Abstract:
Capital Budgeting has been regarded as one of the most important steps inthe feasibility study of building construction projects. The process mainly involvesarchitectural and engineering conceptual design. Attributes for architectural designsuch as esthetic, functions, regulations, and owners requirements must beconsidered. Appropriate structural systems are then selected to suit the requirementsand functions specified in the previous step. These tasks are complicated, timeconsumingand knowledge-intensive in nature, necessitating the use of experiencearchitects and engineers.This study presents a method aimed at assisting architects and engineers inperforming conceptual design and cost estimates for mid-rise building projects. Themethod employs a widely known AI technique called the knowledge-based approachto model the conceptual design process. A prototype knowledge system namelyMID-RISE has been developed. The system can be used to generate a number ofpractical floor-layout alternatives according to the size of the plot and usersrequirements. The height of the building is then checked with the official regulationsdepending on the locality of the project. In addition, MID-RISE can also performpreliminary structural design as well as cost estimating. The project costs determinedusing the proposed system are compared to those performed by human experts andare found to be fairly accurate (about 4.47% overestimation). The methodologyproposed in this study can be used in other areas in the civil engineering discipline.