Requirements for computational rule checking of requests for proposals (RFPs) for building designs in South Korea

Abstract

This study reports on the requirements for developing computer-interpretable rules for checking the compliance of a building design in a request for proposal (RFP), especially in the building information modeling (BIM) environment. It focuses on RFPs for large public buildings (over 5 million dollars) in South Korea, which generally entail complex designs. A total of 27 RFPs for housing, office, exhibition, hospital, sports center, and courthouse projects were analyzed to develop computer-interpreted RFP rules. Each RFP was composed of over 1800 sentences. Of these, only three to 366 sentences could be translated into a computer-interpretable sentence. For further analysis, this study deployed context-free grammar (CFG) in natural language processing, and classified morphemes into four categories: i.e., object (noun), method (verb), strictness (modal), and others. The subcategorized morphemes included three types of objects, twenty-nine types of methods, and five levels of strictness. The coverage applicability of the derived objects and methods was checked and validated against three additional RFP cases and then through a test case using a newly developed model checker system. The findings are expected to be useful as a guideline and basic data for system developers in the development of a generalized automated design checking system for South Korea. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.