured. Thus, it can be expected that they
would not add much to the existing framework.
5.3.2 The Need for Explicit Definition of Parameters and
Industry Foundation Classes
One limitation of the use of the parameter-based DSM is that the
parameters must be explicitly defined. However, for building design this is
usually the case as product architectures and their associated parametric
descriptions are relatively formalized via generic frameworks such as
Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs). The development of the IFCs is a
main standardization effort for the representation of AEC knowledge by the
International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI). IAI is a non-profit
organization comprised of about 600 member companies working to define
and implement a “common language” for integration of project information
that is valid for the life cycle of a project. Through the definition of IFCs, IAI
aims –using an object-oriented approach– to provide a common model to
which all applications can interface (Liebich and Wix, 2003).
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