IFC-DETAIL

IFC detail public procurement / BIM standard detailed.

Definition

IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the vendor-neutral open standard data model for Building Information Modelling BIM developed by buildingSMART International since 1996, ISO 16739 standardised since 2013 (ISO 16739-1:2018 current revision), defines comprehensive data model architectural + structural + MEP (Mechanical Electrical Plumbing) + civil engineering + cost + time + facilities management + multiple disciplines AEC (Architecture Engineering Construction) industry, supported by ~150+ BIM software tools certified IFC compliant. Multi-stakeholder standardisation + governance process publication open standards documentation + implementation guides + reference implementations + community contributions + maintenance iterative versions updates + interoperability conformance testing + alignment regulations EU + national level + adoption tracking measurement adoption + impact assessment outcomes.

Origin

IFC v1.0 published 1997 by IAI ; ISO 16739 standardised 2013 ; IFC4 current major version + IFC5 in development 2024+.

Example in context

Architect designs hospital project in Autodesk Revit ; exports IFC4 file for collaboration with structural engineer (using Tekla Structures) + MEP engineer (using Bentley OpenBuildings) + cost estimator (using Vico Office) ; all consume same IFC file as single source of truth, propose changes, exchange updates via IFC + BCF cycle, ensuring vendor-neutral interoperability across AEC project lifecycle.

Related terms

• buildingSMART OpenBIM — parent ecosystem.