Investigating the Deliverables’ Interrelationship in the Engineering Phase of the Architectural Design Process

Abstract

This study is focused to a critical investigation of the deliverables’ interrelationship in the engineering phase of the architectural design process. The study uses a mixed research methodology to create a process mapping-based model of the engineering phase that includes all the tasks and decisions and their interrelationship, inputs and outputs of each action, and different loops on each stage. A survey was conducted among 50 employees of engineering firms in Saudi Arabia to explore factors affecting the professional interrelationship among professionals representing the architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical stages of the engineering phase of the architectural design process. It was found that the quality of this interrelationship is undermined by the lack of formal communication platforms, insufficient knowledge of other disciplines’ work, insufficient clarity of submittals, and inconsistent time of the deliverables’ submission. The proposed model for this study includes 12 engineering main tasks in level (1) and 57 subtask requirements in level (2) that should be completed in a subsequent order. The study demonstrated that the proposed model could be a promising tool for coordinating disciplines within the engineering phase of the architectural design process. The model also identifies problematic areas with possible conflicts between engineering tasks from different disciplines. Redesign of the design process to make disciplines more open to each other, strong communication, use of professional team intra-discipline meetings that are also attended by some arch/engineers from other disciplines, and preliminary design discussion are the main miens of improving the coordination among four engineering disciplines that is embedded in the model. The proposed model is considered a promising mechanism for increasing the efficiency of architectural projects via optimization of the engineering phase. This model was validated in the current study and, thus, could be applied in practical settings.