Design requirement specification is characterized by a high level of steadily increasing complexities, incorporating implicit (e.g. aesthetical, cultural or emotional) and explicit (e.g. functional, environmental, economic) criteria. Existing early design methods are still mostly based on experiential design knowledge and contemporary digital design tools that reflect domain-specific silo thinking, thus failing to meet these criteria. Early design stages however bear the highest design optimization potential – therefore, new methods, integrating both implicit and explicit design criteria as well as offering immediate design feedback, are needed.

The goal of this subproject is to provide a novel computational design work-flow for Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) that enables the integration of design automation and design simulation tools in the early phases of design, thereby significantly short-ening design cycles and increasing design quality. The proposed workflow will allow the system-atic and consistent inclusion and modelling of an increased number of design requirements, as well as implicit criteria. SP2 will provide a platform for the integration of all subprojects, and allow transferring design goals to appropriate subdomains and getting feedback from design automation and simulation tools to enable better evaluation of the design quality. An additional goal is to evaluate the design workflow, the integrated design support tools and the quality of the achieved design by user testing.