Thesis-2000-Steele.pdf (36.79 MB)
The interdisciplinary conceptual design of buildings
thesis
posted on 2010-10-27, 15:27 authored by John SteeleThe Interdisciplinary Conceptual Design of Buildings
Design activity during the conceptual phase of building projects is dynamic, vibrant and
as a result, chaotic in appearance. This problem is compounded by the fact that iterative,
or cyclic, design progression is often criticised, with the concept of 'going round in
circles' being one that is discouraged. However, designbis a learning activity and, owing
to the complexity of contemporary building projects,it is often only by moving ahead to
improve knowledge, before taking a step back to re-address a problem with improved
understanding, that the design process can progress. Today's design professionals are
being urged to undertake early design activity in a more programmable, and thus
manageable fashion. As such, it is becoming increasingly apparent that designers have
little, if any, shared understanding of what conceptual design actually involves, let alone
a deeper knowledge of the structure of iterative progression. This can, and is, causing
problems for the industry, as the lack of both common understanding and synchronisation
in interdisciplinary thinking is resulting in design team fragmentation and adversarial
relationships.
By modelling design activity it is possible to simplify, and thus ease understanding of, its
complexities. The development and trialling of a generic framework of design phases and
activities has allowed a simple graphical means of recording and displaying patterns of
design progression to be devised. The models produced have been used to study and
analyse the patterns of iterative working, the output of which has enabled a clarification
of conceptual design practice to be achieved.
A web-based design system has been developed from the paper-based framework. This
accords well with the richly iterative and often non-linear process which design typically
follows and is intended to encourage creativity without imposing a rigid procedure. The
tool offers alternative routes through conceptual design, and contains 'Team Thinking
Tools' to help designers widen the solution space, set priorities and evaluate options. In
addition, it promotes effective teamwork practices to help teams deal with social
interactions. Also, at the user's option, the system can be used to capture, store and
retrieve decisions made, and the reasoning behind them. This is of key importance in
improving the performance of the industry as a whole, for it is only by understanding
how the final product is influenced by early design activity, that the design process can be
adapted to take account of these issues on future projects.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Publisher
© John Leslie SteelePublication date
2000Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.272614Language
- en