Toward Open Science in the AEC Community: An Ecosystem for Sustainable Digital Knowledge Sharing and Reuse

TL;DR

This paper presents OpenConstruction, an open-science ecosystem for the AEC industry that aggregates and organizes digital resources to enhance discoverability, reuse, and collaboration across the built environment lifecycle.

Contribution

It introduces a structured, community-driven platform with validation and governance to facilitate sustainable digital knowledge sharing in the AEC sector.

Findings

Hosts 94 datasets and 65 models as of December 2025

Supports benchmarking, curriculum development, and open-science adoption

Demonstrated through two case studies

Abstract

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is undergoing rapid digital transformation, producing diverse digital assets such as datasets, computational models, use cases, and educational materials across the built environment lifecycle. However, these resources are often fragmented across repositories and inconsistently documented, limiting their discoverability, interpretability, and reuse in research, education, and practice. This study introduces OpenConstruction, a community-driven open-science ecosystem that aggregates, organizes, and contextualizes openly accessible AEC digital resources. The ecosystem is structured into four catalogs, including datasets, models, use cases, and educational resources, supported by consistent descriptors, curator-led validation, and transparent governance. As of December 2025, the platform hosts 94 datasets, 65 models, and a growing collection of use cases and educational materials. Two case studies demonstrate how the ecosystem supports benchmarking, curriculum development, and broader adoption of open-science practices in the AEC sector. The platform is publicly accessible at https://www.openconstruction.org/.