BIM Design

CHAPTER 3

THE C(REATIVE)ONSTRUCTION PROCESS, THEN AND NOW

THE CURIOUS CASE OF CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS IN 20TH-CENTURY PRACTICE

As the profession of architecture matured in the late 19th and 20th centuries, so did the architectural office and its concomitant contractual responsibilities. As analogue production tools and methods developed, so did the deliverables generally required of architects by their clients and those who constructed their designs. The notion of phasing in architectural design became codified, in which architects generally completed contract deliverables in three specific design phases that followed initial project development. These three phases: schematic design (SD), design development (DD) and construction documentation (CD), often took place discretely, with the inclusion of engineering consultants in design development, or more often, during construction documentation. This mode of working also maintained separation from a liability standpoint, the architect from the general contractor, who would receive at the end of these phases a set of two-dimensional drawings to, in theory, fully cost and deliver the building.

1 Budd Company, drafting room, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1916The early 20th-century drafting room further codified the work of the architect as distinct from the work of the builder. The majority of draftsmen worked away from project sites largely on the representation of a building project. This practice allowed for interpretation by those ...