Making collaboration work: application of a Conceptual Design Stages Protocol for pre-BIM stages

Abstract

CopyrightItems in 'OpenAIR@RGU', Robert Gordon University Open Access Institutional Repository, are protected by copyright and intellectual property law. If you believe that any material held in 'OpenAIR@RGU' infringes copyright, please contact openair-help@rgu.ac.uk with details. The item will be removed from the repository while the claim is investigated. Making collaboration to work: Application of a AbstractThis paper presents the application of a Conceptual Design Stages Protocol during feasibility stages within a multidisciplinary design team for the purpose of bridging the gap between ideas generation and their representation in later and more advanced design stages. Increased effort during the early and conceptual design is a prerequisite for effective and sustainable overall design and construction. Consequently, shift of the effort towards feasibility stages aims to tackle problems with workflow, education and organisation of design teams at the very beginning of a project. Furthermore, the application of an organised process during conceptual design could further support a multi-party agreement, hence enhancing the potentials of collaboration and coordination for the entirety of a project. This paper demonstrates the Conceptual Design Stages Protocol as an organised process encompassing different professionals, technologies and means for communication that has been tested in a conceptual stage study and the outcomes have been incorporated within BIM. The impact of this Protocol on designers' cognitive, physical, perceptual and collaborative actions is presented and the first pre-BIM Protocol is established.

A Systematic Review of Architectural Design Collaboration in Immersive Virtual Environments

“…They conducted two collaborative design workshops to explore the collaboration behaviours of designers in a virtual collaborative environment, utilising direct documented observations and semi-structured interviews with participants, to explore their experiences and views about their collaborative design processes. Leon et al [1] developed a pre-BIM conceptual design stage protocol for cognitive design studies in collaborative virtual environments, and its coding scheme included team formation, introduction of the brief, discussion of project requirements, solution synthesis and brainstorming, solution evaluation, consensus, and final solution. For design collaboration in ImVE, communication tools have mainly consisted of a few forms of text-based tools, voice chat tools, visual sharing tools and avatars, which can potentially improve the communication efficiency of design collaboration in the AEC industry [47].…”

“…A few recent tools that support design ideation (such as Wild, Mindesk, and Arkio) provide limited design functions of sketching or parametric modelling, etc., and they have not yet been widely applied and tested throughout the design industry. Effective collaboration during the initial concept design stage will lead to fewer problems during the later stages such as developed design, detailed design, and design documentation [1]. In addition, effective collaboration is often supported by digital and network tools, for example, through social networking services for enhancing remote design collaboration [4].…”

“…Design collaboration refers to team-based design activities working toward achieving the shared design goals. Effective collaboration during the initial design stage will lead to fewer problems during the latter, more complex design and construction stages [1]. Design collaboration with multiplicate problem-solving approaches can align different stakeholders' opinions toward a common baseline that can more optimally result in valuable project insights [2].…”

Catching Up With BIM: A Curriculum Re-Design Strategy

“…What he means by this merging of design and construction is involving the construction and technical data at the early stages of conceptual architectural design. This might even include, as Leon et al (2015) exemplify, the inclusion of other disciplines as consultants or design team members at the conceptual design phase. This depiction of merge after a long break since renaissance is worth attention as it also means that in architectural education this integration is also inescapable and is going to become fundamental.…”

From Decision Theory to Informed Decision-Making in the Design of Sustainable High-Performance Buildings

“…), and employees within a range of 50 to 5000 people, often located in multiple branches and different regions. Despite significant recent advances in developing and using digital solutions [17] and services such as BIM (Building Information Modelling) [18], BIM-based tools [19][20][21], and cloud-based collaborative platforms [22,23], this magnitude turns the collaboration and decision-making, especially in the early design stages, into a major challenge. Furthermore, as the standard practice for architectural and engineering firms to secure new building design projects is through participating in open and competitive bidding processes, the time is often very limited.…”