The CORE Object Model

This set out the basic class structure and internal relationships: a project consists of Elements, which have both architectural entities and the graphical entities used to represent them. The real design data lies in the architectural entities. Objects as walls, floors, roofs exist next to objects like spaces, activities etc… They are the basic objects a designer is working with. Links are used to describe relationships between elements and representations are used to display the data in different ways.

The data structure makes a clear distinction between the conceptual and the graphical information for a particular element.

The graphical representation (using lines, surfaces or solids) will be automatically generated by the conceptual entities, which contain the real data. Each conceptual entity is an abstract object (such as physical element, space, masterplan block, grid etc…). Each has a name and ID and provides basic functionality for linking and making a hierarchy. By assigning a certain “type” to this conceptual entity, its real functionality is chosen (such as Wall or Floor for Physical Elements and UserSpace for Spaces). The type contains the instance-specific information (e.g. size, length, height, control points) together with the behavior of this particular kind of object. By choosing a “composition”, information that is shared between different elements can be added (such as its internal set of material layers).