Can IFC be used for building simulations?

A few days ago, a customer of mine contacted me about an IFC file that he could not use for building simulation. This was a rather typical case, the customer knew very little about IFC and thought it was good. He had opened it in a viewer, and it looked like a building. After some inspection I found that the model did not contain any walls, slabs or spaces, all the basic elements that are needed for building simulation. In principle the entire model consisted of proxy objects with no relevant data except geometry.

The architect was not interested in creating the missing data (IfcSpaces) or redoing the export, he had fulfilled the project requirements regarding BIM. In many cases, my customers do not even know the architect and must rely on available IFC-files, often intended for other purposes, often collision control.

This has been the situation for many years, and I think it gets worse since most architects are using BIM tools nowadays and IFC is just a byproduct that can be done with a press of a button without any thought of what data it should contain and the intended use.

Now, back to my initial question, can IFC be used for building simulations (even if they are not intended for this use)? I would say yes, at least with some clever tools. Even if there are no spaces and all elements are generic proxy objects without any data it can be reconstructed into meaningful data. In the latest version of IDA ICE, walls, windows, doors and slabs can be identified from any element if the geometry resembles a building object. Also, spaces and building bodies can be created from walls and roofs and balconies and other shading objects can be created from any geometry.

Still, well defined and open BIM would be much more useful but until then, I think we just need to be pragmatic and do the best we can with the data available.