Evaluation of the planning and building processes of multi-storey wooden construction residential and office buildings, and the development of measures to optimise these processes.

An analysis of the building and planning processes of multi-storey wooden construction residential and office buildings, taking into consideration the opinions of the professionals involved (planners, building contractors, building executives), then the development, documentation and distribution of ways to optimise these processes, using "Info-Tool" software.

Content Description

Status

finished

Summary

Wood is enjoying increasing popularity as a construction material in Austria as can be seen by the numerous wooden residential buildings that have been erected in recent years. This experience has shown that wood is a suitable construction material for innovative and high quality residential buildings. While the experience from pilot building projects shows that visionary objectives can be achieved, the relatively small share of wooden buildings in the total construction volume also reveals the weaknesses of wood construction. Too few typologies and building systems have been worked out as a basis for industrial production in residential building construction. The combined planning and implementation of building processes is becoming ever more important in connection with the optimisation and quality assurance of processes in wood construction.

Figure 1: Residential building, Judenburg West, Austria; wood as main construction material (Source: JOANNEUM RESEARCH)

Figure 2: Residential building, Judenburg West, Austria; wood as main construction material (Source: JOANNEUM RESEARCH)

The "Info-tool" software program further developed in this project is designed to support the combined planning and implementation of wood construction projects. Info-tool is used for the evaluation of processes involved in the planning and construction of wooden residential and office buildings. Info-tool was tested and evaluated by planning and building experts. The software allows the following planning and construction processes to be evaluated: planning, production of elements, logistics, assembly, completion.

Info-tool allows these five processes to be evaluated according to defined objectives. The evaluation is carried out simultaneously with the corresponding process. In doing so it is possible to evaluate the work on a continuous basis and to constantly adapt the processes in order to optimise the results. Info-tool was not only adapted according to the experts' demands. The user interface of the software was also evaluated and optimised, thus providing the user with pinpoint information.

Defining the demands on and objectives of wooden residential and office buildings is the basis for the optimisation of the planning and construction processes involved. Info-tool supports the process manager and decision-makers throughout the building project. Info-tool was programmed in html format and can therefore be used by Internet browsers.

Project Partners

Projektleitung:	Doris Dockner, DI Arch. DI Mary-Ann Vajdic-Scholz JOANNEUM RESERACH, HOLZ.DESIGN.INSTITUT
Mitarbeiter:	DI Horst Köberl DI (FH) Alexander Petutschnigg JOANNEUM RESERACH, HOLZ.DESIGN.INSTITUT
Kooperationspartnerin:	Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Dr. Christiane Spiel Leiterin Bildungspsychologie & Evaluation am Institut für Psychologie, Universität Wien

Kontakt

HOLZ.DESIGN.INSTITUT
der JOANNEUM RESEARCH
Forschungsgesellschaft mbH.
Kaserngasse 22
A 8750 Judenburg
Tel.: +43 3572 47230-2660
Fax: +43 3572 47230-2666
E-Mail: hdi@joanneum.ac.at