SIAL - Abstract

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Summary of PhD thesis proposal by Rory Hyde:

Strategies for Managing Complexity in Architecture
Design, Construction, Information and Organisation

Abstract:

There is a general trend in design - actively pursued by architects - toward a language of complexity; of curved forms and elaborate surface effects. However, complexity has also become an unavoidable reality of the profession. Buildings are becoming increasingly complex as the amount of services increase, which requires the architect to engage with a similarly large number of specialised consultants. This is further compounded by the increasing complexity of external factors, including planning and building regulations and environmental concerns.

Thus complexity in architecture is itself a complex and important issue. For the purpose of this research, the various aspects of complexity have been summarised as design complexity, constructional complexity, the complexity of information, and the organisational complexity of practice structures. This research is directed toward exploring these various aspects of complexity, and developing strategies for managing this complexity in the architectural practice. These strategies explore the tension between the seemingly contradictory aims of enabling a free exploration of design complexity, or increasingly complex and sophisticated outcomes, while reducing and managing the constructional, informational and organisational complexity of practice.

With these strategies in place, traditional definitions of ‘architectural practice’ begin to erode. The number of people in a practice was once a critical factor in determining the size and complexity of the projects they were able to engage. The increasing number of small firms engaging in large or complex projects is evidence that the gap between the respective capabilities of small and large firms is closing rapidly.

This research identifies a number of strategies, made available by emerging technology, which can potentially enable small numbers of people to be able to engage in projects of a greater scale or complexity than otherwise traditionally possible. By doing so it aims to define what a practice could be in this emerging global context of complexity.

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Updated 18.01.07