The management of data, information and knowledge through the project life cycle of buildings and civil infrastructure projects is becoming increasingly complex. In an attempt to drive efficiencies and address this complexity, the United Kingdom (UK) Government has mandated that Building Information Modelling (BIM) methods must be adopted in all public sector construction projects from 2016. Emerging from the US Department of Defence, BIM is an approach to the co-ordination of design and production data using object-oriented principles as described in ISO 29481-1:2010. The underlying philosophy of BIM is to ensure the “provision of a single environment to store shared asset data and information, accessible to all individuals who are required to produce, use and maintain it” (PAS 1192-2:2013). A key aspect of BIM lies in the notion of ‘interoperability’ between various software applications used in the design and construction process and a common data format for the efficient exchange of design information and knowledge. Protagonists of BIM argue that this interoperability provides an effective environment for collaboration between actors in the construction process and creates accurate, reliable, repeatable and high-quality information exchange. This UK Government mandate presents numerous challenges to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professions; in particular, the characteristics of BIM Level 2 remain explicitly undefined and this has created a degree of uncertainty amongst the promoters and those professionals charged with delivering projects. This uncertainty is further reflected in UK higher education; contemporary undergraduate programmes in civil engineering across the UK are, on the whole, at the bottom of the BIM ‘maturity curve’. UK higher education institutions are increasingly being challenged to embrace BIM through appropriate pedagogies and teaching practices but the supporting guidance is emergent and variable. In the case of civil engineering programmes in the UK, the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) has issued a ‘good practice guide’ as have the Higher Education Academy (HEA) under the auspices of the ‘BIM Academic Forum’. Nevertheless, a clear demand for further research to explore the technical and pedagogical issues associated with BIM integration into degree programmes remains. The research described in this thesis casts a critical lens on the current literature in the domains of object-oriented modelling of infrastructure and the associated implications for procurement and project management. A mixed-methods approach using questionnaire analysis, focus groups and secondary case study analysis was used to enact an inductive research approach that captures a range of data on pedagogic issues and considerations associated with the integration of BIM into the design of a new civil engineering curricular. The findings include recommendations for the ‘up-skilling’ of university teachers and academics, enhancing student employability and the development of suitable learning and learning techniques. A framework for the incorporation of BIM principles, concepts and technologies into civil engineering programmes is proposed. The findings of the research suggest that the first two years of study in a typical, accredited civil engineering degree programme should focus on the technical concepts relating to design from a modelling and analysis perspective. The latter years of the degree should focus on the development of ‘soft-skills’ required to enable effective teamwork and collaboration within a multidisciplinary project environment. Further studies should seek to test the proposed framework in a ‘live’ environment, particularly in the context of the necessity to balance the demands of summative and formative assessment regimes.

The effectiveness of Building Information Modelling, or BIM, in the construction industry has become a hot topic of debate. Used in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry for over a decade now, its effectiveness to certain aspects and sectors of the industry is under constant review. Its implementation into the Swedish bridge construction sector is relatively new, especially when used during the production phase of a projects delivery. This paper aims to investigate how using a 3D BIM during the production phase can improve the performance of production, whilst exploring ways in which to improve the handling of 3D BIM for future projects. This is achieved by following the production phase of the Roforsbron project in Arboga, Sweden. The first of its kind to utilise 3D BIM tools throughout its entire production phase. The theoretical framework focuses on the concepts of constructability, lean construction and productivity as well as reviewing a variety of literature on the benefits and drawbacks of BIM. The empirical data has been gathered through personal involvement of the Röforsbron project, where structured and semi-structured interviews with the workforce make up the bulk of the findings. Empirical observation and practical participation of activities on-site complement the opinions of the personnel. The interviews focus on individuals’ experiences using 3D BIM and their opinions on its effect of the production of the Röforsbron. The problems affecting current production performance often stem from a lack of detailed design and planning that affect constructability. Designing with a larger consideration on how to build and addressing constructability issues early is the means in which production can improve. The Röforsbron project was successful where no rework was performed and attributed many of its savings to the use of 3D BIM. Extra resources and experienced personnel were also a factor in the success of the project. 3D BIM is shown to have the most beneficial effect on the reinforcement works, but also offers a broad range of tangible and intangible benefits to widespread aspects of a bridge project. It is concluded that 3D BIM provides an effective tool in which to improve constructability through facilitating a more detailed design and effective means of understanding through visualisation and communication.

The AEC-industry has been lagging behind other types of production industries in terms of productivity development for the last 40 years. The reason for this has been described as to be a combination of the collaborative needs in performing construction projects combined with the fragmented nature of the AEC-industry. Building information modelling (BIM) has been presented as a way of addressing these issues and thereby improving productivity in construction projects. The adoption of BIM has been slow and many barriers hindering widespread adoption of this technology have been revealed. There are however no single barrier that could be solved individually in order to enable more extensive BIM adoption. These barriers are hindering many different aspects of effective adoption of BIM. When compared to traditional 2D CAD systems, BIM is a more efficient way of handling information connected to the project or the building. Adoption of BIM enables changes in work processes that can streamline the performance in construction projects. Adoption of BIM is not only a change in technology; there is a need for substantial changes in work processes in order to make improvements to productivity. BIM is a tool to improve processes in order to reach certain goals, not a goal in own right. In this thesis I examine how BIM has been adopted in two different construction projects. The research aims to develop the understanding of the barriers hindering BIM adoption in order to make it more accessible for the AEC-industry.

Large battery production facilities, often referred to as Gigafactories, are a complex design task that involves a lot of working disciplines. This requires good capabilities for communication and planning to be able to integrate the building, machines, and operators in the factory. This project is made within the Factory Layout and Modelling team in Blueprint at Northvolt, which is responsible for designing and scaling up the next generation of battery Gigafactories. The purpose of this thesis is to increase knowledge and further enhance a standardized workflow for how to manage machine interfaces. The empirical findings from the study are based on a qualitative study where 16 interviews were held with people working as Factory Layout Engineers, Utility Engineers, Automation Engineers, and Design Leaders. The empirical findings confirm there is a need for having a standardized way of marking up interfaces early in the design phase to mitigate the risk of design errors to occur in later stages. Based on the empirical findings the most important interfaces are the utility interfaces, material flow interfaces, the human-machine interfaces, and the civil, structural, and architectural interfaces. It is also important to mark up the operator’s movement around the machine and the areas where repair and maintenance is needed. This creates an understanding of the machine’s effective footprint area and shows the total workspace area needed around the machine. In this project, specific design guidelines and a new drawing template have been proposed to facilitate the visualization and handling of machine interfaces. Interface management is an emerging topic for production companies. During the last decade, this area has been developed as a management discipline within some large companies. In conclusion, the usage of interface management is necessary to increase communication of system boundaries and to decrease the cost when building new factories. / Stora batteriproduktionsanläggningar, ofta kallade Gigafabriker, är en komplex designuppgift som involverar många arbetsdiscipliner. Detta kräver goda förmågor för kommunikation och planering för att kunna integrera byggnaden, maskinerna och operatörerna i fabriken. Detta examensarbete genomfördes i Factory Layout and Modelling-teamet i Blueprint på Northvolt, som är ansvariga för att designa och skala upp nästa generations batterifabriker. Syftet med examensarbetet är att öka kunskapen och vidareutveckla ett standardiserat arbetsflöde för att hantera maskingränssnitt. De empiriska resultaten från studien baseras på en kvalitativ studie där 16 intervjuer genomfördes med personer som arbetar som fabriksdesigningenjörer, system-distributionsingenjörer, automationsingenjörer och projektledare. De empiriska resultaten bekräftar att det finns ett behov av ett standardiserat sätt att märka upp gränssnitt tidigt i designfasen för att minska risken för att designfel uppstår i senare skeden. Baserat på de empiriska resultaten är de viktigaste gränssnitten system-distributionsgränsnitten, materialflödesgränssnitten, människa-maskin-gränssnitten och byggnadsgränssnitten. Det är också viktigt att märka upp operatörens rörelse runt maskinen samt de områden där reparation och underhåll utförs. Detta skapar en förståelse för maskinens effektiva fotavtryck inom fabriken och visar den totala arbetsytan som behövs runt maskinen. I detta projekt har specifika designriktlinjer och en ny ritningsmall föreslagits för att kunna underlätta visualisering och hantering av maskingränssnitt. Gränssnittshantering är ett framväxande ämne för produktionsföretag. Under det senaste decenniet har detta område utvecklats som en egen ledningsdisciplin inom vissa stora företag.svis är användningen av gränssnittshantering nödvändig för att öka kommunikationen av systemgränser och för att minska kostnaderna när nya fabriker byggs.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The amount and complexity of software applications for the building industry is increasing constantly. It has been a long term goal of the software industry to support integration of the various models and applications. This is a difficult task due to the complexity of the models and the diversity of the fields that they model. As a result, only large software houses have the ability to provide integrated solutions on the basis of a common information model. Such a model can more easily be established since the different software is developed within the same group. Other software suppliers usually have to revert to importing and exporting of data to establish some form of integration. Even large software houses still sometimes make use of this technique between their different packages. In order to obtain a fully integrated solution, clients have to acquire complex and expensive software, even if only a small percentage of the functionality of this software is actually required. A different approach to integration is proposed here, based on providing an integration framework that links different existing software models. The framework must be customisable for each individual's unique requirements as well as for the software already used by the individual. In order for the framework to be customisable, it must either encompass the information requirements of all existing software models from the outset, or be flexible and adaptable for each user. Developing an encompassing software model is difficult and expensive and thus the latter approach is followed here. The result is a model that is less general than BIM-style models, but more focussed and less complex. The elements of this flexible model do not have predetermined properties, but properties can instead be added and removed at runtime. Furthermore, derived properties are not stored as values, but rather as methods by which their values are obtained. These can also be added, removed and modified at runtime. These two concepts allow the structure and the functionality of the model to be changed at runtime. An added advantage is that a knowledgeable user can do this himself. Changes to the models can easily be incorporated in the integration framework, so their future development is not limited. This has the advantage that the information content of the various applications does not have to be pre-determined. It is acknowledged that a specific solution is required for each integration model; however the user still has full control to expand his model to the complexity of BIM-type models. Furthermore, if new software models are developed to incorporate the proposed structures, even more seamless and flexible integration will be possible. The proposed framework is demonstrated by linking a CAD application to a cost-estimation application for buildings. A prototype implementation demonstrates full integration by synchronising selection between the different applications. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoeveelheid en kompleksiteit van sagteware programme vir die bou industrie is konstant aan die vermeerder. Dit was nog altyd 'n lang termyn doelwit van die sagteware industrie om integrasie van die verskeie modelle en programme te ondersteun. Hierdie is 'n moeilike taak as gevolg van die kompleksiteit van die modelle, en die diversiteit van die velde wat hierdie programme modelleer. Die gevolg is dat net groot sagteware huise die vermoë het om geïntegreerde oplossings te bied op die basis van 'n gemeenskaplike inligting model. So 'n tipe model kan makliker bymekaargestel word siende dat al die verskillende sagteware binne dieselfde groep ontwikkel word. Ander sagteware verskaffers moet gewoonlik gebruik maak van sogenaamde uitvoer/invoer tegnieke om 'n mate van integrasie te verkry. Selfs groot sagteware huise maak ook gebruik van hierdie tegnieke tussen hulle verskeie pakkette, in plaas van om die programme direk met mekaar te koppel. Om 'n vol geïntegreerde oplossing te verkry, moet kliënte komplekse en duur sagteware aanskaf, selfs al word net 'n klein gedeelte van die funksionaliteit van hierdie sagteware gebruik. 'n Verskillende benadering word hier gevolg, gebaseer op 'n integrasie raamwerk wat verskillende bestaande sagteware modelle met mekaar koppel. Die raamwerk moet aanpasbaar wees vir elke individu se unieke opset. Vir die raamwerk om aanpasbaar te wees, moet dit óf alle bou industrie inligting inkorporeer van die staanspoor af, óf dit moet buigbaar en aanpasbaar wees vir elke gebruiker. Om 'n model te ontwikkel wat alle bestaande inligting inkorporeer van die staanspoor af is moeilik en duur, dus word die tweede benadering gevolg. Die eindresultaat is 'n model wat minder omvattend is as BIM-tipe modelle, maar eerder gefokus en minder kompleks. Die elemente van hierdie buigbare model het nie voorafbepaalde eienskappe nie, eienskappe kan bygevoeg en weggevat word terwyl die program hardloop. Verder word afgeleide eienskappe nie gestoor as waardes nie, maar eerder as metodes wat gebruik word om hulle waardes mee af te lei. Hierdie konsepte laat toe dat die struktuur en funksionaliteit van die model verander kan word terwyl die program hardloop. 'n Verdere voordeel is dat 'n kundige verbruiker die veranderinge self kan doen. Veranderinge in die modelle kan maklik ingesluit word in die integrasie model, so toekomstige ontwikkeling word nie beperk nie. Dit beteken dat die inhoud van die modelle nie vooraf bepaal hoef te word nie. Al het die raamwerk 'n gespesialiseerde oplossing vir elke gebruiker tot gevolg, het die gebruiker nogtans volle beheer om sy model uit te brei tot die omvattendheid van BIM-tipe modelle. Indien nuwe sagteware modelle ontwikkel word met die integrasie raamwerk in gedagte, kan nog gladder en buigbare integrasie moontlik wees. In hierdie tesis word 'n tekenprogram met 'n kosteberaming program gekoppel om die voorgestelde raamwerk te demonstreer. 'n Prototipe implementering demonstreer volle integrasie deur seleksie binne die programme te sinchroniseer.

Business goals of manufacturing systems are typically in a state of constant change and greater rates of change are predicted in the future. Whereas contemporary approaches to the design and construction of these systems often results in inflexible enterprises that cannot readily be tuned to changing business goals. This study has specified and prototyped the use of a new model-driven approach to the design and (re)configuration of"change capable" manufacturing cells. Manufacturing cells represent a typical domain of manufacturing systems in which the existence of inflexible links between tasks and resources can result in sub-optimal performance and an inability to cope with change. The approach is based on a) the use of a semi-generic model of manufacturing cells, that structures and targets the use of CIMOSA modelling constructs (as implemented by the SEWOSA tool) towards producing a requirements specification and conceptual design in the form of a graphical and computer executable model of a particular manufacturing cell, and b) the complementary use of new computer executable modelling constructs and tools, that structure and support the detailed design and runtime operation of a particular cell in the form of an explicit, model-based configuration of cell resources and software components that realise the control processes required in a particular cell. Part of the semi-generic model comprises descriptions of common tasks found in a given domain of manufacturing cells. That part of the model has been captured and formalised by using CIMOSA modelling constructs. A new development of this modelling structure allows pre- modelled tasks to be selected, detailed and organised and suitable resources and reusable control system components (or building blocks) assigned to groups of tasks. Thereby this new approached to designing and building manufacturing cells can facilitate rapid and effective design and reconfiguration of manufacturing cell control systems. General information requirements found during the modelling and real world application of target cells, have also been formally defined and are met by using a suitable modelling structure and specially developed tools. Furthermore, the research has shown how modelled sets of software component building blocks can be specified and implemented as modular, reusable elements of manufacturing cell control systems. New modelling structures have been conceived and fonnalised and examples of their use evaluated under laboratory conditions. The research has also deployed and developed pre-existing enterprise modelling concepts and integration tools, including CIMOSA, STEP, EXPRESS, CIMBIOSYS infrastructure services and component-based software design concepts. This has enable the creation of a prototype tool-set that demonstrates how the concepts can be beneficially applied. The main contributions made by this research are that: a) It proposes and develops an approach to the design of manufacturing cell systems that successfully bridges a previous gap between top-down modelling concepts, methods and tools (that typically support formal modelling of system requirements, tasks and resources) and bottom-up detailed design and build techniques that lead to the operation, control and monitoring of real cells, b) It provides a modelling and implementation structure that 'integrates' the use of a classical enterprise modelling approach (namely CIMOSA), design primarily to support the designers of manufacturing systems, to the emerging component-based design and build concepts, that are becoming popular with software and system vendors.

Empreendimentos hospitalares são reconhecidos pela complexidade que está associada a todas as fases de seu ciclo de vida: projeto, construção e operação. Os projetos da saúde são altamente influenciados por regulamentações locais. Estes conjuntos de códigos e legislações contém informações prescritivas e são importantes ao projeto, uma vez que as especificações são, usualmente, definidas de acordo com os critérios neles contidos. Ao longo do processo de desenvolvimento de produto, as especificações devem ser verificadas frente aos requisitos extraídos destas regulamentações. Este processo, se realizado manualmente, tende a ser demorado e propenso a erros. Tentativas de desenvolvimento de sistemas de verificação automatizada não se mostraram completamente satisfatórias. Muitos dos problemas estão relacionados à forma como novas abordagens são concebidas, muitas vezes desenvolvidas de acordo com métodos codificados e fragmentados, e à tipologia de informação que está nas normas e regulamentações. A abordagem metodológica utilizada nesta pesquisa foi a Design Science Research. Como artefato, foi desenvolvido um framework com base na abordagem semântica, para fornecer suporte ao desenvolvimento de sistemas de verificação automatizada, com ênfase em requisitos regulamentares no contexto de projetos de edificações hospitalares. As principais contribuições teóricas deste estudo, portanto, estão relacionadas às taxonomias e às transformações da informação, bem como às relações entre os constructos utilizados. Os resultados indicam que a natureza das regulamentações possui impacto significativo na possibilidade de tradução em regra lógica parametrizável. Apesar de a automação ser desejável, os resultados deste estudo indicam, ainda, que atualmente nem todos os requisitos podem ser completamente traduzidos em termos de processamento e verificação automatizados. Apesar de este fato diminuir o nível geral de automatização no processo, ele pode trazer benefícios ao contexto de projetos da saúde. O atendimento de alguns dos requisitos depende em um certo grau, em critérios subjetivos, que estão relacionados à interpretação humana e à criatividade. / Healthcare facilities are recognized for the complexity associated to all phases of their lifecycle: design, construction and operation. The design of healthcare projects is highly influenced by local healthcare regulations. These legislations usually contain prescriptive information and play an important role, as design specifications should be defined based on the criteria defined therein. In the design phase, during the product development process, requirements extracted from legal regulations must be verified against design specifications. This process, if done manually, tends to be time consuming and error prone. Attempts to develop automated rule checking systems for healthcare projects have not been fully successful. Most flaws appear to be related to the way new approaches are conceived, being mostly developed according to hard-coded and fragmented approaches, and the typology of information bounded by the regulations. The methodological approach adopted in this investigation was the Design Science Research. The main outcome of this research study is a semantic-based framework, devised to support the development of automated rule checking systems, focused on regulatory requirements of healthcare building design. The main theoretical contributions of this research work are concerned with the taxonomies and information transformation, as well as the relationships among the constructs involved. The results indicate that the nature of regulations have a major impact on the possibility of translating them into logic rules. Even though automation is desirable, the findings of this study also indicate that currently not all requirements can be fully translated into rules for automated processing and checking. Although this decreases the overall degree of automation in the process, this fact may provide benefits to the healthcare context. The fulfillment of some requirements to some extend should rely on subjective criteria, which depends on human interpretation and creativity.

For many products, the adaptation to customer specifications is essential and requires flexible product design and manufacture while maintaining competitive pricing. Engineering design is often concerned with striking a good balance between product properties, e.g. performance, and the resources required to manufacture and assemble the product. When different courses of action are to be evaluated, even seemingly small changes in customer requirements, product design, and manufacturing properties have to be handled with caution. Small changes can entail products with: low level of conformability with the manufacturing system, highly increased cost, and extended manufacturing lead-time. For most companies, the manufacturing system is a valuable asset that is more or less fixed and only minor adaptations are allowed. This implies that the product design has to be adapted to the manufacturing system to a large extent. Design for producibility (DFP) is the process in which a systematic method is used to reach the required functional properties of the product at the same time as good compliance with the manufacturing system is ensured. The DFP process usually needs to involve several persons simultaneously for the purpose of sharing information and knowledge. For many manufacturing companies, the collaboration between engineering design and production engineering is a critical issue and they have to improve their methods and tools for ensuring and enhancing producibility. This can be achieved by introducing computer-supported design for producibility. The present research is intended to contribute to the development and utilisation of different application systems that can be used as such computer support. The aim is to provide companies with support in application system development and to show how different application systems can be used in a systematic way as means to ensure and enhance producibility. The competitive advantages to gain from introducing computer-supported design for producibility are: product designs with high level of conformability with the production system, shortened manufacturing lead-time, and decreased manufacturing cost. This work contributes to the achievement of these advantages by introducing a framework with principles and models supporting application systems development. Three types of application systems are presented and their practical usefulness is examined, showing practitioners how producibility aspects can be assessed systematically. The main scientific and theoretical contribution of the work comprises: the descriptions concerning how to structure and describe the product and product-related information (manufacturing requirements, costs, process plans and production resources), the foundation of different information models, and the clarification of the models’ interrelationships. This is perceived as a contribution to a better understanding of the domains and how they relate to each other.Design for producibility (DFP) is the process in which a systematic method is used to reach the required functional properties of the product at the same time as good compliance with the manufacturing system is ensured. The DFP process usually needs to involve several persons simultaneously for the purpose of sharing information and knowledge. For many manufacturing companies, the collaboration between engineering design and production engineering is a critical issue and they have to improve their methods and tools for ensuring and enhancing producibility. This can be achieved by introducing computer-supported design for producibility. The present research is intended to contribute to the development and utilisation of different application systems that can be used as such computer support. The aim is to provide companies with support in application system development and to show how different application systems can be used in a systematic way as means to ensure and enhance producibility.

Empreendimentos hospitalares são reconhecidos pela complexidade que está associada a todas as fases de seu ciclo de vida: projeto, construção e operação. Os projetos da saúde são altamente influenciados por regulamentações locais. Estes conjuntos de códigos e legislações contém informações prescritivas e são importantes ao projeto, uma vez que as especificações são, usualmente, definidas de acordo com os critérios neles contidos. Ao longo do processo de desenvolvimento de produto, as especificações devem ser verificadas frente aos requisitos extraídos destas regulamentações. Este processo, se realizado manualmente, tende a ser demorado e propenso a erros. Tentativas de desenvolvimento de sistemas de verificação automatizada não se mostraram completamente satisfatórias. Muitos dos problemas estão relacionados à forma como novas abordagens são concebidas, muitas vezes desenvolvidas de acordo com métodos codificados e fragmentados, e à tipologia de informação que está nas normas e regulamentações. A abordagem metodológica utilizada nesta pesquisa foi a Design Science Research. Como artefato, foi desenvolvido um framework com base na abordagem semântica, para fornecer suporte ao desenvolvimento de sistemas de verificação automatizada, com ênfase em requisitos regulamentares no contexto de projetos de edificações hospitalares. As principais contribuições teóricas deste estudo, portanto, estão relacionadas às taxonomias e às transformações da informação, bem como às relações entre os constructos utilizados. Os resultados indicam que a natureza das regulamentações possui impacto significativo na possibilidade de tradução em regra lógica parametrizável. Apesar de a automação ser desejável, os resultados deste estudo indicam, ainda, que atualmente nem todos os requisitos podem ser completamente traduzidos em termos de processamento e verificação automatizados. Apesar de este fato diminuir o nível geral de automatização no processo, ele pode trazer benefícios ao contexto de projetos da saúde. O atendimento de alguns dos requisitos depende em um certo grau, em critérios subjetivos, que estão relacionados à interpretação humana e à criatividade. / Healthcare facilities are recognized for the complexity associated to all phases of their lifecycle: design, construction and operation. The design of healthcare projects is highly influenced by local healthcare regulations. These legislations usually contain prescriptive information and play an important role, as design specifications should be defined based on the criteria defined therein. In the design phase, during the product development process, requirements extracted from legal regulations must be verified against design specifications. This process, if done manually, tends to be time consuming and error prone. Attempts to develop automated rule checking systems for healthcare projects have not been fully successful. Most flaws appear to be related to the way new approaches are conceived, being mostly developed according to hard-coded and fragmented approaches, and the typology of information bounded by the regulations. The methodological approach adopted in this investigation was the Design Science Research. The main outcome of this research study is a semantic-based framework, devised to support the development of automated rule checking systems, focused on regulatory requirements of healthcare building design. The main theoretical contributions of this research work are concerned with the taxonomies and information transformation, as well as the relationships among the constructs involved. The results indicate that the nature of regulations have a major impact on the possibility of translating them into logic rules. Even though automation is desirable, the findings of this study also indicate that currently not all requirements can be fully translated into rules for automated processing and checking. Although this decreases the overall degree of automation in the process, this fact may provide benefits to the healthcare context. The fulfillment of some requirements to some extend should rely on subjective criteria, which depends on human interpretation and creativity.

Empreendimentos hospitalares são reconhecidos pela complexidade que está associada a todas as fases de seu ciclo de vida: projeto, construção e operação. Os projetos da saúde são altamente influenciados por regulamentações locais. Estes conjuntos de códigos e legislações contém informações prescritivas e são importantes ao projeto, uma vez que as especificações são, usualmente, definidas de acordo com os critérios neles contidos. Ao longo do processo de desenvolvimento de produto, as especificações devem ser verificadas frente aos requisitos extraídos destas regulamentações. Este processo, se realizado manualmente, tende a ser demorado e propenso a erros. Tentativas de desenvolvimento de sistemas de verificação automatizada não se mostraram completamente satisfatórias. Muitos dos problemas estão relacionados à forma como novas abordagens são concebidas, muitas vezes desenvolvidas de acordo com métodos codificados e fragmentados, e à tipologia de informação que está nas normas e regulamentações. A abordagem metodológica utilizada nesta pesquisa foi a Design Science Research. Como artefato, foi desenvolvido um framework com base na abordagem semântica, para fornecer suporte ao desenvolvimento de sistemas de verificação automatizada, com ênfase em requisitos regulamentares no contexto de projetos de edificações hospitalares. As principais contribuições teóricas deste estudo, portanto, estão relacionadas às taxonomias e às transformações da informação, bem como às relações entre os constructos utilizados. Os resultados indicam que a natureza das regulamentações possui impacto significativo na possibilidade de tradução em regra lógica parametrizável. Apesar de a automação ser desejável, os resultados deste estudo indicam, ainda, que atualmente nem todos os requisitos podem ser completamente traduzidos em termos de processamento e verificação automatizados. Apesar de este fato diminuir o nível geral de automatização no processo, ele pode trazer benefícios ao contexto de projetos da saúde. O atendimento de alguns dos requisitos depende em um certo grau, em critérios subjetivos, que estão relacionados à interpretação humana e à criatividade. / Healthcare facilities are recognized for the complexity associated to all phases of their lifecycle: design, construction and operation. The design of healthcare projects is highly influenced by local healthcare regulations. These legislations usually contain prescriptive information and play an important role, as design specifications should be defined based on the criteria defined therein. In the design phase, during the product development process, requirements extracted from legal regulations must be verified against design specifications. This process, if done manually, tends to be time consuming and error prone. Attempts to develop automated rule checking systems for healthcare projects have not been fully successful. Most flaws appear to be related to the way new approaches are conceived, being mostly developed according to hard-coded and fragmented approaches, and the typology of information bounded by the regulations. The methodological approach adopted in this investigation was the Design Science Research. The main outcome of this research study is a semantic-based framework, devised to support the development of automated rule checking systems, focused on regulatory requirements of healthcare building design. The main theoretical contributions of this research work are concerned with the taxonomies and information transformation, as well as the relationships among the constructs involved. The results indicate that the nature of regulations have a major impact on the possibility of translating them into logic rules. Even though automation is desirable, the findings of this study also indicate that currently not all requirements can be fully translated into rules for automated processing and checking. Although this decreases the overall degree of automation in the process, this fact may provide benefits to the healthcare context. The fulfillment of some requirements to some extend should rely on subjective criteria, which depends on human interpretation and creativity.