Axiomatic Design Facilitating Integrated Building Design and Operation

The paper presents an initial reflection on the possibility of adopting Suh’s Axiomatic Design (AD) as a framework to integrate and coordinate the different methods used by the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry to evidence-base decision-making for sustainability. A taxonomy for aggregating the different methods used by the AEC industry is proposed so they can be inserted into the AD framework and used to support and formulate evidence-based design decisions in a way that is systematic, informed and, among other things, traceable so true records of the design process can be retrieved. The taxonomy is based on the new EN ISO standards and the literature on design research and decision-making. It organizes the discussion about the feasibility of having AD as a facilitator for integrated building design and operation in the AEC industry. Three potential issues are identified from this proposition, which call for further research and academic debate in the AEC and AD communities, laying the conditions for fruitful future interactions between them. On the one hand, the paper proposes that the AEC community can consider AD as a catalyzer to promote integrated design for sustainability. On the other hand, it pushes AD to be adapted to accommodate the needs of a fragmented design industry which often produces one-off design solutions.