Today's architectural engineering and construction (AEC) software require a learning curve to generate a three-dimension building representation. This limits the ability to quickly validate the volumetric implications of an initial design idea communicated via a single sketch. Allowing designers to translate a single sketch to a 3D building will enable owners to instantly visualize 3D project information without the cognitive load required. If previous state-of-the-art (SOTA) data-driven methods for single view reconstruction (SVR) showed outstanding results in the reconstruction process from a single image or sketch, they lacked specific applications, analysis, and experiments in the AEC. Therefore, this research addresses this gap, introducing the first deep learning method focused only on buildings that aim to convert a single sketch to a 3D building mesh: Vitruvio. Vitruvio adapts Occupancy Network for SVR tasks on a specific building dataset (Manhattan 1K). This adaptation brings two main improvements. First, it accelerates the inference process by more than 26% (from 0.5s to 0.37s). Second, it increases the reconstruction accuracy (measured by the Chamfer Distance) by 18%. During this adaptation in the AEC domain, we evaluate the effect of the building orientation in the learning procedure since it constitutes an important design factor. While aligning all the buildings to a canonical pose improved the overall quantitative metrics, it did not capture fine-grain details in more complex building shapes (as shown in our qualitative analysis). Finally, Vitruvio outputs a 3D-printable building mesh with arbitrary topology and genus from a single perspective sketch, providing a step forward to allow owners and designers to communicate 3D information via a 2D, effective, intuitive, and universal communication medium: the sketch.

A building self-shading shape impacts substantially on the amount of direct sunlight received by the building and contributes significantly to building operational energy use, in addition to other major contributing variables, such as materials and window-to-wall ratios. Deep Learning has the potential to assist designers and engineers by efficiently predicting building energy performance. This paper assesses the applicability of two different neural networks structures, Dense Neural Network (DNN) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), for predicting building operational energy use with respect to building shape. The comparison between the two neural networks shows that the DNN model surpasses the CNN model in performance, simplicity, and computation time. However, image-based CNN has the benefit of utilizing architectural graphics that facilitates design communication.

The paper describes the first phase of development of a Case-Base Reasoning (CBR) system to support early conceptual design of buildings. As specific context of application, the research focuses on energy performance of commercial buildings, and the early identification of energy-related features that contribute to its outcomes. The hypothesis is that bringing knowledge from relevant precedents may facilitate this identification process, thus offering a significant contribution for early analysis and decision-making. The paper introduces a proof-of-concept for such a system, proposing a novel integration of Case-Based Reasoning, Parametric Modeling (Building Information Modeling), and Ontology Classification. Potential advantages and limitations of this three-level integration approach are discussed along with recommendations for future development.