Cognitive Computing A research blog by Ashwin Ram, PhD

The paper describes the first phase of development of a Case-Base Reasoning (CBR) system to support early conceptual design of buildings. As specific context of application, the research focuses on energy performance of commercial buildings, and the early identification of energy-related features that contribute to its outcomes. The hypothesis is that bringing knowledge from relevant precedents may facilitate this identification process, thus offering a significant contribution for early analysis and decision-making.

The paper introduces a proof-of-concept for such a system, proposing a novel integration of Case-Based Reasoning, Parametric Modeling (Building Information Modeling), and Ontology Classification. While CBR provides a framework to store and retrieve cases at an instance level, Parametric Modeling offers a framework for rule-based geometric adaptation and evaluation. The ontology is intended to provide a semantic representation, so that new design concepts can be created, classified and retained for further reuse. Potential advantages and limitations of this three-level integration approach are discussed along with recommendations for future development.

CBArch: A Case-Based Reasoning Framework for Conceptual Design of Commercial Buildings

by Andrés Cavieres, Urjit Bhatia, Preetam Joshi, Fei Zhao, Ashwin Ram

www.cc.gatech.edu/faculty/ashwin/papers/er-11-07.pdf