Integral Design method for conceptual building design

Building design processes show a sequential involvement of different responsible disciplines, where architects traditionally make designs while engineers optimize and make those designs buildable. However, most important decisions in building design are taken during early design phases, when building concepts are defined, making traditional approaches inadequate, especially for design of sustainable buildings that require new and innovative solutions. In order to enhance team design in conceptual design phase, an integral design method is proposed. This ID-method is meant to support creation of building design concepts by integrating discipline-specific object-design-knowledge, based on the ‘knowledge space’ and ‘concept space’ notions as explained by the C-K theory. The ID-method itself was designed through a series of ‘learning-by-doing’ workshops for experienced professionals, by iteratively adjusting both the method and workshop on basis of analysis and evaluations of the previous versions. The continuous development of workshops and the final design of the ID-method are presented in this paper. One of the main results achieved is the usability of the ID-method, indicated by workshop participants’ positive comments and the inclusion of the method in the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects’ Academy for permanent profession development

Morphological analysis of design emergence in design meetings

There is no consensus within the design research community on how to analyse design meetings. We explored a notable controversy concerning science and design. More specifically, we were interested in exploring whether previously neglected „scientific¿ design methods can be adopted for use as analytic tools for design meetings. A specific method chosen for this purpose were morphological charts. Based on the definition of design by the C-K theory, which states that if there are no concepts there is no design, we have used morphological charts to reconstruct the emergence of design concepts in an architectural and an engineering meeting. This was done by analyzing video recordings of the both types of meetings. Our results indicate that morphological charts are useful for the analysis of design meetings. Besides being capable of presenting the development of design concepts, morphological charts proved to be effective in reducing the time needed to analyze a rich set of data. We believe this complexity reduction offers the possibility of doing research on more (complex) design meetings more effectively, which is beneficial for generalization of findings

THE NEED FOR FUNCTION PLATFORMS IN ENGINEER TO ORDER INDUSTRIES

Many industries base their innovations on product platforms. Platforms have predefined modularity with standardized interfaces. However, product platforms provide significant challenges to engineering industries that rely heavily on R&D, such as microlithography systems. Developing these systems depends on advanced technologies, that are still immature. Therefore, predefined modularity with standardized interfaces cannot be assumed. However, although platforms in the classical meaning cannot be achieved, this paper argues that function platforms offer a feasible alternative. In this paper, a longitudinal case study is described at a large engineer-to-order firm delivering microlithography systems. The study analyses the platform concept in practice together with the emerging use of function platforms. It studies how function platforms are developed and used, and specifically what happens in the stages before the development of a physical platform; the phase where interim (functional) modules are defined. It considers the process of forming the architecture of the functional modules and examines the potential of reusing the functional clustering principles. The paper focuses on methods that model and exemplify function platforms. This study broadens our understanding of function platform management. It exemplifies the dynamics of managing reuse and commonality in R&D based engineering industries. The evidence from the case study shows that function platforms allow nuanced design freeze, since the platform describes the functional elements that will remain stable within the development of a product family. Therefore, function platforms enhance change management of the functionality foreseen. Also, defining an up-front function platform helps to sustain the functional decoupling of the physical product architecture. The paper finalizes with conclusions and implications for industry