Introduction and Context
The Basic Relationship
• The fundamental relationship of
construction to architecture is that
construction uses its adaptive, flexible, and
knowledgeable management and its highly
skilled trade workers to faithfully
construct the design professionals design
concept.
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Owners program
Creative and Aesthetically pleasing
Functioning
Sound design and engineering
Definitions
• Construction – The act or process of
building or erecting something.
– Types
– Systematic plan for delivery
• Architecture – The art and science of
designing and building of structures.
– Paper Architecture
– Rhetorical Architecture
– Virtual Architecture
Elements of Architecture
• Architecture:
– Artistic and aesthetic phases
– Principles of design
• Balance
• Scale
• Massing
• Proportion
• Rhythm
• Unity
– The architect must be able to convert and
express the intangible attributes of the design
concept in a real physical manner
Elements of Architecture
Contractors Position
• Most contractors do not have a sense of buy-in into
the design concept because they are held to
specifics.
• Contractors are actually like subcontractors in that
they perform a particular portion of the project
• It would be more helpful if contractors could be
brought in to understand the design concept
• CM – construction manager may be contracted to
provide design phase services concerning
construction methods and materials in the form of:
– Insight
– advice
Project Development
• Each project progresses through the architects
office in a set manner or planned stages:
– Working drawing production consumes nearly
half of the architects fees
– Are the drawings most valuable in the
construction of the facility?
• Vital to producing the correct work
• Thousands of decisions are made in the
working drawing phase
• Hundreds of thousands of items may be
involved.
– Why do you think most architects would treat
this phase of the work offhanded?
– Should shortcuts be taken?
Recent Changes
• Innovation:
– 3D modeling
– Signature Architects
• Starchitects
– Statement
– High rise office buildings (page 8)
• Architecture is the result of:
– The product of several sequences and efforts.
– The combination of many talents and skills
– The real manifestation of a mental concept
• Most architects have work that is not ostentatious
or clearly visible.
Recent Changes (cont.)
• The profession of architecture is practiced with
results that:
– Protect communities
– Enhance communities
– Improve the lives of the occupants
• The vast majority of the general population:
– Are not aware of the impact that architecture
and construction have on their lives
– Are regulated in the design for use and
occupancy
• This course is designed around how projects are
produced, from perceived needs to mental
processes and images to “bricks and mortar”
The Axiom(principle)
• Architecture is the manifestation of design
achieved through construction
– Does any one project define
architecture?
– The architect is engaged to work as the
owners representative.
– The owner chooses the one design
concept/solution that is to their liking
or fits their needs.
– In the construction process the design
professional is not regulated to the
position of bystander
The Axiom(principle)
– Therefore it is necessary that
professionals know, understand and
fully appreciate the extent of the
project and the process of construction.
– The professional needs to be:
• Flexible
• Decisive
• Strong
• Instructional
• A good manager
• And work with client and contractor
• Two Elements of Architecture:
Construction
– Art
• Esthetics (design)
• Interpretation
– Science
• Engineering
• Technology
Totality of Work
• Architects need to understand both
elements.
• An architect may choose to become a
designer.
– Devoted to conceptualizing and
creating designs
– Resolving owners needs and demands
• Design and Construction must be bonded
together to ensure that each is pursued in
the correct context and within the proper
bounds.
Totality of Work (cont.)
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Construction is a team activity
Various players and combination of players contribute to
the team effort:
– Some on a continuous basis
– Some coming and going at various junctures
The architect:
– Leader of the team
– Knows more about the project than anyone else.
– Forms the team of consultants
No time or room for contention within the group/team.
The group/team must be:
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Focused
Coordinated
Cooperative
Well directed
Totality of Work (cont.)
• A project is not a competitive
situation, but one of:
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Full inclusion
Cooperation
Contribution
Compromise
Adjustment
Unity of purpose
Collaborative Team Effort
• Can it be that architecture exists
only in the creative mind of the
designer?
Genesis of Architecture
• Architecture is founded in the
minds of the designer.
• They have control of:
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Design theory
Design principles
Sense of space
The ability to create forms that
combine:
• Taste, attractiveness, and function
• The key to a successful project is to blend:
The Blend
– Design
– Construction
– Management
• Each needs the other to succeed
• Respect is fundamental
– You cannot make someone show respect to
another
– The proper leader should show respect to
others and can gain respect in this manner.
• The goal is to move people in a cohesive
and single-minded direction.
The Blend (cont.)
• There is a widespread almost industry-wide distrust
between designers and constructors:
– Design
– Construction
– Management
• Each needs the other to succeed
• Respect is fundamental
– You cannot make someone show respect to another
– The proper leader should show respect to others and
can gain respect in this manner.
• The goal is to move people in a cohesive and
single-minded direction.
• Each group seems to feel that the other is intent on
compromising its efforts
The Blend (cont.)
• Designers are agents of the owner and are hired to
work the parameters of the project in the best
interest of their client.
• Produce documents that set out a formal array
of construction information and direction
within a legal framework
• There should be no intent to undercut or
compromise the construction process.
• Contractors may feel burdened by:
– How the project is designed
– The documents
– Expectation of cost and timing
• All of this needs to be agreed to before onset
• Designers often regard contractors as:
The Blend (cont.)
– Those that can unfairly manipulate the project work.
– Provide less than value in many aspects of the work
such as:
• Cheaper materials
• Less skilled labor at inflated prices
• Etc.
– Those that prey on the normal range of
shortcomings in any set of documents by taking
advantage of loopholes
– In short, designers view contractors as psuedopreditors who sacrifice and compromise the
project in their own self interest and profit.
Dispelling the Issue
• The design professionals purpose is
to produce a project as nearly
perfect as possible for the client.
– Nothing frivolous involved
– Nothing thrown in
– No attempt to:
• Impose, attack or seek to be adversarial to
contractors
• Penalize contractors
• Reduce their effectiveness
• Reduce their profitability
Dispelling the Issue
• The drawings are so commonly
accepted and understood that they
are seen as the only valid
documents.
– Specifications are equally important
• Communicate information that cannot be
displayed graphically.
Dispelling the Issue
• Project progression (def. page 22)
– See fig. 1-10 page 23
– 1st example uses 3 separate processes:
• Design professional and owner work to
formulate a project
• The contractor builds the project as designed
• The design professional works with the
contractor to close out the project
– 2nd example See fig. 1-11 page 23
• Owner and Design professional are constantly
involved
• This is the truer example
Understanding the progression
• A logical format of tasks:
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Some performed in tandem
Some concurrently
Singularly
Events that build on each other
New work should never be
installed at the wrong time
• Page 26, numbered list
• Look at example page 27