Patent Application
20180253510
Buildings are an integral part of everyday life. The process of planning, designing, and constructing buildings has evolved over several thousands of years. Typical steps followed to physically realize modern buildings can be complicated and may utilize a high degree of skilled labor that can span several different disciplines across the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Additionally, the architectural, engineering, or construction decisions made in each step can be driven by financial decisions. Typically, financial decisions are made by a different group of experts than those that make the architectural, engineering, or construction decisions. This division of decision-making can pose a huge challenge in terms of time, money, and other resources expended in order to design and build a viable facility that can be used to deliver the intended services in an efficient and profitable way.
In an embodiment, a method for automatically generating a building plan is disclosed. The method involves obtaining a set of architectural rules that define a set of tenant types, wherein a tenant type is defined by at least one spatial preference, obtaining a set of financial rules that define financial objectives, wherein the financial objectives are defined as a function of at least tenant type, floor location, and tenancy type, and generating a space program, wherein the space program indicates placement of tenant types as a function of the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules, and generating building plan, wherein the building plan visualizes the placement of tenant types.
In a second embodiment, generating a building plan further involves converting the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules into constraint statements, writing the constraint statements to an input file, and feeding the input file to a constraint solver.
In another embodiment, the method further involves obtaining building parti and the building plan is generated as a function of the building parti.
In another embodiment, the building plan is generated while satisfying architectural rules defined to lock a particular tenant in a particular location within the building plan.
In another embodiment, the method further involves determining a projected financial return for the generated building plan and adding the building plan to a pool of possible building plans.
In another embodiment, the projected financial return for the generated building plan is determined based on a projected revenue return per area unit.
In another embodiment, the method further comprises comparing building plans in the pool of possible building plans and selecting a building plan based on at least one of the placement of tenant types within the building plan and the financial return for the building plan.
In another embodiment, a building plan generation system for automatically generating building plans is disclosed. The building plan generation system uses a computer having a memory, a processor, and a display, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform steps involving obtaining a set of architectural rules that define a set of tenant types, wherein a tenant type is defined by at least one spatial preference, obtaining a set of financial rules that define financial objectives, wherein the financial objectives are defined as a function of at least tenant type, floor location, and tenancy type, and generating a space program, wherein the space program indicates placement of tenant types as a function of the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules, and generating building plan, wherein the building plan visualizes the placement of tenant types.
In another embodiment, generating a building plan further involves converting the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules into constraint statements, writing the constraint statements into an input file, and feeding the input file to a constraint solver.
In another embodiment, the building plan generation system further involves obtaining building parti and the building plan is generated as a function of the building parti.
In another embodiment, the building plan is generated while satisfying architectural rules defined to lock a particular tenant in a particular location within the building plan
In another embodiment, the steps further involve determining a projected financial return for the generated building plan and adding the building plan to a pool of possible building plans.
In another embodiment, the projected financial return for the generated building plan is determined based on a projected revenue return per area unit.
In another embodiment, the steps further involve comparing building plans in the pool of possible building plans and selecting a building plan based on at least one of the placement of tenant types within the building plan and the financial return for the building plan.
In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps for automatically generating building plans is disclosed. In the embodiment, the steps involve obtaining a set of architectural rules that define a set of tenant types, wherein a tenant type is defined by at least one spatial preference, obtaining a set of financial rules that define financial objectives, wherein the financial objectives are defined as a function of at least tenant type, floor location, and tenancy type, and generating a space program, wherein the space program indicates placement of tenant types as a function of the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules, and generating building plan, wherein the building plan visualizes the placement of tenant types.
In another embodiment, generating a building plan further involves converting the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules into constraint statements, writing the constraint statements into an input file, and feeding the input file to a constraint solver.
In another embodiment, the steps further comprise obtaining building parti and the building plan is generated as a function of the building parti.
In another embodiment, the building plan is generated while satisfying architectural rules defined to lock a particular tenant in a particular location within the building plan
In another embodiment, the steps further involve determining a projected financial return for the generated building plan based on a projected revenue return per area unit and adding the building plan to a pool of possible building plans.
In another embodiment, the steps further comprise comparing building plans in the pool of possible building plans and selecting a building plan based on at least one of the placement of tenant types within the building plan and the financial return for the building plan.
Other aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrated by way of example of the principles of the invention.
Throughout the description, similar reference numbers may be used to identify similar elements.
It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments as generally described herein and illustrated in the appended figures could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of various embodiments, as represented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, but is merely representative of various embodiments. While the various aspects of the embodiments are presented in drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless specifically indicated.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by this detailed description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, discussions of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.
Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, in light of the description herein, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the indicated embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.
Delays caused by the division of financial decisions and architectural, engineering, or construction decisions between two groups may plague the planning, designing, and constructing of many types of buildings. For simplicity, embodiments of the invention will be explained in the context of planning, designing, and constructing a shopping mall. However, the techniques are applicable to other types of buildings, such as, for example, a building with mixed use between residential and retail, a manufacturing space, a transportation hub such as airport or train station, or a medical building such as a hospital. Typically, a building will have multiple floors or basements and each floor or basement can have a different floor plan.
Typically, when a building such as a shopping mall is planned and designed, developers or project owners are driven to plan and design the building to maximize revenue, while architectural firms are driven by limitations on designs imposed by, for example, building dimensions or other features of the building.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a computer-based method for automatically generating a building plan is disclosed. In the embodiment, the method involves obtaining a set of architectural rules that define a set of tenant types, wherein a tenant type is defined by at least one of spatial parameters and client parameters, obtaining a set of financial rules that define financial objectives, wherein the financial objectives are defined as a function of at least tenant type, floor location, and tenancy type, and generating a building plan, wherein the building plan indicates the placement of tenant types as a function of the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules. Thus, financial and architectural considerations can be automatically and simultaneously addressed as a function of financial and architectural rules. Accordingly, by defining financial goals and building dimensions as constraints, a constraint solver can be used to automatically generate a building plan that is physically possible and that satisfies financial constraints (e.g., maximizes the revenue output of the building) in a streamlined process. Thus, the amount of time, money, and other resources expended in order to plan and develop a building plan is reduced.
In an embodiment, automatically generating a building plan in accordance with an embodiment of the invention results in a streamlined computer process.
While both a human-based process and a computer-based process result in the planning and development of a building plan, the two processes achieve their respective results in fundamentally different ways. By defining architectural and financial rules and evaluating those rules, a building plan can be planned and developed, for example, while delays caused by communication between separate groups of experts can be reduced and considerably more possible building plans can be evaluated. As a result, the process of generating a building plan is improved at least because a building plan with a known projected return can be generated more quickly than when using the human-based process.
In an embodiment, the computer-based process can be implemented using a building plan generation system. In an embodiment, the building plan generation system is implemented using a graphical user interface run on a computer.
In order to plan and design a building plan using the computer-based process, a user begins by creating a new project.
Once the project has been created, architectural rules can be obtained, for example, from a file or a library stored in computer memory.
In an embodiment, a user can define architectural rules to manually lock a particular tenant in a particular retail space (e.g., a location within a building plan). For example, if a tenant signs a lease agreement, then the tenant can be locked to its retail space and the tool will generate space programs and building plans with the signed tenant in its leased retail space. As shown in
In another view of the graphical user interface, financial rules can be obtained, for example, from a file or a library stored in computer memory.
Optionally, once the architectural rules and the financial rules have been defined, additional information can be provided about the building in the form of building parti, for example, from additional files or libraries created by a user or generated automatically by an external application.
Once the architectural and financial rules have been obtained, they can be converted into constraint statements, written to an input file, and the input file can be fed to a constraint solver. In an embodiment, the constraint statements can be written in plain text using the MiniZinc constraint modeling language, but other modeling languages could be used.
In an embodiment, the input file is then fed to a constraint solver and a space program is generated as a function of the set of architectural rules and the set of financial rules. A constraint solver is an engine for solving constraint problems by determining a solution that satisfies constraint statements received as inputs. Known examples of constraint solvers include, for example, the Choco solver, the Chuffed solver, the Mistral 2.0 solver, or the Yuck solver. In an embodiment, the constraint solver finds a solution that satisfies the constraint statements converted from the architectural rules and the financial rules. Additionally, if the placement of tenants has been manually locked (e.g., a grocery is locked in a center location on the second floor), then the constraint solver can be configured to find a solution, while preserving the locked placement of the tenants.
In an embodiment, multiple space programs can be generated and placed in a pool of possible space programs. The space programs can then be fed into a room placer and a building plan can be generated. In an embodiment, multiple space programs and building plans can be viewed simultaneously and compared.
Although the operations of the method(s) herein are shown and described in a particular order, the order of the operations of each method may be altered so that certain operations may be performed in an inverse order or so that certain operations may be performed, at least in part, concurrently with other operations. In another embodiment, instructions or sub-operations of distinct operations may be implemented in an intermittent and/or alternating manner.
It should also be noted that at least some of the operations for the methods may be implemented using software instructions stored on a computer useable storage medium for execution by a computer. As an example, an embodiment of a computer program product includes a non-transitory computer useable storage medium to store a computer readable program that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform operations, as described herein.
Furthermore, embodiments of at least portions of the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
The computer-useable or computer-readable medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device), or a propagation medium. Examples of a non-transitory computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disc, and an optical disc. Current examples of optical discs include a compact disc with read only memory (CD-ROM), a compact disc with read/write (CD-R/W), a digital video disc (DVD), and a Blu-ray disc.
In the above description, specific details of various embodiments are provided. However, some embodiments may be practiced with less than all of these specific details. In other instances, certain methods, procedures, components, structures, and/or functions are described in no more detail than to enable the various embodiments of the invention, for the sake of brevity and clarity.
Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.
