ABSTRACT
Building performance simulation results are commonly expressed in terms of numeric values of performance indicators. Such indicators involve multiple domains, different aspects, and varying degrees of resolution. They are used, amongst other things, to demonstrate compliance with building code requirements, generate building quality certificates, and rank building design alternatives. Despite their pervasiveness and familiarity, there have been few attempts to establish a robust and comprehensive ontology of building performance indicators. The present contribution is about an effort toward forming such an ontology. A number of motivations can be listed for an effort of this kind. Generally speaking, ontologies can help structure the conceptual and semantic constituents of a domain and thus improve the efficiency of communication processes and developmental work in that domain. More specifically, a performance indicator ontology can advance the specification process of building performance requirements, improve the understanding of performance procurement principles, and provide a structured basis for developing broadly deployable data visualization engines.
