Cyber-Physical System Based Productivity Improvement Concept of Construction 4.0.

Implementation speed of productivity improvement associated technologies in construction industry has always remained behind other industries for long time. However, due to decreasing number of skilled workers and changing market dynamics in Japan several different solutions have come into focus of process and product transformation. In this paper, we introduce our concept of Construction 4.0 that is proposed to raise upon Cyber-Physical Systems, by giving its revolution background, a history of productivity improvement in Japanese construction industry.</p

Ünlü, H., Yashiro, T., (2010) International study on fire prevention technology development at organizational levels.pdf

This is an ongoing research on management of technology development in fire prevention systems for high-rise buildings. Within this research fire prevention technologies are investigated through international cases in high-rise building projects from Japan, UK, Germany and Turkey. Each one of these countries showed very distinctive mindsets on “Resources, Process, Priorities” (RPP theory). Such as British cases showed advanced setups for management of knowledge since early stages of projects while in Japan process gains the strength from integrative approaches which is way far from Turkish cases. Moreover, German cases showed the highest reliance on conventional systems in fire prevention technology which is relatively different than the technological improvements in other industries in Germany. Qualitative comparative analyses were realized based on best practice models and interview observations in the mainframe of risk management approaches.</p

Management of Technology to Enhance the Safety Design in Tall Building Projects

An evaluation basis for the organizational robustness which guides the management how to overcome the challenges of making technological developments/ innovation is a significant tool. This ongoing research presents an international (Japan, U.K., Turkey) comparative evaluation tool, established on cultural differences in implementing the vital needs of developing a technology specialized in fire prevention systems for tall buildings. The observations might be summarized as: government’s active role in collaboration with the industry and academies is important to keep the regulations correspondent to the latest improvements/actual applications. The most fragmanted management model was observed in Turkey and the most advanced in Japan among the 3 cases. Integrated monitoring, evaluating and controlling building automation systems are observed to be significant and mainly a purchased technology. Intranet and usage of collaboration softwares are relatively high in U.K. than in Japan and Turkey.</p

Ünlü, H., Hirate, K. (2008) Oppressive impact of high-rise office buildings on inhabitants through Istanbul Case Study

Since our present era is called as “age of globalization” for decades, this global economic flow gave rise to significant socio-economic transitions and shifts on societies in our world and big metropolises in particular. Today, eventually, the metropolitan areas have evolved into high-rise built environments from their own local patterns. This research points out the impacts of high-rise built environment on inhabitants and identifies their ideal image of a high-rise office building. In research, high-rise office buildings are categorized into three types by their interaction-generating factors’ qualities. Questionnaire survey was held in Istanbul and interaction is determined to be one of the most significant factor for inhabitants to adapt themselves into this globalizing environment. Moreover, in this research mentioned interaction is redefined by 17 scales of five steps factors, representing urban design tools and global image indicators. According to Istanbul survey, the highest satisfaction of inhabitants is found to be for the “efficient interactive” type high-rise office buildings. Global modern image of the building is also found to be more important than it is contextual facilities. Based upon experimental surveys, this paper also discusses the definite correlation of each interaction generating design factors of a high-rise office building.</p

Management of Technology Development to Enhance Safety Design in Tall Building Projects

This is an ongoing research which aims to propose alternative solutions on management of making new technologies and innovations on the safety design of tall buildings. This paper examines the key ideas by presenting tall building project case studies from Japan and makes comparisons with overseas cases. The investigation focus of the case studies is, basically, to determine the "physical & organizational vulnerabilities" through the analysis of the management of knowledge during the project life-time. This paper briefly: 1) Describes the origins of knowledge management through the process of innovation management. 2) Defines the physical and organizational vulnerabilities of tall building projects and the necessities of innovations. 3) Points out the importance of code-plus-performance analysis based safety designs in relation to the knowledge and technology fusion aspects. 4) Discusses the sufficient combination of explicit and implicit codes used within the technology and knowledge acquisition process. 5) Identifies the critical issue of intelligent building automation systems to improve building safety. 6) Puts forth the most common policies which exist in Japanese and international organizations for developing innovation through case studies on tall building projects.</p

Development of a Research Platform to Revitalize the People-Forest Relationship Through a Cycle of Architectural Embodiment

The total area of forest land in Japan accounts for 67%of the national land; however, despite this wealth and hundred yearshistory of silviculture, today Japanese forestry faces socio-economicstagnation in forestry. While the growing gap in the people-forestrelationship causes the depopulation of many forest villages, this paperintroduces a methodology aiming to develop a place-specific approachin revitalizing this relationship. The paper focuses on a case study fromTaiki town in the Hokkaido region to analyze the place's specific socioeconomicrequirements through interviews and workshops with thelocal experts, researchers, and stakeholders. Based on the analyzedfacts, locally sourced architectural embodiments are to be proposedaiming to act as a unifying element between the forests and the peopleof Taiki town. In parallel, the proposed methodology aims to generatea cycle of research feed to continuously improve the introducedmethodology to revitalize the interaction between people and forestthrough architecture.</p

A Theory on Measuring Organizational Robustness of Fire Prevention Technology Development in Japanese High-Rise Building Projects

In this paper the fundamentals and necessities of technology development projects are discussed through organizational capabilities. These capabilities are examined under “Resources, Processes, and Priorities” of technology development business models. The ideal balance between these capabilities generate the organizational robustness. However, determining the essential capabilities, their correlative structure and comparison with the actual performance of the project is a complicated issue. Therefore, the “Robustness Equilibrium Theory” is developed to form an evaluation guideline which helps to figure out the ideal balance among the organizational capabilities within projects explicitly. The theory is applied experimentally to the case of fire prevention technology development for high-rise buildings in Japan. Discussions about vulnerabilities in Japanese cases are aroused upon the findings.</p