RATIONALE

"Maher, Hi-Rise"

M. L. Maher, HI-RISE and Beyond: Directions for Expert Systems in
Design. Computer Aided Design, Vol.17, No.9, November 1985,
pp. 420-427.  


The HI-RISE system is an early example of a system for Civil
Engineers, explicitly structured around an AND/OR tree of choices,
with refinement (i.e., determining which parts of the tree are
relevant) controlled by rules that represent constraints that must be
satisfied.  Many AI in D systems have an explicit or implicit
structure and method like this.  It produces alternative solutions,
evaluates them, and is unusual in that it delivers more than one.  The
domain is conceptual design of high rise buildings.