=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1520/paper26
|storemode=property
|title=Distributed Case-based Support for the Architectural Conceptualization Phase
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1520/paper26.pdf
|volume=Vol-1520
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/iccbr/Ayzenshtadt15
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==Distributed Case-based Support for the Architectural Conceptualization Phase==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1520/paper26.pdf
253
Distributed Case-based Support for the
Architectural Conceptualization Phase
Viktor Ayzenshtadt
University of Hildesheim, Institute of Computer Science
Competence Center Case-Based Reasoning
German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence
Trippstadter Straße , Kaiserslautern, Germany
ayzensht@uni-hildesheim.de
Introduction
When an architect conceptualizes a new building she is very likely in need of
new ideas, solutions and inspiration to create a new design. Metis [ ] is a basic
case-based design research project of the German Research Center for Artificial
Intelligence (DFKI) and the KSD Research Group of the TU Munich that aims to
help architects during the early design concept stage and corresponding building
plans creation by providing them with similar building designs to a created one.
One of the main aspects of the project is the creation of new cases (building
designs) by transforming floorplan sketches with image processing techniques into
graph representations which are based on the Semantic Fingerprint [ ] model.
Another one is the retrieval process that uses a multi-agent system with case-based
agents that are able to apply either subgraph matching or CBR-framework-based
retrieval to find similar building designs. An architect can search for them by
using a web browser-based graphical interface. As usual, the project also includes
participation of experts, who discuss and explain the details and aspects of the
CAAD, CBR and Multi-agent systems research tasks.
In my master thesis I extended the previously existing initial concept of the
retrieval system to provide the core functionality for the project’s retrieval tasks.
This system uses the retrieval container structure where each container acts as a
separate multi-agent system that is only responsible for resolving a single user
query. The retrieval process is coordinated by a corresponding agent. The case
base consists of extracted and imported graph representations of the building
designs. The gateway supports the connection between the core systems and the
user interface.
PhD Research Focus
In my PhD thesis research I am going to concentrate on the research fields named
in Section and continue to study the case-based architectural design support
questions. The implemented retrieval system from the master thesis will be taken
as a base and extended for the further research. In detail, the currently planned
research goals are described in the following sections.
Copyright © 2015 for this paper by its authors. Copying permitted for private and
academic purposes. In Proceedings of the ICCBR 2015 Workshops. Frankfurt, Germany.
254
. Case Representation
This research part will answer the question which model is the most preferable
one for representing architectural design cases in CBD applications – graphs
or attribute-value concepts. The comparison of those models will include the
study on how both of them perform under the same conditions when conducting
retrieval and inserting of new cases. Currently cases consist of graph-based,
GraphML-based [ ], myCBR-based [ ] and ontologically applied multi-agent
communication language FIPA-SL-based floorplan representations that include
room representations and room connections with corresponding attributes and
values. The knowledge for creating those cases is acquired and maintained by the
specific maintainer system agent that obtains, transforms, separates and inserts
building design graphs into the corresponding case bases.
. Retrieval Performance
The cross-validation of both retrieval approaches – subgraph matching and CBR-
framework-based – is another part of the planned research. Here both approaches
will be validated by applying the cross-comparison between those two types.
The aim of this process is to answer the question which of both approaches
provides the highest quality of the retrieval results. Both retrieval models will be
confronted with different user scenarios to find the best suitable method for a
given situation or context.
. Retrieval Coordination
Two currently available retrieval coordination approaches – rule-based and case-
based – are going to be extended to a full functionality and provide a complete
pool of features needed for the relevant query. In addition a cross-comparison of
them as a part of the retrieval performance measurement could be performed as
well. Architectural experts’ help and users’ feedback can be taken into account
and used for the evaluation of the result quality.
. CBR Domain Modelling
The myCBR part of the retrieval system contains the CBR domain that is based
on the structure of the Semantic Fingerprint model. The underlying model of the
domain is going to be improved (with the experts’ help inter alia) and adapted
to the results of the studies named in the previous research goals.
This aim is also valid for the CBR agents, the retrieval system entities that
are responsible for the last step of the retrieval of the similar building designs.
The case-based learning feature of those agents implements an own CBR domain
component. This component is unique for each of the currently existing CBR
agent types. It provides the corresponding agent with the reasoning functionality
in order to support its decision when it comes to select the proper retrieval
strategy and similarity measures.
255
. Applying the Generic Framework Beyond Architectural Design
From the above described multi-agent-system-supported CBR-based retrieval a
generic framework will be developed and applied to other domains than architec-
ture. One specific focus will be under which constraints the generic framework
can help to overcome the inherent complexity of searching for optimal subgraphs.
Based on the results an according domain and task characterization will be
developed. Other research focus will be dealing with the generalization of the
learning agents approach for CBR-based information retrieval for design ideas
generating process. The goal is to formalize and optimize the agents’ experi-
ence and knowledge obtaining, teamwork and communication process in order
to provide an efficient distributed case-based IR approach that is able to find
information with high precision and recall rates in one or more case bases with dif-
ferently (e.g. only partly) structured knowledge representation types and domain
models. Consideration of applying similarity or diversity as the best suitable case
comparison base will also be taken into account and a part of agents’ reasoning
process.
Current Progress
The current progress state is now in the initial phase. The research group of
Metis is currently evaluating the user interface for creating the user queries in
AGraphML (Architectural GraphML) format. The next steps are the integration
of the interface into the retrieval system and the implementation of subgraph
matching algorithms to be able to use them as second possible retrieval approach.
In the following research phase it is planned to find an explicit research
direction of the PhD thesis, that can be either one of the described research foci
or a combination of some of them with or without adding some new aspects that
can appear during the ongoing Metis project discussions.
References
. Brandes, U., Eiglsperger, M., Herman, I., Himsolt, M., Marshall, M.S.: Graphml
progress report structural layer proposal. In: Graph Drawing. pp. – . Springer
( )
. DFKI GmbH: myCBR tutorial information for ICCBR ( ), http://
mycbr-project.net/downloads/myCBR_ _tutorial_slides.pdf
. KSD Research Group: KSD - Forschungsprojekte - metis ( ), http://ksd.ai.ar.
tum.de/?page_id=
. Langenhan, C., Petzold, F.: The fingerprint of architecture-sketch-based design
methods for researching building layouts through the semantic fingerprinting of
floor plans. International electronic scientific-educational journal: Architecture and
Modern Information Technologies , ( )
All links were last followed on July , .