Towards a Knowledge-Based Engineering Methodology for Construction

The increasing industrialization and standardization of construction opens up for the field of design automation, and possibilities to work with several what-if-conditions and several product candidates instead of just one or two during design. Design automation applications for building component and infrastructural part design are starting to appear using software from the manufacturing industry. A challenge is however to develop such construction design automation applications since comprehensive methodologies are missing. MOKA is a methodology for developing knowledge-based engineering (KBE) applications originating from the aerospace and automotive industries. KBE is a label for computer-based automation of routine design tasks. This paper describes methodologies for developing design automation applications in construction, compares these with the MOKA methodology, and discusses the opportunities and challenges of having a KBE methodology for construction.