Disputerer på digital effektivitet i tre-industrien

Christoph Merschbrock har fulgt doktorgradsprogrammet ved Fakultet for økonomi og samfunnsvitenskap – nå Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap   – med spesialisering i informasjonssystemer. 

Tre-industrien er en viktig del av næringslivet på Agder. I stipendiatperioden ved Institutt for informasjonssystemer har Christoph Merschbrock vært finansiert av Vest-Agder fylkeskommune og Sørlandets kompetansefond.

Slik beskriver kandidaten selv essensen i avhandlingen:

Digital design in wood-based construction projects

The wood-based building industry has long been searching for strategies to improve efficiency and effectiveness in their operations. New technologies like Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems open up a number of possibilities for the wood-based building industry, such as increasing automation, reducing design errors, and increasing levels of integration.

The wood-based building industry is an important sector of the economy in Agder and wood is a popular building material for detached homes as well as large buildings in the region (i.e. Kristiansand concert hall ‘Kilden’). This research project has been initiated to develop the industry’s competence on the further deployment of BIM technology.

In my work I studied three building projects of differing complexity to explore how BIM is used in practice to facilitate the collaboration between the different firms involved in the projects.

The focus lay on BIM use in early/conceptual design, detailed design, and implementation/workshop design. Activities studies include (1) the usage of BIM tools like Revit® and collaborative IT infrastructure, (2) the synchronization of different models, (3) the usage of proprietary formats to exchange work, (4) merging architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, and workshop design, and (5) the elimination of design clashes. Moreover, I explored opportunities of how current practice could be improved.

The first project comprised the design of a residential building in the Bergen area of Norway, with about 110 apartment units. The second case was the design of the new Vennesla library which has won several national prizes for its eye-catching design (i.e. Årets trebyggeri 2011 og Statens byggeskikkpris i 2012). The practice and experiences from these wood-based building projects were then compared to BIM use in the new Østfold hospital project which represents an example of ‘state of the art’ use of BIM.

The different project characteristics and complexities result in different extent and intensity in BIM use. For wood-based projects there is a tendency that BIM is only prioritized in the most complex projects and that it is less focused in more standard type of projects. The study of the new Østfold hospital project documents the potential of BIM for integrated design. Important preconditions for the successful use of BIM in this project were a strong focus on BIM training and the allocation of appropriate resources by the client creating favorable conditions for BIM use.

The wood-based building industry could advance further in this area by raising the level of BIM capabilities throughout the industry and raising clients’ awareness of the opportunities yielded by BIM.

Establishing regional BIM competency clusters could be an initial step to approach these challenges. Moreover, industrial BIM practice suffers from an absence of organizing visions, policies, and strategies for the collaborative work. Such policies need to be adapted to the information needs of individual project situations with different complexity.

In addition, task and technology interdependencies between design team members need to be taken into consideration when developing collaboration strategies.

In summary, I argue for a more balanced approach to BIM work fitted to the context of a project and the people involved. The results of my project provide a starting point for the wood-based building industry in taking the next steps in their deployment of BIM for digital design.

Disputasfakta:

Kandidaten: Christoph Merschbrock  (født i 1978) er stipendiat ved UiAs Institutt for informasjonssystemer, finansiert av Vest-Agder fylkeskommune og Sørlandets kompetansefond. Merschbrock arbeider nå ved Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus.

Prøveforelesning og disputas finner sted i Auditorium B2-003,UiA Campus Kristiansand.

Instituttleder Leif Skiftenes Flak, Institutt for informasjonssystemer, leder disputasen.

Tid for prøveforelesning: 23. april 2014 kl 10:15

Oppgitt emne for prøveforelesning: “Can ICT such as BIM fundamentally change the way the construction industry and construction management operates?”

Tid for disputas: 23. april 2014 kl 12:15

Tittel på avhandling: “Digital Collaboration in the Wood-based Construction Industry: Deployment of Building Information Modeling»

Les avhandlingen i AURA - Agder University Research Archive, som er et digitalt arkiv for vitenskapelige artikler, avhandlinger og masteroppgaver fra ansatte og studenter ved Universitetet i Agder.

Opponenter:

Førsteopponent: Associate professor Carrie Sturts Dossick,  University of Washington, USA

Annenopponent: Professor Jan Pries-Heje, Roskilde University, Denmark

Bedømmelseskomitéen er ledet av professor Maung Sein, Institutt for informasjonssystemer, UiA

Veileder i doktorgradsarbeidet var professor Bjørn Erik Munkvold, Institutt for informasjonssystemer, UiA