Automated analysis and quantity calculation of balcony elements in IFC

In this paper, we discuss an automated procedure to automatically analyse and extract domain specific construction information from IFC building models. More specifically, we were interested in extracting location potential placement sites for thermal bridges between balconies and their neighbouring floors. For this aim, we developed a web-based platform where balconies could be manually selected to be analysed at a platform which was built upon open-source computational frameworks such as OpenCascade and IfcOpenShell. Moreover, steps to automate classification of balconies and adjacent floor, without manual selection, are discussed along with shortcomings and possible solutions regarding these classifications. The output consisted of elementary attributes such as geometrical coordinates, mass and volume as well as more sophisticated attributes such as the cantilever direction and the equality between balconies. These attributes can then be embedded in practical, day to day, operations.