10 Integrated building design for production management systems
This work presents the results of a research, development and innovation (R&D&I) project that aimed at creating a web information system to support the development of integrated building design for production. This project has been coordinated by the director of a small building design firm, DWG Arquitetura e Sistemas, and has been granted by the largest research council in Brazil (FAPESP: The State of São Paulo Research Foundation), under a special program for technological innovation in small businesses.
DWG was founded in March 1994 and it was the first independent design office in Brazil to specialise in masonry design for production using 3-D models. The challenge was to break with the traditional methods of producing drawings by linking product information with the specification of the production process at the early stages of design development. It was evident that the development of a masonry production system design played a key role due to its myriad interfaces with other sub-systems. Additionally, the elaboration of masonry design required intense coordination across the detailed design phase and design coordination was incorporated within the scope of the R&D&I project. The initial results of integrating masonry design and design coordination demonstrated increased efficiency in identifying and solving problems related to interoperability, modularisation and technology.
Despite the ...
