The notion of pre-construction, post-occupancy evaluation of buildings may sound like a hypothetical brain-teaser. But the best current AEC software actually combines the ability to manage geometry, or what a building looks like, with the data attributes of all the building components represented by that geometry. Comprehensive sets of design and construction data, from specifications of building materials to operational characteristics of building equipment, can go beyond serving the design information needs of architects and their clients, such as defining the building's appearance, how people will move through it, and what will be their likely experience of the building's thermal, acoustical, illumination, and other performance characteristics (see "Six Degrees of Simulation," June 2001, pg. 30). The same data can be extended throughout the construction phase, the "C" in AEC, to help predict and manage the sequencing and scheduling of building components in accordance with a master project timetable, a process sometimes called 4D simulation (for the three spatial dimensions, plus time). True data-centric design has the capacity to carry material and equipment attributes forward after the construction phase into building operations or facility management.
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