Generative Interior Design using BIM

Abstract

Computational methods for automatically generating multiple valid alternative solutions to design problems offer the potential for creativity and innovation, by efficiently creating a potentially much larger number of alternatives, among which to select the design that best suits a variety of criteria. In this paper, we present our work on a particular instance of the general generative-design problem, namely the task of generating 3D kitchen layouts, based on a BIM model of the kitchen space, a product catalog of 3D models of kitchen furnishings, and a set of kitchen design rules. Our generative-design method starts with an empty kitchen and implements a heuristic search of the solution space by incrementally selecting and placing a required item and checking the degree to which the resulting model complies with the given kitchen design rules. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our method by comparing the designs it produces against a set of real-world kitchen examples, obtained from architecture diagrams available online.