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SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
Automatic verification of urban index compliance: A case
study for Brazilian buildings
F S Villaschi1*, J P Carvalho2,3 and L Bragança2,3
1
FSV Projetos, Vila Velha, Espírito Santo, Brazil*
2
Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE),
University of Minho, Guimarães, Portugal
3
University of Minho, School of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department,
Guimarães, Portugal
Abstract. Urban planning has become an essential tool for regulating the cities' growth,
maintaining the local urban identity and providing a good quality of life for its inhabitants. In
Brazil, the master plan is the primary policy instrument for urban development and expansion.
It defines the common requirements that designers must follow when preparing building
projects. Up to date, such projects are verified in project latter stages and eventually approved
by the city halls, with a manual calculation and assessment process. This procedure creates both
the need to assess project compliance earlier to avoid rework and changes, as well as to automate
project verification compliance, to reduce human errors. With the emergence of new
technologies and computational systems, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), creates
the opportunity for process automation, by providing the required data to support decision
making, as well as to automate the calculation process both for designers and municipalities.
Thus, this research aims to develop an assessment procedure which automates the compliance
assessment of a set of urban requirements from Vila Velha, Brazil. A BIM model was developed
in Autodesk Revit to prove the procedure functionality and Dynamo was used to automate data
collection and the calculation of three different indexes from Vila Velha’s building code. By
providing a fast and reliable analysis, the research framework provides designers with a real-
time decision support tool, which indicates building compliance in the project's early stages. It
also provides municipalities with a calculation tool, which can be used to assess the compliance
of submitted BIM models, sparing time and avoiding assessment errors. Overall, the procedure
has the potential to support building project design, increase process efficiency and accelerate
the verification of mandatory requirements. It also offers the possibility for replication by
adapting the routine to the mandatory requirements of each location.
Keywords: BIM; Automatic code compliance; Computer Design; Urban Index
1. Introduction
Building design and construction processes are usually oriented by several regulations and guidelines.
The requirements for those regulations are constantly evolving and include a set of data that must be
complied by construction projects. Automatic code compliance has been widely addressed over the past
years, given the need to adapt building projects to the mandatory regulatory requirements. Following
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SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
the recent emergence of Building Information Modelling (BIM), automated code verification has once
again attracted researchers' attention, as BIM offers a set of potentialities to improve the analysis [1-3].
BIM can be described as a working method that allows managing all the project design and data in a
virtual environment during the project life cycle [4]. It has the potential to support project design and
analysis, as it allows to store different multi-disciplinary information into a single digital model,
improving process efficiency and reducing project errors and incompatibilities.
Following the need for building projects to comply with the local regulations, both designers and city
halls experts must guarantee that submitted projects always consider the regulation requirements. Such
procedure is usually made with a manual process, requiring time and opening a gap for assessment and
calculation errors. With the increasing design and project complexity [2], together with the increasing
number of building requirements for different types of buildings [5], manual compliance analyses tend
to be very time consuming, requiring deep knowledge about the building, often leading to many analyses
errors and delaying the verification procedure [6-7]. With the support of BIM, new approaches for
automatic code compliance have been developed, allowing for better and more comprehensive
procedures. In 2009, Eastman et al. [8] have defined the main four tasks which must be followed when
performing automated code compliance: (1) Rule interpretation, which consists of the identification of
applied requirements and translation to computer-processable language; (2) Building model preparation,
which is the designing of a digital BIM model; (3) Rule execution (3), which consist on the execution
of the identified rules, using text format coding or Visual Programming Language (VPL); and (4) rule
compliance report, which summarizes the analysis result. As in previous successful studies [9], this
research will adopt this same procedure to carry out this study. For the rule execution task, VPL language
was used through Dynamo software, as it is more transparent and easier to understand, especially for
architecture, engineering and construction stakeholders who usually have limited knowledge of
information technologies.
1.1. Legislation
As the present research will focus on Brazilian buildings, the local regulation will be considered. The
main instrument to regulate Brazilian construction is the urban master plan, which defines several rules
for buildings, depending on the building type, location, and use. Figure 1 summarizes the Brazilian
regulation [10], where the municipal master plan was developed to define the mandatory requirements
for urban development and expansion. It comprises a set of guiding principles and rules for designers to
plan quality and comfortable construction for citizens. City halls are responsible to verify the project's
compliance to certify if the building can be built in that location, with its specified characteristics. The
city hall approval is mandatory to issue construction permits.
Along with the land use plan, the Brazilian master plans include city zoning and building codes. City
zoning usually determines what building types and uses can be built in each identified zone. Building
codes establish the rules for organising the building interiors and requirements for habitability. These
rules apply to new and existing buildings and aim to provide occupants with a healthy indoor
environment. Under the scope of the local building codes, the most notorious requirements are the
minimum window area, to ensure proper lighting and ventilation, the minimum room area, and the
minimum ceiling height. This study will focus the research on Vila Velha’s building code, addressing
and evaluating these three main indexes.
2
SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
Figure 1. Brazilian legislation.
The requirements limits are usually defined locally by each municipality, depending on the building
type. Every municipality must guarantee that the master plan requirements are being complied with,
usually with a typically time-consuming process. Many municipalities are looking for innovative
systems and improvements to reduce the bureaucracy of internal procedures and increase the
convenience and agility of such construction processes [11]. Therefore, this study aims to develop an
automatic analysis method to minimise time and avoid errors when performing automatic code
compliance for building projects in Brazil. By using a characterised BIM model and a routine created in
Dynamo, the required data for the analysis is automatically collected and processed to quickly provide
designers and municipalities with a compliance report of the local building code.
2. Materials and Methods
To achieve the research objective, the specific case of Vila Velha’s (Brazil) building code is considered.
As stated earlier, currently, city halls usually adopt a manual procedure to verify building code
compliance and Vila Velha municipality is no exception. Despite the need to submit a digital process,
the building code compliance is made manually, requiring each analyst or expert to carefully review
each project according to the current legislation, which costs time, delays the approval process, and
creates room for calculation and misunderstanding inaccuracies. Combined with the need to provide
designers with a real-time decision-making tool, this research aims to develop an automated evaluation
method to verify the building code compliance of Brazilian construction projects.
2.1. Methodology
An automated routine will be developed and applied to a building case study to accomplish the research
objectives. The methodology is divided into four different stages, as presented in Figure 2 and according
to the identified procedure made by Eastman et al[8].
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SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
Figure 2. Research methodology.
The first step will be the rule design, where the building code requirements will be identified and
translated to software code [11]. Then, the case study BIM model will be created within Autodesk Revit,
which was selected due to its capability to develop personal interfaces through Dynamo (VPL).
Moreover, Autodesk Revit is also the most used BIM platform among researchers on the topic [12,13].
To carry out the modelling procedure, an Autodesk Revit template was used, containing predefined
schedules of room types, windows, and rooms, to facilitate data collection from Dynamo to quickly
proceed with the analysis. After that, the Dynamo routine will be developed to collect and compare the
schedule data for the analysis and perform the intended calculations. The results for each parameter are
compared with the local building code requirements to assess building compliance. After running the
Dynamo routine, a compliance report is generated, indicating if the building project can be approved
and a construction permit can be issued.
2.2. Case Study
The selected case study (Figure 3) is a single-story residential building in Vila Velha, Brazil. It has some
of the most representative features of Brazilian houses - a detached single-family house with a colonial
tile roof and brick masonry. The house has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a laundry room, a dining room, a
living room, a balcony, and a garage. The building's total useful area is 72.23 m2 and each compartment
name, area and ceiling height are described in Figure 3. The total window area is 9.12 m2, corresponding
to 12.63% of the floor plan area.
Figure 3. Case study floor plan (in meters).
3. Results
The first step was the identification of Vila Velha’s building code requirements. For a residential
building, the following requirements must be fulfilled: Minimum ceiling height, minimum compartment
area and minimum window area for ventilation and lighting. These minimum limits are defined in Annex
VI of the local building code, according to Table 1. The building code defines the minimum area and
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SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
ceiling height for each compartment type, as well as the minim window area based on the compartment
floor area.
Table 1. Vila Velha building code minimum requirements
Minimum Service Social Living
Hall Kitchen Pantry Laundry Garage
requirements Bathroom Bathroom room
Area (m2) 1.00 1.60 2.50 10.00 4.50 1.60 1.60 10.35
Window area - 1/8 1/8 1/6 1/8 1/10 1/10 1/20
Ceiling height
2.30 2.30 2.30 2.60 2.30 2.60 2.30 2.30
(m)
During the modelling stage, a set of guidelines must be followed for the proper functionality of the
Dynamo routine: a personalised template should be used, previously characterised with the local
building code requirements; the user must create rooms for every compartment and characterise them
accordingly; and the building walls must be segmented in every intersection, as the routine will associate
windows area to each compartment wall. The personalised template was created to automate the
compilation and collection of the required building data for the local code analysis. By organising the
information, the template quickly provides all the input data for the Dynamo routine. For each
compartment, schedules identify whether the room should have a window, the minimum floor area for
each room type, the minimum window area, and the minimum ceiling height. This process has been
automated in the Autodesk Revit template by converting the model rooms into a list that contains sub-
lists of information for each room, including the required data for analysis. This data is then used to
verify if the building compartments comply with the building code requirements. Thus, the applied
template has created specific schedules of windows and rooms (Table 2 and 3), which lists all the
required data (dimensions and number of windows, room area, and the ceiling height) to proceed with
the analysis in the dynamo routine.
Table 2. Case study window schedule
Width Height Sill Height
Type Mark Quantity
(m) (m) (m)
J1 0.80 0.60 1.50 1
J2 1.50 1.20 1.10 4
J3 1.20 1.20 1.10 1
Table 3. Case study room schedule
Ceiling
Name Room Type Area (m²)
Height (m)
Kitchen Kitchen/dinning room 2.50 8.26
Bedroom Bedroom 2.60 8.91
Bedroom Bedroom 2.60 10.50
Bathroom Social Bathroom 2.40 3.19
Living room Living room 2.70 12.98
Laundry Laundry 2.70 2.99
Balcony Undefined 2.70 4.20
Hall Hall 2.70 1.27
Dining room Kitchen/dinning room 2.70 11.76
Garage Garage 3.00 32.40
The local building code requirements for each room type were previously introduced in the Autodesk
Revit template (based on Table 1) and organised into a schedule (Table 4). After that, the Dynamo
routine will use this data to compare it with the properties of the BIM model (from Tables 2 and 3). The
results will certify whether the BIM model meets the local building code or not. If a room is not required
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SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
to meet any of these requirements, the "Key Name" should not meet any of the listed names. Also, if a
room is not required to have windows, the user can deselect it and exclude it from the analysis. The user
must prepare the project and name each compartment according to the names specified in the local
building code (and in the Autodesk Revit template).
Table 4. Room schedule
Minimum Minimum
Include in Minimum
Key Name Windows Ceiling
analysis? Area (m²)
Area (m²) Height (m)
Bedroom Yes 7.00 0.17 2.60
Garage Yes 10.35 0.05 2.30
Hall Yes 1.00 0.00 2.30
Kitchen/dining room Yes 4.50 0.13 2.30
Laundry Yes 1.60 0.10 2.30
Living room Yes 10.00 0.17 2.60
Pantry Yes 1.60 0.13 2.60
Service Bathroom Yes 1.60 0.13 2.30
Bedroom Yes 7.00 0.17 2.60
Garage Yes 10.35 0.05 2.30
After characterising the model, the dynamo routine of Appendix 1 was developed to carry on the
analysis. Overall, it captures the information from the BIM model and automatically performs the model
verification according to the building code requirements. The analysis is made by comparing the
building code requirements for the minimum window area, room area and ceiling height (Table 4) with
the BIM model characteristics (Tables 2 and 3). The adopted case study has failed in complying with
the minimum window area, as the laundry compartment has no windows, while the minimum
requirement is to have 0.10 m2 of windows. For the remaining two indexes, the case study has been
successfully approved.
The result of the routine consists of a compliance report indicating if the building complies with the
local building code. If a negative output is reached, the Dynamo routine identifies which criteria is not
being met, according to the considered regulations. The compliance report output summarises the results
for minimum window area, minimum room area, and minimum ceiling height.
4. Discussion
The applied methodology has successfully automated the building code compliance criteria for a case
study in Vila Velha, Brazil. The procedure was significantly faster than the typical analysis process, as
it automated data collection and processing, proving reliable results. It has also avoided common human
errors in assessing data and performing calculations. This method can effectively support designers by
providing a real-time decision support tool, allowing for design optimisation. Municipalities can also
take advantage of the research outcomes, with an automated process to verify building compliance and
reduce the required time to issue build permits.
The workflow created in Autodesk Revit and Dynamo has considered specific modelling guidelines
to properly collect the required data from the BIM model. A personal template with predefined schedules
was used to facilitate and improve data collection. The template is mandatory for the analysis, as the
Dynamo routine uses schedules data to perform the calculations. To avoid the template, a new Dynamo
routine can be made, replicating the same actions. However, Dynamo routines must be executed
separately and by order (1st create schedules; 2nd perform analysis).
Despite the useful successful analysis, the applied method seems to have a couple of limitations. The
compliance report presentation must be assessed directly in Dynamo, requiring the need to open the
routine to assess results. To avoid this need, a node from “datashapes” [14] can be used, which allows
presenting a given result or information directly in the Autodesk Revit environment. The template is
already characterised with Vila Velha building code data. For replicability, the template must be
manually adapted. Once again, the development of a new Dynamo routine to replicate the template can
be a possible solution. Such routine can create new “shared parameters”, so the users would be able to
introduce their local building code limits.
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SBE-BERLIN-2022 IOP Publishing
Series: Earth and Environmental Science
IOP Conf. 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
Another key factor is the use of Autodesk Revit 2022 in English and Dynamo version 2.10. As software
is continuously receiving new updates, the functionality of the template and routine must be carefully
evaluated in different software versions. Authors can assume that the routine will work properly in newer
versions since only base nodes were used.
For the method replicability for other Brazilian locations, minor efforts are expected. The Autodesk
Revit template must be updated with the local building code limits. As building requirements may
change in other countries, international replicability is not guaranteed but insights can be taken.
5. Conclusion
This study has developed a workflow for the automation of building code compliance of a case study in
Brazil. By using Autodesk Revit and Dynamo software, the adopted methodology can support building
design by evaluating its compliance with the local regulations. The use of BIM provides the required
resources for faster and more reliable data collection and analysis, as well as important data for decision
making in the design phase. Municipalities can also use it as an innovative tool to quickly assess building
compliance with the local building code.
The applied software has the potential to store the necessary multidisciplinary information and
perform the required analysis. It can significantly support design, as well as reduce the administrative
processes of issuing construction permits. Despite the limitations, it has proven to be quite reliable and
offers a few ways to overcome them. Overall, it has been concluded that automatic code compliance
with BIM will become an essential tool for designers and municipalities, as administrative institutions
and construction companies are increasingly integrating digitalization into their procedures.
In future works, it is suggested the automation of new urban indexes, as well as the inclusion of different
building types and distinct locations.
Funding: This research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, through
the Regional Operation Programme of North (Grant number SFRH/BD/145735/2019).
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IOP Conf. 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
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IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1078 (2022) 012041 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1078/1/012041
