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Exploring Relations Between the Architectural Design Process and ICT Anita Moum Exploring Relations between the Architectural Design Process and ICT Learning from Practitioners' Stories Thesis for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor Trondheim, August 2008 Norwegian University of Science and Technology Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art Department of Architectural Design and Management NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology Thesis for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art Department of Architectural Design and Management © Anita Moum ISBN 978-82-471-1121-5 (printed version) ISBN 978-82-471-1122-2 (electronic version) ISSN 1503-8181 Doctoral theses at NTNU, 2008:217 Printed by NTNU-trykk summary The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to knowledge on the current situation in practice by investigating relations between the architectural design process and Informa- tion and Communication Technologies (ICT) in real-life projects. There is a growing need for more knowledge on what happens when new technologies are implemented and used in the practice of architectural design. We lack a comprehensive understanding and overview of non-technological factors, as well as of the relationships and interdepen- dencies embedded in the encounter between the practice of architectural design and ICT. Two research questions are formulated. Firstly, what are the factors affecting the implementation and use of ICT in the practice of architectural design? Secondly, how do the implementation and use of ICT impact the work and interactions of practitioners involved in the architectural design process? Several actions have been undertaken to address the research aim and questions. Firstly, a descriptive and holistic framework has been developed for exploring both literature and real-life situations. The main elements of the framework are related to two dimen- sions of architectural design practice. First, there is the process dimension and the focus on four design process aspects or tasks; the generation of design solutions, the commu- nication, the evaluation of design solutions, and decision-making. Second, there is the level dimension, representing different social constructions embedded in a building project, which again is embedded in the context of the AEC industry. Three levels are proposed; the micro-level (the individual practitioner), the meso-level (the design team), and the macro-level (the overall project). Two framework tools have been established; the ‘ICT impact matrix’ and the ‘multi-level factor model’. The framework and its tools have been applied to three further actions related to qualitative case studies of four real- life projects; one of these as the main case, and the other three as reference cases. These three actions, where particular attention is paid to the work and interactions of the architects and engineers in the design team, and to the implementation and use of tech- nologies supporting 3D object-based modeling or Building Information Modeling (BIM), are: the identification of enablers and barriers affecting the implementation and use of these technologies, the exploration of relationships between these enablers and barriers, how these relationships affect the implementation and use, and finally, the exploration of the role of these new technologies and tools in the work and interactions of the practi- tioners involved. Together with passive observations and desk research, open-ended interviews are the main source of evidence. More than thirty respondents from the building projects are interviewed, in addition to several experts from practice, research or academia. i An important feature of the research is to consider both the situations observed at the different levels in the building projects and their context. Here the focus is on interna- tional or national R&D efforts for ICT integration in the Architecture-Engineering-Con- struction (AEC) industry. Further key features are the ‘digging-broadly’ approach to the problem field manifested by the holistic framework, and the detailed and reflective ‘dig- ging-deep’ exploration of real-life situations identified by its application. Together with an elaborative and narrative ‘storytelling’ technique, the framework and its tools serve as the main vehicles for analyzing, organizing, and reporting on the data compiled from the case studies. The identified factors affecting the implementation and use of technologies supporting 3D object-based modeling or BIM in the four examined projects can be related particu- larly to three main areas; firstly, to the skills and behavior of the project participants when it comes to adapting to new tools and related work methods; secondly, to the affordance of the tools with respect to the complexity of the work and the interactions of its users; and thirdly, to the tasks and interactions embedded in the practice of archi- tectural design. This thesis reports on several enablers and benefits, particularly with respect to the development, control, coordination, and communication of geometrically and functionally complex design solutions. However, a number of barriers and challenges were observed, which still have to be tackled. Many of them can be related back to the lack of skills and to the shortcomings of the tools, and in all the projects, efforts were put into handling the effects of these in part foreseen factors. Nevertheless, a number of the barriers and challenges arose out of the complex and iterative nature of the archi- tectural design process and the individual and collective tasks to be performed by its actors. ‘The wheel of tasks, tools, and skills’ is provided as an illustration of the relation between the implementation efforts, the three main fields of enablers and barriers, and the experienced benefits and challenges from use in the real-life projects. Understanding and balancing upstream and downstream interrelations between the factors in this wheel, which are placed on different levels, and in the projects’ context, is recognized as crucial for the implementation and use of the new technologies in the architectural design process, particularly with respect to balancing the strategies and aims for ICT implementation against the experiences from adaptation and use in the practice of archi- tectural design, and the ‘tasks, tools, and skills’. The contribution of the research is threefold, providing; firstly, the holistic framework for exploration and description of real-life practice – and the framework tools for ana- lyzing and organizing complex and qualitative findings; secondly, a comprehensive and multilayered overview of factors and relations affecting the implementation and use of ICT in the practice of architectural design; and thirdly, case-study narratives and design- team stories as ‘stand-alone’ examples from current practice. Altogether, this thesis is a detailed and reflective documentation of current and ‘established’ practice and serves as a basis for future research and learning from real-life situations. ii foreword Sometimes rather small and seemingly unimportant situations can change the direction of one’s whole life. In my case, this situation took place in the kitchen of a good friend in Oslo about five years ago. At that time I could look back on almost ten years’ experience of working with architectural design and management of several large-scale and complex building projects in Germany. I was happy about being an architect, but I was also con- cerned about the negative trend with respect to the working conditions in and the influ- ence of the architectural profession, surely coloured by the bad times and regression in the German AEC industry since the mid-nineties. Additionally, my profession was being more and more confronted with the spin-off effects of the rapid development of new communication and information technologies. In 1993, as I started in my first job as an architect, my colleagues were using felt pens and sending the drawings by mail or fax. Ten years later, we all had our own computers; 2D CAD was the everyday tool for drawing production, and information and plans were exchanged by e-mail or a project web. Similar to most of my colleagues, I was happy about the new tools and their support as we could rapidly change and exchange project material and visualize our ideas. How- ever, I also experienced the clients’ increasing expectations to speed up processes and integrate new requirements and changes, even extremely late into the process. After a while I felt the rising need for better understanding of how the implementation and use of the new digital tools impact our working day. At that time we were rather suffering iii from the challenges than enjoying the benefits. However, I could see that the new digital tools had unutilized potential in supporting our efforts to create good architecture and real estate. Nevertheless, this potential was playing a rather secondary role. The most important issue was to deliver the required performance within mostly too tight time schedules and budgets. A colleague of mine used the following metaphor to describe the situation; in facing the challenge to cut down a whole forest of trees within as short time as possible, we are not able to take our time to sharpen the blunt ax. Thus, getting back to the kitchen in Oslo, when I sat there and expressed my frustration about this situa- tion, my friend suddenly asked whether I had considered writing a PhD. This suggestion triggered the decision I made half a year later; to sharpen my blunt ax and take a step back from practice. Throughout the next years’ journey into the exciting world of research there is an array of people who have shared their experiences and knowledge with me, and who have supported and nurtured my work and writing. To all of these I owe my deep gratitude! At first I want to thank the main advisor of this work, Tore Haugen - for his belief in this project, for the opportunities he has given me and for his support in the ups and downs throughout the entire process. He has allowed me the freedom to find my own way, as well as contributed with his wisdom and advice as I was facing critical crossroads and decisions.
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