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IfcSpatialStructureElement

Definition from IAI: A spatial structure element (IfcSpatialStructureElement) is the generalization of all spatial elements that might be used to define a spatial structure. That spatial structure is often used to provide a project structure to organize a building project.

A spatial project structure might define as many levels of decomposition as necessary for the building project. Elements within the spatial project structure are:

or aggregations or parts thereof. The composition type declares an element to be either an element itself, or an aggregation (complex) or a decomposition (part). The interpretation of these types is given at each subtype of IfcSpatialStructureElement.

The IfcRelAggregates is defined as an 1-to-many relationship and used to establish the relationship between exactly two levels within the spatial project structure. Finally the highest level of the spatial structure is assigned to IfcProject using the IfcRelAggregates.

Informal proposition:

  1. The spatial project structure, established by the IfcRelAggregates, shall be acyclic.
  2. A site should not be (directly or indirectly) associated to a building, storey or space.
  3. A building should not be (directly or indirectly) associated to a storey or space.
  4. A storey should not be (directly or indirectly) associated to a space.

HISTORY New entity in IFC Release 2.x
NOTE Previous entity IfcSpatialElement has been replaced.
ISSUE See issue and change log for changes made in IFC Release 2.x

Use case:

fig1
The figure shows the use of IfcRelAggregates to establish a spatial structure including site, building, building section and storey.

EXPRESS specification:

ENTITY IfcSpatialStructureElement
ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF (ONEOF(IfcBuilding, IfcBuildingStorey, IfcSpace, IfcSite))
SUBTYPE OF ( IfcProduct);
LongName  :  OPTIONAL IfcLabel;
CompositionType  :  IfcElementCompositionEnum;
INVERSE
ContainsElements  :  SET OF IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure FOR RelatingStructure;
END_ENTITY;

Attribute definitions:

LongName  :  Long name for a spatial structure element, used for informal purposes. Maybe used in conjunction with the inherited Name attribute.
CompositionType  :  Denotes, whether the predefined spatial structure element represents itself, or an aggregate (complex) or a part (part). The interpretation is given separately for each subtype of spatial structure element.
ContainsElements  :  Set of relationships, that holds those elements, which are associated with this element of the spatial project structure.

References (6):

Name Type Referred through Express-G
IfcBuilding Entity
Supertype
Diagram 2
IfcBuildingStorey Entity
Supertype
Diagram 2
IfcProduct Entity
Subtype
Diagram 1
IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure Entity
Attribute 'RelatingStructure'
Diagram 1
IfcSite Entity
Supertype
Diagram 2
IfcSpace Entity
Supertype
Diagram 3

Inheritance graph

ENTITY IfcSpatialStructureElement;
ENTITY IfcRoot;
GlobalId  :  IfcGloballyUniqueId;
OwnerHistory  :  IfcOwnerHistory;
Name  :  OPTIONAL IfcLabel;
Description  :  OPTIONAL IfcText;
ENTITY IfcObject;
ObjectType  :  OPTIONAL IfcLabel;
INVERSE
IsDefinedBy  :  SET OF IfcRelDefines FOR RelatedObjects;
HasAssociations  :  SET OF IfcRelAssociates FOR RelatedObjects;
HasAssignments  :  SET OF IfcRelAssigns FOR RelatedObjects;
Decomposes  :  SET OF IfcRelDecomposes FOR RelatedObjects;
IsDecomposedBy  :  SET [0:1] OF IfcRelDecomposes FOR RelatingObject;
ENTITY IfcProduct;
ObjectPlacement  :  OPTIONAL IfcObjectPlacement;
Representation  :  OPTIONAL IfcProductRepresentation;
INVERSE
ReferencedBy  :  SET OF IfcRelAssignsToProduct FOR RelatingProduct;
ENTITY IfcSpatialStructureElement;
LongName  :  OPTIONAL IfcLabel;
CompositionType  :  IfcElementCompositionEnum;
INVERSE
ContainsElements  :  SET OF IfcRelContainedInSpatialStructure FOR RelatingStructure;
END_ENTITY;