VISCON: COMPUTER VISUALISATION SUPPORT FOR CONSTRUCTABILITY

Abstract

The construction industry has a reputation for low productivity, waste, low use of new technologies, and poor quality (Egan, 1998, Wakefield and Damrianant 1999). It is estimated that up to 30% of construction is rework, and recognised that site teams spend too much time and effort making designs work in practice (Egan 1998). The aim of the research project presented in this paper was to develop a visualisation and communication environment that would assist design teams in communicating design details that may be problematic for construction teams. The investigation was based on the need for a tool that facilitates the communication of detailed design information. A survey was used as the method for collecting data to establish a general industry-wide perspective on the role of visualisation in Constructability. In this research project, prototyping was used as an approach to demonstrate the use of different types of computer visualisation as a communication medium to exchange design information during the construction stage. A framework has been developed for the flow of information related to Constructability between design and construction teams during the construction stage of a facility.