Aspects of model-based architectural design

Architectural design can be supported by many kinds of models, from
traditional scale models to computer-generated virtual buildings. Models are entities that represent other entities. While represented entities may be arbitrarily complex, models can be highly "reduced", i.e. they may focus only on a limited sub-set of the features of the represented entity, while abstracting from other features. Despite – or perhaps because of – this reduction and abstraction, models can enable their users to effectively explore, document, understand, and predict certain properties and behavior of the architectural objects already in the design stage.

Univ. Prof. DI Dr. Ardeshir Mahdavi
Professor Dr. Ardeshir Mahdavi is the director of the Department of
Building Physics and Building Ecology at the Vienna University of
Technology in Austria. His previous academic appointments include, among others: Professor of Architecture and Building Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, (USA) and Visiting Professor of Building Physics, School of Architecture, National University of Singapore. Professor Mahdavi's research activities cover a wide spectrum of work in building science, including building physics, building performance simulation, building automation, building ecology and sustainable architectural design. Professor Mahdavi is a frequent keynote speaker at scientific conferences and has authored over 300 publications. In the 2005 and 2006, Professor Mahdavi has been consecutively awarded the "Austrian Building Award" in the research projects category.

http://www.bpi.tuwien.ac.at/