The acronym IFC was born in the late 1990s, when a group of American companies joined a consortium called the “International Alliance for Interoperability” to create a standard and open format designed to facilitate the exchange of information models without data loss. .
In carrying out a project, each professional deals with a specific activity: the architectural designer defines the forms, the geometries until the 3D model is obtained; the structural engineer defines the components of the structure (beams, columns, walls, foundations, etc.) and the facilities engineer deals with the definition of all the facilities.
The good result of a project carried out with the BIM method therefore depends on the availability of a standard format that allows interoperability and the exchange of data with a guarantee of security, without errors or loss of information among all the professionals involved in the project.
This is the reason for the IFC, created with the aim of facilitating interoperability between different professionals and the exchange of an informative model.
The IFC has been conceived for use throughout the life cycle of a building: from the feasibility study, the projection and planning phases to the execution and maintenance.
