Wakes of Innovation in Project Networks

The Case of Digital 3-D Representations in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction

By Jonathan Ott & Pascal Brokmeier

The first project was the most successful we may have ever had. ... And what convinced us was we got the job done a month early. Everybody made money, there were no extras - that never happens.

Jim Glymph, November 9, 2002

Context

Context

Construction

Architecture, Construction and Engineering (AEC) of buildings

“Loose coupling” between agents

1990s

Advent of computer 3D imagery after brief period of transition from paper to 2D digital models

Diverse Networks

Multiple heterogeneous actors in production networks of various professions

Context - Status Quo

History

Hundreds of years of tradition in industry

‘this is how it has always been done’

Formalisation

Sequential process of formal communication

  • Architects create design, customer approves
  • Documents passed along to contractors. Questions answered via request for information (RFI)
  • Contractors & subcontractors construct in ‘workmanlike way’

Loose coupling

Communication always done via 2D paper based plans

Each party had to transfer to own knowledge domain and rework the transfer documents for their own needs

Frank Gehry

Prague

LA

Seattle

Elciego

Cleveland

Sydney

A Fishy Problem

  • First project employing 3D modeling
  • Fish statue for 1992 Barcelona Olympics
  • Tight schedule, limited budget, highly integrated team

Digital 3D Representation

Wakes of innovation

Driving Forces

  • Trading Zones
  • Boundary Spanning activities
  • Intercalation
  • Design Vision and Mindfulness

Trading Zones

  • Places where two distinct disciplines come together
  • development of common language representing interests in different fields
  • also sometimes represented by intermediary

Boundary Spanning Activities

  • describing activities between classic skill domains
  • bridging e.g. marketing and IT, HR and finance, ...
  • lead to knowledge transfer
I have never, ever spent more than an hour in an architect's office prior to this job. And I spent 22 trips, 4 and 5 days at a time in their office. And I spent some days where I was in there at 8:00 in the morning and I didn't get out of there until 10 or 11 at night, working on this frame.

Ed Seller - drywall subcontractor, September 18, 2002, p. 8

Intercalation

  • Exchange of ideas between parties
  • Transfer of innovation
  • Borrowed from Physics and Chemistry

Design Vision and Mindfulness

  • Mindfulness of others
  • aware of opportunities
  • Being intrigued by new possibilities

Limitations & Discussion

Limitations

  • Focus on leading innovator / 'Superstar' not translatable
  • Construction industry not typical → heterogeneous players
  • Describing projects with unique liability circumstances (MIT insurance)

Limitations

incomplete design leads to innovations --> chaos/bad management? leads to innovation? because a big problem here was the incomplete design. The shape was there, we always knew the shape, but we didn't know how we were going to create it because the documents didn't fulfill all, they didn't cover all the problems. And that's what they ran into in the field, was that they had this set of documents that they typically would use and it would tell them everything where they didn't have it. And so even the carpenters in the field became part of the design, because they had to figure out ways to do things....

Ed Sellers, November 11, 2002, p. 13

Implications

Before

  • 1 Firm
  • 1 Innovation
  • Homogeneous environment

After

  • Many firms
  • network of agents
  • heterogeneous networks
  • multitude of innovations
  • interaction of innovations

Implications

Similar environment in SD on Social Coding Platforms like Github

  • ✅ Trading Zones
  • ✅ Intercalation
  • ✅ Boundary Spanning Activities
  • ✅ Mindfulness

DONE