In this article, we explain BriefBuilder’s IFC feature. You can read about:
- Activating the IFC module
- The background and purpose of the feature
- How to import IFC files into BriefBuilder
- How view IFC data in BriefBuilder
Click on the topics above to jump straight to the part that you are interested in!
Activating the IFC module
To activate the IFC module you have to go the settings menu and there click on modules. In the module overview, you can find the IFC module in lower right corner.


Background and Purpose
The IFC module allows you to import IFC data into BriefBuilder and then automatically link the ‘required spaces’ (as defined in BriefBuilder) to the ‘designed spaces’ (as defined in the IFC file). This will then give you a direct insight in how requirements have been translated into spatial design solutions.
The overall aim of this integration is to bridge the gap between briefing and design, and to link requirements to design solutions.
As a construction client, you can use this feature to get a quick understanding of where your spaces ‘ended up’ in the design. As a design team, you can use it to do visual checks of how floor plans work in relation to the client’s requirements.

In the case of renovation projects, you may want to use this feature to link requirements to existing building plans, e.g. defining which spaces need to be fully renovated and which ones just need a new paint job. See example below.

Importing IFC files
IFC files can be imported via BriefBuilder’s settings menu.

The import action consists of 4 steps:
Step 1: Select file
Select the IFC file that you want to import into BriefBuilder. Make sure that the file contains spaces (IfcSpace) and that the format is IFC2x3 TC1.

Step 2: Upload file
Once you have selected a file, click on upload on the right hand side of your screen. The file will be then processed by BriefBuilder. This may take some time depending on the size and complexity of the IFC model.

Step 3: Define mapping rule
In this step, you can define the mapping rule that (automatically) maps the IFC spaces to the spaces that have been defined in BriefBuilder.
For both the BriefBuilder spaces and the IFC spaces, you have to select which attribute should be used for the mapping process.

The mapping process can be performed in various ways. One common approach is to match the IFC long name with the object name in BriefBuilder. However, the mapping can also be based on BriefBuilder’s object IDs and the IDs on the IFC side, provided that they are similar. This all depends on the BIM protocol agreed upon for the project.
When selecting these attributes, you will immediately see how the mapping works in the trees below. The check mark and question mark icons indicate whether a space is mapped or not.


Step 4: Import IFC tree
When you are happy with your mapping, it is time to do the actual import of the IFC information in the BriefBuilder model. This is done by clicking on the Import IFC tree button in the lower right corner.

The duration of the import process depends on the size and complexity of the IFC file.
Once the import process is completed, you can jump to the IFC data by clicking on either View IFC tree or View floor plan.

Viewing IFC data
IFC data that have been imported into BriefBuilder can be viewed and approached from different directions. Below we’ll explain the different possibilities in detail.
On the detail view of a BriefBuilder space
On the detail of a BriefBuilder space, you can see the mapped IFC spaces in the table Associated spaces IFC model.

There, you can also see a icon which brings you to the floor plan viewer where the relevant spaces will be highlighted in blue.

IFC tree
In the navigation menu, under the IFC header, you can find the menu item IFC Spaces. If you click on that, you will find all the IFC spaces presented in a tree structure.

For each IFC space, you can see the details by clicking on them in the tree, just like you do in any other BriefBuilder tree.

To see to which BriefBuilder space an IFC space is connected, you have to go to the table Associated spaces in requirements model.

Floor plan viewer

In the navigation menu, you will also see the menu item Floor plans. This will bring you to a 2D viewer of the IFC data.
In the viewer, you can view the different floor levels of the building and the spaces that are placed on those floors as well as the walls, windows and doors (if present in provided IFC file).
To navigate through the different floor levels, you can either use the pull down menu or click on the small icons on either side of it.

When clicking on a space in a floor plan, you can choose to see either the IFC data or the associated BriefBuilder data by using the yellow buttons.

Heat maps
In the floor plan viewer (Navigation menu > IFC > Floor plans), it is also possible create ‘heatmaps’ in which requirements data or IFC data are projected onto floor plans by means of colour schemes.
Such heatmaps can help visualize how requirements have been translated into the building’s spatial design, which can be useful for the communication with the building’s users and for analysing both the requirements and the design proposal.
To create a heatmap, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to the relevant floor that you want to look at

Step 2: Click on the palette icon ()

Step 3: Configure your heatmap
When clicking on the icon, you get a pop-up in which you have to do three things:
- Select whether you want to see requirements data (as captured in BriefBuilder) or IFC data (as captured in the IFC file)
- Select the specific property that you want to see (e.g. temperature level, security zoning etc., dependent on how your model has been set up)
- Select the color scheme you want to use.
When you’re happy with your selections, click on apply.

Note: it is possible that you have to play around with the colour schemes a bit. In case your property has a set of picklist values, discrete colour codes tend to work best, unless you have a very long list values. In most other cases you can best pick a color continuum.
