zijian.wang@campus.technion.ac.il

Host institution: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Project Title: Graph Representation of BIM Models for Semantic Enrichment and Interoperability

Abstract: Even with state-of-the-art BIM technology, design teams from different disciplines still encounter the challenge of sharing building models. The current file-based approach for exchanging BIM information is limited, as it is incapable of seamless interoperability among different platforms and cannot infer implicit semantics, resulting in poor data quality. This research aims to validate the feasibility of representing BIM models as graphs for solving the interoperability problem. Graphs compiled from BIM models will be supplemented with implicit information by semantic enrichment and linked together for design intent applications. During the process, graph neural networks (GNN) and other artificial intelligence (AI) techniques will be applied to enrich the semantics of BIM graphs, and SemanticWeb techniques will be utilized to link and query graphs. This research will prove that graph representation is a suitable approach for storing and linking BIM models, and that intelligent functions can be achieved on the linked graphs to improve collaboration efficiency. Therefore, graphs could be a possible approach to ease the interoperability problem. If successful, the work will establish the basis for deploying novel collaboration functions on graphs and contribute to the future Cloud BIM paradigm.

Enrolment in Doctoral degree: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, PhD Civil Eng. 

Advisor:  Rafael Sacks