Can We Teach Lean Construction Methods in Schools of Architecture?

Gary Graham1, Roseann B. Evans2, Bilge Gokhan Çelik3 & Frederick E. Gould4

1FAIA, Associate Professor of Architecture, Roger Williams University, School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol RI 02809, USA, Phone (401) 254-3495, [email protected]
2AIA, LEED-AP, Professor of Architecture, Roger Williams University, School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol RI 02809, USA, Phone (401) 254-3603, [email protected]
3PhD, LEED-AP, Assistant Professor, Roger Williams University, School of Engineering, Computing and Construction Management, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol RI 02809, USA, Phone (401) 254-3648, [email protected]
4PE, CPC, Professor, Construction Management Program Coordinator, Roger Williams University RWU, School of Engineering, Computing and Construction Management, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol RI 02809, USA, Phone (401) 254-3725, [email protected]

Abstract

Traditionally, schools of architecture are not great laboratories to explore the collaborative processes and teamwork that are essential to integrated design and delivery practices as exemplified by Lean Construction. The pre-eminence of the “hero-architect” in the design studio is in direct conflict with methods that can reduce risk and improve the efficiency of the design and construction delivery process. Risk? Efficiency? Delivery Process? … not to mention Cost Control, Schedule and Constructability, are foreign concepts to the predominant design studio culture. Integrated practices and integrated project delivery are clearly "hot" topics in the design and construction industry today. They are a response to pressures from building owners and developers for more efficient and predictable processes for designing and constructing buildings, and to the increasing availability of advanced digital technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM). Can an institutionally enshrined resistance to this new approach to design and delivery in the Academy be overcome? Should it? These are the questions that institutions that teach design and construction practices are wrestling with all over the country. This paper addresses an approach that allows interdisciplinary teams to apply the basic elements of Integrated Practice and Lean Construction to a real world case study that is designed using a common Building Information Model.

Keywords

architecture, integrated project delivery, lean construction, collaboration, construction management, action learning, target cost

Files

Reference

Graham, G. , Evans, R. B. , Çelik, B. G. & Gould, F. E. 2012. Can We Teach Lean Construction Methods in Schools of Architecture? , 20th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , -. doi.org/

Download: BibTeX | RIS Format