Improving Buildabuility With Platforms and Configurators

The construction industry's productivity has stagnated since the 1960s while in the same period, manufacturing and technology industries have seen vast improvements. The construction industry is coming under increased pressure to provide better value through improved quality and performance and as a result developers and constructors are looking to alternative forms of construction. In a process that borrows concepts from the manufacturing and technology sectors, such as automation and 3D modelling, Prefabricated Volumetric Construction (modular construction) is a highly versatile approach with the potential to deliver substantial cost savings, faster project delivery times, higher quality construction with less waste and emissions, and an increase in worker safety. This paper will explore the integration of computational design into the design workflow of modular construction through several project examples. The following topics will be covered: creation and assembly of parametric modules in the Revit Building Information Model (BIM) software, using the visual programming tool Dynamo; the linkage of the BIM to the analytical model; and the extraction of results and the manipulation and display of data using Grasshopper, a visual programming language and environment plugin, for Rhinoceros a 3D modeler. This integration has been found to reduce the time required to develop the building model, the drawings, the analytical model and complete the design while improving the consistency and accuracy of all.

2000

This paper presents the issue of integrating design and construction in the context of Computer Integrated Construction (CIC). A new approach of a proposed strategic framework using the Modularised Approach is highlighted to overcome the complexity of integrating design and construction whereby such integrated environment need to share data via a central core. Such approach has been implemented by the AIC research group at the University of Salford, UK. A PC-based integrated environment prototype, SPACE has been developed which aims to integrate design and construction within the project’s life cycle.

Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction

Designing for ease of construction is something that is always demanded by contractors and a challenge for the designers. It is widely known that the ability to influence a structure and its future properties is at its greatest in early stages, i.e. the project preparation phase followed by the design phase. Despite the fact that there is an obvious need for knowledge of construction in design work, there is a lack of a consistent and structured transmission of experience between the construction stage and the designing engineers. The results in this project are achieved based upon three standalone studies. A thorough literature review, a meta-analysis of the current research covering effective bridge construction and a study of the current industrial view on how the industry intend to achieve a more effective bridge building process. Based upon these studies it is clear that using a holistic approach and a production oriented design methodology is likely to generate the progress th...

1999

Executive Summary: Changing industry needs have take big leaps in the past two decades. Design and construction practices and project delivery systems have moved into the direction of integration. This has strongly encouraged many practitioners to consider design processes and construction processes concurrently in consecutive phases. By narrowing the gap between design and construction, thru integration, project constructability can be greatly improved. This white paper attempts to present the author’s views on how the design process can be further enhanced thru direct integration with the construction process. The paper first presents a brief summary of several recent research efforts that address this issue. The paper then presents a model for integrating the design and construction processes during the pre-construction stage for improved constructability. The model proposes a userinteractive virtual construction sessions that allow the user (design and/or builder) to construct a...

… (PDT) Days 1998, …, 1998

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 2011

PurposeAs the construction industry strives for closer integration of the participants, more responsibility for the management of the detailed design process is being directed to main contractors and combined with their existing duties of managing the construction and pre‐construction processes. Crucially, this necessitates successful management of the interface between these processes, and this paper seeks to investigate a conceptual view of that interface to provide a foundation for improving understanding of it.Design/methodology/approachRecent and current literature is examined, and various theoretical backgrounds for the design and the construction processes are reviewed. The consequences for the understanding of the interface are discussed. The significance of conceptual frameworks is also reviewed.FindingsA significant difference is identified in the published work between the theoretical understandings of the construction and design processes. From this a conceptual framewor...

2013

The context of the Attract project is two cities that needs to be moved in the north of Sweden to allow for further mining exploitation. This paper describes an effort to use product development methods to develop a new low energy building system to be implemented in the transformation of the two cities. The building system should be modularized and have parametric capabilities for flexible and user and configurator based design. The idea is to first state the requirements and then develop the building instead of starting the building development without a clearer picture of the user requirements. Several workshops were held with participants numbering up to around 30 people who represented users, the municipalities, construction companies and the mining company. Some workshops contained the following phases: customer requirements, product specification and initial concept generation. Others focused customer requirement where people involved in the building project could express the...

2014

This PhD-project aims to develop and industrialise bridge building, in order to achieve a more efficient and sustainable bridge construction process. The advancements of several key areasmaterials science and technology, design and analysis methods, production techniques and information and communication technology-have resulted in a vast potential to rationalise the process and renew the designer's role. Initially, the project will define effective bridge construction criteria's by means of interviews and case-studies. The work should result in an integrated design and production process. This project is a collaborative project, involving: Swedish Transport Administration, WSP and Chalmers.

International Journal of Architectural Computing

The architecture, engineering and construction sector is fragmented, and its computer-aided design systems suffer data loss and errors in workflow between design and realisation. An open source, integrated, modular format is proposed to address the technological nature of these problems. Accordingly, this research updates the notion of the modular format as a more flexible and intelligible computational design method by leveraging knowledge from the computer science and manufacturing sectors where the design and realisation process is intentional and explicit. The research design of this article comprises a theoretical approach combined with an empirical case study. Principles of modularity are extracted from the computer science and manufacturing sectors to assist with a better definition of architecture, engineering and construction computer-aided design processes that use materials and resources more efficiently and sustainably. The methodology of the modular format contributes t...

2016

As the construction industry continues its digital journey the applications within design automation is growing, making development processes less time-demanding and more organized. Design automati ...