Applicability and efficiency of a building design is significantly influenced by the supporting structure. Thus, a successful planning necessitates the integration of the structural engineering perspective in early phases. Additionally, the common design process is characterized by change requests that provoke interdisciplinary planning conflicts and inappropriate designs. To meet these challenges, intelligent substitution models for preliminary structural design are developed that are based on

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... the application of engineering expert knowledge. Two methodologies are introduced for the management of design changes that are premised on the fuzzy logic-based formalization of the applied knowledge. For typical and common changes during the process, fuzzy requests are realized through temporary fuzzy sets that allow the finding of compromise solutions. Impact assessments for modifications of completed designs are enabled through extension of the applied inference systems. The presented concepts facilitate a decision support for change management and a resulting optimization of the design process.