BIM-Driven Islamic Construction: Part 2 Digital Libraries A. M. Almaimani 1 and N. O. Nawari 2 1 PhD student, University of Florida, College of Design, Construction & Planning, School of Architecture, P.O. Box 115702, 1480 Inner Road, Gainesville, FL 32611-5702; email: ayadkh@ufl.edu. 2 Associate Professor, University of Florida, College of Design, Construction & Planning, School of Architecture, P.O. Box 115702, 1480 Inner Road, Gainesville, FL 32611-5702; email: nnawari@ufl.edu. ABSTRACT This research focuses on developing Building Information Modelling (BIM) libraries and guidelines for Islamic Architecture (IA). It aims to enhance design and reduce the time and cost for projects that utilize Islamic-styles of architecture. The main objective of Part 2 is to develop BIM-driven (BIM-IA) libraries and guidelines for Islamic Architecture components that are organized chronologically based on Islamic Architecture history. The resultant BIM-IA is intended to be an organized Islamic architecture database that includes the myriad of Islamic building characteristics and styles. The proposed BIM libraries will include most Islamic Architecture forms, styles, characters, construction methods, structural elements, and the various architectural components that can be used projects. Application of this library is demonstrated in an example that designs a mosque. This example shows how the BIM-IA will assist designers when making decisions about mosque design and function while also demonstrating how valuable time and resources can be conserved when searching for optimum design choices. The research strives to advance building informatics by developing parametric digital components and guidelines of Islamic Construction. KEYWORDS Building information modeling (BIM), Islamic Architecture (IA), BIM libraries, IA database, and digital classification. 1
INTRODUCTION Building information Modeling (BIM) is a process that produces digital representations of physical objects. Using this process to produce a digital library of BIM Driven Islamic Construction is an important part of digital architecture. Digital Libraries are important because they add a large amount of data to the existing Architectural Library. A massive amount of data about Islamic Architecture is currently scattered throughout many different resources that is also written in many different languages (Peterson, 1996). Establishing a BIM library for these various resources in a coherent manner will make the ingenious artistic and structural methods of IA consumable by architects and engineers in actual projects thereby enhancing creativity and design skills. This digital library will be a compendium of information about every era of Islamic Architecture which extends as far back as fourteen hundred years ago. It will do this by synchronizing data and three dimensional forms that illustrate Islamic architecture. Furthermore, it will catalogue Islamic architectural forms and elements that can be used to enhance design creativity. The library will help designers access a wide variety of architectural and structural forms in addition to styles that represent different historical eras. These include, for example, Islamic aesthetic features such as brick patterning, the clever use of marble and stone in bands of contrasting colors when stone is a major building material, laying emphasis on ingenious symmetry in design as well as in organization of inner spaces and architectural motifs. The Islamic philosopher Ibn Khaldun (1377) described the subject of aesthetic in Islamic architecture as techniques, language and materials, in which, for instance, the walls come to look like colorful flower beds. The proposed approach will allow the project to have an overarching sense of unity. This means the library will contain similar shapes, elements, constructions, structures, and more importantly a single unified style language. The data provided will help influence design decisions quickly because of testimonies provided in the application and due to its ease of accessibility. Information about various Islamic architectural eras will be immediately available to designers. For instance, a state s history, the most famous buildings or, more importantly, the architectural forms and elements of windows, domes, and spires will be readily accessible. Details about windows, domes and spires will be ready to be taken to fabrication machines so that physical models can be immediately produced. Every form will include data that enriches a designers structural and architectural design understanding of Islamic Architecture.
DIGITAL LIBRARY Models in architecture have always played an important role throughout history. Ancient Egyptians used models in the form of drawings and physical objects. Plans of the Tomb of Rameses IV and the drawing of the shrine from Ghorâb are good examples (Clark and Engelbach, 2014). Models used by the ancient Greeks and Romans have also been discovered (Shattner, 1990). During the middle ages models were used increasingly for the design and construction of cathedrals (Kostof, 1977). These models were used as an integral part of the design and decoration of building exteriors and interiors. The history of architecture finds its origins in a work by the Roman architect Vitruvius (European Architecture Series) who had traced the origination of architecture to the imitation or modeling of nature. He observed that, seeking shelter, humans learned lessons from swallows and bees who built their habitations. Then, Humans started using natural materials to create forms that are based on shapes and proportions found in nature. An example of this is the Vitruvian Man which affirms that the figure of a man could be inscribed in both the circle and the square; the fundamental geometrical forms on which the design universe was ordered. In the modern digital era, modeling has advanced significantly in the last decades. Particularly, building information modeling (BIM), which is fundamentally changing the role of computation in building design by creating a database of building objects that can be used from the design phase to the actual construction of a building (Nawari et. al 2014). This research aims to develop a BIM library for Islamic Architecture. The research study represents a critical step towards Islamic Architecture informatics. 3
Using the digital classification presented in part 1 (Ayad and Nawari, 2015a), a BIM library will be developed using Autodesk Revit software. This digital library is sorted by historical chronology where the architectural elements will then be arranged by the period in which they belong. For example, the BIM-Islamic Architecture library for the Ottoman period will maintain all the architecture elements for that period from the time of its founding to its collapse (Figure 1). Figure 1. Examples of eras and styles forming the BIM library. APPLICATIONS The proposed BIM digital library for Islamic Architecture is intended to provide enhanced guidance and intricate details regarding Islamic Architecture to its user. An organized BIM library will make it easier for designers to learn and gain design ideas from an interactive system that outlines the different Islamic construction eras. Furthermore, focusing on specific Islamic architectural styles will guide the user to design a better building that will have a clear architectural identity. For example, designing a mosque needs a great deal of three dimensional forms and elements to support the design vision. The Islamic Architecture Library, which would
be supported by the building information modeling concept, has all the forms and data that can lead the architects toward their creative vision. The designer can choose the desired template for their design from a list of templates provided by the BIM-driven Islamic construction. For example, if the designer chooses the Ottoman era then all the architectural elements, characters, calligraphy, ornaments, furniture, light fixtures and other elements will be limited to that era (Figures 2 and 3). Figure 2. Digital library application process. This proposed library also has extended benefits during the conceptual design phase. This includes the ability to enhance the expression and meaning of architectural and structural concepts by supplying the user with information and resources that are appended to the library. This can aid the user in identifying and selecting additional resources that are appropriate to their design vision (Figure 3). 5
Figure 3: Appended metadata when accessing the proposed digital library. Islamic Architecture is full of designs, concepts, ideas, and a variety of multi-function buildings that it might prove very difficult to disseminate this information even to specialists. Overcoming the disarray can only be done by using an application that supports the architect with a varied amount of data that can fill gaps of knowledge or missing details about Islamic construction. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed BIM driven Islamic construction library an example of how the library can be used to design a mosque is produced below in Figure 4a-4k. Figure 4a depicts a plan of a mosque and illustrates some of the key elements that will be designed with the help of the proposed digital library. Figure 4b is a 3D view showing additional objects that are necessary for the design of a mosque. Figures 4c and 4d, illustrate how desiners can choose the type of ornamentaion and material from a specific era provided by the proposed digital library. For the design of a Mehrab (Figure 4e), the BIM-driven libray provides the designer with assistance in developing the necessary geomteric properties and type character. The digital library offers also various options for columns and walls (Figure 4f and 4g). Examples of further options for the desing of windows, doors and entrances are given in Figures 4h and 4k.
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (k) Figure 4: Application of BIM-driven Islamic Architecture library in the design of a mosque. 7
CONCLUSION The design of Islamic architecture is approached differently than other civilizations. It contains a large variety of building styles with various forms, characters, functions, construction methods, and more. This research aims to develop a BIM-driven library for Islamic Architecture. It is intended to provide enhanced guidance and a wealth of details about Islamic Architecture as well as culture and art. The proposed BIM library offers designers an opportunity to expand their knowledge and gain creative design ideas from an interactive BIM system that is developed with Islamic construction and civilization in mind. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Authors would like to thank King Abdul-Aziz University, College of Environmental Design, Architecture Department, for sponsoring Mr. Ayad Almaimani s Ph.D. research at the University of Florida. REFERENCES Almaimani, A. and Nawari, N.O. (2015). BIM-Driven Islamic Construction: Part 1-Digital Classification. Proceeding of the 2015 ASCE International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering, June 21 st 23 rd, 2015, Austin, Texas. Britannica, Encyclopædia. Encyclopædia Britannica. Ed. Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 july 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/ebchecked/topic/631310/vitruvius>. Clarke, Somers and R. Engelbach(2014). Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture (Dover Books on Architecture). Dover Publications, 2014. 11 november 2014. Ibn Khaldun (1377). The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History. Translated by Franz Rosenthal, N. J. Dawood (1967), Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01754-9 Kostof, Spiro (1977). The Architect: Chapters in the History of the Profession. Ed. Spiro Kostof. illustrated, reprint. University of California Press, 1977. 20 october 2014. Nawari, O. N. and Kuenstle, M. (2015). Building Information Modeling: A Framework for structural design, CRC Press, April 2015. Peterson, Andrew (1996). Dictionary of Islamic architecture. first edition. london: routlege, 1996.