This topic is intended to prepare the design industry for future technological advances by creating a new criterion for construction information presentation, one that is:

More responsive to the cognitive abilities of the construction workforce

More compatible with state of the art communication devices

More temporally dynamic to job site conditions

In a world where communication is evolving at a rapid pace (Instant Messaging, Texting, Twitter) this research is not merely a re-organization of the blueprint, but a direct challenge to the accepted boundaries of communication in the design industry. The project will create, test, and document an innovative criterion for data communication using proven research techniques grounded in cognitive science and industrial psychology.

The result of this discussion will be an online framework of standards available to all. Not new construction data, but a fundamentally new way of communicating data to construction personnel. Just as Le Corbusier’s concept of a machine for living acknowledges the design profession’s neglect of the quantifiable needs of the user, this project recognizes a longstanding neglect of the construction worker, and the imperative to reshape the form in which data is communicated to fit the present and future work environment.

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He spots a man down below and shouts, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below says, "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above the ground."

"You must be an architect", says the balloonist.

"I am", replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well", says the balloonist, "What you’ve told me is technically correct, but it's of no use to me."

The man below says, "You must be a contractor."

"I am", replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but somehow it's my fault."

Project Description

This darkly humorous anecdote reveals the communication barrier that exists within the construction project team. The design profession is struggling to maintain one of its few remaining monopolies; the printed drawing set. It is my contention that this intellectual high ground is not worth defending, at least not in its current state.

The manufacturing industry continually evaluates and modifies its documentation methods to improve efficiency and quality, the media industry has created entirely new genres of content to fit new technologies, the education industry has evolved its methods of instruction to serve the increasingly diverse needs of students, yet the design industry has used the same document format, virtually unchanged, for over 100 years. The construction document, printed on oversized paper, bound in heavy rolls, outdated almost as quickly as it is delivered to the job site, is an outmoded relic that must evolve.

The Building Information Model (BIM) will surely supplant the printed CD and Specification as the legal contract in the near future, and so the language of design must change accordingly. Electronic data delivery to job site construction personnel will surely supplant paper drawing rolls in the near future, and so the methods of data presentation must change accordingly. It is vital for the design profession to be proactive if it intends to preserve its core values and identity, within the increasingly egalitarian design team.

Methodology

Technology exists today that would easily allow construction documents to be parsed into tasks more appropriate to workers’ cognitive ability. Automotive assembly workers are not given complete instructions for an automobile, why are construction workers given complete instructions for a building?

Researcher is needed which will employ ergonomic and human factors methodology to define the cognitive ability of the typical construction worker (literacy, memory, critical reasoning, barriers to comprehension).

Technology exists today that would easily allow wireless delivery of construction documents to jobsite personnel via portable display devices. However, construction documents as they are produced today are entirely unsuitable for display on small computing devices. Even a single sheet of a typical drawing set is too large in size, and too broad in scope, to guide construction activity via a hand-held device. Just as internet content has been modified to be delivered to mobile phones, construction drawings must be made compatible with small devices.

Research is needed which will create modified versions of construction data, and test efficacy through the use of surveys, test subjects, and interviews, to collect retention and comprehension levels. In addition, the new versions must be reviewed by design professionals to insure the integrity of the original data.

A criterion must be defined and documented based on the most successful presentation methods, and that criterion must be formatted for use in BIM office environments, online networking platforms, mobile computing and communication devices, and imagined future devices and technologies.

An additional benefit of a new method of data communication will be increased temporal accuracy. Currently, if information on a drawing sheet changes, the entire sheet is reprinted, and copies are delivered to the job site where they are inserted into the drawing rolls. This method is time-consuming and vulnerable to errors and omissions. By creating small, finite data sets, changes to individual components may be made without necessitating a reprinting.

The collective credentials of the research team should include experience in the fields of Architecture, Construction Management, General Contracting, Industrial Engineering, Human Factors Engineering, Industrial Psychology, Software Development, Total Quality Management, Manufacturing Excellence, English as a Second Language Instruction, Collegiate Architectural Instruction, Visual Arts, Architectural Visualization and 3D Modeling, and Graphic Design.

Notes