2 Computers and Construction Harry Mileaf Alton S. Bradford

2 Computers andConstructionHarry MileafAlton S. Bradford

Harry Mileaf

Slow Computer Use In ConstructionI’ve been studying the construction industry’s

involvement with computers since 1979, andhave done so in over twenty surveys. Each sur-vey dealt with samples that measured in thethousands. The results of each survey and theircumulative trend analysis have led me to besomewhat conservative in my near-term fore-casting. The studies have repeatedly shown thatthere is no revolution taking place. Progress andchanges have been evolutionary, and will con-tinue to be so in the near term — during therest of this decade. There are some prognosti-cators in our industry who have been muchmore liberal in their forecasting, anticipating arevolution in the industry in the not-too-distantfuture. I agree that revolution will come, butnot in the near term. The evolutionary processwill continue until after the mid 1990s, whenthe cumulative effects of computer use by thevarious influences in our industry, as well as thegreater sophistication of computer systems atthat time, will speed up the evolutionary paceto that of revolutionary proportions, if left un-checked. Evolution can be controlled, revolutioncannot. There is the potential that by the year2000 a major dislocation can occur in the de-sign industry.

By the end of this decade over 90 percent ofthe design firms say that they will be usingcomputers. This sounds like this alone will havea major impact on our industry; but, it probablywill not, because of what the computers are be-ing used for, and the projected growth of theseuses.

The average firm that uses computers hasbarely scratched the surface of potential appli-cations. The tendency is toward four or fiverote applications, those applications that areeasiest and most inexpensive to get started with,and which appear to have quickest productivitygains: word processing; spec writing; account-ing; number crunching. There is little integra-tion of these applications, almost no data baseactivity, and very slow growth in meaningful

graphic design systems. What little is beingdone with sophisticated graphic design systems(about 7 percent with the small firms and about12 percent with the large firms — 8 percentoverall) is almost limited to drawings not de-sign. This seems to make sense because drawingproduction is where the major labor effort is ina design office. But productivity gains in thisapplication are scattered and many times unat-tainable. Even if the productivity gains were at-tainable, the gain would only show up for thespecific projects being worked on. Even with afirm that is heavily involved with computers,only a small percentage of project work is han-dled by computer. The majority of work is stillbeing done in the age-old, traditional, manualmanner. This is why, even though computershave become commonplace in the design profes-sion, they have had little impact on the profes-sion. A staff of thirty sharing one terminal, or astaff of fifty sharing three, or a staff of twohundred and fifty sharing thirty will continuethis low impact.

Why Is This?Even the computers of today do not have the

abilities to fulfill the promise of tomorrow. Thecomputers still rely too heavily on the availabil-ity of individual applications programs to ac-complish individual tasks, and both thehardware and software are still too expensive toput the entire staff at the keyboard. The greatadvantage of the computer comes from thecomputer taking over a task and completing itwithout human intervention. The so-called auto-mated spec writing systems of today are notreally automated, but merely mechanized ver-sions of the old cut-and-paste method of specwriting. Too much human interaction is still re-quired. The same is true of the so-called sophis-ticated drawing systems, and the otherspecific-task activities being done by computer.As long as the computer continues to merelymechanize the individual tasks with the help ofhuman operators, and particularly without thetasks and data being integrated, progress willcontinue to be slow.

But We Cannot Be Misled By ThisThe improvements in the capabilities of com-

puters over the last five years have been im-mense, and their drop in prices, remarkable.These improvements will continue, likely in anaccelerated way to the point where their usewill have a dramatic impact on how design of-fices function, and will likely change the waythe entire industry functions. But when?

The specific applications computers of thepast and present, which rely on complicated ex-pensive programming, are already evolving intoexpert systems, systems which are not only de-veloped by experts in your field, but which alsocontain data bases of expert knowledge. Suchsystems will require less and less complicatedspecific-task software written in expensive codelanguage. The user’s dialogue with the com-puter will be in straightforward English. Somesystems of this type are already being used suc-cessfully in other industries. By the end of thisdecade, expert systems will be a growing forcein the construction industry.

Concurrent with expert systems, artificialintelligence systems are receiving a good deal ofattention in the academic world; and in the Jap-anese computer industry, it has become a na-tional effort to make it a realization in the early‘90s.

And There Is A New Force In TheMarketplace

The new force is the client, the one whofunds the new construction. Clients are chang-ing. They are becoming more and more sophis-ticated. They are starting to computerize morerapidly than the construction designers, EvenCADD vendors recognize this, and have di-verted much of their efforts from the slow-buy-ing construction designers to the corporateworld. Business, industry, institutional, and pub-lic sector organizations recognize that CADDuse in facilities management represents a goodinvestment, Facilities management, which washeretofore a heterogeneous practice is becomingmore organized; and corporations gettingCADD systems are starting to lay their con-

struction plans around facilities managementdata bases. Clients are gaining much moreknowledge and are building confidence and re-lying less on design consultants. Where manyonce relied on advice, there is a trend towarddictating their wants, While there always weresome clients who pulled the strings, there is agrowing number of CADD-using corporationsmaking the decisions.

There are shifting influences in the construc-tion industry, and the corporation client is mov-ing into the dominant influence position. Toassure the effectiveness of their facilities man-agement programs, these clients are now lettingcontracts to those design firms who can supplycomputerized data compatible with theirs. Thismeans that the design firm must have the samecomputer and software as each of the clientswho demands it, or access to the same. And thecorporate clients do not go for the small PCdrawing systems.

It Will Get Worse Before It Will GetBetter

As more and more clients adopt their ownCADD systems, the CADD decisions made bydesign firms will depend on who they want tohave as clients. Some firms are already into twoor three CADD systems to serve two or threedifferent clients. Little needs to be said abouthow the proliferation of computerized facilitiesmanagement in the corporate world will com-pound the problems of design firms, While de-signers have always formed temporaryconvenience partnerships to get contracts, cli-ents’ computerization will compound this activ-ity, creating strange bedfellows. And, sincemost design firms cannot afford to have manyCADD systems, there will be a trend towarddesigners becoming captive suppliers to certainclients, with the ball and chain being the com-mon CADD system, This period of confusion inwhich the computer will dominate client/de-signer award decision will grow throughout thisdecade into the early ‘90s, but will abate withthe new generation of computers and the fewercomputer manufacturers that survive the con-

14 Computers and Construction

tinuing shakeout. Compatibility will be less ofproblem, especially with the artificial intelli-gence systems and the tendency toward morestandard data bases. The clients’ power willcontinue to grow, and there will be increasingpressure for even greater productivity gainspromised by the system of the 1990s.

The Scenario By the Year 2000

a

Computers will perform the overall functionsof a design office in an integrated manner. Nolonger will individual manual tasks be repli-cated; the new generation of computers willform the core of the overall practice, and willbe used on all projects, from the initial planningright through construction and the continuingspace planning changes, remodeling, extensions,and maintenance.

Designers will use the systems to solve prob-lems, gather information, test designs, and toaccumulate knowledge from project to project.The designers’ instructions will be accumulatedin the computer and arranged into rational, or-ganized instructions. When the design is done,the computer will generate the sets of drawings,specifications, construction documents, sched-ules, estimates, RFQ’s, project control docu-ments, etc., with little or no professionalinteraction. Ultimately, paper output might notbe needed.

The Implicationsare that many manual functions in a design

office will be replaced. Professional functions ina design office are categorized by: (1) design;which is the creative, decision-making part of aproject; and (2) production, which is responsiblefor producing the manifestations of the designin the form of construction drawings and docu-ments. In the design phase, the computer willbe an invaluable aid to the professional, but inthe production phase, the computer will func-tion almost alone.

Almost eight out of ten architects will be af-fected by this. Unlike other professions, almost80 percent of the architectural professional ef-fort in a design office is devoted to the produc-tion of drawing and documents and other roteactivities. This figure is derived from the way a‘typical’ design office functions on a project.

Typically, design expense amounts to about 20percent of the total, while the drawings accountfor about 50 percent of the project cost. Draw-ing production, then, is about 2-1/2 times thecost of design. But draftspersons get paid con-siderably less than designers. According to a re-cent New York AIA study of architecturalsalaries at six professional levels, the averagecompensation of the high levels is often morethan 50 percent higher than the average lower-level architect. This means that for productiondrawings to cost 2-1/2 times design, about 3.8architectural draftspersons are used for each de-signer. When spec writing and other documentefforts are considered, the ratio of production todesign becomes four to one. About four out offive architects are threatened with dislocationfrom their profession in fifteen years — by theyear 2000.

In the engineering profession the problem issimilar, but the engineers themselves will be af-fected less. The engineering draftspersons, whoare generally not professionals, will be seriouslydislocated, but the engineers, only partly so,due to the growing number crunching and an-alytical capabilities of the next generation ofcomputers. The growing independent action ofthe computer as it accumulates repeatable andbroadening analysis capabilities will continuallyreduce the need of certain engineers performingthose functions today.

The Solid Modeling Craft Will BeAutomated

In many instances, the 3-D color graphics ofthe next generation of computers will reducethe need for solid models, particularly as holog-raphy continues to develop. When solid modelsare needed, the computer driving a laser sculp-turing device will create the model.

Spec writers, cost estimators, and interior de-signers will be affected in similar ways. Theneed for specification and cost specialists willbe reduced to the caretaking, updating, andquality control functions. Interior designers,who function similarly to architects (and oftenare) will be affected similarly to the architects.

There Will Be Fewer IndependentConsultants

Aside from the computer competitive pres-

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Harry Mileaf 15

sures causing this, the convenience and pro-ductivity of computer design will cause moreclients to do more of their own work in-house.Many of the larger clients who presently havetheir own design staffs, and use outside servicesfor overflow work will have less overflow. Andthose that do not presently have their own staffswill find it more convenient to establish theirown staffs.

Building product manufacturers, who pres-ently rely on the independent designers to havetheir products specified will adopt computerpractices to compete with independent archi-tects and engineers. In a few engineeringtrades, this has always been done; the next gen-eration of computers will provide new avenuesfor more of these efforts.

There Will Be Greater SpecializationBecause contract awards will in part be

based on computer compatibility and computerknowledge buildup, there will be a greater ten-dency for specializing in certain types of indus-tries, private vs. public, and agency vs. agency,in addition to types of construction.

Preparing For The DislocationThere are the optimistic in the design indus-

try that have predicted that those professionals,particularly the architectural draftspersons, whoare displaced from their non-design jobs, willmerely become designers. Doug Stoker andNick Weingarten of SOM pointed out the fi-nancial fallaciousness of that logic with somecold hard logic in the December 1983 issue ofArchitectural Record. The client simply willnot pay for overstaffed design, and the firm willnot pay what it cannot bill. The only way forproduction professionals to be absorbed in de-sign is for the number of design projects togrow. It is unlikely that the construction indus-try can grow large enough to absorb all of the

dislocated — the industry would have to grow400 percent in about fifteen years. I cannot re-call when that has last happened.

Other experts in the field feel the solutionwill come by itself. They expect other new jobs(now very specific) to be created by computers.While this has been true in some other com-puter applications where new industries resulted— particularly the computer industry — thesame does not necessarily have to happen inconstruction design. The construction industrycan be better equated to the automobile indus-try as it was impacted by foreign robotics.

This is an issue too serious to be left tochance,

Take It As An OpportunityReexamine the role of the construction de-

sign profession, There is already a questionabout whether many firms are really in the de-sign or drawing business. The computer is atwo-way street. While on one hand it will dis-place people, it can also open new avenues forthe enterprising. One such avenue is to play alarger role in the growing facilities managementbusiness. Bill Mitchell of UCLA has beenpreaching this for two years. There are probablyother potential areas for growth.

This should be made a priority study pro-gram by the major institutions in the construc-tion market: AIA; ASCE; ACEC; ASHRAE;CSI; NSPE; et. al., and should include acade-mia. It is entirely conceivable that governmentgrants could be had for this effort. There isplenty of time to prepare.

Today’s missed opportunities are tomorrow’sproblems.

Harry Mileaf is Director of Technology and ProductDevelopment, Sweet’s Division, at McGraw-Hill In-formation Systems Company. He is also Chairman ofthe Coordinating Council for Computers in Construc-tion.


Alton S. Bradford

Our mission is to plan, design and constructshore facilities for the Navy. This amounts toapproximately $2 billion in construction a year.We’re worldwide with six Engineering Field Di-vision offices to accomplish our design and con-struction. We also have nine Public WorksCenters that handle our operation and mainte-nance projects. (See Figure 1)

The basic building process is a time-phased,fragmented, ad hoc industry. Separate organiza-tions plan, design, construct, own, etc. In theproduct acquisition process, we bring people to-gether to do the design on a one-time basis andthen competitively bid the construction (with aseparate group). One would never do that withan automobile or aircraft. We design in-house,but about 90 percent is done on contract witharchitecture and engineering firms.

The building process presents many problemsand opportunities when we examine it for com-puter applications. (See Figure 2) In-house, weare doing computer-aided design (design cal-culation) using time-sharing and personal com-

puters. This includes structural analysis, energyanalysis of buildings and such. The work is be-ing done by the engineer at his desk, or thenearby computer computer terminal.

We also do guide specifications, as HarryMileaf mentioned, using a word-processing sys-tem. Guide specifications are documents usedto produce a contract (project) specification.The guide specifications and the specificproject specifications are both now being doneon a word-processing system.

We utilize computers to do project cost esti-mates. Material quantities are the input and theconstruction estimate, the output. The factorsfor labor and material costs, location, economicconditions, projected date of bid, etc., are pro-grammed in. The estimate’s and actual bids arestored in the system for developing and check-ing future budget estimates at the programmingstage.

Our Graphics Design System, a major ad-vancement in using computers, is well under-way. We’re installing a computer-based systemthat uses the language of the architect, engineerand building process people, i.e., three-dimen-

Figure 1

Alton S. Bradford 17

sional (3-D) models. Having always usedrenderings and models, architects and engineerscan now construct and view a 3-D model database. This model facilitates working with otherindividuals to define requirements and expecta-tions, We are also able to do two and three-di-mensional drawings directly from the data base.Automated production of drawings, specifica-tions, and cost estimates, from the data base, isin the future.

The four basic phases of the building processare quite distinct: ( 1 ) plan and budget (market);(2) design; (3) construct; and (4) own, operate,and maintain the building throughout its life.(See Figure 3)

We targeted our computer graphics to thatcritical decision period (three months) when theparameters and decisions for the building/facil-ity are set. We then use the computer aschanges in the design occur. We’d like verymuch to eventually, say within the next ten tofifteen years, get to the point where we canchange the design model and automatically pro-duce the drawings, specifications, and cost esti-mates.

It’s taken us about two years to get computergraphics into our organization. We have instal-lations in our six Engineering Field Divisionsand four of our nine Public Works Centers. Weare training as many people as possible in thenew technology.

The hardware consists of a desk, keyboard,digital pen, and menu of instructions which al-lows the architect/engineer to sit and do his de-sign work or interact with others involved in thedesign, (See Figure 4) Individuals, using a com-puter model, can develop the expectations for aparticular project right on the screen. It is sim-ply a work station for the architect or engineer.

We are using some 2-D graphics, but that’sonly normally communicable between engineersand architects. (See Figure 5) The emerginggraphics technology will allow creation of mod-els (three-dimensional) where you don’t need adegree in architecture or engineering to under-stand the project graphics. The technology is in-creasing as rapidly as the desire to depictobjects in the three-dimensional mode. (SeeFigure 6)

An actual 2-D example is where we take a

F re 2


standard room layout and reproduce it until wehave a string of rooms. (See Figure 7) We canthen mirror image the string about a corridorcenterline to produce a floor plan. We add di-mensions, notes, etc., and print the drawing.There’s no drafting involved. This is an actualdrawing that went out to bid. (See Figure 8)

Figure 9 shows a building floor lighting plan.Unfortunately, the black and white print cannotshow you the way we use colors. Color is acommunication medium, not only between indi-viduals, but between the engineer and the com-puter system. The Bureau of Standards isworking on the IGES (Initial Graphics Ex-change System), to enable graphic data commu-nication between different computer systems.

In the future, we’ll get away from the bigdesk units. We’re going to see much smaller,flat screen, desk top, 3-D units with more ca-pacity and capability. (See Figure 10)

Maybe a plasma-type screen or somethingnew. We expect, within five years, they will beas common as large desk calculators or personalcomputers are today. In San Francisco lastweek, we saw computer graphics on PCs. Tech-

Figure 3

nology is increasing rapidly, and prices are inthe acceptable range of 15 to 25 thousand dol-lars. This will be the salvation of many smallA/E firms.

He Here are some examples of 3-D graph-ics. Soon (five to ten years) we will be able torepresent an object in the machine as a solid. Ihave a few slides on this subject. This is a 3-Dwire frame model, with some shading. (See Fig-ure 11 )

Here is a building with color and shaded sur-faces and the lights turned on. (See Figure 12)

And here it is with the lights turned off. Wecould even pass the sun over the building andget the sun’s shading effect. (See Figure 13)

Graphics has always been a communicationsmedium. Now the architect/engineer can com-municate with somebody who wants a project,and develop a very clear expectation for the fa-cility or building. One brings a great deal moreto, and gets a great deal more out of, a 3-D pic-ture/mode compared to a 2-D floor plan or alist of numbers, letters, or a work description.

We expect widespread use of graphics duringthe late ’80s by the A/E firms (Figure 14).

.30%


We’re training our personnel and getting in-volved in the contractual aspects. Graphics dataexchange capability between systems will beavailable. By the late ‘80s, most of our designdocuments will require digital graphics databases in addition to the normal plan, specs, andcost estimates. We think the major integrationin the building process will be in the designphase. It is the easiest to get a handle on andutilize data bases for the specifications,drawings and cost estimates. Later (early ‘90s)we need to get the whole process together. Theexternal data base is an area that we should f0-cus on. This includes the Sweet’s catalog typeinformation, generic building products informa-tion, codes, regulations, etc. A project inte-grated data base which is a model from whichone would be able to directly produce a set ofdesign documents (plans, specifications, sched-ule, and cost estimate) appears feasible by theyear 2000.

The chart on Figure 15 gives another repre-sentation of the building process. We use multi-ple firms in the process. It depicts the ad hocfragmented, and time/work phased building

process. Therefore, data base development andstandardization will be very difficult. Here onesees the Sweet’s catalog type external productdata base, the main data base within the organi-zation, a project generic data base, and theproject specific data base. We’re learning as westart to do some of this with our in-house designwork to get involved in this process.

Impacts

These will be my personal views:The Nature and Form of Buildings

Use of computer graphics will yield more ap-propriate solutions. The building is a solution toa problem of need. Solutions tend to be unique.We’ll be able to give better solutions. We’ll beable to integrate building systems for energyand economy. It’s not amazing that most build-ings are stand-alone systems stuck together in abig box. There will be some standardization.The manufactured building industry is curiousabout this item. When we design buildings byassembling computer stored, pre-designed build-ing components, standardization will be re-

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Figure 4

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quired. This will allow faster and better designs.It’s going to be a slow evolutionary change.

Quality and Safety of BuildingsThese factors are driven by codes and regula-

tions. Computers will be used to check projectmodels against the codes, regulations, stan-dards, etc. There will be an increase in attentionto functionality (safety and quality) which willyield better buildings. On the whole, however, Iexpect no major changes resulting from the in-troduction of computers.

Cost and Affordability of BuildingComputers will shorten the building acqui-

sition period. This will reduce the cost and theexposure of the project to change (risk) and,therefore, increase the affordability. We’ll beable to better meet expectations. Therefore, thecost and schedules and things of those natureswill be firmer, easier to handle, resulting in anoticeable, but moderate change in this areadue to computer technology.

Industry ProductivityComputers will decrease the number of changesresulting from misunderstood expectations.Also, with computer technology, we will be ableto translate those unforeseen changes quicklyinto project bid document revisions. This willdecrease the time and effort (calendar time andmanual effort) required to produce project biddocuments, and result in a major increase inproductivity. There will also be a decrease inthe life-cycle resources. We’re going to beputting better buildings together, faster, meet-ing expectations, and with less changes requiredduring design and construction. The contractdocuments (drawings) are going to be clearer.They’re going to be automated off the system,just like letters coming off a word processor.Drawings will be corrected before they are pro-duced. It’s the old bit, that if you produce agood product at the end of the assembly line,you have less returns. We will be studying andanalyzing more options, with the objective of re-ducing, in addition to the initial cost, the life-cy-cle energy, operation and maintenance, andmanning costs.

Figure 5


On Changes in Job Skills, Skill Lev-els, Occupations

This is the big one. There’s going to be aslight net increase in jobs. There is great diver-sity in types of work in the building process.There’s going to be a decrease in the jobs asso-ciated with engineering calculations and the di-rect production of contract plans andspecifications. Some jobs definitely will change.One doesn’t need an architect to set hours anddraw a perspective. It can be done with a com-puter in minutes. I don’t know how familiar youare with computer graphics technology, but onecan actually walk through a three-dimensionalmodel of a project (structure) after the database is constructed on the computer. The database is constructed using simple drafting tech-niques; by putting lines, circles and squares, orparts and pieces of building systems together.It’s rather quick and easy.

A tremendous amount of information can beused beyond the design phase for building oper-ations including management of rental space,and furnishings. To produce the data during thedesign is not difficult. It’s the result of the inte-

rior design, structural design, etc. But to oper-ate and maintain a building and you need toknow where every person is, their telephonenumber, what pieces of furniture they’re as-signed, their floor covering, date of occupancy,etc. When you start managing change, the datadeveloped during the design, planning, and pro-gramming phases become very useful. Therewill be new jobs and skills required in develop-ing and using this type of data. However, thereis a major problem in standardization of com-munications across organizational lines. None ofthe ad-hoc groups in the building process needsall of the information developed during projectacquisition, and there’s no single overseer of theprocess. This creates a big problem area andcontributes to the inertia of the building pro-cesses. Change will be slow.

The Role of EngineersTechnology will enhance and improve the de-

signer’s and consultant’s capability to create,view, analyze (technically, functionally, and fi-nancially) and change the project model prior todocumentation or construction of the project.


This project information will be retained andupdated in machine usable form for latent usesduring the construction, operation and mainte-nance, and use phases of the project life cycle.As a result, the changes in the engineering of-fice environment will be:

(1) A decrease, if not complete elimination,of manual computations. Technical analysis anddesign will be by computer from building/project geometry data using external code, stan-dards, and product data bases.

(2) An increase in the need for technical ex-pertise that can use computers at a high level ofbuilding systems selection and integration.These experienced technical personnel will needto bring good interpersonal skills to the futureteam approach to effective problem solving.

(3) A sharp decrease in the amount of laborintensive drafting, coordination, and checking asa result of automated drafting systems. Con-struction documents will be a relatively fast,automated process. Present technicians anddraftspersons will be utilized to create andmaintain the computer graphics system anddata base.

(4) A change in the role of the engineer from‘a designer of buildings’ to ‘a designer of com-puter-based systems and procedures’ to be usedby experienced designers and skilled technicalpeople (paratechnical) to design buildings.

(5) An increase in the use of computer resi-dent, mapping and building process data bases.

In the future the professional engineering firmswill be called on:

(1) To establish, maintain, and operate com-puter-resident, mapping and building data basesfor the public and private sectors, and operatethese throughout the life cycle of the buildingsand facilities.

(2) To develop a clear, accurate, completeand timely project definition package (market-ing package/budgeting package).

(3) To provide the service of developing theproject definition package into a set of accurateand complete construction documents in a substantially shorter time than the present.

(4) To provide a management service, using aproject data base, throughout the life cycle or

Figure 7

Alton S. Bradford

major portion of the life cycle of the project.This could be an independent service or as partof a joint contract arrangement. This would bea design/construct, construction management(CM) effort with some test-operate-maintainrole.

(5) To provide a service to the professionalstandards organizations, large public and pri-vate building owners and other firms in the ar-eas of programming, procedures, standards,program certification, project data conversion,etc.

EducationA large percentage of the individuals coming

out of school into the building process, archi-tects, engineers, etc., have a good education intheir discipline. The problem is we also need ar-chitects and engineers to work together in ateam to put a building together. We spend agreat amount of time and effort training themto work together. They lack intra- and interper-sonal skills. When computers are used to ac-complish some of the work, they are going toneed the skills to shift into a team problem solv-

ing environment. Technical education has got toteach team and social skills. The best course Iever had was in construction planning and pro-gramming. Working in teams, we developedprojects from conception through to final designdetail. The building process will need technicalpeople skilled in working as a team player.

Organization, Number and Size ofEnterprises

Small A&E firms are going to survive. Ser-vice firms are emerging to do computer-aideddesign and drafting and to translate documentsfrom one computer system to another. The useof computers in the building process is pres-ently vendor-stimulated and user driven. Database development, a necessity in the future useof computers, is hampered by lack of stan-dardization, and the very nature of the process.However, the process is changing. Educationneeds to concentrate on the changes facing peo-pie, organizations, standards and traditions inthe application of computers in the buildingprocess. Teaching technology is not the prob-lem.

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Figure 8

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Establishment of structured informationaldata bases in the building process is one key tothe growth of computer utilization. The Na-tional Research Council (Building ResearchBoard) is looking at this and other questions onnew technological impacts to the building pro-cess. Based on some of the study work, thereare major changes occurring in the number, sizeand types of enterprises in the building process.

Conclusion

The federal building process can be de-scribed as a sequential, somewhat overlapping,set of easily definable functions. They are: plan-ning, programming, and budgeting; design andengineering; procurement and construction; op-eration and maintenance; and use. Or more sim-ply, planning, design, construction, and use.Although these basic functions will probably re-main the same, the trend in the federal sector isto contract out combinations of these functions.Combining the design and construction func-

tions into a single ‘turnkey’ or ‘two-step’ typecontract, contracting for the building using aperformance specification, and at the extremeend of this construction, staff, maintenance andoperation and the user simply pays for the ser-vice. Because of major social, environmental,safety, and of course, political concerns, therewill also be an increase in the complexity, num-ber and types of predesign (planning) studies re-quired to identify the benefits and disbenefits ofthe proposed construction. The list of studieswill, in addition to the present cost, scope, envi-ronmental, energy and schedule studies, be ex-panded to examine the functional, visual,esthetic, economic, social, etc., impacts on thepublic and organization environment. There willbe an increased need for easily understandableproject definition and fast, accurate schedulesand cost estimates to confirm and track projectexpectations. There will be an increasing em-phasis and therefore need to deal with changethroughout the building planning and designfunctions in order to hold major financial com-mitments to the latest possible point to assurethe lowest possible risk. This emphasis on deal-

Figure 9

Alton S. Bradford

ing with change will require early, more accu-rate, rapid communications of expectations ofthe building configuration, function, and cost.Likewise, there will be a need to expend lesstime and personnel resources on those buildingsthat don’t undergo drastic changes, or are of aless risky nature. This will result in an increasein standardization of building designs (or modu-lar designs), more reuse of acceptable designs,and a major emphasis on having the accuratedesign data available in an analytically usableform. There will be an emphasis on havingready access to and using the latest, most cost-effective materials, equipment, procedures, andbuilding systems, in lieu of waiting for these toshow up in federal standards, design guides orspecifications. In summary, there will be a needto proceed from idea to construction start in theshortest period of time with the least risk of fi-nancial loss.

Computer TechnologyComputer technology, presently available to

the building process, is changing more rapidly

than our ability to use it productively. Predict-able trends over the next 10 to 20 years are thatthe amount of storage available for computerprograms and data will be unlimited or verycost effective. The cost of better and morefunctional computer hardware will continue todrop at a steady rate while software capabilitywill increase at an exponential rate. The cost ofspecialized software together with the availabil-ity of trained personnel will continue to be themajor factors in system utilization. The com-puter terminal’s physical size will continue todiminish while storage capacity, speed and easeof use will continue to increase. Probably themost significant advancements in the next twodecades will be the further development of com-puter graphics modeling, hardware and soft-ware, for use in both the visual and analyticalinterface mode. New software technologies thatwill evolve include: a neutral, machine-t&ma-chine language; expert programs for buildingsystem design; automated drawings, specifica-tions, schedule and cost estimates directly fromcomputer graphic model; micro and macroproject products and building systems data

25

Figure 10


bases; and computer graphics solid modeling.Hardware advancements will include: flatscreens; laser readers, printers and storage de-vices; highly-specialized, plug-in ROM chipsand even holographic screens or units.

In summary, the changes in the building pro-cess and the concurrent changes in the productand services provided by the engineering profes-sion, will be as a result of needs of the buildingowner/user. Of course, there will be some itera-tive interplay between the capability of the pro-fessional firms and the perceived needs of, orbenefits to, the owner/operator. The major ad-vance in the use of computer technology in thebuilding process will be the engineer’s ability to

communicate real expectations with the owner,and to communicate with the computer, bothusing the language of graphics. This use of thetechnology will enable the professional to pro-vide the owner/user with the much neededproject information on which to base criticalplanning and financial decisions while also be-ing able to react to change without majorproject delays.

Alton S. Bradford is Assistant Commander for Engi-neering and Design, at the Naval Facilities EngineeringCommand of the United States Department of theNavy

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Computers and Construction

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2 Computers and Construction Harry Mileaf Alton S. Bradford

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