The construction industry is currently experiencing a strong wave of digitization. This is especially true for complex buildings, such as infrastructure projects. Such projects have a very long planning and construction period and are often implemented during ongoing operations. This often leads to delays and cost increases. This can be countered with new digital applications.

It is against this background that the BEYOND project consortium has come together. BEYOND will explore how the combination of Building Information Modeling (BIM), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and pedestrian flow simulation can make the design of large infrastructure projects more cost-effective, faster, higher quality, and less error-prone. To this end, methods and technologies are being developed to support architects and engineers in the decision-making process in the early stages of planning or redesigning station buildings. By taking into account the movement of people during normal operations and evacuations, the safety and security of station buildings can be significantly improved. The feasibility of this approach has already been demonstrated in the predecessor project AHEAD. This will now be continued in BEYOND with an extended consortium.

Based on an exemplary station model, data structures, algorithms and technical procedures for the fast check of different variants of the BIM models are developed in close cooperation with the project partners. This interdisciplinary work and close integration with practical applications is ought to ensure the later use of the models. Therefore, regular meetings with national and international BIM experts will take place during the project in order to map both national and international requirements. A standardized data interface is to guarantee a manufacturer-independent usability from the technical side.

With BEYOND, variants of building designs can then be examined more quickly for safety aspects, decision-making can be supported more sustainably and thus better solutions can be found.