On the role of architectural models: What can we learn from information system and from construction projects?

In construction projects, for many centuries, the crucial role played by architectural is acknowledged since they are central documents shared by the architects and the different stakeholders. Today these plans are more and more becoming digital and information systems are used for managing them according to the standardized Building Information Model (BIM). In information system projects, the role played by architectures is more recent. From IT architecture, the role of Enterprise Architecture is now more and more highlighted for the purpose of a better engineering and alignment of business services as well as of their supporting information systems. Despite different approaches, construction projects and IS projects can complement each other. In this extended abstract, we will stress two aspects. On the one hand, complex construction projects need supporting IS based on the BIM, and offering a standardized way of exchanging information during the different phases of a construction project. However we will explain why a better Requirements Engineering can improve the different phases of a project. On the other hand, we will question if the traditional perspective considering the building as a Product cannot be complemented with a more `soft´ perspective associated to the integration of services, in particular service systems. We advocate for the emergence of a “Building as a service” paradigm and the benefit of coupling Building and IS architectures.