A decision support system for preliminary design

The design of buildings is a complex task for a variety of reasons. In the conceptual stage, particularly in the inception phase, a small number of people make decisions that have far reaching impact on the final result in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Decision-making in the inception phase of design relies on available information which may be incomplete, (e.g. maintenance costs), or overly complex (e.g. code requirements). Furthermore, in the near future the consideration of life-cycle issues will be essential if not compulsory in all construction projects. Therefore, a smart, interactive, and easy-to-use system that provides a way of viewing the potential consequences of their design decisions would be useful to all participants involved in early design. This paper presents results from ongoing research at the Eindhoven University of Technology concerning the development of such a Decision Support System (DSS) for the design of indoor environments for offices. Items addressed include the utilisation of existing databases and expert knowledge about the entire building life-cycle.