Author(s)

J.M. de la Garza & S. Ramakrishnan

Abstract

Design rationale is the concept underlying the design of a project. Communicating design rationale to everyone involved in the project's life-cycle can bring about a better understanding of the project. This paper describes how design rationale can be represented and stored in a computer tool. The tool uses an object oriented model and incorporates multimedia. 1 Introduction The AEC industry in the United States is highly fragmented [5]. It is vertically fragmented into the various project phases of conceptualization, preliminary design, detailed design, construction, retrofit and finally decommission. It is also horizontally fragmented in that there are many specialists working in each of these phases. Communication among the project personnel is prima

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