Integrating design and construction to improve constructability through an effective usage of IT

It is now widely recognised that bridging the gap between design andconstruction is essential for improving product quality, cost, lead time, andmaterials waste. The design of buildings has been separated from its productionsince at least the mid 19th century with professions growing up reinforcing thisdivision. The result has not only led to the decay of integration but also to agrowing misunderstanding of the role of each profession. This study proposedan information approach to improve the constructability of the design alongwith an object oriented analysis technique to model the design information. Themodel has been mapped into an object oriented development environment,leading to the development of a design tool for designers to use. The developedsystem aims to improve the constructability of the design without effecting theflexibility and creativity of the current design methods. Such an approach hasenabled a closer link between design and construction through a better usage ofIT, and the automation of 'Design to Construct' principles which do notdiminish designers' creativity.Common design-related site problems have been established. Informationrelated to these main problems have in turn been examined and traced all theway back to a top level process, i.e. the design stage. Information was analysed,using various techniques, with the aim of: a) identifying the degree ofintegration among the various design parties involved b) tracing backconstruction related problems to their relevant design processes, c) examiningthe impact of early design decisions on construction, and d) re-engineering thedesign function to incorporate a solution which acknowledges the identifiedsite problems within the design function. This study attempted to break down the project's vast information into groupsof related information which could easily be modelled, thus significantlynarrowing down the amount of information involved and increasing thelikelihood of producing a better information model leading to practical results.Such grouping was based on construction problem areas, as highlighted byprevious research in this field, i.e. superstructure, substructure, finishing, etc.where each problem area could then be traced back to its design stage.Solutions produced for these groups could be incorporated into the designpractice which could improve the constructability of the final product.Following this approach through a case study for one particular problem area,i.e. the superstructure of concrete frame office, a detail analysis was carried out.The main construction problems on site were identified, related sources ofinformation were determined, and the relevant level of design, within whichsuch problems could be eliminated or minimised were highlighted. A focusedand well defined process analysis was then carried out to determine therelevant design processes along with their involved information andinformation flows.Shifting away from traditional structured methods of analysis, an objectoriented technique was adopted to produce a data model for those designprocesses that have the greatest influence on construction problems. Thistechnique proved to be very effective in producing a well structured datamodel with the consequence of being easily mapped into an object orienteddevelopment environment.An integrated object oriented system has been developed with the potential toimprove the construction related problems. The system attempts to integrateessential information at an early stage in the design process such as; grid layout dimension, minimum floor to ceiling height, cladding type, maximumpercentage clear glazed factor, beam and column construction types, and use itto produce information to generate the final building plan such as; beam,column and slab depths, window length and depth, revised grid layoutdimension, revised floor to ceiling height, cladding arrangement. Bothsubjective and objective design information is translated into the final designoutline. This system therefore, brings together the necessary informationoriginating from various members within the design process and ensures thisinformation is made available as and when required.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral (Level 8)

Year dc:date.issued

1995

Author dc:creator

• Underwood, J

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1338470

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:salford-repository.worktribe.com:1338470