A knowledge based system for determination of value of constructed facility

Abstract

Value of a product, such as a component of a building, reflects an owner's desire to retain and obtain the product, and this introduces subjective aspects to the value. The value of a constructed facility depends on how much the design details of its components agree with the value system of the client. Traditionally, selection of design details is performed by the designers with Little consultation with the client. A successful selection of components of construction needs a knowledge of design alternatives, components' criteria and utilities and agreement with the value system of the client. Therefore, determination of value of a constructed facility lends itself to a knowledge based application. This paper presents a knowledge based system called VOBE for the determination of the value of the envelope of a residential building based on the client's value system. To the user VOBE presents design alternative details for each component of the envelope and with the input/confirmation of his/her value system it reports the costs and values of the components of the building envelope. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.