Ecological BIM-based Model Checking

This thesis presents a novel approach to conducting BIM-based Model Checking (BMC) named Ecological BMC. Ecological BMC emphasizes ecological rationality, which emphasizes that it is the context (business and project) that determine the rationality of the statements formalized in the rules used by a BMC system. BMC systems can provide with automation of the design assessment process and yield both more precise and quicker results than traditional design assessment using BIM-models. However, the use of BMC systems in design practices is limited, and many large BMC system developments have been abandoned. The limited use has been identified to be related to socio-technical challenges of how people use the technology, not the technology being unable to conduct the automated assessment. The Ecological BMC approach is a alternative to the traditional developments of BMC systems that suggests letting businesses and their users make their interpretation of the formalized rules and processes. This sets new functional requirements to the BMC systems and emphasizes effectiveness over precision, transparency, flexibility, and trust. The relevance of the Ecological BMC approach was substantiated by empirical studies of building design practitioners conducted in Singapore and Denmark, which has been used to the development of two prototypes. The prototypes were moreover tested by practitioners to general practical knowledge about the use of Ecological BMC systems in practice.