Criteria catalogue and analysis model to manage complexity in prefabricated timber construction

Abstract

Prefabricated timber construction often comes with demanding planning processes and uncertainties due to higher complexity. Hence, a great potential to optimize design, construction, and economic efficiency is not put to use. In the future, the challenge will be to have project management that is able to handle complexity. The criteria catalogue and the analysis model, developed in my doctoral thesis at TU Munich, are a first step towards the systematic and typological structuring of prefabricated timber construction in terms of complexity. The criteria catalogue makes it possible to describe and record functional and technical specifications as well as the aspects of the design and construction process and implementation, in terms of less or greater complexity. The project-specific system presentation in the analysis model is the basis for a common understanding and a transparent and target-oriented exchange of information among different disciplines, including the client. The application of the model in practice is described by means of a case study. The outlook of this paper describes how the developed analysis model provides a new approach in order to support planning security in Building Information Modeling (BIM).