IfcBuildingElement

Semantic definitions at the entity

Entity definition

The building element comprises all elements that are primarily part of the construction of a building, i.e., its structural and space separating system. Building elements are all physically existent and tangible things

NOTE Definition from ISO 6707-1:
Major functional part of a building, examples are foundation, floor, roof, wall.

This IfcBuildingElement is a generalization of all elements that participate in a building system. Typical examples of IfcBuildingElement 's are (among others):

building elements within a space separation systems
building elements within an enclosure system (such as a facade)
building elements within a fenestration system
building elements within a load bearing system
building elements within a foundation system

EXAMPLE Building elements are walls, curtain wall, doors, columns, pile, and others.

The IfcBuildingElement is an abstract entity that cannot be instantiated. For arbitrary building elements, that cannot be expressed by a subtype of IfcBuildingElement, use IfcBuildingElementProxy.

HISTORY New entity in IFC1.0

Formal Propositions

Rule	Description
MaxOneMaterialAssociation	There should be only a maximum of one material association assigned to an building element. NOTE The material association can assign a single material, a set of materials, a set of material layers, or a set of material profiles by a single association relationship. FC2x4 CHANGE The where rule has been promoted from the subtype IfcWall.

Rule

Description

MaxOneMaterialAssociation

There should be only a maximum of one material association assigned to an building element.

NOTE The material association can assign a single material, a set of materials, a set of material layers, or a set of material profiles by a single association relationship.

FC2x4 CHANGE The where rule has been promoted from the subtype IfcWall.

Inherited definitions from supertypes

Entity inheritance

Attribute inheritance

#	Attribute	Type	Cardinality	Description	B
IfcRoot
1	GlobalId	IfcGloballyUniqueId	[1:1]	Assignment of a globally unique identifier within the entire software world.	X
2	OwnerHistory	IfcOwnerHistory	[0:1]	Assignment of the information about the current ownership of that object, including owning actor, application, local identification and information captured about the recent changes of the object, NOTE only the last modification in stored - either as addition, deletion or modification.	X
3	Name	IfcLabel	[0:1]	Optional name for use by the participating software systems or users. For some subtypes of IfcRoot the insertion of the Name attribute may be required. This would be enforced by a where rule.	X
4	Description	IfcText	[0:1]	Optional description, provided for exchanging informative comments.	X
IfcObjectDefinition
	HasAssignments	IfcRelAssigns @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Reference to the relationship objects, that assign (by an association relationship) other subtypes of IfcObject to this object instance. Examples are the association to products, processes, controls, resources or groups.	X
	Nests	IfcRelNests @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	References to the decomposition relationship being a nesting. It determines that this object definition is a part within an ordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object occurrence or type can only be part of a single decomposition (to allow hierarchical strutures only).
	IsNestedBy	IfcRelNests @RelatingObject	S[0:?]	References to the decomposition relationship being a nesting. It determines that this object definition is the whole within an ordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object or object type can be nested by several other objects (occurrences or types).	X
	HasContext	IfcRelDeclares @RelatedDefinitions	S[0:1]	References to the context providing context information such as project unit or representation context. It should only be asserted for the uppermost non-spatial object.
	IsDecomposedBy	IfcRelAggregates @RelatingObject	S[0:?]	References to the decomposition relationship being an aggregation. It determines that this object definition is whole within an unordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object definitions can be aggregated by several other objects (occurrences or parts).	X
	Decomposes	IfcRelAggregates @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	References to the decomposition relationship being an aggregation. It determines that this object definition is a part within an unordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object definitions can only be part of a single decomposition (to allow hierarchical strutures only).	X
	HasAssociations	IfcRelAssociates @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Reference to the relationship objects, that associates external references or other resource definitions to the object.. Examples are the association to library, documentation or classification.	X
IfcObject
5	ObjectType	-		This attribute is out of scope for this model view definition and shall not be set.
	IsTypedBy	IfcRelDefinesByType @RelatedObjects	S[0:1]	Set of relationships to the object type that provides the type definitions for this object occurrence. The then associated IfcTypeObject, or its subtypes, contains the specific information (or type, or style), that is common to all instances of IfcObject, or its subtypes, referring to the same type.	X
	IsDefinedBy	IfcRelDefinesByProperties @RelatedObjects	S[0:?]	Set of relationships to property set definitions attached to this object. Those statically or dynamically defined properties contain alphanumeric information content that further defines the object.	X
IfcProduct
6	ObjectPlacement	IfcObjectPlacement	[0:1]	Placement of the product in space, the placement can either be absolute (relative to the world coordinate system), relative (relative to the object placement of another product), or constraint (e.g. relative to grid axes). It is determined by the various subtypes of IfcObjectPlacement, which includes the axis placement information to determine the transformation for the object coordinate system.	X
7	Representation	IfcProductRepresentation	[0:1]	Reference to the representations of the product, being either a representation (IfcProductRepresentation) or as a special case a shape representations (IfcProductDefinitionShape). The product definition shape provides for multiple geometric representations of the shape property of the object within the same object coordinate system, defined by the object placement.	X
	ReferencedBy	IfcRelAssignsToProduct @RelatingProduct	S[0:?]	Reference to the IfcRelAssignsToProduct relationship, by which other products, processes, controls, resources or actors (as subtypes of IfcObjectDefinition) can be related to this product.	X
IfcElement
8	Tag	IfcIdentifier	[0:1]	The tag (or label) identifier at the particular instance of a product, e.g. the serial number, or the position number. It is the identifier at the occurrence level.	X
	ConnectedTo	IfcRelConnectsElements @RelatingElement	S[0:?]	Reference to the element connection relationship. The relationship then refers to the other element to which this element is connected to.
	HasOpenings	IfcRelVoidsElement @RelatingBuildingElement	S[0:?]	Reference to the IfcRelVoidsElement relationship that creates an opening in an element. An element can incorporate zero-to-many openings. For each opening, that voids the element, a new relationship IfcRelVoidsElement is generated.	X
	ConnectedFrom	IfcRelConnectsElements @RelatedElement	S[0:?]	Reference to the element connection relationship. The relationship then refers to the other element that is connected to this element.	X
	ContainedInStructure	IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure @RelatedElements	S[0:1]	Containment relationship to the spatial structure element, to which the element is primarily associated. This containment relationship has to be hierachical, i.e. an element may only be assigned directly to zero or one spatial structure.
	PositionedFrom	IfcRelPositions @RelatingElement	S[0:1]	Indicates a constrained placement, where the ObjectPosition must match positioning defined according to the referenced positioning element.	X
IfcBuildingElement

Definitions applying to Bridge View

Concept inheritance

#	Concept	Model View
IfcRoot
	Software Identity	Bridge View
	User Identity	Bridge View
	Object Ownership	Bridge View
IfcObject
	Property Sets for Objects	Bridge View
IfcElement
	Element Occurrence Attributes	Bridge View
	Product Local Placement	Bridge View
	Product Assignment	Bridge View

Formal representations

XSD Specification

 <xs:element name="IfcBuildingElement" type="ifc:IfcBuildingElement" abstract="true" substitutionGroup="ifc:IfcElement" nillable="true"/>

 <xs:complexType name="IfcBuildingElement" abstract="true">

  <xs:complexContent>

   <xs:extension base="ifc:IfcElement"/>

  </xs:complexContent>

 </xs:complexType>

EXPRESS Specification


ENTITY IfcBuildingElement

 ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF(ONEOF(IfcBeam, IfcColumn, IfcCovering, IfcFooting, IfcMember, IfcPile, IfcPlate, IfcRailing, IfcRamp, IfcRampFlight, IfcSlab, IfcWall))

 SUBTYPE OF (IfcElement);

 WHERE

  MaxOneMaterialAssociation : SIZEOF (QUERY(temp <* SELF\IfcObjectDefinition.HasAssociations |
  'IFCPRODUCTEXTENSION.IFCRELASSOCIATESMATERIAL' IN TYPEOF(temp)
  )) <= 1;
END_ENTITY;

 EXPRESS-G diagram

Link to this page

	Bauteil / Bauelement
	Building Element
	Elément de construction