The systems phenomenon in buildings and its application to construction specifications

Abstract

This thesis proposes that the holistic quality of a building can be improved by modifying the way that it is represented in the specifications document. It develops a construction specifications format based on a substantive rather than a procedural division of the building, i.e., on a division according to the interrelationships between the physical parts of the building rather than according to the administration of labor in the construction process. In communicating a design idea in the construction documents, the architect should represent the building not as a collection of independent parts to be procured and installed, but as a whole system consisting of many perceptually and technically integrated parts. The documents should communicate the essence of the whole building through the format of their presentation. In drawings this is accomplished by portraying the parts of the building as images organized on paper in the same geometrical relationships that they are to take in the finished building. Construction specifications should also possess a strong relationship to the form of the whole building that they describe. Hypertext computer software offers great flexibility in both the authoring and in the reading of text documents. This thesis uses Hypercard to develop a format for construction specifications documentation.