Design and Design Management in Building Projects: A Review (original) (raw)

Managing the Design Process in the Construction Industry: A Literature Review

Architecture research, 2015

Construction has existed since human existence. From the building of huts for shelter in the old ages to the construction of mega structures in recent times, the industry has developed over the years and has grown to become an enviable industry. It has transformed from a single person being the designer, builder and manager to a project environment where multiple organisations and professionals play a part. However this has not solved all the problems in the industry. One of the major concerns of the industry is the management of the design process. It is evident that unlike the olden days where buildings were built with the "trial and error" style of design as the construction went on, today's industry engages designs before construction. The findings in this review have been based solely secondary data, with extensive review of literature that was available on the subject. The review is to generate more interest in this field since there is still more to be unfolded. This research reviewed some models of the design process, industry practice on design management and the role of project management in today's industry. It however does not conclude on which of the models best suits the industry but suggests that the design process should not be managed with the same rigid tools and techniques of project management. It was concluded that the definition for design was contextual but shared certain key characteristics. The definitive part of the construction process needs a coherent management and coordination process for all stakeholders to enable the achievement if the key performance indicators of the project.

Design management in the building process -A review of current literature

LizimundLimuzin, 1996

The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry has experienced the declining productivity and some of this is due to deficiencies in building design. The focus on energy efficiency and sustainability makes it even more important to reduce such deficiencies. The managing of building design phases might be one of the most challenging forms of management in the AEC industry, i.e. it involves managing both outputs as drawings and creativity as minds. There must be enough room for creativity so that a building project can evolve to serve clients' needs. There are pooled, sequential, reciprocal and intensive interdependencies in building design that need to be handled or coordinated differently. A particular building design phase most likely consists of all the four types, yet dominance shifts between them through sub-phases. The logic of creative processes is difficult to understand and, therefore, to manage properly. In this paper, these four interdependencies and their coordination are described based on the literature review. The key findings indicate that the reliance on the same management approach to handle both reflective and sequential dependencies might be contra productive.

DESIGN MANAGEMENT IN ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION: ORIGINS AND TRENDS

Gestão & Tecnologia de Projetos, 2010

Proposal: Design management in the architectural engineering and construction (AEC) sector is a rapidly evolving discipline, with many interpretations and applications. Management of architectural design is essential for delivering design intent and maximising value to a wide range of stakeholders. This has resulted in the rapid growth of design managers working for contractors and greater attention to design management issues within professional consulting firms. This article explores the origins of design management in AEC, provides an overview of the practical application of design management by contractors and professional consultants, and concludes with some thoughts on current trends and future developments.

NECESSITY OF DESIGN MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

As the modern building designing processes are getting more complex, there is a growing necessity to establish collaborative practices in the process of building design and construction projects, as they are likely to involve a large number of diverse disciplines, many of whom will not have worked together before. They are likely to involve the coordination and integration of a great deal of complex information, procedures and systems. This has become increasingly true as today's project structures have evolved from the straight forward client-consultant-contractor relationship to more integrated structures with complex financing arrangements, early engagement of the supply chain and the introduction of subcontractor and specialists design.

Design Management in a Construction Company

"Design Management is an increasingly important function in the construction industry. Design management is being done by construction companies because of the failure of other existing systems to achieve proper integration of the design and construction processes. Initial results from a three-year empirical study of the practice of design management in an international construction company have been compared to conceptions devised from literature in order to describe the design management practices. This is being done in order to provide a foundation, which can be used to generate better co-ordinated design and construction in complex one-off engineering projects. Three conceptions of design management: design management as “integrators of design and construction”; design management as “managers”; and design management as “meta designers” were devised from literature and compared to several case studies conducted on a variety of projects. Early results indicate that during the operational stages of a project design management in the company can be better conceived as “meta designers” rather than as “managers”. The design management personnel were responsible for designing a system, which made stakeholders the co-developers or co-designers; they did tasks that designers are responsible for in smaller projects, but which inevitably get lost in larger projects; and they dealt with issues arising from the integration of design and construction."

Building design management – key success factors

Architectural Engineering and Design Management

The architectural, engineering, and construction industry is facing challenges related to increased productivity and improved quality. Most of these challenges need to be dealt with early in the design phase of the projects. This requires an effective design process and increases the need for effective building design management (BDM). This paper explores the success factors for BDM by addressing the following research questions: (1) What are the key success factors in BDM according to literature? (2) Which of these key success factors are considered important by practitioners? Based on a literature review, a framework with 10 success factors for BDM is proposed. The success factors were then assessed with a case study. Afterwards, 22 design managers (DMs) have ranked these success factors according to importance. The case study shows that not all 10 success factors were equally dealt with, underlining the need for a broader perspective on successful BDM. The case study findings emphasize the design team and communication as the most important success factors, while the DMs rated communication and decision-making as most important. The proposed framework should enable building DMs to better handle the challenges of the design phase.

Design Management from a contractor's perspective: the Need for Clarity

Over the past 40 years, a concern with the adoption of business methods to support successful design development has emerged. Design management as a discipline addresses such concern through two central schools of thought. The first focuses on organizing the design firm, and the second aims to better understand the design process (its nature, stages and activities) and to propose improved communication and coordination mechanisms. Both schools of thought have taken essentially a design professional’s perspective to analyse design. Nevertheless, the recent adoption of procurement routes in which contractors are responsible for design, construction and facilities management has imposed on contractors the need to manage design to maintain competitiveness. This paper presents results from two case studies investigating the contractor’s role in managing the design process. Research results are presented in terms of the problems contractors face in managing design, the necessity for appropriate design management and the skills contractors believe are required for effective design management. The paper concludes by advocating a need for clarity in the definition of design management from a contractor’s perspective.

Developing a protocol for managing the design process in the building industry

… GROUP FOR LEAN …, 1998

The performance of the design process in the building industry has a great influence on the success of subsequent processes in construction projects and also on the quality of the final product. Despite its importance, relatively little attention has been given to the management of the design process.