Past, Present and Future: From Evaluation to Project Validation

The paper focuses on the evolution in time of evaluation methodologies and their application; its aim is to provide a frame for spreading their implementation in the design process. In the 60s, they were only used in USA for social and residential housing, and later, in the 90s also in the European Community for territorial planification and government policies. Until now, the real potential of these methodologies has been applied only in few cases such as housing construction by means of Qualitel, HQI, Level(s) or social welfare with Well certification. Due to the increasing spread of BIM (Building Information Modelling), that brings to a technological change based on a different use of the available information, the evaluation process may become part of any design process. Within this scope, Model Checking already enables to check and validate 3D models by controlling interferences (Clash Detection) and coherences with existing rules (Code Checking). The next step, which is a future challenge for the researchers in our discipline, is to develop plug-ins capable to meet the requirements set by designers and stakeholders.