Improving design quality through briefing automation

Abstract

Briefing and the strategic support of decision-making through the life of a building project is an important factor for successful project outcomes. The automation of design briefs might allow enhanced linking of client/user requirements to design, construction, operation and post-occupancy review. It has the potential for improved collection of requirements, project integration, as well as feedback and feedforward for clients and designers. Current US research on briefing practices is reviewed in relation to improving design quality by using design performance measures. A Web-based tool under development is described. This tool is one example of how automation of the briefing process can assist design firms to analyse and assess a client's needs, shorten the product delivery cycle and provide an end product with greater customer satisfaction.L'information et le soutien strate´gique apporte´au processus de´cisionnel tout au long de la vie d'un projet de construction sont des atouts importants pour la re´ussite de ce projet. L'automatisation de l'information relative à la conception permet d'ame´liorer la relation entre les exigences du client/utilisateur et la conception, la construction, l'exploitation puis l'occupation. L'automatisation pourrait permettre d'ame´liorer la collecte des exigences, l'inte´gration au projet ainsi que l'information en aval et en amont des clients et des concepteurs. L'article passe en revue les recherches actuellement en cours aux Etats Unis sur les me´thodes d'information, l'objectif e´tant d'ame´liorer la qualite´de la conception en la mesurant. Les auteurs de´crivent ensuite un outil internet en cours de de´veloppement. Cet outil n'est qu'un exemple de l'aide que l'automatisation de l'information pourrait apporter aux architectes pour analyser et e´valuer les besoins d'un client, raccourcir le cycle de production et fournir un produit final correspondant au mieux aux exigences du client.

Requirements processing for building design: a systematic review

“…It is a manner to register clients' needs and wants (Kamara et al, 2001). The design brief is a statement of requirements that ideally should contain everything a designer needs to know about a client's proposed project (Hansen & Vanegas, 2003). The brief is the elaboration and presentation of client requirements and a communication tool to facilitate dialogue between client and designer (Wandahl, 2004).…”

“…(Construction Industry Board, 1997;Hansen & Vanegas, 2003;Luo & Shen, 2008;Chung et al, 2009;Jallow et al, 2014).…”

“…Tools and techniques for the Requirements Processing (Kamara et al, 2000;Kamara & Anumba, 2001b;Shen & Chung, 2002;Rezgui et al, 2003;Hansen & Vanegas, 2003;Bendixen & Koch, 2007;Luo & Shen, 2008;Bluyssen et al, 2010;Luo et al, 2010;.…”

Ranked Critical Factors in PPP Briefings

“…Industry has attempted to improve the briefing stage to better capture client/owner needs and several aids have been developed, such as the web-based tool proposed by Hansen and Vanegas (2003) to automate the briefing stage and provide clear statements of client/owner requirements to streamline information gathering and retain knowledge. Other techniques such as fuzzy logic and quality function deployment (Yang et al 2003;Seo et al 2004) have also been developed to enhance the briefing process.…”

Enhanced project brief: structured approach to client-designer interface

“…Historically, the weakest point at which discontinuities occur are at the client-designer and client-contractor interfaces (Hornet 1996, Chinyio, et al 1999, and Castell, 2005. In particular there have been questions about the traditional role of the designer, lack of due consideration to life design solutions and the impact of design on buildability (Hansen and Vanegas 2003). It is envisaged this weakness is partially due to lack of an effective standardisation of the communication structure.…”