Quality Control By Levels: Steering The Design Process Using BEA’s Project Book

Abstract

Architectural design is object oriented and involves decision making on form, space, and organization of technical systems. It is also a process of decision making by all the involved parties, impacting potential users throughout the entire life of the building. Design decisions that provide for an integrated conceptual framework are fundamental to any built environment that is constantly evolving with time. This paper introduces a design management tool based on the concept of Open Building and the architectural debates on “Infrastructuralism.” The former deals with an understanding of social-spatial levels of intervention in built environments; the latter believes that buildings should reveal the characteristics of infrastructure. These observations drawn on Baumschlager Eberle Architects (BEA)’s design process and its “project book” are based on a classification of five social-spatial levels, namely, urban public spaces, building structure and service system, building façade, functional layout, and interior fittings. After a brief introduction of BEA’s international network of offices, this paper investigates two recently completed projects, followed by an analysis of the concept, framework, contents, and management of the project book and the design process of the two buildings. The skills needed for handling the complexity in the design process between the design qualities at the five levels are addressed. The five levels of BEA’s design process enlarge the social and functional capacities of buildings to accommodate multiple uses, including but not limited to residential occupancies.